Not only has Obama defended and immunized the Bush Administration against lawsuits for illegal wiretapping, it expands protection of government agencies for spying on U.S. citizens. 

From Raw Story:

Responding to a lawsuit filed by a civil liberties group, the Justice Department argued that the government was protected by "sovereign immunity" from lawsuits because of a little-noticed clause in the Patriot Act.

For the first time, the Obama Administration's brief contends that government agencies cannot be sued for wiretapping American citizens even if there was intentional violation of US law. They maintain that the government can only be sued if the wiretaps involve "willful disclosure" -- a higher legal bar.

"A 'willful violation' in Section 223(c(1) refers to the 'willful disclosure' of intelligence information by government agents, as described in Section 223(a)(3) and (b)(3), and such disclosures by the Government are the only actions that create liability against the United States," Obama Assistant Attorney General Michael Hertz wrote (page 5).*

Sinking feeling from last November confirmed.  Obama sold his soul to satan.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/04/firedevil.gif

*Or, as Keith Olbermann commented, it's like saying it's legal for me to steal your money and only illegal if I spend any of it.

Obama is a moderate....  moderately oppressive.

Still, that's better than Bush's enthusiastically oppressiveness.

Hey, we asked for a government that listened to its people.

Well, now we've got one.

Hey, we asked for a government that listened to its people.

Well, now we've got one.


ROFL!

+1 karma dude (something I almost never do)

SOmehow I am not hearing all that much uproar about this in the media.  I guess because it is President Obama, it is OK to most of them. 

Hey, we asked for a government that listened to its people.

Well, now we've got one.


U get 1 from me too! 

Keith Olbermann condemned the Obama Administration's decision, but he didn't go after them they way he used to go after Bush.  They need to be tougher on Obama if he's going to continue the ravaging of the Constitution. 
::)

Hey, we asked for a government that listened to its people.

Well, now we've got one.

:)

Perfect satire... (queue "Every step you take" playing as background music)

Hey, we asked for a government that listened to its people.

Well, now we've got one.



Karma from me, too.



This really pisses me off. This is clearly a violation of the Constitution and needs to be abolished and the Obama Administration needs to hold the Bush Administration accountable for violating the Constitution.  >:( >:( >:(



Cat

young turks are screaming their heads off about this. between this and obama's bailout plan for the bank fatcats, he's looking like a republican in sheep's clothing to me. sucks. i wish i'd voted third party.  :(

ROFL!

+1 karma dude (something I almost never do)

SOmehow I am not hearing all that much uproar about this in the media.  I guess because it is President Obama, it is OK to most of them. 
i don't know who your sources are but the people i listen to are outraged about this, and about the bailout plan.

republican/neocon policies dont get an ounce of legitimacy from me just because an alleged "democrat" does them.

i'm telling ya, a vote for ron paul or cynthia mckinney would have been better than voting for this obama chowderhead, if he's gonna act like this. i gave this noodleloaf 150 bucks!

i don't know who your sources are but the people i listen to are outraged about this, and about the bailout plan.

republican/neocon policies dont get an ounce of legitimacy from me just because an alleged "democrat" does them.

i'm telling ya, a vote for ron paul or cynthia mckinney would have been better than voting for this obama chowderhead, if he's gonna act like this. i gave this noodleloaf 150 bucks!


It could be because the mainstream media is actually...conservative.
::)

I counseled cautious optimism to my liberal brethren; however, Obama exuberance was all the rage straight through inauguration day.  You know, I was psyched too.  I just never lost grip of the fact that Obama was not getting his hands on the levers of power without paying the devil.  If he didn't, he would have been marginalized just like Kucinich, McKinney, Nader, and Ron Paul. 

I still didn't think Obama would go for anything this sh*tty in a million years. 


Turns out Ralph Nader was right and the Democratic party was wrong.  If Obama continues down this path, next time I don't vote for him.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/15/stop.gif

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again


Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again


Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss


Karma from me and Pete!

Fool me once shame...shame on you; fool me-can't get fooled again!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/11/BangHead.gif

SOmehow I am not hearing all that much uproar about this in the media.  I guess because it is President Obama, it is OK to most of them. 


/takes a bow

http://mschaut.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/fascist.jpg

In the interest of giving credit where credit's due - it was a Democrat who came up with the original elephant-version of this Photoshop a few years ago.

(I also took the liberty of entering you in the Easter avatar contest.  Sorry dude, that av is pure win, and if you didn't pick it as part of an Easter theme, that just elevates it from "pure win" to "epic win".)


Perfect satire... (queue "Every step you take" playing as background music)



Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss


Both great tracks, but I always used Judas Priest's Electric Eye as the model. 

Priest nailed it in 1982.  It took barely 20 years for metal hyperbole to become documentary.  Every word - in verse and chorus - has since been implemented.  Not just omnipresent surveillance, but automated omnipresent surveillance.  There's nothing we can do about it (develop and expose), it feeds upon our every thought, and so its power grows.

I'm made of metal, my circuits gleam
I am perpetual, I keep the country clean.
I'm elected, electric spy,
I'm protected, electric eye.

They even got the politics of it right. 

in other words, godwin's law is not applicable when applied against democrats.

got it.  ;)

who exactly are the liberals who are NOT pissed about this move? olbermann flew into a frenzy, TYT is ballistic, it's all over democracy now. it's not that liberals are suddenly ok with torture, it's that obama's apparently not a liberal. the bankers and war profiteers maybe snuck him through the dem party apparatus, which hasn't been answerable to the liberal political apparatus for some time anyway. and they're smart, the bankers, they knew the bush line was cooked and they fudged up with mccain/palin, so maybe they made obama an offer he couldn't refuse.

maybe we just got fooled. when folks talk about how he suddenly rose up from out of nowhere, all hopey, maybe they have a point. if he follows conventional bush-style ideology but gives good speech, what have we got? a long wait till 2012, is what.

if he continues to support this crap and the bank bailouts i will leave obama by the side of the road in a heartbeat. once again we have a strawman from the right. BHO is actually doing your guys' bidding, as far as i can tell at the moment.

gll!!!! i'm velly angly!

  it's not that liberals are suddenly ok with torture, it's that obama's apparently not a liberal.


Exactly. 

The 'pubs froth because the Democratic candidate's "a liberal hippie freak", thereby driving liberals to vote for the Democratic candidate.

Just like in 2000, 2004, and 2008, the 'dems frothed because the Republican candidate was "a conservative whackjob", thereby driving hawks to vote for the Republican candidate.

The Party has figured out how to split the electorate into two ~50% voting blocs, and forever ensure that a Party member always wins the election.

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers. 

I'm so glad I never got my hopes up about Obama. During the election, everybody loved him and I found it so ridiculous because they had no reason to. Nobody even knew who he was. But if you said one critical word about him, voiced any doubt, any one of his acolytes nearby would jump all over you...

The thing is, I never disliked Obama, I just am always weary of popular movements formed around a charismatic leader and which become so quickly dogmatic. And none of this is actually Obama's fault. It's his worshippers followers I can't stand. 

Gotta love humans. We truly never learn.

I'm so glad I never got my hopes up about Obama. During the election, everybody loved him and I found it so ridiculous because they had no reason to. Nobody even knew who he was. But if you said one critical word about him, voiced any doubt, any one of his acolytes nearby would jump all over you...

The thing is, I never disliked Obama, I just am always weary of popular movements formed around a charismatic leader and which become so quickly dogmatic. And none of this is actually Obama's fault. It's his worshippers followers I can't stand.   

Gotta love humans. We truly never learn.



I think a lot of that had to do with what we had to put up with for the last 8 years. Anything had to be better.



Cat

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers. 


Yeah yeah yeah, whatever, paranoid freak, go listen to your KMDFM records.

Now, onto the vital issues of the day.

Was Levi Johnson "living" with the Palins or was he "staying" with the Palins?

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/dontknow.gif

Was Levi Johnson "living" with the Palins or was he "staying" with the Palins?

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/dontknow.gif


Well, he was definitely partying with one of them...  :P

Oh people of no faith :P

Well, he was definitely partying with one of them...  :P


I bet Sarah was in Levi's Levis too!
8)

>:( >:( kjurt'aipsfj;an;iihgs9it!!!!!
 


I have had just about enough

Was Levi Johnson "living" with the Palins or was he "staying" with the Palins?



He was doing a Palin.

I'm still waiting for her to vanish into the political wilderness.. just so that I can use the phrase "Palin to insignificance"

I guess people who hangs on every word (or every scandal) that comes from Sarah can be called...





(get ready)





















(wait for it)

























(ok, here it comes)




































a Palintologist.



*Runs away before the rotten tomatoes or bottles hit her.



Cat

^  ::) :D

To me...Bush had two men who were dangerous. Dick Cheney and his father (His dad was part of the CIA, 'nuff said).

Also...Bush is my generation's Nixon whereas Obama is my generation's Carter.

John Kerry's motto was 'A Stronger America', and Obama should've listened to him!

Also...Bush is my generation's Nixon whereas Obama is my generation's Carter.



Careful what you wish for!
:o

well i'll be a monkey's uncle.

http://tinyurl.com/dfy62g

they bury the lead here. the big news isn't immunity for the interrogators. the big news is the content of these memos and the fact that the administration released them without a lot of redactions. a rare bit of encouraging news.

The government released four memos in which Bush-era lawyers approved in often graphic detail tough interrogation methods used against 28 terror suspects. The rough tactics range from waterboarding — simulated drowning — to keeping suspects naked and withholding solid food.

Even as they exposed new details of the interrogation program, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, offered the first definitive assurance that those CIA officials are in the clear, as long as their actions were in line with the legal advice at the time.

Obama said the nation must protect the identity of CIA contractors and employees "as vigilantly as they protect our security."

"We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history," the president said. "But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

Holder told the CIA that the government would provide free legal representation to CIA employees in any legal proceeding or congressional investigation related to the program and would repay any financial judgment.

"It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department," Holder said.

The CIA has acknowledged using waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, on three high-level terror detainees in 2002 and 2003, with the permission of the White House and the Justice Department. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said waterboarding has not been used since, but some human rights groups have urged Obama to hold CIA employees accountable for what they, and many Obama officials and others around the world, say was torture.

Further, the statements accompanied the Justice Department's release of four significant Bush-era legal opinions governing — in graphic and extensive detail — the interrogation of 14 high-value terror detainees using harsh techniques beyond waterboarding, the officials said. One of the memos was produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in August 2002, the other three in 2005.

The memos, released to meet a court-approved deadline in a lawsuit against the government in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union, detail the dozen harsh techniques approved for use by CIA interrogators, the officials said. One memo also specifically authorized a method for combining multiple techniques, a practice human rights advocates argue crosses the line into torture even if any individual methods does not.

The Obama administration last month released nine legal memos, and probably will release more as the lawsuit proceeds. But the four released Thursday represent the fullest, and now complete, accounting by the government of the methods authorized and used, the officials said.

Those include keeping detainees naked for long periods, keeping them in a painful standing position for long periods, and depriving them of solid food. Other tactics included using a plastic neck collar to slam detainees into walls, keeping the detainee's cell cold for long periods, and beating and kicking the detainee. Sleep-deprivation, prolonged shackling, and threats to a detainee's family were also used.

Among the things not allowed in the memos were allowing a prisoner's body temperature or caloric intake to fall below a certain level, because either could cause permanent damage, said senior administration officials. They discussed the memos on condition of anonymity to more fully describe the president's decision-making process.

well i'll be a monkey's uncle.

http://tinyurl.com/dfy62g

they bury the lead here. the big news isn't immunity for the interrogators. the big news is the content of these memos and the fact that the administration released them without a lot of redactions. a rare bit of encouraging news.




I was JUST reading that on Yahoo news.



Cat

One thing about Politics...they all share the same damn bed!

One thing about Politics...they all share the same damn bed!
apparently not because obama just hosed bush down BIG time.

apparently not because obama just hosed bush down BIG time.


I dunno...sometimes there's fighting in the bed. ::)

I dunno...sometimes there's fighting in the bed. ::)


That is just the dry heaves of the jilted lover(bush&co)

well i'll be a monkey's uncle.

http://tinyurl.com/dfy62g

they bury the lead here. the big news isn't immunity for the interrogators. the big news is the content of these memos and the fact that the administration released them without a lot of redactions. a rare bit of encouraging news.



I find this troubling.  If memory serves, we didn't accept the "just following orders" defense after WWII from either Germans or Japanese war criminals.  I also recall Dan Inoue (sp) at the Iran Contra hearings talking about LAWFUL orders, and the responsibility to disobey unlawful orders.  Of course that referred to the military.  So I think these guys should be prosecuted.  Of course so should the higher ups who gave the orders.

I find this troubling.  If memory serves, we didn't accept the "just following orders" defense after WWII from either Germans or Japanese war criminals.  I also recall Dan Inoue (sp) at the Iran Contra hearings talking about LAWFUL orders, and the responsibility to disobey unlawful orders.  Of course that referred to the military.  So I think these guys should be prosecuted.  Of course so should the higher ups who gave the orders.
i thought about that. i think it's pretty obvious the "just following orders" defense DOES work, unless you lose a war. it's sad but it's true. plus, i'm just not sure i agree with the logic of it. a lot of these low-level guys, in the nazi regime for instance, were in a situation where if they disobeyed an order, the nazis would execute them, and if they obeyed, the allies would execute them, and they were probably drafted into the german military in the first place. so what's the right answer? it's not as easy as it seems.

the way i think about the CIA interrogators is, i really don't care that much. i want the people who came up with the policy to be prosecuted. sorta like using the street peddlers to go after the kingpins. one thing though, it would have been nice to have the leverage of potential prosecution to get testimony out of the lower-level guys. but it looks like we're not going to get that.

i thought about that. i think it's pretty obvious the "just following orders" defense DOES work, unless you lose a war. it's sad but it's true. plus, i'm just not sure i agree with the logic of it. a lot of these low-level guys, in the nazi regime for instance, were in a situation where if they disobeyed an order, the nazis would execute them, and if they obeyed, the allies would execute them, and they were probably drafted into the german military in the first place. so what's the right answer? it's not as easy as it seems.

the way i think about the CIA interrogators is, i really don't care that much. i want the people who came up with the policy to be prosecuted. sorta like using the street peddlers to go after the kingpins. one thing though, it would have been nice to have the leverage of potential prosecution to get testimony out of the lower-level guys. but it looks like we're not going to get that.


Yes, this is definitely a top shelf problem.  I just want to see the policy itself prohibited and condemned. 

olby sounds off. i'm still not sure i agree but it gets me thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotQL27V84A

olby sounds off. i'm still not sure i agree but it gets me thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotQL27V84A



I agree with Keith 100% on this issue. These crimes MUST be prosecuted. Obama raised his hand on Jan. 20th to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies-foreign and DOMESTIC and the past 8 years, there seemed to be more domestic enemies of the Constitution than there are foreign. The only way to protect the Constitution is to prosecute. If prosecution does not happen, then this sh1t WILL be done again. Maybe not with the Obama Administration but some future administration. 



Cat 

I agree with Keith 100% on this issue. These crimes MUST be prosecuted. Obama raised his hand on Jan. 20th to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies-foreign and DOMESTIC and the past 8 years, there seemed to be more domestic enemies of the Constitution than there are foreign. The only way to protect the Constitution is to prosecute. If prosecution does not happen, then this sh1t WILL be done again. Maybe not with the Obama Administration but some future administration. 

Cat 


I think that O'bama knows full well that the President gets involved in some dirty dealings.  And if he starts the "prosecution of the previous administration" game, it may blow up in his own face.

OK, OK, officer, you caught me speeding, 85 in a 35, but can't we just, you know, turn the page?
::)

Like I said!

I guess people who hangs on every word (or every scandal) that comes from Sarah can be called... 

...

a Palintologist.

*Runs away before the rotten tomatoes or bottles hit her.


No rotten tomatoes from this corner.  Your joke was closer to the truth than you know. 

In the 70s, the cult was already behind the largest (as measured by number of agents) infiltration of the US government in history.  The access they could have gained 2008 would have easily eclipsed that.

So yesterday Rick Sanchez (CNN) claimed that Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice AND GWB all knew and approved of the list of approved tortures, and they all approved of the scape-goating of that woman general at Abu Gairab.  Those guards were not "just a few rotten apples", but were doing what they were told by the interrogation specialists, with approval from the highest levels.  Time to act!

So yesterday Rick Sanchez (CNN) claimed that Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice AND GWB all knew and approved of the list of approved tortures, and they all approved of the scape-goating of that woman general at Abu Gairab.  Those guards were not "just a few rotten apples", but were doing what they were told by the interrogation specialists, with approval from the highest levels.  Time to act!


Last week Sean Hannity challenged Charles Grodin to waterboard him for charity.  Grodin said no.  Keith Olbermann took Hannity up on the challenge.  Olbermann wants to waterboard Hannity at $1000 a second for charity.  What charity?  They haven't got that far yet.  There's no way in hell Hannity's gonna let Olbermann waterboard him and Olbermann knows it. 
:D

Can't resist a plug.. but don't you realize it's all Obama's fault?

Last week Sean Hannity challenged Charles Grodin to waterboard him for charity.  Grodin said no.  Keith Olbermann took Hannity up on the challenge.  Olbermann wants to waterboard Hannity at $1000 a second for charity.  What charity?  They haven't got that far yet.  There's no way in hell Hannity's gonna let Olbermann waterboard him and Olbermann knows it. 
:D



I saw that. I would PAY to watch Hannity be waterboarded, too (as long as the $$ goes to a good cause).



Cat

I saw that. I would PAY to watch Hannity be waterboarded, too (as long as the $$ goes to a good cause).



Cat


C'mon, Sean, another 10 seconds for the blind orphans...you don't mind, it's not torture yet!

For Sean, I'd thrown in a little variance -- pee boarding!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/14/pottytrain4.gif

C'mon, Sean, another 10 seconds for the blind orphans...you don't mind, it's not torture yet!

For Sean, I'd thrown in a little variance -- pee boarding!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/14/pottytrain4.gif


I'll start saving mine in a gallon jar!  But seriously, Hannity might be into golden showers, you never know.

I'll start saving mine in a gallon jar!  But seriously, Hannity might be into golden showers, you never know.


Have R. Kelly provide the Golden Showers. ;D