Obama and Wiretapping : WORSE THAN BUSH ?

// video added April 09, 2009 // 28 comments //
WhiteNoise

more from Crime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jSUHVUgJFc

"I think right now, the Bush people are bringing out their mission-accomplished sign, because they've not only gotten Obama to protect Bush and Cheney and others from any criminal investigation on torture, but he's now gone even further than they did in the protection of unlawful surveillance. This is the ultimate victory for the Bush officials. They have Barack Obama adopting the same extremist arguments, and in fact exceeding the extremist arguments made by President Bush...

"You cannot any longer suggest that President Obama is advancing the civil liberties and the privacy interests that he promised to advance. This is a terrible roll-back. It's a terrible decision. - GWU Law Professor Jonathan Turley,

Keith Olbermann on Obama and Wiretapping
Deeplink by Tim Jones
Last night, Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC had excellent coverage of and commentary on the Obama DOJ's radical new arguments in Jewel v. NSA, the EFF's lawsuit against the NSA for illegal surveillance. Here are the videos: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/keith-olbermann-obama-and-wiretapping

In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush

"A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." - Ian Williams Goddard
  1. groups:
    Crime
  2. tags:
    Obama,  Crime,  Bush,  Constitution,  5 more

28 comments // Obama and Wiretapping : WORSE THAN BUSH ? // Video

  • PlatoTacius
    • 0
      PlatoTacius  

    • These political games aren't getting any simpler... We need more than a 'few good men' or women whichever the case may be...

      I liked the Naomi Klien article... as well as the rest of the posts you have presented... scary stuff, makes me feel insignificant...

    • 10 months ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • HOW MUCH CHANGE CAN WE HANDLE ;)

      The universally accepted definition of INSANITY is to persist in the same behavior but expecting a different outcome.

      "Washington has become Versailles. We are ruled, entertained and informed by courtiers. The popular media are courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are courtiers. Our pundits and experts are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games. We are being had." - Chris Hedges

      Meet the Press and the Media's Distortions of the Bush Prosecutions Debate
      By Salon
      Glenn Greenwald: The assertion that "most Americans" don't want investigations -- whether made by media stars to argue against investigations or Obama supporters to justify the immunity the President wants to extend to everyone involved -- is factually false.
      http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/04/21/meet-the-press-and-the-medias-d...

      AND IN THE "THIS EXPLAINING THAT" DEPARTMENT...

      Obama Campaign’s Multi-Million Dollar Propaganda Firm Deployed in Iraq to Advise on ‘New Media’By Jeremy Scahill.

      With Iraq in ruins, Obama sends a politically connected firm, along with reps from AT&T, Google, and Twitter to build ‘smart power’ in Baghdad.

      Of all of the areas in Iraq in desperate need of attention, its “emerging new media industry” is not the one that pops to mind. Things like clean water, electricity, right of safe return for refugees and an end to the occupation seem more pressing than increasing Nouri al Maliki’s Twitter followers. But unfortunately, that’s how U.S. priorities in Iraq seem to work.
      http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/04/21/obama-campaigns-multi-million-d...

    • 10 months ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • 'A Ton More People Were Wiretapped Than We've Been Led to Believe': FBI Whistleblower Thomas Tamm http://www.alternet.org/rights/137260/"a_ton_more_people_were_wiretapped_than_we've_been_led_to_believe":_fbi_whistleblower_thomas_tamm/

      NSA spied on member of Congress and broke new laws, report says:

      Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald suggests that "these widespread eavesdropping abuses enabled by the 2008 FISA bill -- a bill passed with the support of Barack Obama along with the entire top Democratic leadership in the House, including Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, and substantial numbers of Democratic Senators -- aren't a bug in that bill, but rather, were one of the central features of it."
      http://rawstory.com/news/2008/NSA_spied_on_member_of_Congress_0416.html

      A Lexicon of Disappointment
      by NAOMI KLEIN
      http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090504/klein?rel=hp_currently

      "For in every city these two opposite parties [people vs aristocracy] are to be found, arising from the desire of the populace to avoid oppression of the great, and the desire of the great to command and oppress the people....For when the nobility see that they are unable to resist the people, they unite in exalting one of their number and creating him prince, so as to be able to carry out their own designs under the shadow of his authority." (Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. IX)

    • 10 months ago
  • PlatoTacius
    • 0
      PlatoTacius  

    • " What he is frittering away, is the rights we all have as citizens..." as Mr. Turley puts it, will be true if we let our government get away with it. What we all have to stay focused on, is that we live in a nation of laws and if we don't stay on our toes against laws being written that don't protect us, then we will suffer accordingly. We must, therefore, rise up to meet the challenges of each new day. If we expect to be respected, then we will have to take the appropriate measures to keep our respective leaders in line with the duties of their offices, 1st and foremost of which is to protect the constitution and the citizens of this nation, not to abuse their powers or to rewrite the laws and have them passed while 'we the people' are asleep... As our leaders become more active in attempting to overide our rights, then we must be more active in protecting our rights...

      One of the main differences between this administration and the last is that this one is trying to change the laws to make spying legal, the last one just did it assuming they were above the law anyway... we're still better off with Obama, than Mcsame, no matter what any of you say... but we also need to hold this administration's feet to the fire... transparency is the first priority... I don't believe anyone should or can trust their government to just do the right thing, not in today's world... not in any country of today's world...

      The passive will pass into oblivion...

    • 10 months ago
  • WhiteNoise
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image...

    • Though the drapery in the Oval Office may have changed, the criminal acts against American citizens and legal residents by unaccountable intelligence agencies and privateers in the corporate security industry continue apace.

      Based on information disclosed by AT&T whistleblower Klein and other sources, including The New York Times, the suit seeks to "halt illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance" by AT&T and other grifting telecoms of the "communications and communications records" of their customers.

      Klein told the Court in a sworn affidavit that AT&T's internet traffic in San Francisco runs through fiber-optic cables at the company's Folsom Street facility. Using a device known as a splitter, a complete copy of internet traffic that AT&T receives--email, web browsing requests and other electronic communications sent by AT&T customers, or received from people who use another internet service provider--was diverted onto a separate fiber-optic cable connected to the company's SG-3 room, controlled by NSA. Only personnel with NSA clearances--either working for, or on behalf of the agency--have access to this room.

      The evidence of corporate malfeasance presented by Klein and other whistleblowers, led the civil liberties' watchdog group to assert that AT&T's "deployment of NSA-controlled surveillance capability" is not limited to the corporation's San Francisco facility "and is consistent with an overall national AT&T deployment to from 15 to 20 similar sites, possibly more. This implies that a substantial fraction, probably well over half, of AT&T's purely domestic traffic was diverted to the NSA. At the same time, the equipment in the room is well suited to the capture and analysis of large volumes of data for purposes of surveillance."

      Obama Administration Endorses Continued Spying on Americans
      Justice Department Moves to Squash NSA Spying Suits
      http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13155

      "t is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare" -: Mark Twain

    • 10 months ago
  • Inofuilwell
    • 0
      Inofuilwell  

    • No matter how grateful many of us are that Obama beat McCain. we should remember he is not "above the law" EITHER and that any movement in that direction should be fought with every ounce of our strength!

    • 10 months ago
  • Inofuilwell
    • 0
      Inofuilwell  

    • This "shredding of the Constitution" is reversible. Let's make Obama and his administration KEENLY aware of that.

      Why not re-institute a "F.I,S.A.-like Court" with oversight but with a longer lead time for developing the reasons warrants are necessary and do away with repressive and illegal warrantless wiretapping?

    • 10 months ago
  • WhiteNoise
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  

    • It's great to see that some of you are waking up to the fact that obama is just another tool or puppet. where are all the fools who still believe in his change at now. Why arent you here defending your obama. the more silent you remain on these subjects the more we know you know he is just a shitbag liar.

    • 10 months ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • This is a good enough reason for 50,000 people to be outside the white house demanding protection of our liberties . Anger is not always a bad thing when it is appropriate . Think of your children if not yourselves !

    • 10 months ago
  • AswegoAsdego
    • 0
      AswegoAsdego  

    • This truly is joyous news! I thought for a little bit there, that Obama was something great! A politician (criminal) who did not want to destroy our rights and liberties.

      I thought we would have nothing to get angry about, nothing to protest.

      I was getting bored :( but now he is being a douche like the rest of Washington.

    • 10 months ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  

    • well he was pretty clearly for it. i still voted for him because he was the best choice.

      get over it guys. the constitution was shredded long ago.

    • 10 months ago
  • donkeyfly69
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  
    • jh64487:

      so we should just give up? you get over this: you voted for another tool. Just like those before him and those that will follow. until we stop voting for the 2 party system nothing will change.
      your boy is a shitbag liar. get over it.

    • 10 months ago
  • elementaljim
  • Ihatethemall
  • regjoeschmo
  • asherp
    • 0
      asherp  

    • I'm not surprised.

      This was the breaking reason for me. When I found out that I was illegally wiretapped by Verizon for the NSA, and then that I could not file a suit because of a law that Obama voted for-- which he said he would fillibuster!-- that was the last straw.

      I made up my mind at that point to vote third party, and everybody told me I was a moron for it.

      Well look who the moron is now?

      If you were "trusting" that he "didn't mean it" and that he actually believed everything you did, and that once in office he would reverse the course of the Bush administration-- Obama has just done the legal equivalent of taking a shit on your lawn and smiling at you while he flips you the bird.

    • 10 months ago
  • donkeyfly69
  • artemis6
  • pjacobs51
  • simplecj
  • Ihatethemall
  • regjoeschmo
    • 0
      regjoeschmo  

    • He voted for it while in senate, did anyone really think he was going to get rid of it as president??

      Oh yeah...change......actions speak louder than words, quit "choosing the lesser of two evils" if you truly want change......

    • 10 months ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • The deafening silence about this item speaks loud & clear ;)

      Obama Administration quietly expands Bush's legal defense of wiretapping program
      http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_Administration_quietly_expands_Bushs_legal_0...

      In a stunning defense of President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, President Barack Obama has broadened the government's legal argument for immunizing his Administration and government agencies from lawsuits surrounding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping efforts.

      In fact, a close read of a government filing last Friday reveals that the Obama Administration has gone beyond any previous legal claims put forth by former President Bush.

      Thank you Mindfuck Inc. we couldn't use, abuse & oh sooo confuse the rabble without your diligent & persistent aid ;)

    • 10 months ago
  • elementaljim
    • 0
      elementaljim  
    • WhiteNoise:

      The media should be all over this.. Not just Olbermann by his lonesome..
      Obama's campaign was a promise of hope and change, transparency and accountability..WTF happened?

      J.Turley on Olbermann mentioned 'the cult of personality".
      Is that what we signed up for?
      The smug prick's poll #s and popularity are off the charts and then he forgets WHY HE GOT THE VOTES?

      Wake up call!!! Calling your inflated ego..
      Mr Obama, this is the future calling and I don't think you want your kids reading about your impeachment!

      http://opinionsandreasons.blogspot.com/

    • 10 months ago
  • WhiteNoise

Add your comment

most popular
videos on current tv

current videos