Luminaries such as Karl Rove, Lindsey Graham, Ari Fleischer, Saxby Chambliss, and John Yoo are all defending Obama's NSA spying.
Isn't that fine company? Doesn't that make you feel good about this policy? But tonight's song is dedicated to Dianne Feinstein, who is very upset that some criminal/patriot let the people know what the government is doing.
How did Dianne become one of the richest members of Congress? That's right...the old fashioned way.
For you, DiFi.
UPDATE: That is, of course, Dianne Banker Buttlicker Margaret Thatcher Feinstein, a dragon-lady with no fuckin' heart.
Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.
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Given A Cactus
17 minutes ago
9 comments:
The fault lines haven't changed a bit since the PATRIOT Act: Executive branch - for; Congressional Repubs - for; Congressional Dems - split.
The only difference I can see now, as opposed to, say, 2006 is that what's being done now has Constitutional, judicial, and Congressional sanction. It's legal. If people don't like it, they should change the law. Bush's spying was only retroactively legitimated, IIRC.
Did Obama run on "Hope and Change", or was it "How Unrealistic Of You Silly Dreamers To Hope For Change?", Jim H.?
I can't see how his defenders can have it both ways. I guess that's the real eleventy-dimensional chess.
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It's here, and it ain't going away. But then again, neither is classic Sabbath. Pass the booze.
Obama's not the point. The PATRIOT Act is what's at issue. If it's legal, the security state's gonna' do it. And push the limits. The apparatus is ginormous. It will take more than the swipe of a Presidential pen to undo the intelligence infrastructure put in place post 9/11. It will take concerted Congressional action, plus judicial legitimization, and Executive Branch (not just Obama) leadership.
One prerequisite, it seems, will be an alternative plan for national intelligence. An actionable plan that all the stakeholders (above) can get behind.
I also wonder how much this had to do with the visit by the Chinese president. If Obama wants him to know that we know who his boys are talking to on our shores and what they're up to, I can't think of a more effective way of doing so. The internal, national response is one he'll weather.
Jim H., Bush and Cheney crammed the USA PATRIOT Act through in the wake of 9-11 (which could, and should, have been prevented by following up on the many warnings about Bin Laden they had received).
Obama demanded that Congress renew it with its worst provisions intact. You can't give him a pass for that.
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What pass?
You said, "The PATRIOT Act is what's at issue. If it's legal, the security state's gonna' do it."
I pointed out: "Obama demanded that Congress renew it with its worst provisions intact."
This has happened not once, but twice.
Hell, fuck it. How's the weather?
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The ACLU's suing Obama. That's hardly a pass. Someone's got to fight this all the way up to the S.Ct. Obama also demanded tax reform and a budget and vote reform and equal pay and many other things. Surely you're not saying whatever he demands from Boehner and Paul and McCain and Gohmert he gets. If so, then WOW! I guess he is some sort of tyrant.
Come on.
Surely you're not saying whatever he demands from Boehner and Paul and McCain and Gohmert he gets.
No, I didn't say that. I said he got renewals of the worst provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that he demanded. Twice...In February of 2010, and May of 2011. You can check for yourself how much power the GOP had in February of 2010.
Also, the ACLU has tried to sue before. All lawsuits have been denied standing, because the programs are secret. The ACLU now thinks they have a chance, thanks to Snowden's blowing of the whistle.
It takes some guts to blow the whistle. Here's what Obama and Holder have done to them.
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