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Senate Passes Patriot Act Renewal
IAmTheDave writes "The Senate has passed a renewal of the Patriot act, 89-10, after two extensions caused by months of negotiations. The only thing standing in the way of a full renewal is a House vote, expected to pass next week. The renewal comes with some privacy protections attached, however, some worry they are only cosmetic. Some lawmakers who voted for the package acknowledged deep reservations about the power it would grant to any president. "Our support for the Patriot Act does not mean a blank check for the president," said Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who voted to pass the bill package. Certain lawmakers supported passing the bill even though they were still wary about it - Arlen Specter urged his colleagues to pass it even as he promised to introduce a new measure and hold hearings on how to fix it. Terrorism aside, the bill also includes new legislation that has almost nothing to do with terrorism, like one measure, which would make it harder for illicit labs to obtain ingredients for methamphetamine by requiring pharmacies to sell nonprescription cold medicines only from behind the counter. I know that people like Arlen Specter promise further hearings - but why pass what you know is flawed?"
Um. He was not under the influence of alcohol. He never admitted that, he and the guy who was shot denied it. You don't have your facts straight, libtard. Kthx. And the stat about his vacation also counts visits to foreign governments and weekends. Why not count time in the john to make it even MORE?
Oh, and EVERY PRESIDENT takes August off. The entire fucking congress does, too. Every year. You dipshit! Thanks for playing, stop listening to everything Michael Moore says!
And why should the Patriot Act have preveted these attacks in foreign countries?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I call BS.
Where is your evidence that "the skies are not cleaner"? Where is your evidence that the "forests are less healthy?" That children are being left behind is true (after all, at least one child will be left behind until we reach 100%). But as I've invested myself in the school board in my community, I have seen absolute hard evidence that the children are doing better than they were 5 years ago, and only BECAUSE of the NCLB.
What happened on the floor of the senate was a whole lot of democrats talked the big talk but wouldn't back it up with the walk. They claimed the PATRIOT act was damaging our country and infringing on our constitutional freedoms. Guess what? DEMOCRATS LIE. When it came time to vote, they abandoned their base, they voted FOR the act, and they violated their so-called principles.
If the PATRIOT act is as bad as you and others say it is, wouldn't the Democrats have taken that to the carpet come elections this year? After all, with such obvious proof that Republicans are Nazis, it would ensure their sweep of the house and senate. Wouldn't they have stuck out their neck and give obvious examples of how the PATRIOT act has hurt, is hurting, or will hurt American freedoms? Why is it that after almost 5 years of passage, NO ONE CAN CITE ONE EXAMPLE OF ANYONE BEING INJURED UNJUSTLY BY THE PATRIOT ACT? Why is it that after being scrutinized by countless thousands of eyeballs, NO ONE CAN FIND ANYONE'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS INFRINGED? I mean, there has been plenty of time for this act to be challenged in a court of law, right? WHERE'S THE CHALLENGE? WHERE'S THE ABUSE?
On the other side of the act, we see that maybe, just maybe, the PATRIOT act worked. With 0 successful terrorist attacks on US soil since the passage of the act, maybe, just maybe, President Bush was right about everything, and the democrats were wrong all along. Maybe invading Iraq cut off a major source of funding and training for the terrorists, including OBL. Maybe, by invading Afghanistan and destroying the Taliban, we have introduced a brand new concept--freedom--to a people who have lived for centuries under the veil of tyranny and religious oppression. But since this doesn't fit into your paranoid worldview where Karl Rove has supernatural powers to direct hurricanes to destroy black's homes and leave the white's untouched, you aren't going to accept the facts at face value, nor are you going to investigate the wild claims made by the far left in our country.
The reason why the democrats voted yes is because the facts support the republicans. The Act doesn't violate anyone's rights. The act doesn't hurt anyone but the bad guys. And it is helping to protect our country in exactly the way we WEREN'T protected before 9/11. And if they came out against the act, the republicans would've been able to use the facts to defeat the democrats. And facts are awfully expensive things to defend against in politics. There's just too many people out there nowadays more interested in the facts than their favorite political party.
I'm getting sick of the far left running around like a bunch of chicken littles. No, the sky isn't falling. No, President Bush is not simultaneously the dummest man on the face of the planet and yet so intelligent to manage a vast conspiracy involving all three branches of government, all four branched of the military. No, Dick Cheney is not Satan. No, we are not killing civilians at an unprecedented rate. No, Iraq is not going to have a civil war. No, we are not losing the war on terror, and yes, there are people out there with the desire and means to kill large portions of our population.
One thing to remember: If you really do belive the PATRIOT act is bad for your country, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, you certainly can't mark "D" on your ballot and have a good conscience this November!
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
I know that most of the /. posters are going to bitch and moan about how horrible this is, since Bush is such a Nazi and we're building the American police state, but... ...could someone please give me three examples where your civil liberties were actually violated or you were prevented from performing some legitimate task* by the Patriot Act? Prevented from borrowing a library book because John Ashcroft was reading your library patron log? Anything?
Note for example that there is no inherent RIGHT to board an airplane without ID. As a private business whose major concern is safety, they instead have the RIGHT to refuse service to anyone.
* by legitimate, I mean something pursuant to your daily life. Not simply being a dick to protest how 'inherently unjust' the Patriot Act is.
Slashdot should have a new mod value: +1 'Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
-Styopa
Most Germans who didn't rock the boat and obediently went to wave swastikas at the rallys didn't have much direct cause to complain about within Nazi Germany either. Unless they were Communists. Or Gays. Or Liberals. Or physically disfigured. Or Jews.
Haliburton was just awarded by the Pentagon a 350 million dollar contract to build internment camps on American soil.
I'm sure there were people who offered your kind of sentiment in Germany during the 30's as well.
Congratulations. You'll look spiffy in your party armband. And after Bush crashes the economy, the only good jobs left will be those which involved carrying a side arm and rounding up people with less than white skin.
You'll do just fine, I'm sure.
But you'll pardon the rest of us, 'dicks' who think you are a self-serving tool.
-FL
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both
Okay, just stop stop stop. You're butchering the quote and as a result perverting it for your own uses:
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
It's not the case that giving up any liberty for security is a lose-lose situation, it's giving up the essential liberties. Make a subjective argument out of that, but without including that modifier you're including any creep on liberties, which obviously isn't the case; there are plenty of laws on the books that even you would agree are good that involve limiting civil liberties, they just don't pass your threshhold.
--trb
Can you name a single hypocracy in the PATRIOT act? Just one. I've been waiting for someone, anyone, to tell me any violation of our freedoms by the PATRIOT act. All the so-called violations or hypocracies have been found lacking in substance.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
Because... It's PROFITABLE. In one way or another, the people who pass the bill are either being paid to, or being threatened if they don't. Mark my words. The people who vote against it have committed political suicide. You won't see them in politics ever again. They might possibly not even live to the next election of their seat either with the Bush administration in charge...
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I do agree with your general point, but this is underestimating the potential danger of Al Qaeda. Sept 11 was scary not just because of the 3000 people that died but because it showed that terrorists were ready to go "all in" to cause as much destruction as possible to America, including (if they could only get their hands on them) the use of nuclear weapons that might kill millions.
Also, if you think our rights and freedoms are eroding right now, just consider the hysterical response to a successful nuclear attack. In that sense, protecting our security is necessary to protecting our freedoms.