Patriot Act Extension Scheme Sells Out the Constitution

Unfortunate that this thread hasn't received any responses since posted. In case my fellow AWers are concerned that their clicks are being tracked, here's a bit more from the link:

. . . congressional leaders hope to extend without any changes, until June 1, 2015, are sections that (in the words of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee) outline:

1.) The government’s power under Patriot Section 215 to obtain secret court orders for “any tangible thing”—including Internet, phone and business records—that the government believes is relevant to a terrorism investigation.

2.) The government’s power to use non-specific “roving” wiretaps to monitor any phone number, e-mail account, or other communications facility that the government believes is being used by its target.

3.) The “lone wolf” wiretapping power, which allows the government it to monitor individuals who have no connection to any foreign power or terrorist group.

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I'd really like to work up some outrage, but this is just so 'business as usual' that I can't even feign being surprised any more.

Obama is finding out more and more that once the genie has left the bottle, its hard to put him back in...

thothguard51 said:

Obama is finding out more and more that once the genie has left the bottle, its hard to put him back in...

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I think what Obama has found out is that the single most destructive piece of legislation to strip constitutional rights from Americans is like a magic wand for Presidents.

That Americans don't have a fucking clue as to how invasive the Patriot act is to their lives is another testament to the ignorance and dumbing down of our society...

Also, it's harder to notice snooping than, say, billeting soldiers in your house.

After campaigning to reform the Act, Obama has extended it and now is working to do so again on a bigger scale.

Is this going to be one of those too long to read deals again? Can someone see if there is an Order 66 that allows Obama emergency powers to dissolve the Jedi Council?

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

So far no terrorist attacks.

And haven't seen too many Americans being sent to Gitmo.

No Prez and not many congressman want to vote to get rid of it and then have an attack.

And since not many people really care, they'll just keep it.

No reason not to.

Well, see, I've owned this shirt since 9/11. There have been no planes flying into buildings since then. Clearly, my shirt has prevented terrorist attacks!

Unless you can provide evidence for the Patriot act actually doing something about terrorism, then I'm going to believe it does as much as my shirt does.

What color shirt?

I haven't won the lottery since the PATRIOT Act was passed. Clearly it's to blame. Repeal it now!

thothguard51 said:

What color shirt?

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It's black!

Button down or pull over?

Tee shirt!

Zoombie said:

Well, see, I've owned this shirt since 9/11. There have been no planes flying into buildings since then. Clearly, my shirt has prevented terrorist attacks!

Unless you can provide evidence for the Patriot act actually doing something about terrorism, then I'm going to believe it does as much as my shirt does.

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What a silly post.

It's amazing what a large portion of the public live in the "The patriot act has NEVER done anything to prevent a terror attack, waterboarding has NEVER done anything to prevent a terrorist attack, NOTHING George Bush did EVER did anything ever to prevent a terrorist attack, EVER, NEVER, NOT ONCE EVER!!!" world.

Lol.

It's Bush derangement syndrome in it's purest form.



Whataya gonna do?

As long as we remain attack free, I'll happily support the law enforcement tools presently in place.

Even though they are all pointless and for ten years have not contributed in any way to keeping us safe. And it's all been dumb luck.

I'm weird that way. I'm a creature of habit.

And don't lose that shirt. It might just be our terror lucky charm.

Zoombie, give the black tee shirt to the thrillster. It would go great with his jackboots.

For those who are unaware. Some PA highlights:

Subtitle B: Bank Secrecy Act Amendments and Related Improvements - Amends Federal law known as the Bank Secrecy Act to revise requirements for civil liability immunity for voluntary financial institution disclosure of suspicious activities. Authorizes the inclusion of suspicions of illegal activity in written employment references.

Basically a blank check for employers to discriminate in hiring.

(Sec. 358) Amends the Right to Financial Privacy Act to permit the transfer of financial records to other agencies or departments upon certification that the records are relevant to intelligence or counterintelligence activities related to international terrorism.

Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require a consumer reporting agency to furnish all information in a consumer's file to a government agency upon certification that the records are relevant to intelligence or counterintelligence activities related to international terrorism.


Been asked for a credit check to get a job?? This is the excuse used by employers.....

(Sec. 507) Amends the General Education Provisions Act and the National Education Statistics Act of 1994 to provide for disclosure of educational records to the Attorney General in a terrorism investigation or prosecution.

This is a cute one.. AG is suspicious of you, claims he thinks you're a terrorist, NO PROOF MIND YOU,,, Is authorized to check your school records back to kindergarten... If he finds you aren't a terrorist threat, those records remain property of the Government.. That's okay, isn't it?


(Sec. 364) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to provide for uniform protection authority for Federal Reserve facilities, including law enforcement officers authorized to carry firearms and make warrantless arrests.

Read this and think real hard about the wording at the end of this section.

The problem with the PA isn't the effectiveness of the law against terrorism, it's the effectiveness of the law in undermining the sanctity of individual rights.

Don said:

Zoombie, give the black tee shirt to the thrillster. It would go great with his jackboots.

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I'm not even really sure what that means, but I know it's funny.

:lol:

I'm not saying it's impossible for the PA to have done good. I'm just saying that unless you provide EVIDENCE, then saying that it has prevented any terrorist attacks has as much weight as me claiming that my left shoe prevents tiger attacks.

Ya know, the whole correlation does not imply causation, that kinda thing?

How opportunistic of my helpful government.

I'm pretty sure, but I'm no constitutional scholar, that congress has no power to pass laws that contravene the bill of rights unless they add amendments. The Patriot Act is therefore unconstitutional. That was easy. Was someone going bowling?

billythrilly7th said:

So far no terrorist attacks.

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Exactly. We should be so grateful that the Patriot Act stopped the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, and those planned al qaeda attacks against Amtrak trains.

Not to mention the U.S. was able to use valuable intelligence gained from the PA in order to avoid all those terrorist attacks in Israel and our other western allies (Spain, Britain, Russia, etc).

Don Allen said:

The problem with the PA isn't the effectiveness of the law against terrorism, it's the effectiveness of the law in undermining the sanctity of individual rights.

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That's only a problem if you're not a member of the political class, Don. If you're charged with keeping the sheep in the herd, ready for shearing, the PA is vitally important. The sheep must believe the wolves are laying in wait, just outside the pen.

And after all, if you haven't done anything wrong, you've got nothing to hide, right?

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa, humbug.