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President Obama signed a one year extension of three sections of the Patriot Act, the counter terrorism law that angered many liberals, conservatives and independents when it was enacted under the Bush administration following 9/11.
The New York Times reported last night that despite concerns raised when the Act was first put into place, “Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.”
I have no specific complaint about Obama renewing the Act. I have always believed that the justifiable concerns many expressed about the Act paled in comparison to the restrictions Congress has placed in the most vital aspects of free speech; campaign speech. I often wondered why people were so angered over the Patriot Act yet willing to act restrictions on campaign speech. I still wonder about that. We should be very concerned about both.
Much of the anger over the original Act was Bush derangement syndrome, as evidenced by the lack of anger from Obama renewing the act yesterday. Still….
An action on something with the divisive history of the Patriot Act warrants an explanation from the White House. Why was the act that was so hated under Bush acceptable, even needed now? I am sure a statement with the details, in the form of an op-ed would suffice. But the Obama administration owes We the People some explanation, because We the People need to know.
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It’s easy…When the Party is filled with immature, breathtakingly pathetic, Econ101 illiterate hacks…
Republican Strategic War – Bad
Dimocrat continuation of same War – Good
Republican use of Gitmo detention Facility – Bad
Dimocrat use of same Gitmo detention Facility – Good
Repub implementation of Patriot Act – HORRIBLE
Dimocrat continuation of Patriot Act – Hey, Not so bad!
Dimocrats are deranged, nutless, cowardly shriekers who have shown their true colors in the last year, losing ALL credibility and WILL be ignored after the November “JudgementDay”……
Isn’t November next month?
In my capacity as one of the dittohead Rafi/Shinequa’s many fake identities, I would like to add my two cents.
Our host’s comments on the Patriot Act leave out the fact that many Democrats in Congress voted for the Act when it was first presented to Congress in 2001. In fact, only one Democrat in the Senate voted against it at that time. Most Democrats also voted to renew it in 2006, with only 10 Senate Democrats voting against. Anyone who is surprised that some Democrats continue to support its provisions simply doesn’t know the facts.
Whether renewing the Act makes any sense is another question. Since there have been several attempted terrorist attacks against America AFTER the passage of the act that were NOT foiled by law enforcement but simply by good luck – such as the attempted plane bombing by the “Shoe Bomber” and the more recent attempt by the “Underwear Bomber” – no one with a brain can argue that the Act has succeeded in keeping America safe.
Time and time again we have seen that no matter how much power and how much information and how much money our security agencies are given, terrorists with little training and little money still manage to get past them.
Miss Borden-If that is indeed your real name…
Check out this YOUTUBE vid of Russ Feingold talking to a “bureaucrat” about the Patriot act. It’s 6 minutes long, well within your gnat-like attention span..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gaecaMSOg
Many in Congress approved it in 2001, 99-1 in the Senate.
Since then it has been been renounced and criticized by many including OBAMA during the campaign of 2008.
Again, Repubs have control and support the Pat Act…It’s bad
Dims have control….It’s good !!!
Just admit it…It’s politics….
Just for the record, me and NavyMum have always hated it…We are small gov’ment freedom lovers…along with Shinequa, Juno, Rafi, Frank Bullitt, Ghost of Ronald Reagan and many others commenting on this pathetic site…
We only come here to when we get tired of hammering TROLLS at Salon and MMfA…
Hope you will see the logic of small gov’ment when you grow up…Yeah right..We should live so long…
Richard, if you knew how to read you would have seen my statement in my previous post that this is a FAKE name used by Rafi/Shinequa/Juno/FrankBullitt, who are all the same Limbaugh dittohead.
When he used this name he was pretending to be a teacher and commenting on NCLB.
As “Juno,” he pretended to be a wife and mother who had voted for Obama but was now disillusioned. He later admitted that identity was a fake also. The one common denominator in all his posts, including yours, is that “he” is (you are) a liar.
No lies you tell can change the fact that most Dems in Congress supported the Act in 2001 and again in 2006. No point in lying about what is in the record, but I am sure that won’t stop you.
As for small government, there’s no point in lying about the fact that when Reps controlled Congress they increased government, spending and debt. Why lie about that when even Glenn Beck admits it’s true? He just made a speech at the CPAC conference last month saying exactly that. Why lie?
Miss Borden/Hairdresser
“Many in Congress approved it in 2001, 99-1 in the Senate”.
If you knew how to read you would have seen the quote in the above comment…
Therefore, no LIES were told, and you have shown yourself to be illiterate and a partisan hack…
Unable to see the TRUTH as it bites you on your fat ass…
And, YOU, it seems, have more fake ID’s then Jason Bourne…
Rafi, we all know you are a serial liar who has repeatedly pretended to be different people on this board, including a teacher (Borden), a wife and mother (Juno), an “under-educated black woman from Detroit” (Shinequa) and a young college graduate looking for a health plan (Traci Williams), among others. Your inability to stop making the same stupid spelling and grammar mistakes and stop using the same hackneyed Right-wing expressions gives you away every time. You can’t possibly be stupid enough to think that you’re fooling anyone. Or can you?
Hairdresser
No body trying to fool the fools…The points made in upholding small gov’ment, low tax rate, pro-life, national security, and an un- corrupted Constitutional government are what’s important, not who sez ‘em…I’m going back to BigJournalism and post there. This site is boring…..I’m “HiPlainsDrifter” there….I hope you’ll join me there…