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| | The Obama [[Justice Department]] has been accused of being "secretive, tyrannical, and oppressive" and compared with [[President George W. Bush]], "even worse."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090924001648/http://donedems.com/2009/04/14/holy-crap-obama-actually-manages-to-make-the-patriot-act-worse-than-under-bush Obama Actually Manages to Make the Patriot Act WORSE than Under Bush], DONE, April 14, 2009,</ref> As a candidate, Senator Obama lamented that the Bush Administration "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court," however in a motion to dismiss ''Jewel v. NSA'', the Electronic Frontier Foundation litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping, the [[Obama Administration]] argued that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. The Obama administration argued that simply allowing the case to continue "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security." As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence. | | The Obama [[Justice Department]] has been accused of being "secretive, tyrannical, and oppressive" and compared with [[President George W. Bush]], "even worse."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090924001648/http://donedems.com/2009/04/14/holy-crap-obama-actually-manages-to-make-the-patriot-act-worse-than-under-bush Obama Actually Manages to Make the Patriot Act WORSE than Under Bush], DONE, April 14, 2009,</ref> As a candidate, Senator Obama lamented that the Bush Administration "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court," however in a motion to dismiss ''Jewel v. NSA'', the Electronic Frontier Foundation litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping, the [[Obama Administration]] argued that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. The Obama administration argued that simply allowing the case to continue "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security." As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence. |
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| − | The Obama Justice Department then argued that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying — that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes. Birch Bricker writing in the ''Auburn Journal'' then points out, "This is a radical assertion that is utterly unprecedented. No one — not the [[White House]], not the Justice Department, not any member of Congress, and not the [[Bush Administration]] — has ever interpreted the law this way....The Obama Administration goes two steps further than Bush did, and claims that the [[US PATRIOT Act]] also renders the U.S. immune from suit under the two remaining key federal surveillance laws: the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act. Essentially, the Obama Administration has claimed that the government cannot be held accountable for illegal surveillance under any federal statutes." <ref>[http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/111477.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=Patriot+Act&user_id=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&event_ts_to=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=2&sub_type=&town_id= It's Actually Possible... The Patriot Act Gets Worse], ''Auburn Journal'', 4/12/09.</ref> | + | The Obama Justice Department then argued that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying — that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes. Birch Bricker writing in the ''Auburn Journal'' then points out, "This is a radical assertion that is utterly unprecedented. No one — not the [[White House]], not the Justice Department, not any member of Congress, and not the [[Bush Administration]] — has ever interpreted the law this way....The Obama Administration goes two steps further than Bush did, and claims that the [[US PATRIOT Act]] also renders the U.S. immune from suit under the two remaining key federal surveillance laws: the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act. Essentially, the Obama Administration has claimed that the government cannot be held accountable for illegal surveillance under any federal statutes."<ref>[http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/111477.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=Patriot+Act&user_id=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&event_ts_to=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=2&sub_type=&town_id= It's Actually Possible... The Patriot Act Gets Worse], ''Auburn Journal'', 4/12/09.</ref> |
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| | [[File:Mass beheading of Christians in Libya.jpg|350px|thumb|[[Libya]] was an ally of the US against the jihadis until Obama armed the jihadis to overthrow the government. One of their first acts was the mass beheading of [[Christian]]s.]] | | [[File:Mass beheading of Christians in Libya.jpg|350px|thumb|[[Libya]] was an ally of the US against the jihadis until Obama armed the jihadis to overthrow the government. One of their first acts was the mass beheading of [[Christian]]s.]] |
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| | *Section 6001—or the "lone wolf" provision, which allows for secret FISA surveillance orders against people who have no connections to a terror group or foreign nation. "The government justified this provision by imagining a hypothetical " lone wolf, " an international terrorist operating independently of any terrorist organization," explains the ACLU, "but there is little evidence to suggest this imaginary construct had any basis in reality." | | *Section 6001—or the "lone wolf" provision, which allows for secret FISA surveillance orders against people who have no connections to a terror group or foreign nation. "The government justified this provision by imagining a hypothetical " lone wolf, " an international terrorist operating independently of any terrorist organization," explains the ACLU, "but there is little evidence to suggest this imaginary construct had any basis in reality." |
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| − | Rod Beckstrom, formerly in charge of coordinating the US government's cyber-security operations, in a resignation letter to Secretary of Homeland Security [[Janet Napolitano]],<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/BeckstromResignation.pdf Letter from Rod Beckstrom to Janet Napolitano], [[Wall Street Journal]], March 9, 2009.</ref> cited that the expanded control over the nation's computer security efforts poses “threats to our democratic processes.” <ref>''[https://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/03/11/US-cybersecurity-head-quits-citing-growing-role-of-spy-agencies/UPI-64411236692969/ U.S. cybersecurity head quits, citing growing role of spy agencies]'', Shaun Waterman, [[UPI]], March 11, 2009.</ref> | + | Rod Beckstrom, formerly in charge of coordinating the US government's cyber-security operations, in a resignation letter to Secretary of Homeland Security [[Janet Napolitano]],<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/BeckstromResignation.pdf Letter from Rod Beckstrom to Janet Napolitano], [[Wall Street Journal]], March 9, 2009.</ref> cited that the expanded control over the nation's computer security efforts poses “threats to our democratic processes.”<ref>''[https://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/03/11/US-cybersecurity-head-quits-citing-growing-role-of-spy-agencies/UPI-64411236692969/ U.S. cybersecurity head quits, citing growing role of spy agencies]'', Shaun Waterman, [[UPI]], March 11, 2009.</ref> |
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| | =====Persecution of dissidents===== | | =====Persecution of dissidents===== |
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| | ==Historical Communism: Theory and Practice== | | ==Historical Communism: Theory and Practice== |
| − | Communism is based upon [[Marxism]], a philosophy which uses [[materialism]] to explain all physical and social phenomena. The theory of [[evolution]] influenced the thinking of the Communists, including Marx, [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref> Marx wrote, "[[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the [[class struggle]] in history." Marx offered to dedicate the second German edition of his polemic ''[[Das Kapital]]'' to [[Charles Darwin]], but Darwin declined the "honour." <ref name="icr.org"/><ref>Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought, Bob Jessop, ISBN 0415193265 (pg 476)</ref> | + | Communism is based upon [[Marxism]], a philosophy which uses [[materialism]] to explain all physical and social phenomena. The theory of [[evolution]] influenced the thinking of the Communists, including Marx, [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref> Marx wrote, "[[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the [[class struggle]] in history." Marx offered to dedicate the second German edition of his polemic ''[[Das Kapital]]'' to [[Charles Darwin]], but Darwin declined the "honour."<ref name="icr.org"/><ref>Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought, Bob Jessop, ISBN 0415193265 (pg 476)</ref> |
| | [[Image:Captive-nations-01b----07-19-06.jpg|thumbnail|180px|right|[[Victims of Communism Memorial|A monument to the Captive Nations stands at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C.]]]] | | [[Image:Captive-nations-01b----07-19-06.jpg|thumbnail|180px|right|[[Victims of Communism Memorial|A monument to the Captive Nations stands at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C.]]]] |
| | Economically, Communism advocates a [[socialist]] economy in which the [[government]] owns the means of production. In countries where Communism has been imposed, the government has taken ownership of farms, factories, stores and so on in the name of the people; see "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". This drives all [[free market|market-based]] economic activity underground and leads to inefficiencies and shortages. In both the Soviet Union and Red [[China]], the number of people who starved to death when the government confiscated their farm products (animals and grain) is estimated in the tens of millions. | | Economically, Communism advocates a [[socialist]] economy in which the [[government]] owns the means of production. In countries where Communism has been imposed, the government has taken ownership of farms, factories, stores and so on in the name of the people; see "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". This drives all [[free market|market-based]] economic activity underground and leads to inefficiencies and shortages. In both the Soviet Union and Red [[China]], the number of people who starved to death when the government confiscated their farm products (animals and grain) is estimated in the tens of millions. |
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| | During the late 1930s and later 1940s the restrictions on church activity were loosened as Stalin needed all the support he could get for the war. This doctrine of co-operation between the church and state continued throughout the existence of the Soviet republics and the other Warszawa pact nations. Though never going as far as a leader of the Soviet Union asking [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_barrow/2007/03/hiding_behind_god.html god to bless the country], the clause in the Soviet Union's constitution addressing the separation of church and state was rendered useless. | | During the late 1930s and later 1940s the restrictions on church activity were loosened as Stalin needed all the support he could get for the war. This doctrine of co-operation between the church and state continued throughout the existence of the Soviet republics and the other Warszawa pact nations. Though never going as far as a leader of the Soviet Union asking [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_barrow/2007/03/hiding_behind_god.html god to bless the country], the clause in the Soviet Union's constitution addressing the separation of church and state was rendered useless. |
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| − | Dr. [[Martin Luther King]] said, "for the Communist there is no divine government, no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently almost anything - force, violence, murder, lying - is a justifiable means." <ref>''Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story'', Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper and Rowe, New York, 1958, p. 92.</ref> | + | Dr. [[Martin Luther King]] said, "for the Communist there is no divine government, no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently almost anything - force, violence, murder, lying - is a justifiable means."<ref>''Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story'', Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper and Rowe, New York, 1958, p. 92.</ref> |
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| | ====Atheistic Communism and torture of the religious==== | | ====Atheistic Communism and torture of the religious==== |