King Bush backs down on the Patriot Act
Article excerpt from "The Nation" as posted on Yahoo News;
As the December 31 deadline for reauthorization of the act approached. Feingold and his allies offered to accept a short-term extension, so that the Patriot Act could remain in force while senators of both parties address Constitutional concerns.
But President Bush was not in the mood to compromise.
To the very end, the president -- doing his best King George immitation -- attacked Democratic and Republican senators for seeking to reform the act, which was hastily approved after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Dismissing attempts to reconcile the need for security with the requirements of the Constitution, Bush attacked the Senate's refusal to reauthorize the act in the form he demanded as "inexcusable" and said that Feingold and his allies were endangering America.
"The senators who are filibustering the Patriot Act must stop their delaying tactics, and the Senate must vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment," grumbled Bush in one of a series of public rejections of any talk of a temporary renewal.
But, for all his bluster, Bush had to back down.
The Senate deal that ended the filibuster threat extends the act only for six months and provides critics with clear openings to debate contentious provisions, particularly those that permit the FBI to conduct "sneak-and-peak" searches of private homes and businesses, to wiretap telephones and examine of emails, and to obtain secret warrants for library, medical, business and personal records of Americans who are not suspected of committing crimes.
One thing is clear - what happened in the Senate over the past few weeks shows that (long-term reauthorization of the Patriot Act in the version favored by Bush) is dead."
And the Bill of Rights is alive and kicking.
End of article excerpt
Now those staunch Bush supporters will come out and say that anyone who didn't vote to renew the patriot act is unpatriotic and a terrorist sympathizer.
To question your government is to be a true patriot. Someone who believes you should always back your president and your government is a nationalist, not a patriot.
To not allow the government to infringe on rights guaranteed to us by the constitution and the bill of rights is to be a patriot. To claim the need to infringe upon those rights in the name of security is to deserve neither rights nor security.
Terrorism attacks may occur again. Infringing on our rights is not going to stop them. Think just a minute. You are not a terrorist. But if you were, how many things can you think of, in just 60 seconds, to do to cause panic and deaths here in the Us if you were of that mindset?
I know you thought of more than one and you are not a trained terrorist, at least I hope not. The terrorists who attacked us on 9-11 are trained. They are of the mindset to cause panic and deaths. They are organized and they have the resources to do so.
The FBI checking your medical records and what library books you check out is not going to stop them.
The Patriot Act was a declaration of Victory for the very terrorists Bush claims to be fighting with it. By attacking us on 9-11, they got our government to pass the patriot act, taking away our privacy and our rights. The terrorists achieved all they wanted to achieve. Not only did they kill thousands of Americans and cause widespread panic, they took away some of our rights they despise us for.
Bush and those who voted for the Patriot Act are the ones who aided the terrorists and helped them achieve their goals.
More things that just piss me off
As the December 31 deadline for reauthorization of the act approached. Feingold and his allies offered to accept a short-term extension, so that the Patriot Act could remain in force while senators of both parties address Constitutional concerns.
But President Bush was not in the mood to compromise.
To the very end, the president -- doing his best King George immitation -- attacked Democratic and Republican senators for seeking to reform the act, which was hastily approved after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Dismissing attempts to reconcile the need for security with the requirements of the Constitution, Bush attacked the Senate's refusal to reauthorize the act in the form he demanded as "inexcusable" and said that Feingold and his allies were endangering America.
"The senators who are filibustering the Patriot Act must stop their delaying tactics, and the Senate must vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment," grumbled Bush in one of a series of public rejections of any talk of a temporary renewal.
But, for all his bluster, Bush had to back down.
The Senate deal that ended the filibuster threat extends the act only for six months and provides critics with clear openings to debate contentious provisions, particularly those that permit the FBI to conduct "sneak-and-peak" searches of private homes and businesses, to wiretap telephones and examine of emails, and to obtain secret warrants for library, medical, business and personal records of Americans who are not suspected of committing crimes.
One thing is clear - what happened in the Senate over the past few weeks shows that (long-term reauthorization of the Patriot Act in the version favored by Bush) is dead."
And the Bill of Rights is alive and kicking.
End of article excerpt
Now those staunch Bush supporters will come out and say that anyone who didn't vote to renew the patriot act is unpatriotic and a terrorist sympathizer.
To question your government is to be a true patriot. Someone who believes you should always back your president and your government is a nationalist, not a patriot.
To not allow the government to infringe on rights guaranteed to us by the constitution and the bill of rights is to be a patriot. To claim the need to infringe upon those rights in the name of security is to deserve neither rights nor security.
Terrorism attacks may occur again. Infringing on our rights is not going to stop them. Think just a minute. You are not a terrorist. But if you were, how many things can you think of, in just 60 seconds, to do to cause panic and deaths here in the Us if you were of that mindset?
I know you thought of more than one and you are not a trained terrorist, at least I hope not. The terrorists who attacked us on 9-11 are trained. They are of the mindset to cause panic and deaths. They are organized and they have the resources to do so.
The FBI checking your medical records and what library books you check out is not going to stop them.
The Patriot Act was a declaration of Victory for the very terrorists Bush claims to be fighting with it. By attacking us on 9-11, they got our government to pass the patriot act, taking away our privacy and our rights. The terrorists achieved all they wanted to achieve. Not only did they kill thousands of Americans and cause widespread panic, they took away some of our rights they despise us for.
Bush and those who voted for the Patriot Act are the ones who aided the terrorists and helped them achieve their goals.
More things that just piss me off
posted by NameCritic at 6:20 PM
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