Slashdot Mirror
USA PATRIOT Act Survives Amendment Attempt
crem_d_genes writes "A bill to modify the USA PATRIOT Act that would have blocked part of the legislation's provisions that allow for the investigation of people's reading habits was defeated by a 210-210 vote in the U.S House of Representives. The House leaders kept the roll call open for 23 minutes past the 15 minute deadline to persuade 10 Representatives to change votes. According to the article 'Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said he switched his initial "yes" vote to "no" after being shown Justice Department documents asserting that terrorists have communicated over the Internet via public library computers.' On the other hand, 'Critics of the Patriot Act argued that even without it, investigators can get book store and other records simply by obtaining subpoenas or search warrants.'"
Maybe it's just me, but it seems a teensy bit hypocritical to say that you won't engage someone in a discussion unless they've read something that you yourself have not even read.
Do not read this sig.
We check out the new book shelf at the library.
IN SOVIET AMERICA
The library checks YOU out!
"First you get the Linux, then you get the power, THEN you get the women"
you're a moron.
now that its out of the way, let me take this further..
no matter what the bbc, npr, and micheal moore tells you, Saddam Hussein was actually a bad guy who killed hundreds of thousands of people and was a threat to the security middle east and the world. are you fucking insane or just clueless, like half of europe?
why is it america's responsibility to save the world? since when has any other country acted without self interest. and why is it evil when the US wants to protect its freedom and our economy from people who want to destroy those things? why we should let people bomb us and kill us and destroy our economy without responding?
at least the US is doing something about sudan. unlike the rest of the world. unlike the french who once again doesn't want their sudanese oil interests threatened so they are again blocking action in the security council at the UN.
europe (especially france) is the reason african economies are decimated and people are starving. they are responsible for the huge farm subsidies around the world. and then bleeding hearts around the world send food aid that puts the few african farmers who do manage to produce a crop out of buisness and back into poverty. that crushing poverty has created the instability that has reigned in africa. how can you justify their tears, kids with out limbs, with out parents, without shelter and food. can you justify this travesty when a great threat looms in Sudan threatening to wipe out a country, snuff out a million lives in less than an year??? Where are all the liberal bleeding hearts amidst all this? Or does they only listen to their hearts when the response meets their needs?? Why proclaim the fact that you care about the children when you turn a blind eye to Africa?
if you want to help, help build a real economy so people can help themsevles. no one wants a handout, just the opportunity for fair competition.
so dont you fucking say that america hasn't helped anyone..not when people like you are part of the problem.
My copy here has "1984" on the cover, you pedantic twit.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
"In a variety of electoral situations, incumbents win substantially more than half of the time. This is sometimes referred to as an incumbency advantage; in the U.S. Senate, for instance, incumbents win approximately 75 percent of the time." PDF
"It is an article of faith that incumbency is the ultimate electoral advantage for members of Congress. The re-election rates for sitting members of the House are impressive: in elections since 1946, 92.1 percent have prevailed." PDF
So, you have 100 senators, who are up for election every six years, and you oust 25 of those. But check out this section of the second pdf:
"Since the passage of the 17th amendment to the Constitution (1913) establishing direct election of United States Senators, 174 Senators have been appointed to fill intra-term vacancies caused by an incumbents death or resignation. Of the 110 who subsequently sought election, exactly 50 percent have prevailed (U.S. Senate 2002). The performance of appointed Senators is strikingly inferior to that of their elected peers (freshman Senators seeking their first re-election), 82.5% of whom have won reelection since the first full class of directly elected Senators came up for re-election in 1920. This curious discrepancy is the starting point for this paper."
So, you don't actually use your power to oust the people in power. You have the option, but you rarely use it.
I haven't found any statistics on the US Presidency, but it could be interesting to see, if there is a larger chance of getting a second term, if you weren't the vice president during the election process.
Of do get off your high horse, before someone beats you over the head with statistics for the number of democratically elected governments the US have overthrown
Besides - this is Slashdot - most of the people here are from democratic countries, and the population of those VASTLY outnumber the population of the US of A. India, for example, has more than a BILLION inhabitants - ~three times that of the US. The 25 member countries of EU has a combined total of 450 million. Indonesia has 230 million, and Brazil has 180 million. These are four of the top 5 countries sorted by population*.
That's 1.86 billion people living under democracy OUTSIDE of the US - almost 6½ tmes the number of people living in the US. Yes, it may be, that most people in the world aren't living under democracy, but the US is sure as hell nothing more than a small drop in the bucket of democratic countries
*EU is a conglomerate of countries.
All number taken from Wikipedia
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
- vs -
Saddam-era Iraq Torture Iraq torture video clip
Bottomline? ... Abuse != Torture
I believe Juanita
sent to "internal" exile (a la freezing starvation Soviet Gulag or Chinese Communist Laogai )
tortured a la Saddam's Iraq vice "abused"
deprived of their civil rights a la Manzanar
I believe Juanita