Local Customs

Lost and Found
The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers. (NYT editorial, 6/6/2013)

RedStateVT disagrees with the New York Times and agrees with.....President Obama? What is the world coming to? 

Years ago when RedStateVT toiled in the private sector an e-mail went out from an employee to others in the firm warning that cell phone companies were collecting data from subscribers for the purpose of developing more effective target marketing. Some expressed outrage, some yawned. Our favorite comment came from the friend who said: "If they want to spend money to track our phone calls to find out that my wife talks to her mother for two hours everyday, have at it!"

The larger issue - beyond that of faux privacy concerns - is that this country remains at war with Islamic fundamentalists. We love the Patriot Act and encourage the government to do everything possible to keep America safe. Note to Liberals: You cannot argue against government vigilance and then criticize that same government if the terrorists strike. See below:

Well, another day, another Washington furor. This one is over a National Security Agency phone data monitoring program, but unlike the other White House scandals there seems to be little here that is scandalous. The existence of the program was exposed years ago and such surveillance is a core part of the war on terror, if we can still use that term. (WSJ, 6/7/2013)


Friend Indeed
Assad, in contrast, has a real friend. Putin knows Obama. Having watched Obama’s retreat in Eastern Europe, his passivity at Russian obstructionism on Iran, his bended-knee “reset” policy, Putin knows he has nothing to fear from the U.S. president.

Result? The contemptuous Putin floods Syria with weapons. Iran, equally disdainful, sends Revolutionary Guards to advise and shore up Assad’s forces. Hezbollah invades Syria and seizes Qusair. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 6/6/2013)

Charles with yet another scathing indictment of Obama, a foreign policy rube if ever there was one. When Putin's henchman reported back last year that Obama had said that he would have "more flexibility after the election," Putin got the message loud and clear.