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View Full Version : A Sad Dose of Reality for the Obama-Bashers (Left- and Right-Wingers Alike)



Cigar
07-11-2013, 08:51 AM
One of the many things Wingnuts blame Obama for is the recently “revealed” Domestic Surveillance State. These fools forget that domestic spying goes back at least to the end of World War II, and has been doing nothing but grow ever since. So blaming any one President is ignorant at best. And blaming Obama is particularly idiotic.


If you’re going to complain about some of the more recent manifestations of our “one nation under surveillance” state (and really, you should be complaining, and that loudly), you have to go back to the reign of Bush the Dumber, the so-called “Patriot Act”, and all of its bastard children. These shameful bits of fear-based liberty destruction were rammed through after the Bushies let 9/11 happen, and have been the bane of freedom ever since.


One surprising little part of that law can be found in this article from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/05/did-you-know-john-roberts-is-also-chief-justice-of-the-nsas-surveillance-state/ Briefly put: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court is made up of 11 jurists who have the power to approve or disapprove of wiretaps, email monitoring, and all the other spying activities many of us seem to just be finding out about.

And one man, with no oversight, guidelines, checks or balances, chooses each and every one of those judges: John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court. And he has picked “conservative” judges that pretty much follow the Bush/Cheney philosophy towards the Bill of Rights: that being, “f*** your so-called-rights, peons”. Small wonder that pretty much every request for surveillance gets approved. From the article:

“No other part of U.S. law works this way. The chief justice can’t choose the judges who rule on health law, or preside over labor cases, or decide software patents. But when it comes to surveillance, the composition of the bench is entirely in his hands, and, as a result, so is the extent to which the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation can spy on citizens.


“It really is up to these FISA judges to decide what the law means and what the NSA and FBI gets to do,” said Julian Sanchez, a privacy scholar at the Cato Institute. “So Roberts is single-handedly choosing the people who get to decide how much surveillance we’re subject to.”

Roberts was and is, of course, a Bush appointee, and Obama has no power over him. None. Zippo, Zilch. Nada. Ixnay. So, to blame Obama for the actions of the FISA court is far, far, FAR beyond stupid. There are many things we can blame him for, of course, but not this.


Memo to wingnuts of all sorts: Before blaming Obama, check to see if the facts support your case. If they don’t, then kindly STFU.



Mr. Blunt and Cranky

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/a-sad-dose-of-reality-for-the-obama-bashers-left-and-right-wingers-alike/

P.S.: Another Supreme Court action, taken before Obama took office, helped make this current state of affairs possible: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323873904578571893758853344.html#a rticleTabs%3Dvideo .

He’s not to blame for that, either. :laugh:

Cigar
07-11-2013, 11:56 AM
What ... no counter arguments to the facts? :laugh: