Words fail me: NSA collecting phone records
I’ve officially lost all hope that anything g is going to get done for the remainder of Obama’s Presidency.
While I’m disgusted by the practice, I didn’t think this was a new issue. I thought it was established practice under Bush, and that Obama had sadly made clear he was not going to do anything to change it. Is there something novel about this particular instance?
Publicity.
The scandal is that laws were passed so that this bullshit is legal.
This is old news that is only being called a “scandal” now because it’s got Obama’s name attached to it. From your link:
Emphasis added. Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely opposed to this kind of surveillance and have been ever since the post-9/11 “War on Terror” measures got started. But it’s absurd for anti-Obama media to pretend that this is somehow a new thing that’s specifically Obama’s fault.
To the conservative frothers who are screaming about government tyranny, I say: Well, jackasses, this is why we civil-liberties types were trying to tell you ten years ago that you should oppose this kind of intrusive draconian security measure. Because someday, after you’ve calmed down from your “root out and kill all the Mooslim terrists!!1!!!” frenzy, such measures are still going to be operative under an administration you don’t like.
To the Obama admirers who are disappointed that his administration hasn’t voluntarily discontinued this practice, I say: Suckers. I voted for Obama too because both times he was clearly better than the other guy, but I never kidded myself that the liberal principles of his administration extended to actually relinquishing any kind of executive power, however illegitimately derived.
Frankly, I’m scandaled out. These are the Boys who Cried Scandal. It appears that every month or two, some event is paraded around as a Big Scandal. It’s some Big Important Thing that we all need to Pay Attention To, and when you look under the covers it’s just business as usual, or absolutely nothing at all.
So, he’s doing the same thing his predecessor did, while never claiming he would stop the practice. Wow, let’s have a look at my shocked face. :rolleyes:
One, two, three and to the fo’
President Obama orders the NSA to your do’
Ready to make an entrance, so back on up
(‘Cause you know about to rip shit up)
Gimme the phone records first, so I can bust like a bubble
Obama and Bush together, now you know you in trouble
Ain’t nuthin’ but a “G” thang, baaaaabay!
It’s just the national security state spinning away from the control of the democracy, what’s the problem?
Agree. What really sticks in my craw is how many house committees do we have dedicated to these “scandals”?
But look at how many are dedicated to repealing the statutes that make this type of thing legal? :smack:
Another case of it is wrong because a D did it.
Bravo, sir.
Odd that noone stops to wonder where all these revelations are coming from, and all of a sudden, too. I’ve said it before, in trying to throw the CIA and the Clintons under the bus for Benghazi, Obama chose … poorly.
This shit right here. This is why I read the Dope.
Did I miss this in my Scandal Induced Coma?
Every discussion devolves into “We need to give Obama our unconditional support because Bush was bad and will magically come back for a third term if we don’t, and also everything Obama does is fine because Bush (who, remember is evil to a mystical degree!) did similar things.”
I’d try to use logic on these people but it would work about as well as talking to a Scientologist. Any moral person should be as done with this administration as they were with the last one, but there’s too many True Believers out there who are more interested in defending their team on the Internet than thinking.
Ummm, ALL of them?
The PATRIOT Act was signed on October 26, 2001. What a peculiar time to get upset over it.
It sucked then, and it sucks now. I see no reason to be less pissed at it over time, but possibly the opposite. I think some people were hoping it was an overreaction to a crazy event and that eventually we’d figure out that it was stupid. Apparently, not so much.
Obama is just as much as an asshole for using it now as Bush was for signing it into law then (although obviously it involves a lot more people than just the President - plenty of blame to go around).
… Which many of the people screaming about it now did not protest (and indeed, actively supported) when he did it. At least the liberals concerned about civil liberties are consistent. That is the point of at least some of those responding.
Heck, I’m not sure which I’m more disturbed by: hypocritical conservatives for whom the current news is suddenly BAD because the President is different, or the consistent ones who think that the surveillance is STILL a-okay.
Agreed about it sucking, but did a lot of you seriously believe that this practice had stopped occurring at some point for some reason? I think it’s pretty weird to get re-offended over something we all already knew about.
I’d say I’ve been similarly annoyed by it the whole time, but there have been large gaps of time when I wasn’t thinking about it - so much other shit going on.