Imminent Expansion on Patriot Act

Jim Lobe, OneWorld US

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov 21 (OneWorld) -- Congress is poised to approve new legislation that amounts to the first substantive expansion of the controversial USA Patriot Act since it was approved just after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon,...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/oneworld/20031121/wl_oneworld/4536733831069425924&e=5


My apologies in advance if this is a re-post,...I did not see it on board and find it a very impactful topic in these times.

You've got to be kidding me!

A republic can't survive imperilization.

"The provision not only permits the FBI to seize records from more kinds of businesses; it also forbids businesses from informing their clients about the seizures. "

F**K them!

Anyone want to bet on which way the candidates will vote on this? I doubt Kucinich will go for it, but I'm expecting another cave-in by the rest.

"The measure would extend the FBI's power to seize records from banks and credit unions to securities dealers, currency exchanges, travel agencies, car dealers, post offices, casinos, pawnbrokers and any other business that, according to the government, has a "high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax or regulatory matters." Such seizures could be carried out with the approval of the judicial branch of government."

I do not see tax and regulatory matters as being exclusively terrorist based. While I understand how terrorists could evade taxes and elude regulations in their pursuit of terror, not everone who engages in these activities are terrorists.

I'll bet some terrorists even drink milk!!!!!

everything to do with this (just twist the words around, he does. What I mean is , obviously he wants this for all crimes + the ability to frame political enemies easier. that's why you can't know if they're peeking or not,I bet the IRS loves this one too):

PRESIDENT BUSH: Under current federal law, there are unreasonable obstacles to investigating and prosecuting terrorism, obstacles that don't exist when law enforcement officials are going after embezzlers or drug traffickers.
For the sake of the American people, Congress should change the law and give law enforcement officials the same tools they have to fight terror that they have to fight other crime.

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript242_full.html

what a lousy gov't we have

This is the first I've heard of that provision being included. Remember "Patriot 2" that we were all up in arms about a few months ago? This is one of the most objectionable provisions in that "draft" legislation.

Of course, it's not surprising we haven't heard about it being in the Intelligence bill... staffers only discovered it last week. Another one of those things added to the bill in "conference" after the House and Senate voted on the bill... "conference" my @ss.

morning. Chairman Pat Roberts (Repub) and Vice Chairman Rockefeller (Dem) each asked unanimous consent to pass the bill, stating that neither side had any objection to it! It was passed by voice vote--I heard only ayes, no nays.

you mean theres no actual way of telling who voted on this??

. . but at the same time

- a little worried about how close we live to the USA

- I fear some of their "sh_t" will flow North

Ur GeeDubya is something else

Just My Humble Canuk Opinion

until they expand it to include Canada. :scared: </sarcasm>

Jay

You just KNOW the Busheviks want to do it.

You Canadians have so many of those forest-fire-causing trees that are just begging to be cut down, not to mention your other natural resources...

I would say that certainly by the reign of Emperor George P. Caligula in the 2030s, you will a part of the Greater Amerikan Empire.

Looks like people from both sides of the aisle are doing so, but please help anyway.

This is one of those issues where Seante Democrats have got to come through.

Not only should the Patriot Act not be expanded, it should be repealed.

Just like they slipped a little one-liner into the $87 bln dollar Iraq bill that sent $8.5 mln dollars to Miami for *security* for FTAA. They're gonna slip the Patriot Act into spending bills bit-by-bit--we're f*ck'd.

From Now with Bill Moyers:

...BRANCACCIO: What do you think about this apparent strategy to insert a little paragraph here into a new law? Or maybe a little paragraph there instead of trying to push for a whole new PATRIOT Act II?

BARR: I always hate to tell people I told them so. But I've been warning for months now that in the wake of the adverse reaction to the initial draft of what I call the Son of PATRIOT Act early this year, the government would probably switch tactics to start trying to insert separate specific provisions of it into other bills. And that's particularly dangerous during the final few months of any Congressional session when all of the spending bills come up.

So this doesn't surprise me. It's very unfortunate that the government is doing this. But it's happened time and again. I remember it from the years that I spent in the Congress. And I'm sure that we'll see it again. It's sort of an underhanded way of doing it. But it's common practice in Washington.

transcript...

,...they have been using spending bills to push through initiatives ALOT!!! Better keep our eyes on the ball (money) cause where it stops,...nobody knows until the last minute or after it's too late!!!

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

What's so freaking complicated about this?

anytime they want, anywhere they want, doesn't seem unreasonable to you? I just can't believe that the courts wil put up with any version of this bill for much longer.

eom

I wern't usin my rights anyhow. No sense in wastin em.

Get it further up on the most list, please, so more people can see what they are doing to our freedoms in this country!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/oneworld/20031121/wl_oneworld/4536733831069425924&e=5

your democracy will just become a souvenir... And perhaps the majority of the american people will agree with, because the patriotism et the security deserve all the sacrifices !

to Dean, my senator and my congressman asking them to speak up and against passage on this expansion of power. Sometimes it helps...always willing to give it a shot O8)

,...sent this out to several representatives, papers, constituents and activists groups. The more eyes, ears and voices we can conjure,...the better off are all the people.

Welcome to DU, Just Me! ;-) :hi:

And you're right...time for a :kick: so more people will take the initiative to write others, send this story on to make help make the media whores have to LOUDLY report this O8)

,...working towards distraction and on short memory. By the way, what the hell happened to the investigation on the INTENTIONAL leak of Wilson's wife? Our memories on these things are not short.

and even have a news alert for more, but it appears the media whores are being "frog-marched" to the tune of the upper echelon of the neo-cons. The news is scant, almost nonexistent, in regard to the Wilson/Plame leak.

,...to delete attention to issues that are so relevant and impactful!!! The "obsessions" projected by an alleged (TV) news broadcast on basketball players, singers, lottery-draw individuals is absolutely insane considering the incredible social/economic/political issues that have hugely significant impact upon the lives of everyday people and will impact all those whom everyday people love and cherish.

Where is the focus on the basics? I know I am ranting to the "choir",...but,...the focus,....the focus,...is getting lost.

...or at least obscured as long as the current administration can keep creating divisiveness among Americans. Somewhere along the line, it seems we are all being dienfaranchised in the sense that the split and splintering keeps getting planted to create more dissent of Americans against Americans.