3 Provisions of the PATRIOT Act (”Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”) are set to expire at the end of the year.
NYTimes:
WASHINGTON — As Congress prepares to consider extending crucial provisions of the USA Patriot Act, civil liberties groups and some Democratic lawmakers are gearing up to press for sweeping changes to surveillance laws.
Both the House and the Senate are set to hold their first committee hearings this week on whether to reauthorize three sections of the Patriot Act that expire at the end of this year. The provisions expanded the power of the F.B.I. to seize records and to eavesdrop on phone calls in the course of a counterterrorism investigation.
Is this really an “expansion” of power? Or a matter of updating existing powers in order for the F.B.I. to effectively do its job of protecting American lives in wake of 21st century technological advancements?
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RUMOR MILL (as of yet unconfirmed since the report has not been made public yet): Per Investor’s Business Daily Friday, there’s a report going around that the O’admin has decided to renege on building a missile defense system in Europe to protect Poland and the Czech Republic. If it’s true, Obama has… once more… indicated to our allies that Obama’s “remade America” is there not to protect them, but to betray them.
The U.S. has abandoned plans to install a missile defense system in Europe, according to a report. If true, this is a major strategic error that will have serious consequences for our allies in Europe and for us.
Quoting a U.S. source, the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza says the Obama administration has decided against building a missile shield to protect Poland and the Czech Republic. The reason? Russian opposition.
Now, if we want to build a defense system for friends in Europe, we’ll have to place it in the Balkans, Israel or somewhere else. That is, if Russia approves.
This is a stark reversal of past policy and reneges on promises made by the current administration. Worse, it shows weakness. We got into a staredown with the Russian bear and we blinked.
Ironically, it was the very same day I did a little noticed post about Obama’s growing impotence with our western allies, and the battle against global jihad by citing three incidents:
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President Barack Obama talks with Judge Sonia Sotomayor after announcing her as his choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, May 26, 2009. Obama nominated Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, selecting a woman who would be the court’s first Latino. Obama’s choice of the liberal Sotomayor, a 54-year-old judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, was unlikely to change the ideological balance of the high court because Souter, 69, was part of the panel’s liberal wing.
REUTERS/Larry Downing
President Obama speaks to Judge Sonia Sotomayor after announcing her as his choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter in the East Room of the White House, May 26, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing
McAfee did a study on what search terms constitutes the most dangerous on the web:
Those searching for Obama are four times more likely to get infected with a virus than those searching for viagra (6.2% vs 1.6% risk)!
Check out The Most Dangerous Search Terms…and beware what you search for!
Shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Telescope cross in front of the sun in this image captured by Thierry Legault
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