Web Letters | The Nation

Web Letter

There are actually three different processes with three different legal frameworks. Wiretapping on an individual or group requires a warrent, and there have been serious violations. Systematically running thousands to millions of calls through an automatic filter to identify critical words and phrases does not require a warrant, because no one is yet being targeted. Once a target is identified it becomes type one. Third, there is a separate legal framework, mostly outside domestic guarantees, for work outside the United States.

Web Letter

So, the editors of The Nation are still waiting for the Obama administration to push back against the extension of government surveillance and the extension of executive power that was the hallmark of the Bush administration. It should be clear by now that the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership is on board with state secrecy and with the extension of unreviewable executive power; on board with ignoring the crimes of ruling elites in government and business; on board with privatizing the "defense" establishment to enrich existing and potential campaign contributors; on board with the "savvy businessmen" in bank management on Wall Street.

Obama makes some wonderful speeches, but to imagine that he and the Democratic leadership represent anything but entrenched elites and concentrated money is an exercise in self-delusion.