Voltaire Network

Obama signs one-year extension of Patriot Act (which he opposed as a Senator)

Obama signs one-year extension of Patriot Act (which he opposed as a Senator)
Voltaire Network
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President Obama just signed a one year extension of several provisions in the nation’s main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act.
Had he done nothing, the provisions of the Patriot Act would have expired this Sunday.

The act, which was adopted in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government’s ability to monitor Americans in the name of national security.

As a senator from Illinois, Barack Obama was a critic of the Patriot Act noting that:

"This is legislation that puts our own Justice Department above the law. When National Security Letters are issued, they allow federal agents to conduct any search on any American, no matter how extensive or wide-ranging, without ever going before a judge to prove that the search is necessary. They simply need sign-off from a local FBI official. That’s all.

And if someone wants to know why their own government has decided to go on a fishing expedition through every personal record or private document – through library books they’ve read and phone calls they’ve made – this legislation gives people no rights to appeal the need for such a search in a court of law.

No judge will hear their plea, no jury will hear their case. This is just plain wrong."

Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:

- Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.

- Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.

- Permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.

Obama’s signature comes after the House voted 315 to 97 Thursday to extend the measure.

The Senate also approved the measure, with privacy protections cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

USA: Obama Administration
Thanks to a remarkable communication campaign, the Anglo-American empire succeeded in restoring the image of the United States as a democratic and authoritative country that George W. Bush had tarnished. Arousing a groundswell of sympathy throughout the world, Barack Obama is skillfully enacting his role as first Black president of the USA, using his charm and elegance to pursue through different methods the same rapacious policies as those of his predecessors. He granted full immunity to the Bush Administration, prolonged the occupation of Iraq, expanded the one in Afghanistan, used the economic crisis to intensify the exploitation of the Third World by the IMF and the World Bank, compelled the funds invested in foreign contries to seek refuge in Anglo-American tax havens, took advantage of the ecological crisis to set asymmetrical economic norms, manipulated the fight against pandemics to impose a supranational authority, etc.
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Obama: Trilateral Commission Endgame
Obama: Trilateral Commission Endgame
Censored Project ‘Top 25 of 2010’ selection
 
September 11th, 2001
The attacks of 11 September 2001 constitute the foundation myth used by the Anglo-Americans to justify their military gigantism. In a world where they face no rivals, they invented an imaginary and invisible enemy of unparalleled power: terrorism. It is therefore impossible to challenge such global military domination without at the same time questioning the U.S. Government’s version of the September 11 attacks and the alleged existence of a global Islamic conspiracy. Initiated by Thierry Meyssan through this website and his published works, the 9/11 Truth Movement is at present endorsed by the majority of public opinion the world over.
Just like a spool of thread, the story of Septemer 11 first started to unravel with questions regarding the presence of explosives in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and the absence of any plane parts at the Pentagon. It continued with the skepticism surrounding the other attacks attributed to Al Qaeda. It finally led to the questioning of the anti-terrorist laws and the legitimacy of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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USA: domestic politics
To the outside world, the United States pretends to be a model of democracy. But that is not the case. Fiercely opposed to the notion of "popular sovereignty", the Founding Fathers contrived an ingenious system whereby the people are regularly consulted only to legitimize institutions that deposit power with the oligarchy. Domestically, this system thrives thanks to a series of legal barriers that preclude the emergence of other alternatives and, if need be, through fraud including the use of unverifiable electronic voting machines. Externally, propaganda has served to obscure the incongruity of the institutions. The latter, for instance, prescribe that the president should be elected by a college appointed by State Governors (and not by national popular count, as illustrated by the Supreme Court in 2000 when it overruled the Florida people vote). Nor are we dealing with a republican system of government since it discards the concept of "general interest" as being totalitarian, favouring instead the preponderance of the lobby coalition. A philosophy that has led to the institutionalization of pressure groups, going so far as to legalize and systematize corruption practices in Congress.
Outside the limits of the twin Democratic and Republican parties, a protest movement has been brewing for some time. It picked up considerable momentum during the two presidencies of George W. Bush, whose swaggering style brought to the fore the police control over the population and the rising social injustices. While such opposition had formerly been labeled as "un-american", it acquired legitimacy by highlighting the violations of U.S. ideals at the hands of the U.S. Government itself, ranging from its colonial adventures to its torture policies. As a result of President Obama’s charm offensive, internal opposition was again relegated to the sidelines, despite not having obtained a response to any of their major challenges. In the midst of the economic crisis, deep social fissures dating back to the Secession War have started to reappear. They take the form of a tax revolt, a populist anti-Wall Street movement, or emerge under the guise of separatist tendencies and, last but not least, ethnic hostility. The potential of the United States to either reform or dislocate hinges on these contradictory movements and the balance of power they will generate.
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