Senate Fails to Extend Patriot Act

With a 52-47 vote, the US Senate did not gain the 60 needed votes to shut down a Filibuster on the renewal of the Patriot Act. Thank goodness. This is one attack on our liberties that needs to wither and die. It was an interesting mix of Democrats and Republicans that foiled its passage.

It is one thing to get a warrant to investigate someone that is suspected of being a terrorist but, under the Patriot Act, warrants are no longer needed. When a National Security Letter is issued, the FBI can demand electronic records from a business or organization. Not only do they get the database containing the individual requested but, also those of other innocent non-suspects in those files. From there you can have many a "fishing" expedition.

Even if an organization thought searches were unreasonable, Republican Sen. John Sununu-R of New Hampshire contends that the business or person would be required to show that the government acted in bad faith and he doubted that would be possible. No kidding, with all the secrecy, how do you make a case for that? Who wants to be in a position of being in opposition to the Federal Government?

The government will have access to all your records. Even which books you check out from the library. Roving wire taps and surveillance of "lone wolf" operatives with no ties to organizations will be allowed. Everyone is a potential "lone wolf" the language is so broad. Let's face it, for political reasons alone both parties have the IRS audit members of the opposition. We see the constant abuse of power from both major parties. Tom Delay-R and friends, Frist and his alleged blind trust, the Clinton Filegate, Mike Espy's shenanigans, the pardoning of Mark Rich etc. etc. Sen. Arlen Specter-R PA already has put President Bush on notice that his panel would hold hearings regarding a report that the NSA was already broadly eavesdropping without proper warrants. Do we really want to trust the government to be able to fish for dirt on everybody and not need to at least have probable cause and a warrant? I don't think so.

Senate leader Bill Frist compared critics of the renewal to those who "have called for a retreat and defeat strategy in Iraq. That's the wrong strategy in Iraq. It is the wrong strategy here at home."

Really Bill? Attacking the argument by calling your critics retreat and defeaters? If we just hand over our rights to you then the terrorists ultimately win a big battle in the War on Terror. How he compares a pre-emptive war and occupation in Iraq to actual damage to our freedom is beyond me. I'll trust you with my liberty right after I have faith that your "Blind Trust" is really blind. Go sell some more stock and leave the Constitution alone, ok?

The scary thing is that Democrats I once regarded as way far to the left are making sense now. Take Sen. Russell Feingold-D Wis and US Rep. Bobby Scott -D VA for example:

"We can come together to give the government the tools it needs to fight terrorism
and protect the rights and freedoms of innocent citizens"
-Sen. Russell Feingold

US Rep. Bobby Scott -D VA, is worried because, provisions in the Patriot Act are not being limited to terror but, also now appear in routine crime investigations and activities not necessarily criminal. Click in this area to read the article in Virginia that explains that agents have used the act improperly but, were not aware that they were acting on unlawful orders. It will sound similar to what is being said about the US policy on torture. You'll also see that files on innocent citizens are still kept after they have been determined to be ordinary folks. The question is why?

"You have an incentive to snoop on people for whom there is no probable cause that they've committed a crime"
"The Patriot Act has provisions in it that are extremely invasive into people's private affairs without making any significant difference in public safety,"
"If they limited it to terrorists, there wouldn't be any debate. This is not only for run of the mill crimes, but for activities that aren't even criminal." - US Rep. Scott-VA

It should be noted that US Rep. Bobby Scott(D)-VA, is the only legislator from the Hampton Roads area that voted against the Patriot Act and its renewal. I urge you to contact your senators and let them know you insist on better civil liberties protections being installed in the Patriot Act