Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Patriot Act to be Expanded

Posted by samzenpus on from the big-brother dept.

m4dm4n writes "It seems that the patriot act is being expanded rather than scaled back after a vote late Tuesday by the Senate Intelligence committee. The FBI has gained new powers to demand documents from companies without a judge's approval, as well as the ability to designate subpoenas as secret and punish disclosure of their existence with up to one year in prison."

3 of 1,523 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone get the feeling... by ForestGrump · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Anyone get the feeling we're becoming more and more of a police state?

    --
    Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
    1. Re:Anyone get the feeling... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      How many people have you heard that wouldn't even think of voting for a 3rd party candidate, because it was wasting a vote? In a land of 300 million, people have a hard time believing that their one small voice matters. They need a way to realize that there are more out there that think the same, and if they get together, they can be a large voice.

      Unfortunately in America that's not really true because of the electoral college voting system. Unless you can turn enough people to flip the state majority from one party to another, then you have made NO difference. As far as voting goes, America is the least democratic of any election holding country in the world.

      The electoral college system provides a sham decocracy that keeps the majority dumb "we're living in utopia" Americans happy with the fig-leaf appearance they're living in a democracy, while being able to ignore all votes except those from a handful of swing states where it can easliy be controlled.

  2. Re:America's been through worse and survived by szaz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Iran! Are you mad! As a former member of Tehran's expatriot community I can say the Iran was - about 6 years ago - a more liberal, tolerant place then the US is now. Iran had no fundamentalists in government - UNTIL the US started threatening it, then the people got scared, voted for fundamentalists who promised to wage war, and now - whilst being far from a fundamentalist state, it is not what it used to be. The average American really should be given lessons in International History