Obama is just another neocon stooge. He's basically Bush in blackface. It's hilarious to me that politics have shifted so far to the right in this country that idiots actually think he's a socialist. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Remember Ron Paul? He's a libertarian. That's the far right wing of the GOP (i.e., the monarchic/feudalist "I have the right to crush you under my private boot heel" wing), and you were one of several people on this board that at one point were saying that he was the most deserving of a vote for president. At any rate, the metadata policy is not an Obama policy nor a Bush policy. That's the point of the article that I posted, which you might want to read through. Government and law enforcement access through the courts to metadata that is transmitted over phone lines is a long established legal concept. And the metadata itself is originally being collected by private corporations. They've got the same access to your landline, cell, and internet metadata as the government with even less oversight. And yet people seem much less sensitive to the "Big Brother" issues when it comes to that, which I find odd.
And so I must have totally embraced every aspect of his policies. For me, Libertarianism became more than a political ideology, but a complete lifestyle, right? I have told you over and over I considered voting Libertarian because of their positions on civil liberties. The ACLU, that extremist ultraconservative organization supportive of libertarianism, rated Gary Johnson and Ron Paul ahead of Obama in matters of civil liberties. The person I actually voted for was Jill Stein, who not only supported my views of civil liberties but also most other political positions. My state has very restrictive laws on write-in candidates; it was not a guarantee that a vote for Stein would have even been counted until close to the election. There was no real choice in Obamney. Dubya 2.0 or 3.0. I did read through that article and thought it was garbage. It didn't merit a response. "We asked for this?" That idiot can go fuck himself. Pointing out that I despise the government using surveillance doesn't in some way imply I like someone else doing it as well. Logic would suggest I don't like either, and there's not a huge separation between government and private entities these days. Big business generally runs our politicians' programs and own them through campaign donations.
And I've told you over and over that the libertarian position on "civil liberties" and "civil rights" is a total sham. They don't actually believe that the government should be allowed to enforce civil rights or civil liberties within the private sector. Ron Paul ALWAYS says that: enforcement of civil rights should NEVER violate private property or private decisions. He repeats that mantra over and over. Good luck with actually experiencing your "rights" in a society where the government is largely powerless to enforce them and anyone making a "private decision" on "private property" can do what they please. And if you think the synopsis of that article was "We asked for this", then you didn't read it.
Why does the NSA even exist in the first place? America doesn't need its own version of the Gestapo. And if the feds have to go after an American citizen for some reason, we have the FBI.
The NSA's jurisdiction is supposed to be limited to foreign communications, although I'm sure alterego will have a rationalization as to why American citizens can be considered foreign and why Obama is justified in all respects. Americans should probably be considered more foreign than people from other nations if Obama says so.
I'm more worried about Booz Allen Hamilton than I am the NSA. You guys are free to entertain your Glenn Beck/NRA Gestapo fantasies about Obama though.
Haha. Most federal agencies are redundant. The FBI and CIA should cover everything in terms of security. Booz Allen wouldn't be anything without the billions in DoD money. Why would you worry about them and not their boss?
Booz Allen Hamilton is essentially an extension of the NSA. And yet they're not really as accountable to Congress as the NSA. That's why I would be more worried about them. There's also a known revolving door between Booz Allen Hamilton corporate officials and high-level government security positions. How can you be sure that the NSA is really "the boss"?
To be honest, I'm not only concerned about the warrentless spying on Americans, but also why a private company with a name that sounds like a drunken hillbilly and that employs high school dropouts is trusted with top secret information. Intelligence doesn't really seem like an area where our government should be cheaping out with low bid contractors like this.
This is wrong on so many levels. Republicans want to remove social safety nets because they claim charity is enough. Then they pass a law outlawing feeding the poor and homeless. And these people call themselves Christians too. Also, what kind of scumbag cops would enforce such a law, and arrest a 90 year old man and two ministers who were doing something charitable? America, the country where being a decent human being and helping your fellow man is now illegal.
And then they claim that unemployment is high because illegals are stealing people's jobs. So in GOP fantasy land, you can't get a job because there are too many illegals, but then you can't feed the homeless because they should get a job.
Since this is local, I actually called the mayor's office and complained. I hope more people do the same. Fucking fascist pigs.
Remember the video of those cops in New Mexico who shot a homeless guy with assault rifles for camping too close to a rich gated community? They've been charged with murder. I hope these fuckers get convicted and beaten to death in prison. People in this country are understandably pissed off at cops. I hope this becomes a trend. http://www.koat.com/news/police-union-vp-these-officers-are-terrified/30770348 Skip to 1:15 to watch these assholes play CoD with an unarmed homeless man. Because you need body armor, a silenced M4, smoke grenades, an attack dog, and tazers to deal with the homeless. Maybe next we should give the cops rocket launchers so they can blow up the homeless tents. At this rate, that can't be far off.
Claiming that officers are "terrified" to do their jobs because of a prosecution over this is hopelessly lame. Apparently the ABQ police union isn't aware that the NYC union already tried to put pressure on elected officials and the general public that way and it was a predictably bad flop. I'm not anti-Union, but it's hard to believe how out of touch these guys sound.
Eh, I know the routine. Not guilty, sue City/Department, 7 figure payday. Holy shit I just watched the video. They shot him as he was running away... isn't that itself illegal? LOL at 12 deep para-military force scared of some guy with a box-cutter.
Police murder a guy for throwing rocks. He was running away and looks like he tried to surrender, but they shot him anyway. The trigger happy idiots were also firing repeatedly into a busy intersection during rush hour, endangering innocent bystanders.