The Despicable Patriot Act Is Quietly Renewed By Congress

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

The Despicable Patriot Act Is Quietly Renewed By Congress
posted with permission from http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/02/despicable-patriot-act-is-quietly.html

Signed into law on October 26, 2001 by President Bush, this Act allows the virtual shredding of the U.S. Bill of Rights, as law enforcement can without warrants spy, break into homes, seize people and their private documents and take other actions the police arbitrarily feel are necessary to combat terrorism.

It was part of Mr. Bush's "War on Terror," an empty abstraction that allows him and his successors to launch wars, invade and occupy other sovereign nations or take any other actions they choose, including against U.S. citizens.

This horrific Act would never stand a serious court test for it blatantly violates the U.S. Constitution. Yet this week, while the Health Care summit and the Olympics grabbed intense media attention, the Democratic Party controlled House and Senate quietly renewed it and sent it to President Obama for signature.

That it was done secretively is no surprise for it is so disgraceful, such a threat to the American people, that few politicians would want to be associated with it. So why did it overwhelmingly pass?

Because huge government agencies and their corporate contractors make enormous sums of money from it and with big checkbooks or promises of creating District jobs they lobby Congress.

But also because when speaking to specific audiences that are fearful of terrorism, which they see potentially everywhere, it makes a particular Congressman or Senator appear "tough on terror."

This covert renewal of The Patriot Act is a disgrace to the American people. What you as a U.S. citizen think counts, for this is still at least in theory your government. If you will raise your voice in opposition, you could make a difference and maybe even give Mr. Obama, who as a candidate promised "change," the courage to veto it.

[suede1]

1. I am so damned mad about this. Disgusting!

[NeoGreen]

2. Is this part of the "Chess Game"?...

By signing an extension for one year, it deprives the GOP a talking point(s) for the upcoming election.

This might be an acceptable means to an end IMHO, but only if it is for one more year and no more.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

4. Hmmm. Could be...

But I still don't like it one bit.

[IndianaGreen]

6. His chess game, and our civil liberties!

He can shove that chess game of his up his ass!

[Tesha]

14. I'm pretty sure we were rooked. (NT)

[hughee99]

7. Exactly, what's one more year of taking away people's rights

as long as it helps in the election? :sarcasm:

[suede1]

9. No way. There is no chess game involved. This is just an FU to the people. Period.

[flyarm]

11. oh boy..here comes that frigging chess game of bullshit again..oh please can you come up with

anything a little better than that horseshit?

If you want to play naive..just admit it..but please do not for one moment think the rest of us are as naive as you are.

This chess game shit is getting so damn old and worn out!

[NeoGreen]

26. I don't necessarily agree with the Chess Game analogy...

... but it is somewhat convenient to use when speaking in generalities.

I'm not sure, when observing from this point in time, that I agree a one year extension is a good idea, unless it helps in the upcoming election, where afterwards there is a decided change in direction and the PA is cast aside as undemocratic and the totalitarian law it is.

If in 2011 we see no attempt by the administration or congressional members of the Democratic Party to repeal and discard all aspects of the PA, then as far as I am concerned they will be indistinguishable from repukes.

However, what I fully expect, is that some attempts to drop some of the elements of the PA (and not all) will be made, which will not provide me with a cut and dry analysis of the issue.

[LeftyMom]

18. If you mean that we're all pawns to be sacrificed, then yes.

[grahamhgreen]

34. Yeah. Check mate, we lost. We live in a militaristic police state that tortures.

[Obamanaut]

3. We will reelect nearly every incumbent who seeks to remain. We

do it because of "the name you know."

We will all say "My representative/senator is different", but they aren't. They are the same.

The universal theme of elected officials could well be "Of all the words so big and fine, the best are these 'I got mine.'"

[flyarm]

12. do not count on that..I know a ton of dems that are already saying they are sitting out Nov..

so many dems i know here in Fla are disgusted beyond words..and they are staying home from DEC meetings and everything dem ..dem clubs , dem meetings..etc..and In my state we have a governorship open and a senate seat..and I hear it daily how dems are disgusted and going to stay home from the next election.

Too many are feeling disenfranchised by the dem party..oh and I am one of them. I will sit it out in Nov..or vote against incombants..all of them!

[Obamanaut]

19. Sitting out or not sitting out, it doesn't matter. People will vote for

the name they recognize, the name they have seen in the polling places previously.

If people carry out their threats of staying home, the only difference is the incumbents will get fewer total votes, but so will everyone else. The result will be the same.

[sandnsea]

5. It was modified in 2006

And once again, no Democrat running for President ever promised its total repeal.

Perhaps a better approach would be to identify the remaining issues and lobby for those changes rather than just launch another temper tantrum.

[tekisui]

30. "Temper tantrum"? That's rich.

Like they listen to us when we 'lobby'. Puh-lease. There is no excuse for Obama and the Dems renewing this piece of shit Act. It is a slap in the face to our civil liberties.

[sandnsea]

37. Define please n/t

[timeforpeace]

8. Veto it? Obama signed it as soon as he could.

[ixion]

10. This is PRIME example of what happens when you pass bad legislation

This is a horrible piece of legislation, and yet it gets renewed. This is why I'm against passing something with the idea of fixing it later.

This ugly thing has been floating around for 10 years now, and has yet to get the extreme fixing it so richly deserves.

[IndianaGreen]

13. NAFTA was never fixed. Senate's HCR won't be fixed if it gets passed by House.

Both parties failed the American people when they passed PATRIOT in 2001.

[Imajika]

15. Yet, the Democrats support it for another year...

...to deprive the Republicans of an election issue?

That is what people seem to be saying. Follow that to its logical conclusion and you'd have to conclude this means that the US public supports the Patriot Act and the Democrats feel they must extend it for another year in order to keep on the good side of most Americans?

I have not seen any polling on the Patriot Act at all recently. Do Americans so overwhelmingly approve of it that the Democrats feel compelled to continue supporting it? Or is it that the majority of elected Democrats have supported the Patriot Act all along just like the Republicans do. Either reality is not very pleasant.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Democrats rushed to vote for Iraq War Resolution in order to deprive GOP of an election issue

We have been down this road several times before, and thousands have died on account of it.

[Skittles]

16. nothing to see here; move along

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

20. I guess that's what they want us to do.

[WVRICK13]

21. Is Anyone Surprised?

It is obvious we are living in a military industrial complex, where the only thing that matters is taking away rights, legislating morality and protecting the wealthy. As we run head long into fascism the American religious right is cheering for total domination by the christians. I have heard people in local stores talking about killing gays and muslims and advocating concentration camps for people with AIDS. Yeah, this is turning out to be a country I want to live in (NOT). If the economy was stronger and I had a chance of getting a job in one of about twenty other countries I would definitely leave it. I am a patriot, I love the America we are supposed to be, but I do not love the America it has become. I find it more difficult every day to dream and hope for change. We are changing but it is for the worse.

While over one million Americans are without unemployment benefits the bankers are buying mansions, sports cars, yachts and private jets with our tax dollars. How many of you have a job where you get a big bonus for fucking up? Sign me up, I'll take that job. Families are going to food banks to stave of poverty while they live without heat and human comforts. A clue about the mentality of our citizens is that more people are outraged by Tiger Woods than the human condition in our country. I don't give a fuck if Tiger screws a million women or if Bill Clinton got a blow job, I do care that people are in pain and sinking rapidly.

[CrispyQ]

24. "I love the America we are supposed to be, but I do not love the America it has become."

Ditto. This article sums up my views perfectly.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/12

Empire of the Sunset
by Randall Amster

snip...

Sometimes, I really miss America -- or at least the idea of it. You know: that can-do spirit, streets paved with gold, champion of the tired and poor, purple mountains majesty, that sort of thing. Say what you will, and call it naïve, but the storybook values at the heart of America's erstwhile image are inspiring.

Like most who grew up here, I was steeped in the lore and legend of this place. Despite obvious flaws in the narrative (how exactly does one ‘discover' land upon which others are living, anyway?) there existed a strong sense that at the end of the day some part of our cherished ideals would emerge in time to set things right. Principles like due process, free speech, the work ethic, checks and balances, equal opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness held meaning if only as a reminder that our collective lives stood for something and that our destinies were in our own hands. It may well have been an illusion all along, yet even the most cynical among us likely believed in the underlying ethos at some point in time.

Unfortunately, that America -- even in its illusory state -- has ceased to exist. We are no longer an abstract beacon of hope to the world, but rather a purveyor of concrete hellfire. We rain automated death from above and commit orchestrated theft from below. We export despair and import disdain. We've abandoned even keeping up the pretense of fair play and adherence to principle. We've become global pariahs and domestic piranhas. Awash in a sea of surfaces, distractions, and palliatives, we unsurprisingly have failed to notice that the sun has already started to set on our adolescent empire.

~more at link

[DisgustedInMN]

22. "Change is what's happening...

... in America"- Candidate Barack Obama

"Not so much." President Barack Obama

:woohoo:

[western mass]

23. Dems supported it the first time

why surprised that they've done it again?

[L0oniX]

25. The constitution is just congressional toilet paper ...and much of it ends up being...

the dingle berries hanging off the asses of congress and the senate.

[Taitertots]

27. Both parties are the same in every facet that matters

They are happy to force us into serfdom while we argue over gays and abortion.

[Octafish]

28. If I wanted fewer Civil Liberties, I'd've voted for McPalin.

Come on, Obama! Snap out of it!

[Odin2005]

29. New Boss, Same as the Old Boss.

[Individualist]

31. Hopeless and changeless

[Greyhound]

32. K&R for yet another "told you so" moment.

Scum is scum and blue or red makes no difference.

[IndianaGreen]

35. Blind faith is... well, blind

The intellectual contortions some believers have to go through in order to keep their rose-colored glasses on are reaching epic proportions.

We still have people here that argued for weeks on end that the Iraq War Resolution did not give Bush the authority to invade Iraq.

[Greyhound]

36. I see them too, it's nauseating.

To think that at least some of them actually believe themselves to be liberals...

[Vidar]

33. K&R.

[Kaleva]

38. The passage of the Patriot Act didn't bother me and it's renewal doesn't bother me.