Another thing he ain’t gonna change: the Patriot Act
Obama Quietly Backs Patriot Act Provisions
NEW YORK, 23 Nov (IPS) – 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.
When a panicky Congress passed the act 45 days after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, three contentious parts of the law were scheduled to expire at the end of next month, and opponents of these sections have been pushing Congress to substitute new provisions with substantially strengthened civil liberties protections.
But with the apparent approval of the Obama White House and a number of Republicans – and over the objections of liberal Senate Democrats including Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Dick Durbin of Illinois – the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to extend the three provisions with only minor changes.
Those provisions would leave unaltered the power of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to seize records and to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mail in the course of counterterrorism investigations.</em>
Calling all tea-party dimwits: THIS is what you should be marching about…but you won’t, will you? Because the loss of your civil liberties is okie doke, just so long as there are little brown bugga buggas to be afraid of. This is nothing to worry your empty little heads about, now finish painting that “Keep Socialism out of Medicare!” sign, you big patriot you.
