Imagine My Shock: FBI Misused Patriot Act
One of the most disappointing things that right wingers did these last few years is to roll over on civil liberties. I might be naive but I always assumed there was an element of true belief in the conservative tenet of the rights of the individual and getting government off our backs. Unfortunately, it turned out to be just more talking points such as "Extramarital affairs are unacceptable" and "Support the troops."
If the conservative movement was genuine the impeachment of President Bush would have come from the right wing. Instead, they were too busy cuddling up to the federal government. They were willing to give over our civil liberties in exchange for a feeling of safety. They acted like little kids who just wanted Dick Cheney to stop scaring them, to tuck them in at night, and then tell them everything was fine.
Any liberal expressions of concern that the Patriot Act was dangerous to our freedoms were met with calls of, "You terrorist appeasing traitor", and the dumbest thing of all, "If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Well, folks, here's an article about the FBI misusing the Patriot Act. To all the right wing suck-ups out there who snuggled up to Big Daddy in the government, congratulations. While you were trembling in fear of terrorism, you were actually selling out the greatest country in the world. Way to go.
BREITBART.COM - Justice Dept.: FBI Misused Patriot Act
posted by Bill McDonald @ 10:53 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Good job Bill! You actually did not blame this directly on the Bush Administration. Now, if you can just make the leap and give Bush some credit for his Justice Department auditing and revealing the abuses, that would be real progress.
I thought this was a pretty good sentence: "If the conservative movement was genuine the impeachment of President Bush would have come from the right wing."
I like that. The term "Bush conservative" is a contradiction. You either support the ideals of conservatism or you support George Bush. I'd love to bounce that one off these right wing blowhards on the radio.
Take a peek at the bio of the man who ran the audit: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/glennfine.htm
Probably not the Bushman you were expecting, Butch.
Sully, as is repeated here often, the buck stops at the top, right? This was Alberto Gonzalez's baby. Credit where credit's due.
BTW - why is he "not the Bushman" I expected (not that I expected one). Because he joined the JD during the Clinton Administration? On the contrary....it was a Republican controlled Congress that confirmed him, no?
Butch, why is there a need to always respond with your own rhetorical questions? Just make statements, rhetoric-free if possible.
As per the erosion of civil liberties, here is an interesting article on the acceptance of torture since 9/11, as seen through the politics of the show 24.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_fact_mayer?printable=true
Sorry link screwed up, click here.
Butch,
Yes, he entered under Clinton, and you know as well as I that it takes a pretty ugly record to avoid confirmation.
Protocol required an audit, which he headed up. This wasn't something that was vetted by Gonzalez.
But there's not much point in continuing this line of Bush bashing/defending since you're not going to cede a single point, and Bush isn't going to do anything wise ever (so no liberal is going to have anything to praise). It's going to remain one-sided.
The reality is that Bush is going to go down in history, particularly in the history of other countries around the world if not our own, as one of the worst US presidents ever.
We can only hope that this brings an end to the Bush dynasty and to all dynasties, including the Clintons.
More on the OIG:
I was just doing a little more googling on the Office of the Inspector General, and as it turns out that office is actually an independent entity in the justice department, reporting to both the AG and to Congress.
"(3) to provide a means for keeping the head of the establishment and the Congress fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies relating to the administration of such programs and operations and the necessity for and progress of corrective action;"
http://ntl.bts.gov/DOCS/iga.html
Ironically, under the Patriot Act, the OIG is required to report semi-annually to Congress on abuses of the Act.
This year, Congress specifically requested the OIG to investigate privacy abuses, thus we have this damning report.
Read more from the report itself (scroll down to the Executive Summary on p. 9): http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0703b/final.pdf
Sure is nice to have some balance in our government again.
Speaking of balance, I'm going to say 2 nice things about President Bush. His outrageous power grab and criminal policy of preemptive strikes - formerly known as the Law of the Jungle - forced me to become a political activist. Before, I was busy just leading my life, not really concerned with having a blog or a cable access show to speak out. So he's gotten me more involved.
I also was becoming very worried about the increasingly rapid pace of the years going by. President Bush has managed to turn the last 6 years into some of the longest of my entire life. In fact it's starting to feel like we're stuck in time. Thanks, President Bush!
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