Our constitution is being watered down again. Dec. 31. Patriot Act provisions sunset, BUT

[midnight]

More controversial than the three provisions about to expire is the FBI's use of national security letters to obtain financial records and computer information without the approval of a judge.

"This law was rushed through Congress after 9/11," House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said. When an Obama administration lawyer testified in support of extending the law as is, Conyers stopped him. "You sound like a lot of people who came over from DOJ," he said, referring to the Department of Justice under Bush.

Both Leahy and Nadler said Tuesday that they would not seek to end the practice, but would press for changes. Leahy said his bill "would require the FBI to include a statement of facts articulating why the information it is seeking it is relevant to an authorized investigation." He also said he planned to seek a change that would call for disclosing these searches in some cases. The Obama administration said it had not decided whether it would support changes in this part of the law.

Of the three expiring provisions, the most controversial allows the FBI, with a judge's approval, to obtain an order to get business records, financial data, computer information or even library records that are believed to be relevant to a terrorism investigation. These searches are done in secret and the banks, for example, are not to notify the customer.

Are we so excited about, maybe, getting to vote on a public option by Christmas that this falls under the radar?

Or will be happy to see the year end and be grateful we have food on our tables?

Maybe we can turn our attention away from the fact that we will not be notified that our personal records are being shown to strangers, or worse?

Maybe we can just be relieved that the executives that stole our money, might, get their pay of millions of dollars slashed so that they can't by a new corporate jet?

Or maybe people should stop their complaining and be grateful a new president who can talk and who is admired is now in office. Maybe it will be enough for many of us to move on and be chipped, monitored, x-rayed, searched, because it makes everyone in power feel safer? And safer is more important than anything else..... Even our Constitution, because it is so old anyways. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-patriot-act23-2009sep23,0,6070872.story

[midnight]

1. After USA PATRIOT Act had been signed,DOJ pressed Congress to relax FISA.

DOJ explained that this proposal was to address the threat posed by a single foreign terrorist without an obvious tie to another person, group, or state overseas. Yet, when asked to “provide this Committee with information about specific cases that support your claim to need such broad new powers,” DOJ was silent in its response and named no specific cases showing such a need, nor did it say that it could provide such specificity even in a classified setting.4 In short, DOJ sought more power but was either unwilling or unable to provide an example as to why. http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_rpt/fisa.html

[autorank]

2. k*r Excellent & thank you

This is a big event. The direction was tipped by a report by AG Holder a couple of months ago (I'll be back later with the link). It's not OK to carry forward the Bush dictatorship policies and it's clearly not OK to avoid discussing the obvious causes of the intrusion into our basic rights as free men and women: our policies of endless war causing death, injury and destruction in the Middle East and other places. If I were asked by anyone in authority what I think is the most important step we can take to restore good will and expand influence, my response would be simple:

STOP KILLING PEOPLE