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Did you read the first line of my comment where I said I wasn't in favor of actual violent rioting? It's right up there. I've knocked on probably 1,000 doors

by jbooth 13y ago

Did you read the first line of my comment where I said I wasn't in favor of actual violent rioting? It's right up there. I've knocked on probably 1,000 doors and made probably 5,000 phone calls for democrats over the last 10 years. I'm not some slacktivist, and I'm not saying that the whole world needs to agree with me, although the accusation of arrogance is well taken. We've seen no evidence that Obama changed anything about NSA wiretapping and a fair amount of circumstantial evidence that he probably didn't (how those drone strikes coming, and the medicinal marijuana crackdown)? When someone runs and is elected by a majority as being "the opposite of Bush", it'd be nice if he actually did something different.

mpyne 13y ago
> We've seen no evidence that Obama changed anything about NSA wiretapping The FISA was changed to require warrants in 2008 (though Obama was a Senator then, not sure what part he played in that as I don't remember the discussion from the time it occurred). The "watch list" the NSA was using was gigantic when Obama took office and was shrunk down to focus on those who might actually impact national security. > how those drone strikes coming Better than what we used to do, invade entire countries and drop 1000kg JDAMs everywhere, which involved far more "collateral damage". That is, of course, unless you're saying that we should simply wait until a group blows up something in America and then go destroy whatever state the operational cell was working out of. I personally prefer disrupting the cell and leaving the state intact (as do the states that we surreptitiously work with...) as it involves less human sacrifice on both sides, but that might just be me. > the medicinal marijuana crackdown Yeah, I got nothing. The sooner we move away from giving a shit about marijuana the better, as far as I'm concerned. > When someone runs and is elected by a majority as being "the opposite of Bush" They were both "opposite of Bush" so I hope you had more in mind than that when you voted. As it stands though, if you think Obama is just like Bush then you might want to re-evaluate history, as time has a habit of helping us forget the bad and remember the good. There was a reason that as far back as 2004 that Bush was already well down the road toward becoming the most unpopular President in decades, and that's because there was much worse things going on than drones...
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > The FISA was changed to require warrants in 2008 No, it wasn't. FISA always required warrants for certain surveillance, and the 2008 FISA Amendment Act increased the time period for warrantless surveillance, and added new exceptions to the warrant requirements, and it explicitly blocked investigations of illegal wiretapping that had occurred before the Act.
  - mpyne 13y ago
    Well that was not what I had heard, so I'll assume I'm mistaken and apologize. And then go read the damn law for myself. (Perhaps it's a good thing I mentioned Obama wasn't President at that time. :O)

by jbooth 13y ago

mpyne 13y ago

> We've seen no evidence that Obama changed anything about NSA wiretapping The FISA was changed to require warrants in 2008 (though Obama was a Senator then, not sure what part he played in that as I don't remember the discussion from the time it occurred). The "watch list" the NSA was using was gigantic when Obama took office and was shrunk down to focus on those who might actually impact national security. > how those drone strikes coming Better than what we used to do, invade entire countries and drop 1000kg JDAMs everywhere, which involved far more "collateral damage". That is, of course, unless you're saying that we should simply wait until a group blows up something in America and then go destroy whatever state the operational cell was working out of. I personally prefer disrupting the cell and leaving the state intact (as do the states that we surreptitiously work with...) as it involves less human sacrifice on both sides, but that might just be me. > the medicinal marijuana crackdown Yeah, I got nothing. The sooner we move away from giving a shit about marijuana the better, as far as I'm concerned. > When someone runs and is elected by a majority as being "the opposite of Bush" They were both "opposite of Bush" so I hope you had more in mind than that when you voted. As it stands though, if you think Obama is just like Bush then you might want to re-evaluate history, as time has a habit of helping us forget the bad and remember the good. There was a reason that as far back as 2004 that Bush was already well down the road toward becoming the most unpopular President in decades, and that's because there was much worse things going on than drones...

dragonwriter 13y ago
> The FISA was changed to require warrants in 2008 No, it wasn't. FISA always required warrants for certain surveillance, and the 2008 FISA Amendment Act increased the time period for warrantless surveillance, and added new exceptions to the warrant requirements, and it explicitly blocked investigations of illegal wiretapping that had occurred before the Act.
- mpyne 13y ago
  Well that was not what I had heard, so I'll assume I'm mistaken and apologize. And then go read the damn law for myself. (Perhaps it's a good thing I mentioned Obama wasn't President at that time. :O)