In a massive, but not unexpected, recantation of his campaign promises of reform, Barack Obama has betrayed the national good by continuing the Bush policy of giving the telephone companies that spied on us ongoing immunity from prosecution of our privacy rights violations.

The Obama administration vigorously defended congressional legislation late Wednesday that immunizes U.S. telecommunication companies from lawsuits about their participation in the Bush administration’s domestic spy program.
It was the first time the Obama administration weighed in on a federal court challenge questioning the legality of the legislation President Barack Obama voted for as an Illinois senator in July. “Accordingly, the court should now promptly dismiss these actions,” the Justice Department wrote (.pdf) U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco late Wednesday.

It’s disappointing to learn that absolute power corrupts the hopeful and crushes the innocent while raising the wanton to new heights.

If we cannot trust Obama to protect our right to privacy — then we should never expect in our lifetime to have our federal government ever return to the full privacy protections we enjoyed pre-9/11.

That fact is a sad loss and a sorry waste of one — once vigorously protected — freedom.

5 Comments

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Me too, Gordon.
    Now it seems there won’t be much difference between Obama and Bush on torture and Guantanamo, too.

  3. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    ANNE says:

    Obama looks lost to me. I hope he has a clue. The conservative are already feasting and the dems are helping themselves too much too.

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    He does seem to be spinning in circles, Anne. He needs to push and bully his way through this. Play the Chicago politics hand if you’re accused of it — teach the opposition a hard and bloody lesson.

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