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…of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (a.k.a. the USA PATRIOT Act…clever acronym).
For those of you who thought this was going to be a partisan cheerleader piece for the current Commander in Chief re-election campaign, you can go visit that “other” blog run by the Night Stalker of Northwood who fancies himself as a challenger of the “right wing noise machine.”
This afternoon, the US Senate voted 72-23, to extend three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act until 2015. As many of you recall, this “anti-terrorist” act was a bipartisan, knee jerk reaction to the tragic events of 9/11 which would eventually lead into our overseas invasions of two sovereign nations: Afghanistan and Iraq. On top of that, there was no debate or discussion on the merits and constitutionality of the proposed legislation in 2001. To show dissent against this legislation would make one a terrorist sympathizer.
To claim that the recent “health care reform” bill was the first piece of legislation to be ramrodded through Congress is a fallacy. A good percentage of those lawmakers railing against the constitutionality of the HCR bill did an amazing impersonation of Marcel Marceau when this law was ramrodded through Congress. (If it really matters to you, I opposed the recent health care reform bill. I don’t need this forum to explain my decision since the main subject is about the USA PATRIOT Act)
Images of death and destruction in New York City, Washington DC and Shanksville, PA combined with the continual looping of Lee Greenwood’s only hit song took precedence over regard and respect for the principles that made our country the envy of the world. Concepts like “due process,” “innocent until proven guilty” and “probable cause” went by the wayside in favor of getting revenge on a couple of men who this country created and financed with your tax dollars and mine. We became so obsessed with revenge that the Administration in power spent billions of dollars (your monies and mine) and ran up record deficits. All in the name of “national security” of course.
Fast forward ten years later after those horrific events on the East Coast. We get our revenge on the bogeymen that our tax dollars created and do our best impersonation of Terrell Owens in front of the 24 hour cable news shows and various social networking sites. Two years earlier, we had an presidential administration and his partisan allies in Congress that promised to reverse some of the civil liberties abuses of his predecessors if they were elected to power. For two years, they had a golden opportunity to lead the way in restoring civil liberties and put this Old Yeller like law to sleep. But alas, we decided to extend the provisions of this law instead of taking a principled stand for individual freedom and liberty. In essence, the Democrats in Congress dropped the ball.
So why is it that the only person to initiate debate on the merits of extending the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act is….SENATOR RAND PAUL? Yes, that Rand Paul. The junior Republican senator from Kentucky and the son of every libertarian’s favorite cantankerous member of Congress from Texas, Rep. Ron Paul. While there were some Democrats and Republicans who ended up supporting Sen. Paul’s opposition to extending the USA PATRIOT Act in the final vote (21 of them to be exact, 22 if you include Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont), it makes me wonder if any of them (with the exception of Sanders) would have taken the initiative to speak out against extending these provisions.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
My gut feeling tells me that a lot of Democrats are more concerned about playing nice with a President who is looking more and more like a carbon copy of George W. Bush everyday. At least Harry Reid did when he likened Sen. Paul as a terrorist sympathizer as part of his fear mongering rhetoric. If I wanted a third term of the Bush Administration, I would have voted for McCain/Palin. At least I would have known what to expect. But unlike some of my myopic friends who affiliate with the Democratic and Republican Party, I was not fazed by the cult of personalities that accompanied Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.
Being a proud Decline to State registered voter has afforded me one luxury. I don’t have to make pathetic apologies for the indefensible actions of people who are members of my chosen party. It’s an act that both major political parties do very well (actually, it seems to be the only thing they do well at times). Rather than stew in anger at members of both major political parties over their disregard for our Constitution and Bill of Rights, I’d like to thank the 23 US Senators for being sensible enough to take a stand for civil liberties over the continual post 9/11 fear mongering that is still prevalent in our national dialogue.
In alphabetical order, I give my heartfelt thanks to you for taking a stand for Constitutional principles over fear mongering:
Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana)
Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska)
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) (fuck you Harry Reid for voting yes)
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont)
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana)
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado)
Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)
A big F— YOU!!! to the POSes who didn’t think this vote was important:
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut)
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey)
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida. “Advocate” for limited government my ass!!!!)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York)
And a double middle finger to our two fossilized Senators for voting yes on extending the USA PATRIOT Act.
The Fossil Twins: We hate liberty
Somewhere on the site of the self proclaimed “challengers of the right wing noise machine,” a bevy of crickets are chirping away. This vote and the issues surrounding the constitutionality of the USA PATRIOT Act didn’t even register with those “concerned citizen journalists.” I guess defending the Constitution against abuse must not be that important to a man who fancies himself as a “concerned parent and citizen” to the people of MasterPlannedistan. A place where maintaining outward appearances takes precedence over having any sort of principles and integrity. But what do you expect from a pathetic apologist for Boss Agran, Emperor Bren and the crony capitalists of the Irvine Company that are committing forcible rape on the comatose taxpayers of MasterPlannedistan with their redevelopment schemes and no bid contracts?
Goodbye to the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution. It was nice knowing you. As for me, I’m done being civil towards others when it comes to having our civil liberties violated.
Excellent. It is pretty certain that much more time was spent on planning the acronym, (PATRIOT), then contemplating the implications of its passage.
Rand was great on this. And I was glad to see so many Democrats – but not enough – do the right thing. We gotta get Feingold back in the game somehow! I give you young Rand:
Great video, Vern.
The irony about Russ Feingold is that the man that he considered his mentor, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), voted yes on the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001. (Feingold cast the lone dissenting voice in the Senate) I remember a lot of Feingold’s staffers told me that he expressed great disappointment in Sen. Wellstone’s stance to go along with the crowd instead of taking the principled stands that he was accustomed to during his tenure in the Senate.
Along with his “yes” vote on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) bill, these were two votes that Wellstone admitted voting for that he regretted. Unfortunately, the state of Minnesota was saddled with six years of Norm “Carpetbagger” Coleman due to his untimely and tragic death. Good to see that Al Franken decided to join Sen. Paul, although the two men are really good friends and work well together despite their polar opposite political philosophies. 23 votes and an actual debate may have been 10 years too late, but even in the midst of defeat the proverbial cat is out of the bag on this misguided and unconstitutional law. Like marriage equality and marijuana legalization, it’s a matter of time before this law becomes a sordid footnote in our history a la the McCarthy era and the Salem Witch Trials of the colonial period.
DiFi – no surprise, this is what she’s all about.
Boxer – big disappointment. Damn you, Barbara.
If the state Republican Liberty Caucus gets their way and bypasses the entrenched neaderthals in the state GOP establishment (Spanky, Ackerman ***cough, cough*****) in the primary, there may be a Rand Paul style candidate running against DiFi next year. A Bay Area based activist/businessman by the name of John Dennis. He favors marriage equality, the repeal of the USA PATRIOT ACT, marijuana legalization and the complete military withdrawl from the Middle East and the closure of all of our overseas bases. He ran a very Quixotic campaign against Nancy Pelosi last year but may have the credentials to take down the likes of Senator Fossil I next year.
If he fails, there’s always our friend Duane Roberts.