Obama Quietly Backs Patriot Act Provisions
By all means, pander to the “tough on terror” idiots who think so little of their liberties.
NEW YORK – With the health care debate preoccupying the mainstream media, it has gone virtually unreported that the Barack Obama administration is quietly supporting renewal of provisions of the George W. Bush-era USA Patriot Act that civil libertarians say infringe on basic freedoms.
And it is reportedly doing so over the objections of some prominent Democrats.
[snip]
The parts of the act due to expire on Dec. 31 deal with:
National Security Letters (NSLs)
The FBI uses NSLs to compel Internet service providers, libraries, banks, and credit reporting companies to turn over sensitive information about their customers and patrons. Using this data, the government can compile vast dossiers about innocent people.
The ‘Material Support’ Statute
This provision criminalises providing “material support” to terrorists, defined as providing any tangible or intangible good, service or advice to a terrorist or designated group. As amended by the Patriot Act and other laws since Sep. 11, this section criminalises a wide array of activities, regardless of whether they actually or intentionally further terrorist goals or organisations.
FISA Amendments Act of 2008
This past summer, Congress passed a law that permits the government to conduct warrantless and suspicion-less dragnet collection of U.S. residents’ international telephone calls and e-mails.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:48 am
To many of us who were heartbroken when Howard Dean et all crowned Obama King of the Hill, Obama’s reign has not been a disappointment; it has been his march on the path many of us predicted or thought he would take. To the many who set very high hopes on Howard Dean’s chosen one, the fall through the abyss of disappointment takes them on down to a very hard landing … to those, who, like you Sage, took their disappointment and pain, and decided to give Obama time to prove himself … his clay feet and puppet strings may be showing more and more each day. His heart fluttered more towards the George Bush direction than it ever did towards the return to our Democracy as we knew it before George Bush power- grabbed it. Pandering to the tough on terror crowd just really shows how much of a puppet Obama is.
timesr Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
@skyagunsta, “His heart fluttered more towards the George Bush direction than it ever did towards the return to our Democracy as we knew it before George Bush power- grabbed it.”
George H W Bush lemented the demise of domestic spying
“In opening a conference on counterintelligence in March 2005, former president George H.W. Bush, who headed the CIA from 1975 to 1977, said, “It burns me up to see the agency under fire.” Recent criticism, Bush said, reminded him of the 1970s, when Congress “unleashed a bunch of untutored little jerks out there” to investigate the CIA’s involvement in domestic spying, assassinations, and other illegal activities, and subsequently passed laws to prevent abuses.”
http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-12-27/news/the-bush-family-coup/2
J. Edgar Hoover was famous for his dossiers on citizens involved with the Free Speech movement (Reagan, as governor of California, went to war with the University of California over that), Civil Rights movement, and Anti-War movement all of which he believed were Communist inspired. Word at the time was the guy urging illegal activity was the undercover FBI agent in the group.
Before that we had McCarthy and the HUAC, and before that was FDR rooting out domestic Nazis, and before that was Lincoln.
We have never known the Democracy we dream about.
BTW, I voted for Dennis Kucinich in the primary.
November 24th, 2009 at 8:33 am
AMEN!!!!!!
November 24th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I don’t know if any of you have financed or refinanced your homes lately, but I sometimes have to ID people several times throughout the signing process since 9/11. I think the record is 5. Also often in the documents are FBI warnings and Patriot Act information.
While I have never really had a problem with this, I realize it is also to catch other ID problems such as forged ID’s etc. Did have one that actually try to pass herself off as the guys wife. Had the wifes ID, looked a lot like her but could not duplicate her signiture.
I called the FBI once. Last Summer. A middle eastern man showed up at my house wanting me to notarize a letter signed by someone at the University that said he was a student there. I finally got through to him I could not do that because that person did not sign it in front of me. He explained to me he was Palestinian and had been called to serve in the Palestinian army and did not want to go back there. I told him to go back to the university and they would help him further with the documentation he needed. This letter was on University letterhead paper. My take is this guy was here on a student visa and it had expired. He was not a student.
I made a courtesy call to the person who had signed the document
She said they had no Palestinians and no one by that name. Never had. So I talked to the one FBI guy we have here and that was the last I heard of it.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I recall toward the end of primary when the FISA vote came up relating to immunity for telcom companies. Obama voted YEA (Hillary voted against it). He said he would fix it next year when he was President. Yup, he sure fixed it!! (sarcasm icon on).
November 25th, 2009 at 10:54 am
The change we were promised and all can believe in….