oh and when not using false torture confessions in court

[solarbird]

When the Obama administration isn't using torture-extracted known-false confessions in court to try to imprison innocent people forever, they're busily using Bush administration tactics and the useful idiots of the Washington Post to press for full Bush-era versions of both FISA and the Patriot Act, all those huge piles of documented abuses - ones absolutely and correctly predicted by opponents - be damned. Why? Because they like power, like every other administration. This will of course pass, public opinion be damned, because the political class decided it would pass it. Then they'll pretend they "fixed" it while not actually changing anything. This isn't really a prediction; that's what they're already doing.

On another note, please enjoy your militarised police forces, particularly the attack-anybody-with-a-camera-even-if-nobody's-protesting-anything squads. It's the same story you've seen over and over again, of course - pre-emptive arrests of people not violating the law or planning to, orders to clear streets regardless of intent or legality, stacks of false/intimidation arrests with fake charges that are dropped later - you might recall the most recent Republican National Convention with the policy of "pre-emptive" arrests against protesters and journalists? That's what they were doing here as well, only with an even broader net.

This is also the power Mr. Bush claimed and the power Mr. Obama continues to claim, on an international rather than local scale, and on a much longer timeframe - decades to life rather than a few days or couple of weeks. In the local case, if some random cop doesn't like your looks, he'll tear-gas you in the face, throw you in a cop car, and you'll come back out a week later with some fully bogus charges that get thrown out; with the Feds, they'll throw you in Bagram or somewhere else similar, you might and might not get tortured into giving a false confession (depending upon current policy, since the law no longer applies), and you might and might not get out ever.

So good luck with that, ok?

Comments

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you post this stuff. Sadly, it's no longer a "shocking" surprise that Obama is using Bush-era tactics, as well as the illegal and unconstitutional powers Bush granted himself. These are the same powers that candidate Obama promised to repeal.

But as we know, people with power are loathe to give up any of that power.

I also have a huge problem with Blackwater. I'm disappointed that the Obama Administration is continuing to renew Bush-era contracts with Blackwater for "services" in Afghanistan and New Orleans. (They've been barred from Iraq, but I'm not sure they're gone from that country, either.)

I believe Blackwater should be disbanded and ordered off American soil. Then our government should watch them like a hawk.

But then, there's a lot of disappointment when it comes to Obama, and it has nothing to do with "things beyond his control."