Patriot Act Up For Renewal, Nobody Notices 463
Ponca City, We Love You writes "When the Patriot Act was first signed in 2001, it was billed as a temporary measure required because of the extreme circumstances created by the terrorist threat. The fear from its opponents was that executive power, once given, is seldom relinquished. Now the Examiner reports that on January 5th, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) introduced a bill to add yet another year to the soon-to-be-expiring Patriot Act, extending it until February, 2012, with passage likely to happen after little debate or contention. If passed, this would be the second time the Obama administration has punted on campaign promises to roll back excessive surveillance measures allowed under the act. Last year's extension passed under the heading of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act. 'Given the very limited number of days Congress has in session before the current deadline, and the fact that the bill's Republican sponsor is only seeking another year, I think it's safe to read this as signaling an agreement across the aisle to put the issue off yet again,' writes Julian Sanchez."
But he... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:About Obama's campaign promises. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:He could always... (Score:5, Informative)
Interesting theory... except for the fact that Obama's birth certificat has been produced, a copy is available on-line, and its validity has been repeatedly verified by the state of Hawaii.
It's more accurate to say that those right-wing nutters (and racists) will not be persuaded from their tin-hat conspiracy theories by anything as pesky as facts. They cling to it tenatiously, regardless.
Re:He could always... (Score:4, Informative)
I can think of other politicians who would have that kind of courage: Russ Feingold (who had the courage to vote against it to begin with), Bernie Sanders (listen to him talk, you'll see exactly why), Dennis Kucinich (who's also been against it all along, and has taken tougher stands before), and Ralph Nader.
The thing is, those guys are all seen as dangerous by the Democratic and Republican Party leadership, so their chance of getting elected president is basically nil.
you're joking, right? (Score:2, Informative)
Obama is worse than Bush: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush [eff.org]
Re:He could always... (Score:5, Informative)
Nope not near left enough.
An actual consumer protection law would have been nice, the current one was written by the CC companies. Cap and Trade would have been nice though, it might have actually worked. It worked for Sulfer Dioxide, but I don't expect your kind to use facts or stuff like that. We do not need lower oil prices, we need higher ones. Only higher oil prices will create a market incentive to alternative fuels. Any oil buying is the same as buying it from foreign producers as oil is fungible. As far as the ban on deep water drilling that should stay in place until they can actually close wells in a timely manner.
He still registers about the same point in the spectrum as Reagan.
Re:voted (Score:4, Informative)
If W was really an idiot, would it be his fault? Guess what: he's Ivy-league educated, and not an idiot.
"I'm going to put people in my place, so when the history of this administration is written at least there's an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened." --George W. Bush
"One of the very difficult parts of the decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people's money to help prevent there to be a crisis." --George W. Bush
"I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best." --George W. Bush
"In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession." --George W. Bush
"First of all, I don't see America having problems." --George W. Bush
"I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there's a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House." --George W. Bush
The man is a fucking idiot.
You really want to know? (Score:5, Informative)
When Obama was elected, he had a website, basically "hey citizens, tell us what you want!" The most popular thing on that site, bar none, by huge margins, was the legalization of marijuana. You know what Obama did? He laughed it off. He mentioned it, but specifically said the only reason he was mentioning it was because he wanted us to know it wasn't going to happen.
That's what happens when the public makes its will clearly known.
This is not a democracy. This is a corporatist republic. Once you fully understand that, you'll stop wasting your time writing letters.