(ThyBlackMan.com) The state security apparatus that came into being during the Bush administration is now supported just as strongly, if not more so, under President Obama. There has been no change in a system that becomes stronger with each passing day and which faces almost no political opposition.
The Obama Justice Department recently asserted that it could withhold classified information from a federal judge. Federal judges have security clearances and are permitted to see classified information in cases brought 
before them. Justice says that only the executive branch has the power to determine what information courts ought to have. The federal judge was so stunned that she described herself as “literally speechless” over the government claim that she ought to be kept in the dark.
Protecting Bush abuses
Thomas Drake is a former employee of the National Security Administration now charged with violating the Espionage Act. He faces 35 years in prison, having been accused of giving documents to a reporter. Candidate Obama said he would protect the rights of whistleblowers, but now as president he tries to send them to jail.
The Obama administration has brought five Espionage Act prosecutions to court, more than all other past administrations combined. Not content to defend Bush era abuses, and send whistleblowers to jail, Obama and Congress have extended the PATRIOT Act, without changes, yet again.
Same concerns
When George W. Bush was president, many others and I often used the word “fascism” to describe the growth of government powers and the diminution of our rights. Now that Barack Obama is making those very same assertions of executive power, should we not continue to raise the same concerns?
The sad fact is that the surveillance state has strong bipartisan support and it is likely to only expand. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were the impetus for the PATRIOT Act and wars of aggression, but events that ought to signal a return to normalcy never do.
The death of Osama bin Laden was supposed to make us safer. That is what we have been told for nearly ten years. Now that he is dead we are told that his death proves the need to continue doing away with civil liberties. We are told that we still have to fight endless wars and that we can’t ever get our rights back.
Obama a ‘neo-con’
Conservative Bill Kristol hit the nail on the head when he called Barack Obama a “born again neo-con.” Kristol had reason for this high praise after the president sought out his advice before telling the world that he intended to make war against Libya.
The right wing who Democrats use to keep unqualified support in their ranks are now getting offline access to the man we are told must be protected from them. Of course that doesn’t make any sense – and neither do efforts to come to Obama’s defense on civil liberties or on any other issues either.
Written By Margaret Kimberley
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