Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Surveillance State, U.S.A.

icon gravatar.comwww.tomdispatch.com/post/175138
sent by nasrudin since 7 days 18 hours 41 minutes, published about 7 days 5 hours 35 minutes
In his approach to National Security Agency surveillance, as well as CIA renditions, drone assassinations, and military detention, President Obama has to a surprising extent embraced the expanded executive powers championed by his conservative predecessor, George W. Bush. This bipartisan affirmation of the imperial executive could "reverberate for generations," warns Jack Balkin, a specialist on First Amendment freedoms at Yale Law School. And consider these but some of the early fruits from the hybrid seeds that the Global War on Terror has planted on American soil. Yet surprisingly few Americans seem aware of the toll that this already endless war has taken on our civil liberties.
tags: war vs liberty
3 commentscategory: Progressive Issues karma: 160

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  1. #1    Given Obama's record of supporting expansion and extension of the PATRIOT Act, the star-chamber FISA "court" blank check for surveillance, and even immunity for illegal surveillance, his embrace of "the expanded executive powers championed by his conservative predecessor, George W. Bush" shouldn't be surprising to anyone paying attention.
    written by nasrudin since 7 days 18 hours 35 minutesnasrudin
  2. #2    The sad thing is that there was absolutely, positively NOTHING "surprising" about this. Predictable as the sun rising tomorrow that power given is power retained. How many of us have said so for several years now on these blogs?

    The founding fathers understood that we must be a nation of LAW or we are nothing. They knew what foolishness it was to HOPE that the next king would be a "good" king, so contemporary Americans, in comparison, will be seen by history to have been fatally stupid in their complacency. The precedent has been set for an imperial presidency now and the Judas who did our country in was the cowardly and politically conniving Nancy Pelosi who "just didn't see any reason to call for impeachment."
    written by smchris since 7 days 4 minutessmchris
  3. #3    The American people don't really know what their civil liberties are. They may well complain about having to removes shoes and belts at the airport, but "it's for our own good". When you point out that Federal (and maybe local) law enforcement can invade your home without having to have a warrant in hand, the reply usually is "I'm not doing anything illegal", not recognizing that whatever the government wants to imply you are doing may well be so and that you conspired with someone to do it. All they need to do is show a jury enough circumstantial evidence that makes their case and you are in prison for doing nothing!

    The American people are going to demonstrate the truth in the statement "You don't really know what you've got 'til it's gone". The only problem is that in doing so, they also take away my rights - and I KNOW what I've got.
    written by neoconned since 6 days 23 hours 7 minutesneoconned
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