The Watercooler for 11/24/09 1:00 AM

Source: IPS

Obama Quietly Backs Patriot Act Provisions
William Fisher

NEW YORK, 23 Nov (IPS) - With the health care debate preoccupying the mainstream media, it has gone virtually unreported that the Barack Obama administration is quietly supporting renewal of provisions of the George W. Bush-era USA Patriot Act that civil libertarians say infringe on basic freedoms.

........

When a panicky Congress passed the act 45 days after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, three contentious parts of the law were scheduled to expire at the end of next month, and opponents of these sections have been pushing Congress to substitute new provisions with substantially strengthened civil liberties protections.

But with the apparent approval of the Obama White House and a number of Republicans – and over the objections of liberal Senate Democrats including Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Dick Durbin of Illinois – the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to extend the three provisions with only minor changes.

Those provisions would leave unaltered the power of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to seize records and to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mail in the course of counterterrorism investigations.

Read more: http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2694

William Black Nails It: Obama, Get Rid of Bush's Wrecking Crew

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/23/8...

Thank god for a voice of sanity coming from our financial sectors these days. William K. Black has a must read article today on Huffington Post concerning the 'meme' that drives me completely insane: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-bl...

That somehow Americans are suppose to believe (and be thankful) that Treasurer Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke of the FED 'saved our nation' from a total financial meltdown.

That is without a doubt the biggest 'lie' out there in 'Wall Street Bizarro World' that there is.... it is sort of like dressing the Foxes up in brand spanking 'New Big Red Roosters Jumpsuits' hoping that no one will notice that their 'Fox tails' are still hanging out of their 'Rooster Suits'...it just don't cut it babe. The jig is up.


For those of you unfamiliar with William K. Black, here is a bit of background:

more for you econ buffs: I've never heard of this guy

NY Post Floats Dimon to Replace Geithner

g/nite