Obama Continues Bush's Illegal Drone Surveillance

[Diomedes]

With all of these revelations that the Cheney Bush regime is a secretive, authoritarian spying group of thugs, I wonder if the government isn't engaging in a broad domestic psy-ops campaign.  The question being, how big a difference is there to them between actually spying on us all over the place, and getting us to think they are doing it?

If they can scare us into thinking we are being watched--for our own safety and security they ominously claim--then the population is easier to control.  Being scared of being recorded, we limit our speech even further than we otherwise might.  Instead of joking about Bush dying being a good thing, we keep our mouths shut, for example.  Instead of complaining that the armor we were promised isn't coming, we stay quiet.  Rather than tell our families and friends that we are going to protest this or that, we skip it. 

The impression that we are being spied on is a handy tool for keeping the people in line with the government's agenda.

This Bush guy and his gang of criminals...worst administration ever.  I'll repeat it over and over again, no president has gone so far towards trashing the Constitution and ruining the U.S.

I can't stand McCain, and he truly has been Bush's insipid little lap dog, but even he once in power cannot possibly be this bad.  farg, at least the man understands that torture is ineffective, wrong, and un-American.

[Rome]

He might understand that torture is wrong but he's never come out and said the U.S. won't employ those tactics.

He's a worthless piece of shtein and so is the funhole he's running with.

[Diomedes]

well, it's not a spying story, but it speaks to the secretive, police-state, core of Bush Cheney's war on human rights:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Guantanamo-Chinese-Detainees.html

November 20, 2008
Conservatives Call on Bush to Free Muslim Uighurs
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:24 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A group of conservatives is chastising the Bush administration for refusing to free 17 Turkic Muslims being held without charges at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying their continued detention defies legal principles and ''undermines our standing in the world.''

The 10 conservatives, including legal scholars and officials who worked for Republican presidents, said the Uighurs -- a group of Muslims from China -- should be freed immediately because they are no longer considered enemy combatants. Their statement comes as a federal appeals court was set to hear arguments next week on whether the Bush administration overstepped its constitutional bounds by blocking the Uighurs' release.

''The executive branch is wrong to have detained the Uighurs for nearly seven years without meaningful review,'' says a letter being released Thursday by The Constitution Project, a bipartisan think tank. ''Moreover, it is wrong in opposing the exercise of their habeas corpus rights, and it is wrong in asserting they can be detained indefinitely.''

The letter was signed by Stephen E. Abraham, a 26-year veteran of military intelligence who played a key role in the ''enemy combatant'' hearings at Guantanamo Bay before repudiating the process last year; Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell; and Bruce Fein, former associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration.

''The continued detention of the 17 Uighurs in Guantanamo compromises our principles and undermines our standing in the world,'' they wrote.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in October ordered the government to immediately free the detainees into the United States, criticizing their detention as having ''crossed the constitutional threshold into infinitum.''

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit blocked their release while the Justice Department appeals the decision, a process that could take years.

At issue is whether a federal judge has the authority to order the release of prisoners at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay who were unlawfully detained by the U.S. and cannot be sent back to their homeland.

The Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurz), who are Turkic-speaking Muslims in western China, have been cleared for release but fear they will be tortured if they are turned over to China.

The Bush administration, which contends the Uighurs are too dangerous to be admitted into the U.S., has said it was continuing ''heightened'' efforts to find another country to accept them. Albania accepted five Uighur detainees in 2006 but since has balked at taking others, partly for fear of diplomatic repercussions from China.

Other signers to Thursday's statement are David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, a lobbying group; Richard Epstein, a prominent conservative legal scholar at the University of Chicago; former FBI director William Sessions; Thomas B. Evans Jr., former co-chairman of the Republican National Committee; Mickey Edwards, former chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee; John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute; and Don Wallace Jr., chairman of the International Law Institute.

[ice grillin you]

another example of the patriot act gone wrong....i must lololol @ the women saying 'never in my worst nightmare did i ever think that it would be my own government that i would have to protect my children from.....this is the united states....and i feel like i live in a third world country now"...

bitch this is exactly what opponents of the act were warning about when it was passed....all this crap sounds awesome till five oh is knocking down your door

slippery slope indeed

Oxford, N.C. — Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall.

But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.

Teen's mom questions Patriot Act

The family was at a church function that night, his mother, Annette Lundeby, said.

"Undoubtedly, they were given false information, or they would not have had 12 agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats," Lundeby said.

Around 10 p.m. on March 5, Lundeby said, armed FBI agents along with three local law enforcement officers stormed her home looking for her son. They handcuffed him and presented her with a search warrant.

"I was terrified," Lundeby's mother said. "There were guns, and I don't allow guns around my children. I don't believe in guns."

Lundeby told the officers that someone had hacked into her son's IP address and was using it to make crank calls connected through the Internet, making it look like the calls had originated from her home when they did not.

Her argument was ignored, she said. Agents seized a computer, a cell phone, gaming console, routers, bank statements and school records, according to federal search warrants.

"There were no bomb-making materials, not even a blasting cap, not even a wire," Lundeby said.

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.

Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.

"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."

Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records.

"They're saying that 'We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we're going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States," said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case.

Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties.

"There's nothing a matter of public record," Boyce said "All those normal rights are just suspended in the air."

In a bi-partisan effort, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., last month introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill that would narrow subpoena power in a provision of the Patriot Act, called the National Security Letters, to curb what some consider to be abuse of power by federal law enforcement officers.

Boyce said the Patriot Act was written with good intentions, but he said he believes it has gone too far in some cases. Lundeby's might be one of them, he said.

"It very well could be a case of overreaction, where an agent leaped to certain conclusions or has made certain assumptions about this individual and about how serious the threat really is," Boyce said.

Because a federal judge issued a gag order in the case, the U.S. attorney in Indiana cannot comment on the case, nor can the FBI. The North Carolina Highway Patrol did confirm that officers assisted with the FBI operation at the Lundeby home on March 5.

"Never in my worst nightmare did I ever think that it would be my own government that I would have to protect my children from," Lundeby said. "This is the United States, and I feel like I live in a third world country now."

Lundeby said she does not think this type of case is what the Patriot Act was intended for. Boyce agrees.

"It was to protect the public, but what we need to do is to make sure there are checks and balances to make sure those new laws are not abused," he said.

[Rome]

another example of the patriot act gone wrong....i must lololol @ the women saying 'never in my worst nightmare did i ever think that it would be my own government that i would have to protect my children from.....this is the united states....and i feel like i live in a third world country now"...

bitch this is exactly what opponents of the act were warning about when it was passed....all this crap sounds awesome till five oh is knocking down your door

slippery slope indeed

Oxford, N.C. — Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall.

But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.

Teen's mom questions Patriot Act

The family was at a church function that night, his mother, Annette Lundeby, said.

"Undoubtedly, they were given false information, or they would not have had 12 agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats," Lundeby said.

Around 10 p.m. on March 5, Lundeby said, armed FBI agents along with three local law enforcement officers stormed her home looking for her son. They handcuffed him and presented her with a search warrant.

"I was terrified," Lundeby's mother said. "There were guns, and I don't allow guns around my children. I don't believe in guns."

Lundeby told the officers that someone had hacked into her son's IP address and was using it to make crank calls connected through the Internet, making it look like the calls had originated from her home when they did not.

Her argument was ignored, she said. Agents seized a computer, a cell phone, gaming console, routers, bank statements and school records, according to federal search warrants.

"There were no bomb-making materials, not even a blasting cap, not even a wire," Lundeby said.

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.

Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.

"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."

Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records.

"They're saying that 'We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we're going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States," said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case.

Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties.

"There's nothing a matter of public record," Boyce said "All those normal rights are just suspended in the air."

In a bi-partisan effort, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., last month introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill that would narrow subpoena power in a provision of the Patriot Act, called the National Security Letters, to curb what some consider to be abuse of power by federal law enforcement officers.

Boyce said the Patriot Act was written with good intentions, but he said he believes it has gone too far in some cases. Lundeby's might be one of them, he said.

"It very well could be a case of overreaction, where an agent leaped to certain conclusions or has made certain assumptions about this individual and about how serious the threat really is," Boyce said.

Because a federal judge issued a gag order in the case, the U.S. attorney in Indiana cannot comment on the case, nor can the FBI. The North Carolina Highway Patrol did confirm that officers assisted with the FBI operation at the Lundeby home on March 5.

"Never in my worst nightmare did I ever think that it would be my own government that I would have to protect my children from," Lundeby said. "This is the United States, and I feel like I live in a third world country now."

Lundeby said she does not think this type of case is what the Patriot Act was intended for. Boyce agrees.

"It was to protect the public, but what we need to do is to make sure there are checks and balances to make sure those new laws are not abused," he said.


farging nazi bastiches!

I fully support the government in everything they do.

[Diomedes]

if you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear?

U.S.A.!!  U.S.A.!

[Rome]

Run your cursor over IGY's post, specifically the bottom.

[rjs246]

if you're not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear?

This line of reasoning right here is the single biggest thing that makes me want to murder people. Every time I hear someone say this I want to find something heavy and bludgeon them to death with it. And then feast on their minuscule brains.

Wait, strike that last part. I hate zombies.

[General_Failure]

I understand, sorta, the 12 agents there, but why did they bring a widow and cats?

[Tomahawk]

Run your cursor over IGY's post, specifically the bottom.

That's some incognito shtein. You should open a spy agency

[Diomedes]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/10/bush.surveillance/index.html

the more time goes by, the more we learn about how Bush Cheney broke laws to spy on us.

worst president ever

[MadMarchHare]

You gotta admit, though, they were great criminals.

[shorebird]

I fully support the government in everything they do.

Yeah, even when they are frittering away our money for generations to come.

[Diomedes]

how is this not treason?

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency's director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html?_r=1&hp

[Rome]

I'm astounded that power was peacefully transferred last January.  Fascist pigs.