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US Congress Extends Patriot Act without Privacy Improvements
WASHINGTON - US lawmakers voted to extend key parts of the Patriot Act law enacted after the September 11th attacks without adding privacy safeguards sought by the White House's Democratic allies.
File picture shows a protestor in Boston. US lawmakers voted Thursday to extend key parts of the Patriot Act law enacted after the September 11th attacks without adding privacy safeguards sought by the White House's Democratic allies. (AFP/Getty) The US House of Representatives, following the Senate, voted 315-97 to renew the counter-terrorism tools, sending the legislation to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
Lawmakers extended authorities' power to use roving wiretaps to track an individual on several telephones; to track a non-US national suspected of being a "lone-wolf" terrorist not tied to an extremist group; and to seize personal records seen as critical to an investigation.
While court approval is required for the wiretaps and the seizures, Democrats and civil liberties groups had hoped to beef up privacy and oversight safeguards, but lacked the votes to overcome Republican opposition.
The vote came after Obama's handling of the so-called Christmas Day bomb plotter drew fire from Republicans who insisted he should have been turned in to military custody instead of civilian law-enforcement officials.
Democrats shot back that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was treated the same way as similar extremists under Obama's Republican predecessor George W. Bush and was providing key intelligence.
39 Comments so far
Show AllWhile court approval is required for the wiretaps and the seizures, ..
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This, to my understanding, is NOT accurate.
The NSA does not have to go to a judge, prove probable cause and get a warrant for each individual wiretap.
This is a clear violation of the 4th amendment.
The judge approves the wiretaps in "baskets" where many innocent people are swept up.
With Obama's signature the Patriot Act is now given "legitimacy" by both dominant political parties.
There is no way to vote ourselves out of it in the confines of our two party system.
Not only that, but wiretaps can, and usually are, approved AFTER THE FACT.
98 senators voted "aye". Only senator Feingold voted "nay".
It was the democrats who pushed Bush to create the boondoggle called Homeland Security and only one democratic senator voted against the patriot act so we can honestly say the democratic party is a moderate right wing party and the republicans are an extremist right wing party and these two groups of lawyers will take away people's rights in the flash of an eye.
At the risk of splitting hairs, I would characterize the Democratic Party as only slightly less extreme as the Republican Party. It seems to me that the two parties are really just two branches of what should be called the Reactionary Party.
I was fooled by Barry's con about change, but from now on I will NOT vote for the lesser of the evils. If there are no progressive candidates available on the ballot, I will write one in.
the fact that the USA has "two major parties"
in NAME ONLY doesn't hide the FACT that the USA has and always been, when push comes to shove, a ONE -PARTY system of
the RICH against the poor and the War mongers as "safety and patriotism" party against DEMOCRACY.
if anyone WANTs to test it - all they have to do is go up to ANY policeman and talk just LIKE THAT....and see where that gets you.
More Common Dreams bulls**t:
"While court approval is required for the wiretaps and the seizures, Democrats and civil liberties groups had hoped to beef up privacy and oversight safeguards, but lacked the votes to overcome Republican opposition."
Actually, the few real Americans in the House lacked the votes to overcome DEMOCRATIC opposition. This includes, of course, the opposition emanating strongly from the White House.
My best guess is that Obama will sign this bill despite his knowledge of that old rag, the now-useless Constitution.
Under Constitutional restrictions, any public trial of people the government deems terrorists should be thrown out if it comes out that any of the evidence against them came from torture or any sort of duress.
Ex-Vice President Cheney in his AEI speech and on many other occasions has stated that torture "is justified because it works". This is an astonishing non sequitur, and it's equally astonishing that so few seem to notice.
Even if torture did work -- (and most professional interrogators agree that it does not, and information gained through torture is usually worthless), and it prevents any subsequent prosecution in a court of law -- would that justify it if it could save American lives?
Let's continue Cheney's line of reasoning. We could undoubtedly save American lives if we repealed or ignored the Fourth Amendment's protections against illegal search and seizure. Let's allow the police to search any person or any home or office on mere suspicion, or for no reason at all. Let's also repeal or ignore the Sixth Amendment's guarantees of a speedy trial and the right to confront witnesses, the Third Amendment's right to a jury trial, and the Fifth Amendment's right not to self-incriminate. Let's stop being soft on terror! Give the police and the prosecutor the tools they need to catch terrorists!
If the police and the courts had no constitutional constraints, if they could bust into anyone's home for any reason or no reason, there's no doubt that they'd catch quite a few terrorists, along with several million other criminals. But we don't let them do that because the price is too high. There's no longer anything worth fighting for. In the trite phrase: The terrorists have won.
There are certain things that in fact we can't do, even if doing them would save lives. Just as there are things we must do, even if they cost lives. We reserve the right to go to war, even though, inevitably -- and no matter how scrupulously we try to avoid it -- we kill civilians in war. We have to do this, because if our tolerance for civilian casualties in war were zero, we could never go to war. The planet would then be ruled by the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Saddam. There is a greater good.
But the other side of this coin is that we have to accept the possibility of casualties on our side, too -- because the cost of not accepting them, of "doing whatever necessary," resorting to torture or the wholesale abrogation of the constitution, would defeat our own ultimate purpose of remaining a free society.
Many people have quoted Benjamin Franklin. It's worth doing so again: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Cheney and his ilk don't understand liberty, and they don't understand freedom, what it costs and what it's worth. They are small men and cowards, selling out the rule of law at the first whiff of danger.
Let's hope that the constitution survives them, and those who think like them.
Provoice: bulls eye! It was a major concern of the framers of the Constitution and especially of the Bill of Rights that they did not ape the "legal" colonial behavior of the hated British. Today our Government is probably more restrictive than that of George IV. Even the spies of Louis 14 of France, who was not averse to throwing some nobility into the Bastille, collected little or no information on most French farmers as long as they paid their taxes. Keeping tabs on absolutely every citizen of a nation is a phenomenon that began in the 20th century.
Vote Libertarian if you wanna get rid of the Patriot Act and meddling government.
Perpetuated DEM ad hoc ass-soulery! Tune and turn Them OUT!!
Business as usual in fascist amerika ! Yet the hypocrisy is that most people still think its a free country ?!
Oh yes. Their voices are as loud and obnoxious as ever, spouting off about how "free" this country is. Just yesterday, in fact, a bunch of friends posted the following on their Facebook pages and wanted everyone else to do the same (which I did not, radical unpatriotic ass that I am):
"Lets support our troops. If you support our troops then please post this in your status and leave it there for one hour. There should be no excuses from anyone! This should appear in everyone's status! Please do this for the ones who make this the Land of the Free."
Gag me.
If these pantie waist patriots really want to support the troops, they should become one.
Not a problem. I wasn't using those liberties anyway.
"Republican Opposition" hahahahahahahah
A Pox on Both their Houses.
Agence France-Presse sez: "... Democrats and civil liberties groups had hoped to beef up privacy and oversight safeguards, but lacked the votes to overcome Republican opposition."
***
Yeah ...
Being in the minority is a bitch. Whattaya gonna do in the face of those overwhelming Republican numbers in CONgress, anyway?
Sigh ...
If even the Washington Times can report on the 31 press conferences around the country on Feb. 19th by Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth, why can't CommonDreams??
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Road-to-Armageddon-by-Paul-Craig-Roberts-100225-925.html
Brian: There seems to be a censorship of anything to do with 911 truth. Even Mythbusters will not touch this hot potato. Jesse Ventura did a show on 911's unanswered questions and Democracy Now had a segment with loose change and Popular Mechanics a while back but other than that; unless it is about the official conspiracy theory, 911 seems to be off the table.
Spying is of a rodentcy in the naturing. Rodent in the Here : Rodent in the After. Study rodents, then tremble in fear, if you are one who spies on others.
There is no weak in gentle. An act of kindness is so powerful that it can save a human life. (Gentle is strong.)
The power in one hydrogen bomb is that of one drop of water falling on a leaf compared to the Power Of Love In Eternal Act.
If you are ceasing to judge, hate, harm, then you are joining the millions of other gentle hearted people in this world and are becoming yet another of this world's saviors.
Love is the power and infinitely so. Love is the way. There is no other way.
If there be but one in all this world, who is with me in this understanding.
At this hour.
Far out.
"ceasing to judge" - that's not exactly activism against the Patriot act.
But it's great Fantasy Politics. "Harry Potter and the Wall Street Gang" next?
I am so glad that the Republicans control both houses and the White House. Neocon foreign policy and domestic repression need be furthered at all costs.
Agence France-Presse sez: "...Democrats and civil liberties groups had hoped to beef up privacy and oversight safeguards..."
***
How about beefing up a coffin by lining it with lead, then placing this toxic legislation inside and burying it? Perhaps at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
you begin to wonder -- which is MORE repressive...
the USA or CHINA ?
lol.
ever wonder what would happen if - say - texas tried to SECEDE?
you'd have "private contractors for security" roaming all over the place...forthwith...
just like they did in KATRINA to "protect" the richer neighborhoods from those MOST victimized by Official NEGLECT...
ever wonder what would happen if - say - every state tried to SECEDE?
...leaving the DC INSIDERS with THEIR national debt...
......in November we will be offered Sophie's Choice......
......I'll take Hobson's Choice of 'none of the above'......
Hey, GREAT idea:
ALL 50 states seceding from Washington DC!
I would like it better of all the states in the Deep South plus Alaska would secede. It's too bad that the Union won the war between the states in just one aspect. If the CSA still existed, all the crazy, reactionary politicans those states produced couldn't destroy the rest of the nation.
The Confederate dollar might be worth more.
i can't forget that time when Texas - whatever else one thinks of it - had a relatively very good financial condition, however that came about.
under the administration of Anne Richards - it seemed to do well. and then she was defeated by George Bush for his governorship.
but what sticks in memory is that Karl Rove ALREADY was Bush's career adviser - who used tactics against richards that focused on her supposed "lesbianism" because she supported gay rights...and rove - the sunday before their Monday night debate had thousands of fliers dropped in front of churches with this notion...
Ann Richards in the debate ended up wasting all her answering time trying to defend herself on that accusation:
"immoral, unchristian, lesbian"...and what was previously a decided advantage fr her becuase the economy of texas thrived under her...turned to a landslide FOR George Bush.
SHE left the governorship with Texas having a SURPLUS of a Billion Dollars.
by the time Bush LEFT - HE left it with a Billion Dollars Deficit...prompting EVEN the republican controlled state congress to quip:
"how the HELL are we going to fix this?!!"
and he went NATIONAL and turned a Surplus into a Deficit.
and the US "conservative economics" ideology of the "free market, privatize everything, do not regulate big business" mantra WENT even BEYOND and turned GLOBAL
and look at what it has done to the countries it succeeded in insinuating itself into -- make their problems WORSE or create problems that WEREn'T there to begin with.
but then -- why should it be SURPRISING?
THIS IS standard American 'economics'. u know.
it's always a matter of "prosperity" for a time being while handing the REAL PAYMENT OVER to others (countries, other economies, the future generation) .
that is STANDARD american "way"...
from the days of Murdering native indians and their environment and stealing it from them -- to the WALL street Bailouts, to haiti legacy of US colonialism and brutality - to Greece and enlarging her problems (goldman sachs advise)...
to the weaker economies or asia decades ago being given prescriptions by the USA through the IMF and World Bank that actually just destroyed their economies (from which they are only NOW really recovering) - to south america with the same schemes....
and of course -- right BACk to the ordinary americans themselves!
STANDARD AMERICAN "way" of "doing business".
it is not only VAMPIRIC , it is also Cannibalistic.
which -- NOW has arrived at an advanced phase of "protecting" or Maintaining its systemic corruption - through calling upon the gods of war openly and of course advancing , for safety and securing the nation,
a POLICE SURVEILLANCE STATE.
that's where it has arrived at , finally.
it's like having a COVEN of Vampires, sensing their vulnerability from the sun, breed and create WEREwolves as their "protectors" ....
but from BOTH -- all others are endangered.
if americans collectively REFUSED to play the game of these crooked leaders and industrialists -
they are finished and would be in the streets themselves begging for "safe passage" .........to some desert island...if americans found any pity for them.
But I thought Obama was going to change things LOL
"Change" my arse.
I can't believe I voted for this man......................
These clowns in the government know the score. The world hates em'. They're scared chitless we are going to realize that we outnumber them 100 to 1.
So they're tightening down the 1984 thumbscrews going to such ridiculous extremes as claiming they're looking for "lone wolf" terrorists, since the war machine is clearly all out of bad guys to justify it's budget.
That pretty much includes everybody who criticizes the status quo. We have to realize that there's nothing wrong with the Constitution. First Justice John Marshal said that no law passed by Congress is valid if it violates the Constitution.
The (Un)-Patriot Act is Invalid on it's face, and we should join the Libertarian Party, for now, to have those enforcing it removed from office permanently. If we don't straighten that out first, all left liberal ideas are just pipe dreams without a prayer. This is a an attack of the "Monocrats", "Monarchists" and "Consolidators" that Thomas Jefferson warned us about.
TJ
"To criticize those in power, is the highest form of patriotism" - Thomas Jefferson
Perhaps the most telling line in this article is that 315 Representatives voted for this measure while 97 opposed it. We can assume that the 97 were Democrats, but over 100 Democrats voted for this abomination. OVER 100 DEMOCRATS!
Let's get very clear here - the Democrats have shown themselves to be cowards every since they were elected, and the claim that they could not get restrictions in had nothing to do with the Republican opposition. It was opposition from their own ranks that caused this vote! As long as it serves the like of Nancy Pelosi and her corporate Democrats (and yes, she is a corporate Democrat to the sole of her designer shoes), the American people will never be protected from those who have usurped our Constitution and our way of life.
The comment about all the states seceding was a good one - Jefferson wanted each state to be independent and states and individual rights paramount. He believed a weak central government that dealt with issues common to all states and international relations, no standing army, and a democracy controlled by the people was what was needed on a federal level, not the way we have it set up to be controlled first by the wealthy of the Revolutionary days and now by their corporate descendants.
Maybe we should try it his way now, because the other way surely is not working for America anymore!
I don't agree: Ds are not cowards they are corrupt lying politicians. They represent the interests of the big-money that bought them a seat in Congress. That's how politics works here.
Great comments by djnoll. Nancy Fancy Pants Pelosi is indeed a
Corparate Lexus Liberal who vowed not to write any blanks checks for the Smirk Administrations Iraq invasion and she gave
Smirk everything he wanted; O-Bomb-Uh continues to carry on Smirk's PNAC policies as we speak.
O-Bomb-Uh if you remember voted for retro-active immunity for Telecoms that spyed on Americans emails & phone calls.
The Republikaner Neo-Klowns are horrible & the D-Crapper party is useless.
What with all the fanfare at the conclusion of presidential election eve when Obama was celebrating, you would've thought Jesus Christ himself won the presidency.
Obama is continuing extraordinary renditions of political prisoners to foriegn countries where it is nothing less then certaian they'll be tortured.
Obama is far from the Sir Galahad of Camelot that he built himself up to be.
The D-Crapper party aids & abets the PNAC policies of Smirk in so many ways and the Patriot Act is the biggest 'Stinking Steamer' it has defecated on the American public to date.
Well stated.
Chelsea
The corrupt,cowardly criminals in congress cover up crimes committed
by the fbi/cia and in return the fbi/cia allow them to do pretty much as they please.
http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v194/__show_article/_a000194-000201.htm
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/hatemail-partele.html
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part4-worldinabo.html