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Mar. 3, 2006 I just finished reading: “Senate OKs Patriot Act Renewal”, AP, Thursday, March 02, 2006 which begins: “The Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to renew the USA Patriot Act, after months of pitched debate over legislation that supporters said struck a better balance between privacy rights and the government's power to hunt down terrorists. The 89-10 vote marked a bright spot in President Bush's troubled second term as his approval ratings dipped over the war in Iraq and his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. Renewing the act, congressional Republicans said, was key to preventing more terror attacks in the United States.” Gee. All we’ve been hearing over the past few years is how evil and intrusive the USA Patriot Act was; How destructive the Act was against civil liberties; How people were being systematically rounded up and tortured under the auspices of the Act; How libraries were now required to surrender all private information on every one of its visitors; How the President was abusing his power, given to him by the act to spy on Americans; How Robert Byrd regretted ever having voted for the act before he voted against it. That was all quite a load of crap. That same act was renewed with a few minor changes that liberals are touting as their assurance that the evil Republicans will never see their library card without a major battle in the US Supreme Court! The renewed act is every bit as powerful as the original act. It is the same act that was extended, after Harry Reid declared that the Democrats had “killed” the Patriot Act. Yes, he used the word “killed” and you can all “Google” that. The Democrats “killed” nothing but time that could have been better spent had they stopped trying to play “one-ups-man” politics and approved the renewal when it first came before them. Instead, the Democrats looked like a group that was ready to send all of America’s security processes back to pre-9/11 state. You know the state that failed us miserably and got 3000 American citizens killed. This is more from the article: “Bush, in a statement issued by the White House while he was in India, applauded the Senate for overcoming what he said were attempts by Democrats to block the bill's passage.”This bill will allow our law enforcement officials to continue to use the same tools against terrorists that are already used against drug dealers and other criminals, while safeguarding the civil liberties of the American people," he said. Critics maintained the bill is weighted too much toward the interests of law enforcement.” This cracks me up! “Critics maintained the bill is weighted too much toward the interests of law enforcement.” WHAT! WHAT! The critics of the Patriot Act believe that the terrorists and the criminals and the drug dealers should have the provisions of the Act more balanced in favor of their criminal activities? That’s just crazy! What are the “interests of law enforcement”? It seems to me that the interests of law enforcement are to serve and protect Americans. The interests are to ensure no more 9/11 events on American soil. The interests are to keep criminal activity and drug use from expanding throughout the American population. Seems like pretty solid interests to me. The critics are boobs! I liked this quote from the Patriot Act “killer” Harry Reid: “"Our support for the Patriot Act does not mean a blank check for the president," said Democratic leader Harry Reid.”What we tried to do on a bipartisan basis is have a better bill. It has been improved." And that improvement includes this: “The renewal package would make 14 of 16 temporary provisions permanent and set four-year expirations on the others.” In other words, none of the provisions that were being so adamantly opposed were eliminated outright. Nothing was “killed”. Yet, provisions were added; from the article: “Unable to break the deadlock, Congress opted instead to extend the deadline twice while negotiations continued. In the end, the White House and the Republicans broke the stalemate by crafting a second measure that would curb some powers of law enforcement officials seeking information. Both will be sent as a package to Bush. This second bill — in effect an amendment to the measure renewing the 16 provisions — would add new protections to the 2001 anti-terror law in three areas. It would: — Give recipients of court-approved subpoenas for information in terrorist investigations the right to challenge a requirement that they refrain from telling anyone. — Eliminate a requirement that an individual provide the FBI with the name of a lawyer consulted about a National Security Letter, which is a demand for records issued by investigators. — Clarify that most libraries are not subject to demands in those letters for information about suspected terrorists.” So terrorist sympathizers that are questioned are permitted to tell the terrorists they sympathize with and no lawyer has to be named to the FBI and libraries don’t have to tell on the terrorists that use their facilities to look up information on bomb making and general “Do-It-Yourself” terrorism. All that is thanks to the Democrats who have said the Patriot Act has been improved! I suppose if you are a terrorist, you would see the improvement. So the vote was taken. The Evil Patriot Act was not “killed” it was renewed, even with a “yes” vote from the “killer” Harry Reid. Ten Democrats knew better though. You must always ensure the terrorists and criminals are provided their rights and their opportunities to kill, maim, steal, and destroy. From the article: “The "no" votes came from Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., and Feingold, Byrd and seven other Senate Democrats: Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Carl Levin of Michigan, Patty Murray of Washington and Ron Wyden of Oregon. After all that crybaby stuff for all those years, 89 Senators (some with reservations, but not great enough to vote “no”) voted “yes”. That just makes me wonder what all the hubbub was about. ------------ About the Author: Michael John McCrae has contributed over 500 articles to Useless-Knowledge.com. Email: macswordV@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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