Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

James Sensenbrenner, Patriot Act Pioneer, Says NSA Spying Out Of Control

WASHINGTON - A Republican congressman now wants to scale back some of the counterterror laws he once championed, citing an overreach by the National Security Agency.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner plans to offer legislation as early as Tuesday to overhaul the NSA. It mirrors a bill by Democrats on House and Senate judiciary committees and is gaining support from the extreme wings of both parties.

In the past, Sensenbrenner voted to give more surveillance power to U.S. government spies, railed against civil liberties advocates who warned about privacy abuses and even shut down a 2005 hearing to silence critics.

Now Sensenbrenner says he is "appalled and angry" to learn the NSA is sweeping up millions of Americans' phone records.

He says that goes far beyond the intent of the 2001 Patriot Act.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca
Author: Lara Jakes

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