Friday, August 9, 2013

(OT) Obama on NSA Spying on Americans: No Intention of Stopping


AP article (8/9/2013) from Friday's press conference that Mr. Obama kindly gave, before he goes on his summer vacation (emphasis is mine):

Obama: New oversight but no change to spying power

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama made clear Friday that he has no intention of stopping the daily collection of phone records from millions of Americans, but he promised "appropriate reforms" to how such surveillance is carried out.

In an afternoon news conference, the president acknowledged the domestic spying has troubled Americans and hurt the country's image abroad. But Obama blamed the damage on misinformation stemming from leaks to the news media.

"Understandably, people would be concerned," the president said. "I would be, too, if I weren't inside the government."

But he assured Americans that the surveillance is not being abused, and he described the phone program as "an important tool" that keeps America safe.

"It's not enough for me to have confidence in these programs," Obama said. "The American people have to have confidence in them as well."

(Full article at the link)


Have to have confidence in spy programs. That's rich, coming from a supposed constitutional scholar.

According to President Obama, NSA spying is bad because it was leaked.

By the way here are some choice words from former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden (who looks like a space alien in The Guardian's article from 8/6/2013), dissing the hackers (whom institutions like NSA and CIA depend on):

The former director of the National Security Agency and the CIA speculated on Tuesday that hackers and transparency groups were likely to respond with cyber-terror attacks if the United States government apprehends whistleblower Edward Snowden.

"If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?" said retired air force general Michael Hayden, who from 1999 to 2009 ran the NSA and then the CIA, referring to "nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years".

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you read the surveys on the muslim american?
35% think that the boston bombing was not done by a muslim, that it a made up story by the American Governement. 35%!!!
Wake up! The muslims bombed the twin towers and the number of terrorist acts keeps increasing.
I hope that the governement spies on them because they plan more and more acts and intelligence is our only defense. The islamists are very dangerous and we don't need further proof of that.

Anonymous said...

Uh... anon above, who are you? Elementary school kid getting paid writing comments, let's see, 25 cents a piece at most?

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous who wrote:

"Elementary school kid getting paid writing comments, let's see, 25 cents a piece at most?"

can you write something smart? Or do you think that just making fun is smart?
I wonder why the editor lets you post a totally brainless post, just insulting. Your message has no content apart from insulting. It has nothing to do in this blog actually. Do you have half a brain to discuss as an adult?

Anonymous said...

What brainless posts? All of them, including your two?

Anonymous said...

Anon at the top and possibly the third, go back to NSA.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1. Making those kind of arguments is like saying all american christians are all racist homosexual-hating cultists who still believe evolution is just made up. Not true, for either christians nor muslims.

Anonymous said...

"Understandably, people would be concerned," the president said. "I would be, too, if I weren't inside the government."

I wouldn't be concerned if I was the one spying and not being spied on, either.

@The anons who are obviously stupid
Grow up.

Anonymous said...

"Anon 1. Making those kind of arguments is like saying all american christians are all racist homosexual-hating cultists"

no, it is different.
A survey was done on american muslim, and that was the result. What else do you need to become careful instead of careless? 2 twin towers, boston bombing, more plots, but you still want to live as if we have no right to be careful and watch the 100,000 muslim on the CIA red list living in the US. What do you need to wake up?
Someone in your family to be in the list of people going to the hospital?
You are so naive if you think that the sky is all blue in the world and we can very nice to every one. I wish you could see the list of things these guys are planning, but for someone who has maybe a little interest in the Fukushima accident, I wonder why you eyes are not open!

Anonymous said...

I think I know what the anon at the top is after. It is to tag this blog as "hate" blog with anti-muslim rhetoric. If it is not his intention, it doesn't matter. That's how it will be viewed by certain authority's metadata search. Admin should delete his messages, though that is probably too late.

Anonymous said...

". It is to tag this blog as "hate" blog with anti-muslim rhetoric"

please be respectful to religion.
Can you make a difference between Muslim and Islamist terrorist? Is your brain sharp enough?
Your mixing of both is naive.

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