ACLU says Bush & Obama the same

www.washingtontimes.com...

Maybe people will start to wake up on the other side now? I never liked Bush or his policies and I continue to have distrust for the government even though there is a democrat in office for this very reason. The "slippery slope" is quite present in this.

The American Civil Liberties Union warned Mr. Obama, in a report based on a review of his 18 months in office, that his administration was on course to institutionalize the policies of his predecessor. The ACLU was a fierce critic of President George W. Bush's war on terror.

Yeah, yeah, "If you dont do anything wrong then they wont bother you". But, whoever is in charge is who's definition of what "wrong" is always changing. Many on the right would probably remember that after Obama took office people with Ron Paul stickers and people who believed in the 2nd Amendment were called a threat and labeled "domestic terrorists".

Now, lets fast forward a bit thru time. Can anybody honestly say that if somebody that is really power hungry that gets into office wont use these same tactics that have now become institutionalized to get his/her way? Can you people not see that there is no right/left, no haves/have nots? There is only people who want power and people who dont want power and the people that want the power tend to like to keep it. Obama campaigned on getting rid of such tactics but has yet to follow up on them, and he campaigned hard on them. And most of the people that voted for him believed that he would get rid of the Patriot act, the torture, the tribunals and the rendition. He hasnt stopped any of it because he was just saying things to get a vote like Sarah Palin will say if she is nominated, I guarantee it.

The people of this country ARE GETTING PLAYED. The people on the left/right all get into a fervor, believe the campaign promises, and forget them after their leader gets into office. When are people going to wake up before it turns into 1984?

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

About damn time they stumbled into some truth.

reply to post by dizzie56

When are people going to wake up before it turns into 1984?

It's a slippery slope we've been on for a while. Orwell wrote the book in 1948 based on what he saw as trends in his time.

We had a brief respite during Johnson and Nixon and up to the Reagan administrations with:
Freedom of Information Act of 1966
Privacy Act of 1974

Following the Watergate scandal, President Gerald R. Ford wanted to sign Freedom of Information Act-strengthening amendments in the Privacy Act of 1974, but concern (by his chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld and deputy Richard Cheney) about leaks and legal arguments that the bill was unconstitutional (by government lawyer Antonin Scalia, among others) persuaded Ford to veto the bill, according to documents declassified in 2004.[7] However, Congress voted to override Ford's veto, giving the United States the core Freedom of Information Act still in effect today, with judicial review of executive secrecy claims
en.wikipedia.org...(United_States)

There's some interesting names: Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney, Antonin Scalia

United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities of 1975

A series of troubling revelations started to appear in the press concerning intelligence activities. First came the revelations of Christopher Pyle in January 1970 of the U.S. Army's spying on the civilian population[2] and Sam Ervin's Senate investigations that resulted.[3] The dam broke on 22 December 1974, when The New York Times published a lengthy article by Seymour Hersh detailing operations engaged in by the CIA over the years that had been dubbed the "family jewels". Covert action programs involving assassination attempts against foreign leaders and covert attempts to subvert foreign governments were reported for the first time. In addition, the article discussed efforts by intelligence agencies to collect information on the political activities of US citizens.[4]
en.wikipedia.org...

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA)

Then we started sliding again with Reagan's War on Terror, Bush's war on gangs and war on drugs, Clinton's war on non-conformist religious groups and right wing "universal rights challenged" groups. All these served to erode citizen rights to not be unduly molested or survailed.

Then 2001, and the crew mentioned previously was back in the administration. 9-11 and everything gets back into place. FOIA? Forget it. Privacy Act? Forget about it. FISA? Forget about it. Universal warrantless surveillance is in. Extrajudicial executions. "Enhanced Interrogation". Indefinite detention without charges. Secret prisons, extraordinary rendition. Eternal war of terror. 1984 full blown.

Obama has seen to it that no one will be brought to justice, for that, we can charge him for obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact. He has taken the position of prosecuting whistleblowers instead of the criminals exposed by whistleblowers. He seeks further warrantless access to private lives.

Some may say, "but it's the system. It takes a long time to turn it around. Can't blame him." I can blame him. He could right now today, declassify everything, blow the whistle on every illegal practice and person in government, and resign in protest. That would be cool.




[edit on 30-7-2010 by pthena]