Nice apology for the Obama administration and his appointments. Did you happen to catch the Democratic Congress person defending this on PBS last night? Clapper was appointed by Obama and lied to Congress. You don't lie to Congress if it's low priority. He intentionally lied watch him scratching his head. If this was poker and he was in I'm calling.
Oh, I have no doubt that prominent Democrats were involved in this also. It's absolutely true that the level of surveillance increased after 2008 and that everybody has dirty hands here. Lots of the technologies that we take for granted in 2013 are *very* new technologies. Twitter didn't exist when The Patriot Act was passed as an example. Lying to Congress is a felony. Not sure how Clapper is going to defend himself other than arguing semantics or just refusing to address the issue at all and seeing if Congress wants to come after him. The Justice Department not acting on a Congressional request wouldn't work in this case. Watch for the kiss of death Special Prosecutor announcement. The other thing to remember is that low priority in 2009 and 2013 are not the same thing. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's easy to see the Obama administration as passengers in 2009 and the driver in 2013.
If you were to tell me that in 2013 Bush would be blamed for his competence in erecting a police state and Obama would be vindicated because of his incompetence in supporting the police state I would have thought it impossible. Spin is a wonderful thing.
United we stand....divided we fall. Partisan politics us another reason the gov is able to trample the constitution . We have never been more divided,yet both parties work for the same boss
Bingo..... People are shocked that Obama has done tons of the same things Bush has done. It's easy to distract the publiec when they are too stupid eating you up becaue Oprah gets a hard on for you or that Jay Z hangs out with you. We are losing freedoms and rights all the time (think CISPA) yet TMZ says you're cool so I'm ok with that.
What makes you think the public doesn't support the idea of public security over individual rights when it comes right down to it?
winner winner, chicken dinner.... u sir have cracked open one of the political safes in the closet. bury the party "goals" in a medium that can carry them forward. brilliance
i still think BO is as teflon as they come but it is interesting to hear his numerous election speeches constitutional rights and fast forward to the recent scandals. talk about pulling over the wool. its so obvious that even bush should be proud. funny to see the liberal tv stations squirm and try to deflect the term "scandal" when discussing this stuff. pure gold.
Isn't this all covered under the Patriot Act? That's why I thought it was enacted. To give gov't an additional means of tracking internal threats. Now it appears the question becomes, does this law need tweaking. I know the CIA by charter is prevented from spying on Americans in country but I'm not sure if the NSA isn't.
winner winner, chicken dinner.... u sir have cracked open one of the political safes in the closet. bury the party "goals" in a medium that can carry them forward. duplicated by mistake. sorry.
The public supports this in a genuine crisis moment. The problem is that we've been maneuvered (herded) into believing that every day life is a crisis moment. Nobody doubts that the immediate aftermath of 9/11 warranted giving up some liberty in the pursuit of security. The problem is that 9/11 was an event, not a new reality. Incompetence in securing us against that event initially (none of the agencies talking to each other very well) doesn't warrant permanently giving up our civil liberties in the name of security. If you put it to the average person this way about two-thirds would land on the side of civil liberties and a third on the side of police state. If you continually create a crisis atmosphere it's going to be more like 50/50.
so do you think 9/11 was just a coincidental blessing to those who have the interest to manipulate us?
Government complicity in 9/11 is a topic that is similar to the "did FDR know the Japanese strike force was bearing down on Pearl Harbor?" question. While I don't for a minute believe that FDR allowed hundreds of US servicemen to die in a massacre or that GWB allowed thousands of Americans to die in 9/11 it's pretty clear that they both had agendas that were advanced by the incidents in question.
Don't worry, the news will tell everyone who is to blame. Depends on what news you watch and who you want to be blamed, but it will all work out in the end. Oh by the way, don't forget to have your microchip implanted so that they can track every other aspect of your life and also turn the concept of money into what they really want it to be - a digital leash that can be turned into a choke collar if you ever, EVER decide to think out of line.
i have for a long time believed it to be so. The things that are happening are a carefully laid out plan. In order to carry them out,they NEED these events to happen. I don't think a plan with the amount of planning is left in patience for the day something might happen. I guess it all boils down to what we think those who govern us are capable of.
It's not long before corporations end up ironically bailing the US government out of it's self-imposed tax deficit. Corporations will truly end up running this country. The cabinet will end up being amazingly successful businessmen who have duped the populace for years. The same corporations that have participated in the US Committee on Foreign Relations for years. But before that, the US will have devalued the dollar to the point that no country will recognize the $ as the standard for international trade, and a new currency will emerge. Call it the Amero, although it will probably have a different name. The North American Union - US, Canada, and Mexico, will use this currency to compete with Asian currency and the Euro, and then the European Union and the North American Union will merge their interests to control international trade yet again, although this time with a truly iron fist, and wage war on China, India, France, Japan, Russia and whoever else refuses to comply. That is WWIII. A corporate and technological war that will likely trim down population very efficiently. And the morons in this country will be mesmerized by Euramerican Idol and hope that their favorite singer wins, while eating food that is made from cloned cows and pigs, reading news online that is tailored to their psychological makeup, and "driving" cars that think for themselves and allow their "drivers" to continue to be mesmerized by media programs designed to keep them docile. Wake the fuck up.
It really is sad. I have a friend who turned me on to ideas back in the late 80s,that are happening now.
