First we hear of Big Brother-esque spying from the government, in which "metadata" from personal e-mails and phone calls is collected and placed into a colossal database of intelligence. Rather that actually issuing condemnations for the obvious Constitutional concerns that are caused by such programs, many top Democrats chose instead to defend the program! "It's called defending America" said Feinstein several days ago.
(NOTE: I am excepting Senator Franken, who also recently defended the program. I respect and trust Franken, and his support of the program carries more weight with me than "party flaks" such as Feinstein)
Now I hear that in the wake of allegations of widespread sexual assaults in the military, which is undeniably a major problem that prompted John McCain to stop short of recommending that women join the military, Senator Carl Levin is now blocking efforts to fix the problem!
The plan was to add to the Defense Authorization Act (DAA) a proposal which would take investigation of sexual assaults out of the chain of command, thus ensuring that such assaults would receive due diligence instead of being whitewashed by top brass. The proposal, offered by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), reportedly had twenty-seven cosponsors, including four Republicans.
Unfortunately, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, stripped the proposal out of the DAA:
An effort to place military sex assault cases in the hands of an independent prosecutor was thwarted late Tuesday when Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin sided with the top brass – and against a fellow Democrat.
Levin (D-Mich.) will strip a proposal by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) from the policy-setting Defense Authorization Act and replace it with a measure that instead requires senior military officers to review decisions when commanders refuse to prosecute a case.
Source: NBC News
To be fair, the article later mentions that:
Levin, who is not seeking re-election, is expected to accept an amendment from Senator Claire McCaskill to prevent commanders from overturning jury verdicts.
At the same time, the Democratic party that I know - the one that I have proudly supported for nine years - is not one that supports an ever-increasing police/surveillance state and efforts to whitewash sexual assaults!
That is not to say that Democrats are necessarily becoming Republicans. For that to happen, they would collectively have to lose several dozen IQ points and begin showing utter contempt for women, minorities, and work getting done in Congress.
Support for Big Brother because the face of Big Brother is now a Democrat, however, is not much better...
"Meet the old boss, same as the new boss"
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