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ACLU Drops Challenge Over Patriot Act

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the declare-victory-and-withdraw dept.

An anonymous reader writes, "The ACLU announced on Friday that they were dropping their case against the US Government over the highly contested section 215 of the Patriot Act. ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson stated: 'While the reauthorized Patriot Act is far from perfect, we succeeded in stemming the damage from some of the Bush administration's most reckless policies. The ACLU will continue to monitor how the government applies the broad Section 215 power and we will challenge unconstitutional demands on a case-by-case basis.'"

1 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. ACLU's heavy Democratic Party Tilt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    The ACLU never really had a case. It's been virtually silent about the far more draconian measures the Europeans are using to fight terrorism, particularly the French. It's real purpose was to attack the Republicans and puff the Democrats. With an election now upon us, their political agenda is complete. Rightly or wrongly, they think the Democrats are about to take over at least one side of Congress, hence the need to quickly mute their criticism.

    And we should never forget what happened at Waco under Clinton/Reno, something that didn't tie the ACLU's underwear into knots. A group whose only flaw was some rather rather weird religious ideas (along with sexual practices not that different from Clinton's), was so brutally attacked, it resulted in the largest mass death of a civilian population by an action of our government since the Indian Wars over a century ago. That's dead people, not a government bureaucrat finding out you checked out some porn flick from your local library. Dead as in totally and utterly dead. Dead as in dying in a way we'd never permit for the execution of a serial rapist, killer and child molester. And the dead included children and teenagers.

    The tear gas used in Clinton's Waco raid is not only banned in war by the Geneva Convention, exposed to flames it turns into a lethal cynanide compound. One 13-year-old girl exposed to that gas had convulsions so violent, her bones were broken.

    But Clinton is a liberal and a Democrat, so the ACLU found no need to launch a propaganda campaign. Nothing new there. In the 1920s, the ACLU's founder wrote a book, Liberty Under the Soviets, that praised the Soviet Union under Stalin.

    The ACLU. It's not about civil rights. It's about who is in power.