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Senate Trashes Civil Liberties; House to Vote Today

Posted by michael on from the fly-the-flag-upside-down dept.

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the "anti-terrorism" legislation last night. The Washington Post, CNN, and Wired all have stories. There are terrorists under every rock, and we must destroy our freedom in order to save it. Remember: gamblers are terrorists too. The House is apparently going to drop their version of the legislation and vote on a copy of the Senate bill.

11 of 963 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I hope I did my part by spudnic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't be so upset. I'm sure your email was read (or at least scanned) by your friendly neighborhood FBI/CIA/NSA/whoever agent!

    At least someone cares.

    --
    load "linux",8,1
  2. Oh come on! by rkent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Come on! It's called the "USA Act"* -- you'd have to be some kind of pinko commie terrorist bastard to vote against it, wouldn't you?!

    * Yes really -- it's the "Uniting and Strengthening America Act."

  3. "Freedoms Curtailed in Defence of Liberty" by tuffy · · Score: 5, Funny
    The Onion is always good at these sorts of things.

    "It is therefore urgent," Rumsfeld continued, "that all Americans be quiet, stop asking questions, accept the orders of authorities, and let us get on with the important work of defending liberty, so that America can continue to be a beacon of freedom to all the world."
    --

    Ita erat quando hic adveni.

  4. Re:The lone cowboy... by Hard_Code · · Score: 3, Funny

    We are at war with terrorism. We have always been at war with terrorism. Boot lace supplies are up 3.5% this year.

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  5. Re:We bitch about civil liberties on /. by iabervon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Even after all these warning, people keep openning suspicious mail with attachments.

    Plus, people often have virus scanners, but nobody has a bacterium scanner...

  6. Your friendly neighborhood agent is too busy... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 4, Funny

    No no no.

    Your friendly neighborhood FBI/CIA/NSA/whoever agent is a very busy person, and can't read *all* email that comes his/her way.

    Instead, your email was scanned by your friendly neighborhood FBI/CIA/NSA/whoever agent's 18-year old INTERN.

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    1. Re:Your friendly neighborhood agent is too busy... by unformed · · Score: 3, Funny

      not if the 18 year old intern is too busy "getting a raise" (pun fully intended)

  7. Re:I hope I did my part by jgerman · · Score: 5, Funny
    Aside from the last name, what exactly were the major differences between the two?


    Ummm, the first name? Just kidding couldn't resist.

    --
    I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
  8. Re:Or, as another path, by bribecka · · Score: 4, Funny

    A real democracy, without the republican part, could be done now, because of technology.

    Sure, it *could* be done now, but it would take so much of everyone's time that the country would come to a standstill. But then you say that only the people who cared enough would vote--they coudn't have actual jobs. Maybe we'd give them compensation so they wouldn't need jobs and could spend all day reading proposed bills. But how to figure out who to actually pay--maybe we could elect them?

    Oh, wait... :)

    --

    Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

  9. Re:The Details, RTFL by Hollins · · Score: 3, Funny
    "Makes it illegal to knowingly harbor a terrorist."

    You mean that used to be legal?!

  10. Senators and Trouble Tickets... by astroboy · · Score: 3, Funny
    I emailed one of my senators last week (P Fitzgerald, D-IL) and got an auto-reply with a ticket-number, which isn't exactly what I was expecting.

    About a week later, I got a very sincere-sounding form letter response. I can only assume my ticket got marked RESOLVED_WONTFIX