Friday, February 26, 2010

Obama sneaks through Patriot Act

It's the BHO MO. Point over here, do something there.
With the press obsessed with the health care summit, Obama was bound to sneak a few things through. The most important stealth operation came Wednesday night when the House voted to renew the Patriot Act.
Yep, that Patriot Act. After a voice vote and absolutely no debate, the legislation passed 315 to 97. And Obama approves of the renewal. Well that's a turnaround -- or is it hust hypocritical. Obama opposed the legislation, in its current form, for his entire career. He's called for the Patriot Act to be rewritten. He's been particularly critical of a provision that allows the FBI to secretly demand business and personal documents, including library records. That provision is still in there, but now Obama supports it.
The bill also still permits "roving wiretaps," which allow law enforcement to track multiple phones at the same time. Roving wiretaps have outraged civil libertarians like Obama in the past, who think the FBI should get cleared for each individual eavesdrop.
Obama has previously said certain provisions in the Patriot Act amount to "Big Brother." I guess this makes him the new leader of Oceania.

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