Obama's run for President was based on Change and Transparency.....We have certainly gotten the CHANGE, but the transparency is more a myth than Camelot! During Obama's tenure more whistle-blowers, an asset in successfully ensuring an honest and transparent government, have been prosecuted than under all other administrations combined, twice as many to be exact. And while by the numbers (6) that may not be a huge number the implications are immense. In addition, the spying on journalists and news agencies is a complete and total violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution, the US one just in case you forgot we had one as the current administration seems to have. And now we are getting reports that under the PRISM program we have even been spying on...well, yes, you guessed it....EVERYONE; US citizens, the foreign friends of US citizens, the friends of the foreign friends of US citizens, and even high-ranking officials in the governments of our enemies and, oh, did we mention, also our allies.....oops. The NSA is the proverbial spoiled brat that has gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar. To our allies, if you are waiting for an apology, don't expect one and certainly do not expect it to be sincere.
Take heart allies and enemies alike, you are not the only government officials that the US government is spying on; through a program labeled, INSIDER THREATS they are also spying on their own officials and encouraging, no, actually coercing government employees to snitch on any employee that appears to be a threat. What constitutes a threat is vague, but worse is that failure to report such a threat will result in punishment possibly even criminal prosecution. The methods of this administration show the thug like means by which Mr. Obama started his political career. He did not win his first political race fairly, he won cause he had the petition for his opponent invalidated for not having enough "registered voters" as signers. And getting in the Senate was an appointment. And like him or not, if not for early voting (which is a total joke), he would not have won either presidential election. No one should be surprised by his actions or the actions of his administration, not if said actions seem to be of a thug-like nature.
The scandal about the NSA and PRISM is just the latest scandal in what is very much a pattern of abuse of power from Washington in earnest since 9/11 and has been excessively utilized under Obama. It is ironic that Obama criticized the Bush administration for its secrets and hard-line when it came to National Security and now he uses the excuse of National Security to do things that the Bush Administration probably didn't even dream of. The Patriot Act and various other legislation regarding National Security were allowed to pass with vague wording in order to allow government agencies movement within the laws; but, it also allows very much for abuse under the law. Again, I repeat myself, restricting or disregarding liberties in the name of security is not security at all. And those citizens that would allow their rights to be taken away to have security will find themselves without liberty or safety and they do not deserve either one.
And while the government can scream NATIONAL SECURITY, like they do every time they want to violate the rights of any person in America or to carry out a drone attack on American citizens and others abroad, they do not seem to see the broader picture. It is one thing, not a very smart thing, to lack moral prowess in handing foreign citizens abroad; but to show complete disregard for the rights of American citizens domestically and abroad, they are telling every other country that they do not have to respect the basic human rights of American citizens either. We show enough hypocrisy in our foreign policy without making that our domestic policy as well.
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