Bush urges renewal of Patriot Act

[KipWellsFan]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/14/...t.ap/index.html

 

Monday, February 14, 2005 Posted: 3:46 PM EST (2046 GMT)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Monday urged Congress to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act, the Justice Department's widely criticized anti-terrorism law.

 

"We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war" on terrorism, Bush said at a swearing-in ceremony for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the Justice Department.

 

The president also argued that the Senate must give his nominees for the federal bench up-or-down votes without delay to fill vacancies in the courts.

 

The Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, bolstered FBI surveillance and law-enforcement powers in terror cases, increased use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado for months, and allowed secret proceedings in immigration cases.

 

Civil liberties groups and privacy advocates lambasted the law because they said it undermines freedom.

 

But Bush said the act "has been vital to our success in tracking terrorists and disrupting their plans."

 

He noted that many key elements of the law are set to expire at the end of the year and said Congress must act quickly to renew it.

 

The Patriot Act was pushed by Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft, who was in the audience as Gonzales took his oath from Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

 

Bush lauded Ashcroft's tireless efforts to make America safer as he oversaw a drop in violent crime besides his counterterrorism work.

 

Gonzales, who served as White House counsel during the last four years, said he would be a part of Bush's team but his first allegiance will be to the Constitution.

 

"I am confident that in the days and years ahead we in the department will work together tirelessly to address terrorism and other threats to our nation and to confront injustice with integrity and devotion to our highest ideals," Gonzales said.

 

I love all the hokey quotes that come with these articles.

[sox4lifeinPA]

my favorite part about the patriot act is the fact that anyone openning a bank account has to produce 2 forms of government ID and a basic background check. That includes foreign nationals such as college students.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Gonzales, who served as White House counsel during the last four years, said he would be a part of Bush's team but his first allegiance will be to [wiping his ass with] the Constitution.

 

I just thought I'd fix the obvious omission.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

I just thought I'd fix the obvious omission.

 

OWNED.

 

Nice one Flaax. People do realize that this Act has done absolutely nothing to capture terrorists, right? Right? Its the illusion of safety.

 

It's the Patriot Act -- Preparing Americans To Readily Ignore Overt Totalitarianism Act.

[sox4lifeinPA]

OWNED.

 

Nice one Flaax.  People do realize that this Act has done absolutely nothing to capture terrorists, right?  Right?  Its the illusion of safety.

 

It's the Patriot Act -- Preparing Americans To Readily Ignore Overt Totalitarianism Act.

 

 

that's funny, I was just wondering why you didn't comment on what I had to say. I think it's a great idea for documentation and identification to be checked when setting up a financial account. I wonder how that will affect anyone planning attacks? that's right...it's an illusion of security :headshake

[Queen Prawn]

PA - I though a person had to do that already. When I opened my checking account back in 1999 (or so) I had to do that (not the background check, but the other item). I am not sure I agree with a background check, but that isn't my decision to make. I have nothing to hide so they are free to check away.

[sox4lifeinPA]

PA - I though a person had to do that already.  When I opened my checking account back in 1999 (or so) I had to do that (not the background check, but the other item).  I am not sure I agree with a background check, but that isn't my decision to make.  I have nothing to hide so they are free to check away.

 

 

It's newer than that. It's a social security check, and international students, for example, have forms to fill out and passports copied and verified with the fed.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

that's funny, I was just wondering why you didn't comment on what I had to say. I think it's a great idea for documentation and identification to be checked when setting up a financial account. I wonder how that will affect anyone planning attacks? that's right...it's an illusion of security :headshake

 

Yeah and those searches without warrants, etc. Its sure worth it. Let's play a fun game called "Justice Department Statistics Regarding Terrorism", eh PA?

 

1) Of the more than 5,000 foreign nationals detained in anti-terrorism measures, not a single one stands convicted of any terrorist offense.

 

2) Nor did he find a single terrorist among the 80,000 Arabs and Muslims called in for registration, or the 8,000 sought out for FBI interviews.

 

3) He also claims that his terrorism investigations led to 368 criminal indictments and 194 convictions. What he doesn't say is that all but a handful of the convictions were for petty offenses, not terrorism charges.

 

4) A Syracuse University study found that the median sentence actually handed down in cases labeled 'terrorist' by the Justice Department in the first two years after 9/11 was 14 days – not the kind of sentence you'd expect for a terrorist.

 

5) And where are the al-Qaeda sleeper cells that prompted the aggressive sweeps in the first place? The closest thing Ashcroft can point to are six young men from Lackawanna, N.Y., who followed a charismatic religious leader to an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan, but returned to the United States showing no interest in terrorism and undertook no activity whatsoever in furtherance of even a petty crime, much less a terrorist plot.

 

6) The only criminal conviction involving an actual terrorist incident that Ashcroft can cite is that of shoe bomber Richard Reid, and he was captured not by anything the government did but simply because an alert flight attendant noticed a strange-looking man trying to light his shoe.

 

Yep. Government infringement on civil liberties and their wiping of their asses with the Bill of Rights has gotten them 0 (ZERO) terrorist arrests but Bush and the whores in Congress are lauding the efforts as worth the total destruction of civil liberties.

 

As Ron Paul (R-TX) stated: "Therefore, giving up our freedoms to get more security when they can't prove it will [prevent terror attacks] makes no sense. I seriously believe this is a violation of our liberties."

 

And if a contemporary isn't enough for you then here's the immortal words of Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to attain temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."

 

The illusion of safety because these are the same idiots putting Senator Ted Kennedy on the no-fly list. What do they want him to do -- Drive?...sleep tight. But I'm sure that's all worth the sweeping eviscerations of the 1st, 4th and 6th Amendments, right?

[sox4lifeinPA]

Zero

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The number of attacks on US Soil for 3+ years. Yup, sounds like they're doing their job to me.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Zero

The number of attacks on US Soil for 3+ years.  Yup, sounds like they're doing their job to me.

 

The last attack on US soil by Al Qaeda was 1993. It took them 8 years to plan out and execute 9/11 from just a logistical standpoint.