By now many of you who read my blog know that I am a deep hater (yes...HATER) of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. The perpetrators of this greatest usurpation of our Constitution in American history chose to entitle it with such a mouthful so that the acronym for this law could be USA PATRIOT, a most disgusting act of hypocrisy. This act was rushed through a shocked and awed Congress in 2001, just a few short weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Members of Congress, like the rest of us, were shaken and numbed by what had just happened. Not only that, but senators and representatives who could have, and SHOULD HAVE, voted against this terrible bill were either too angry or too intimidated to vote against it. After all, anyone who did not grab a hoe or rake and yell "Attack Iraq!" every time President Bush appeared on TV or on the radio was branded an UN PATRIOT, or worse. Only ONE person in the entire US Senate dared to vote against the bill, one Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Only 89 US Congressmen voted against this act, including Ron Paul of Texas. I have to add here, in fairness to Sheila Jackson-Lee, that SHE voted against USA PATRIOT, too. Knowing her usual stances on many issues, I nearly had a heart attack upon checking her record. But, bless her, she had the nerve to stand with Ron Paul and try to defend us from the coming tyranny.
Yes, I can say I truly hate the USA PATRIOT Act. I will get into my reasons soon, but first I would like to point out that this law came up for renewal in 2006. During that vote, our Texas senators SHOULD HAVE led the charge to repeal this horrible law. In fact BOTH Texas senators meekly got in the sheep line behind President Bush II, as did all but ten senators. Once again, Russ Feingold voted against USA PATRIOT, this time joined by nine other senators who had come to see this law for what it was. Do you know, by the way, who ELSE voted FOR USA PATRIOT? I will tell you, my friends. It was none other than Senator Barack (Open and Transparent Presidency) Obama. I point out the 2006 vote because back in 2001 many politicians claimed that they had not had time to READ the USA PATRIOT Act and only voted for it in the urgency of the moment. Following that logic, we must assume that in 2006 those politicians who AGAIN (or for the First Time in Obama's case) voted for renewing USA PATRIOT had FIVE years in which to read the contents of that law before voting for its renewal. That being the case, then, we must also assume that those who voted for this measure in 2006 APPROVED OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BILL. Further, if these senators and representatives DID KNOW the contents of USA PATRIOT and VOTED FOR its extension, we must by the same token believe that they supported the Bush Administration's usurpation of the United States Constitution.
Now, why do I hate the USA PATRIOT Act? First, I hate it because of the way its authors dared to name it USA PATRIOT. Not only is it a treasonous act, but the implication is that anyone who dared stand against its passage was NOT a USA PATRIOT. At a time when sales of United States flags hit an all-time spike, no politician who wanted his job dared be seen as UNPATRIOTIC! In other words, voting against USA PATRIOT automatically branded the politician a traitor to the nation.
Second, USA PATRIOT purports to give to the president powers of seizure and arrest specifically PROHIBITED the government in the Constitution. Secret courts and judges replace our true system of justice. Persons arrested under USA PATRIOT are entitled to NO DUE PROCESS! That includes the traditional notification to one's relative or attorney. Third, USA PATRIOT authorizes these measures to continue as long as the United States is "at war." The only problem with that is when will the "War on Terror" ever be "over?" Saddam Hussein is dead; Osama, Son of Laden is dead; thousands of nameless terrorists are dead...but the "War On Terror" goes on...and on. The truth is that since there will ALWAYS be terrorists, then we must assume there will ALWAYS BE A WAR ON TERROR. Thus, USA PATRIOT will always be in force. These are only three reasons I hate USA PATRIOT, but they are plenty enough for this blog.
The point of this blog is that I hope we, as citizens of this nation, will take the initiative to demand of our representatives in Congress, as well as of our president, that USA PATRIOT be repealed in its entirety. We should further demand that the Legislative and Judicial Branches do their part to curtail the President's war powers. At the very least we should demand that war powers be only granted when there is actually a war - a tangible and quantifiable military action against a tangible and quantifiable foe. I hope we, as citizens, remember that the "government" is BY US and FOR US. Being by the people and for the people, the government is by definition RESPONSIVE to the people. If it is not responsive to the people, then the people should demand that the government respond. If not, then the people are duty-bound to change the government so that it is responsive, truly representative of the people that empowered it in the first place. For instance, the vast majority of people surveyed by several organizations were found to be overwhelmingly against those portions of USA PATRIOT I mentioned above. My own observations of news articles, television reports, and on the Internet, have been that most people do not support USA PATRIOT. I wonder how much more of our liberty we must lose before we demand that reason and common sense rule, and that our representatives carry out the will of the majority. It this point we still have the right to change government peacefully. How much longer we will have civil rights? Only as long as we are willing to stand up and demand that our government REPRESENT OUR WILL and RESPECT AND DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION.
Yes, I can say I truly hate the USA PATRIOT Act. I will get into my reasons soon, but first I would like to point out that this law came up for renewal in 2006. During that vote, our Texas senators SHOULD HAVE led the charge to repeal this horrible law. In fact BOTH Texas senators meekly got in the sheep line behind President Bush II, as did all but ten senators. Once again, Russ Feingold voted against USA PATRIOT, this time joined by nine other senators who had come to see this law for what it was. Do you know, by the way, who ELSE voted FOR USA PATRIOT? I will tell you, my friends. It was none other than Senator Barack (Open and Transparent Presidency) Obama. I point out the 2006 vote because back in 2001 many politicians claimed that they had not had time to READ the USA PATRIOT Act and only voted for it in the urgency of the moment. Following that logic, we must assume that in 2006 those politicians who AGAIN (or for the First Time in Obama's case) voted for renewing USA PATRIOT had FIVE years in which to read the contents of that law before voting for its renewal. That being the case, then, we must also assume that those who voted for this measure in 2006 APPROVED OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BILL. Further, if these senators and representatives DID KNOW the contents of USA PATRIOT and VOTED FOR its extension, we must by the same token believe that they supported the Bush Administration's usurpation of the United States Constitution.
Now, why do I hate the USA PATRIOT Act? First, I hate it because of the way its authors dared to name it USA PATRIOT. Not only is it a treasonous act, but the implication is that anyone who dared stand against its passage was NOT a USA PATRIOT. At a time when sales of United States flags hit an all-time spike, no politician who wanted his job dared be seen as UNPATRIOTIC! In other words, voting against USA PATRIOT automatically branded the politician a traitor to the nation.
Second, USA PATRIOT purports to give to the president powers of seizure and arrest specifically PROHIBITED the government in the Constitution. Secret courts and judges replace our true system of justice. Persons arrested under USA PATRIOT are entitled to NO DUE PROCESS! That includes the traditional notification to one's relative or attorney. Third, USA PATRIOT authorizes these measures to continue as long as the United States is "at war." The only problem with that is when will the "War on Terror" ever be "over?" Saddam Hussein is dead; Osama, Son of Laden is dead; thousands of nameless terrorists are dead...but the "War On Terror" goes on...and on. The truth is that since there will ALWAYS be terrorists, then we must assume there will ALWAYS BE A WAR ON TERROR. Thus, USA PATRIOT will always be in force. These are only three reasons I hate USA PATRIOT, but they are plenty enough for this blog.
The point of this blog is that I hope we, as citizens of this nation, will take the initiative to demand of our representatives in Congress, as well as of our president, that USA PATRIOT be repealed in its entirety. We should further demand that the Legislative and Judicial Branches do their part to curtail the President's war powers. At the very least we should demand that war powers be only granted when there is actually a war - a tangible and quantifiable military action against a tangible and quantifiable foe. I hope we, as citizens, remember that the "government" is BY US and FOR US. Being by the people and for the people, the government is by definition RESPONSIVE to the people. If it is not responsive to the people, then the people should demand that the government respond. If not, then the people are duty-bound to change the government so that it is responsive, truly representative of the people that empowered it in the first place. For instance, the vast majority of people surveyed by several organizations were found to be overwhelmingly against those portions of USA PATRIOT I mentioned above. My own observations of news articles, television reports, and on the Internet, have been that most people do not support USA PATRIOT. I wonder how much more of our liberty we must lose before we demand that reason and common sense rule, and that our representatives carry out the will of the majority. It this point we still have the right to change government peacefully. How much longer we will have civil rights? Only as long as we are willing to stand up and demand that our government REPRESENT OUR WILL and RESPECT AND DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION.
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