Cut-And-Run Isn't Enough: They Want To Grab The Ankles, Too
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051215-122111-5238r
Senate Democrats say they will filibuster the extension of the USA Patriot Act, which passed the House yesterday on a bipartisan vote, despite some concerns that provisions of the bill trample civil liberties by giving law enforcement too much power.
Didn't we have this idiotic, reactionary rhetoric when it came up for a vote to begin with? The "Defeatocrats" that seem to dislike the extra security provided for in the Patriot Act are going back to the same, tired playbook from four years ago. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA, and the Defense Department have to go before Congress every six months or so and listen to the petty grilling from these fools. In the amount of time the original Patriot Act was in effect NO CASES of the abuse of civil liberties were ever cited. Each time these hearings were held, Congress issued a report stating that they could not find any such abuses by the government.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said he will not demand that his entire caucus support a filibuster but said that he certainly would.
"Because of 9/11, we rushed to judgment on a number of provisions in that bill," he said. "We certainly shouldn't do that this time."
A rush to judgment? These doddering old guard Democrats dragged the process of the original Patriot Act out for weeks. Saying there was a rush to judgment on the Patriot Act is like saying there was a rush to war before we went into Iraq.
But Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican, said after the 251-174 House vote that the legislation "provides essential tools to protecting the American people and winning the war on terror by detecting, disrupting and dismantling terrorist activity before it occurs."
The Left don't want such a bill. They'd rather sit back and not offend the civil liberties of terrorists plotting to commit heinous acts against this nation from within and without.
The real fight will be later this week in the Senate, when Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, plans to try to force an end to debate on the bill so it can be voted on before Congress adjourns for the year. The Patriot Act, which was modified in the bill now under consideration, expires at the end of the year.
Good for Sen. Frist. At least he wants the Senate to do something before they leave for the umpteenth break this year. At least someone is doing something on the Hill. Sure beats Sen. Specter leaving Judge Alito to twist int he wind until January.
Other key Democrats such as Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and ranking minority member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also have said they will support a filibuster. Four Republicans -- Sens. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, Larry E. Craig of Idaho, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska -- said yesterday that they will join Democrats in opposing the legislation, even helping block a final vote on its passage.
RINOs on the march! I'm surprised Voinovich didn't head for a camera and a microphone crying about the Republicans trying to force such invasive legislation, or McCain stating he'd oppose the passage until his precious, non-relevent torture legislation is passed. For that matter, I'm surprised he isn't attaching his opportunistic legislation to the Patriot Act.
Mr. Leahy and Mr. Sununu drafted an alternate bill earlier this week that would extend the Patriot Act for three months until the civil-liberty concerns can be fixed.
Three months? That sounds an awful lot like the call for a withdrawal timetable. Just give us three more months, and we can go back to grabbing our ankles like we did BEFORE 11 September!
By last night, the standoff had come down to a game of political chicken, with Republicans recalling Democrats' opposition to a Homeland Security bill that later was used against them with devastating consequences in the 2002 elections.
And if they try to filibuster this, their actions should be rammed right down their throats in the 2006 mid-terms. This is outrageous that the Democrats would try to grandstand this. Let them try because I've got a sneaky suspicion that it will bite them back in the end of this debacle.
"Last week, Democrat leadership offered a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq," Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said. "Now they're siding with the ACLU instead of the Fraternal Order of Police in the war on terror."
BINGO! Give Mr. Stevenson the fuzzy bunny! This is exactly what the Left is doing. Maybe it's because they lost some points with the ACLU for not being able to muster enough votes to derail Chief Justice Roberts, or they aren't garnerig enough people to be outraged at Judge Alito. This is clearly pandering directly to an activist group that wouldn't know a civil liberty if it came up and shook their hands.
If a filibuster succeeds and the two sides fail to reach a compromise that the House signs off on, the Patriot Act will expire. The campaign ads against Democrats would write themselves, Republicans said yesterday. But Democrats said they are confident that such a political strategy won't work this time.
Really? Then I guess the Democrats will roll the dice and take their chances. America knows that the Patriot Act has helped catch a number of people in this nation that wanted to do us harm, including Jose Padilla. The Patriot Act should be putting fear into the hearts of people like Padilla, not average American citizens that literally have nothing to hide. I'm not a terrorist. I've had no connection to terrorists. The Patriot Act isn't touching me or affecting me. It's going to bypass 99% of the people in this nation, and focus on the animals looking to do us harm.
"Republicans are spinning themselves so hard, they're forgetting that there's bipartisan opposition to this bill," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.
If Reid is referring to the RINOs, I suggest that he pay close attention. Thus far, he has three on his side. I doubt Joe Lieberman will go with the filibuster, so the numbers right now show that he has two votes crossing party lines. That still makes the final vote 53-47. The last time I checked that means the Patriot Act passes.
The situation has made strange bedfellows of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. It's also forced some senators into political contortions.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a press conference yesterday to tout part of the bill she's worked on for years aimed at cracking down on the manufacture and sale of methamphetamine.
But Mrs. Feinstein said she still might filibuster the bill.
"I have not announced whether I'm going to vote for cloture or not," she said.
Lord, don't try to pin these people down. They can't decide on anything important before they get their marching orders from the barking moonbats that seemed to have seized the power of their party. She still needs to see which way her activist groups want her to vote instead of voting her conscience when it comes to protecting the nation.
More than just politics is at stake. The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that the Patriot Act is "a proven tool in the global war on terror."
"The Patriot Act breaks down barriers to information sharing, enabling law-enforcement and intelligence personnel to share information that is needed to help connect the dots and disrupt potential terror and criminal activity before they can carry out their plots," the department said.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the law had resulted in the arrest of more than 155 persons, 142 indictments, the seizure of more than $25 million in illicit profits and the closure of several unlicensed money-transmittal businesses.
Read: The detection, disruption, and dismantling of cells wishing to do us harm.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) yesterday said it was disappointed that the House failed to "protect the liberty and freedom of innocent Americans when that body adopted flawed legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act."
"With a vote likely later this week, we urge senators to stand firm in their commitment to our fundamental freedoms and reject this unsound bill," said Caroline Fredrickson, who heads the ACLU's Washington legislative office.
Again, the proof, please. These people can't cite an instance unless they count their rhetoric involving Jose Padilla. This man is a US citizen who was planning to execute acts of terrorism in Chicago. But they want him protected. They don't see a differentiation between a terrorist and a citizen. No citizen has been subjected to the scrutiny of the Patriot Act without some sort of probable cause. They fail to remember that despite it's supposed violations of civil liberties, there are still checks in the legislation to prevent such violations. A judge must still be approached to issue a warrant for searches, seizures, wire-taps, etc.
The Patriot Act has to be renewed. Our security depends on it. Without it, we run the risk of allowing the terrorists an upper hand in this war we can't afford. They can't be allowed to quietly plot and plan in this nation without being under the eye of the government. The government's job is to protect the citizens of this nation. The Patriot Act ensures they have the ability to do this. It's time for the Democrats to wake up and choose their sides in this war. Either you are with America, or you're going to help our enemy with the stances you take on behalf of special interest groups that could care less about the security of this nation, and the safety of Americans.
Publius II
Iraqi Update: From NR for Pajamas Media at 8:15 a.m. (Mosul):
The governor of Mosul, Mr. Draid Kashmola, visited some of the polling stations in the province, and in his talking with some of the people he emphasized on participating in this process and that voting should not be based on sectarian or ethnic affiliations that didn’t present anything to the Iraqi people during the previous period. He added that all the Iraqis are in "one boat" and they all have a common future. He went on with his speech by criticizing those who doubted our security forces' ability to keep the stations safe from the terrorists.
On the other hand the representatives of some of the political bodies expressed their concerns about the fraud that might happen during counting the votes since they were not able to see any of the supervisors and they sent an emergency call to the NGOs working in Mosul to take part in this stage to make sure that the voting process will remain fraud-free.
One of the candidates on list #829 stated that he suspects that fraud had taken place in Mosul’s suburbs and added that he prefers not to talk about it now, while other people mentioned that elections in Mosul were clean and no fraud took place anywhere inside Mosul but they still think it is not impossible to happen.
Though it only minutes away from closing the boxes but still there are substantial numbers of people still coming to the stations and this success is due to the callings made by some clerics in Mosul urging the people to vote. One of the managers said that since no attacks happened in Mosul urged the families to participate in a large way.
The IECI called for the media and the supervisors and the representatives of the political bodies to stay for the votes counting. Mosul police command declared that they will provide cars to transport the people who live far from the polling stations and this gesture was highly appreciated by many of the people who benefited from this service.
The polls are now closed on this historic day. Turnout went beyond what even we, at the Asylum, predicted. Congratulations to the Iraqi people for a fairly violence-free election. The last time I checked the wires, only three people were killed in the sporadic violence across Iraq. Our prayers go to those families for their loss. But, we remind everyone that the entire population had been threatened that if they voted, they might be killed. They braved the threats, yet again, and came through with flying colors.
Publius II
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20051215-122111-5238r
Senate Democrats say they will filibuster the extension of the USA Patriot Act, which passed the House yesterday on a bipartisan vote, despite some concerns that provisions of the bill trample civil liberties by giving law enforcement too much power.
Didn't we have this idiotic, reactionary rhetoric when it came up for a vote to begin with? The "Defeatocrats" that seem to dislike the extra security provided for in the Patriot Act are going back to the same, tired playbook from four years ago. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA, and the Defense Department have to go before Congress every six months or so and listen to the petty grilling from these fools. In the amount of time the original Patriot Act was in effect NO CASES of the abuse of civil liberties were ever cited. Each time these hearings were held, Congress issued a report stating that they could not find any such abuses by the government.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said he will not demand that his entire caucus support a filibuster but said that he certainly would.
"Because of 9/11, we rushed to judgment on a number of provisions in that bill," he said. "We certainly shouldn't do that this time."
A rush to judgment? These doddering old guard Democrats dragged the process of the original Patriot Act out for weeks. Saying there was a rush to judgment on the Patriot Act is like saying there was a rush to war before we went into Iraq.
But Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican, said after the 251-174 House vote that the legislation "provides essential tools to protecting the American people and winning the war on terror by detecting, disrupting and dismantling terrorist activity before it occurs."
The Left don't want such a bill. They'd rather sit back and not offend the civil liberties of terrorists plotting to commit heinous acts against this nation from within and without.
The real fight will be later this week in the Senate, when Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, plans to try to force an end to debate on the bill so it can be voted on before Congress adjourns for the year. The Patriot Act, which was modified in the bill now under consideration, expires at the end of the year.
Good for Sen. Frist. At least he wants the Senate to do something before they leave for the umpteenth break this year. At least someone is doing something on the Hill. Sure beats Sen. Specter leaving Judge Alito to twist int he wind until January.
Other key Democrats such as Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and ranking minority member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also have said they will support a filibuster. Four Republicans -- Sens. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, Larry E. Craig of Idaho, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska -- said yesterday that they will join Democrats in opposing the legislation, even helping block a final vote on its passage.
RINOs on the march! I'm surprised Voinovich didn't head for a camera and a microphone crying about the Republicans trying to force such invasive legislation, or McCain stating he'd oppose the passage until his precious, non-relevent torture legislation is passed. For that matter, I'm surprised he isn't attaching his opportunistic legislation to the Patriot Act.
Mr. Leahy and Mr. Sununu drafted an alternate bill earlier this week that would extend the Patriot Act for three months until the civil-liberty concerns can be fixed.
Three months? That sounds an awful lot like the call for a withdrawal timetable. Just give us three more months, and we can go back to grabbing our ankles like we did BEFORE 11 September!
By last night, the standoff had come down to a game of political chicken, with Republicans recalling Democrats' opposition to a Homeland Security bill that later was used against them with devastating consequences in the 2002 elections.
And if they try to filibuster this, their actions should be rammed right down their throats in the 2006 mid-terms. This is outrageous that the Democrats would try to grandstand this. Let them try because I've got a sneaky suspicion that it will bite them back in the end of this debacle.
"Last week, Democrat leadership offered a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq," Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said. "Now they're siding with the ACLU instead of the Fraternal Order of Police in the war on terror."
BINGO! Give Mr. Stevenson the fuzzy bunny! This is exactly what the Left is doing. Maybe it's because they lost some points with the ACLU for not being able to muster enough votes to derail Chief Justice Roberts, or they aren't garnerig enough people to be outraged at Judge Alito. This is clearly pandering directly to an activist group that wouldn't know a civil liberty if it came up and shook their hands.
If a filibuster succeeds and the two sides fail to reach a compromise that the House signs off on, the Patriot Act will expire. The campaign ads against Democrats would write themselves, Republicans said yesterday. But Democrats said they are confident that such a political strategy won't work this time.
Really? Then I guess the Democrats will roll the dice and take their chances. America knows that the Patriot Act has helped catch a number of people in this nation that wanted to do us harm, including Jose Padilla. The Patriot Act should be putting fear into the hearts of people like Padilla, not average American citizens that literally have nothing to hide. I'm not a terrorist. I've had no connection to terrorists. The Patriot Act isn't touching me or affecting me. It's going to bypass 99% of the people in this nation, and focus on the animals looking to do us harm.
"Republicans are spinning themselves so hard, they're forgetting that there's bipartisan opposition to this bill," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.
If Reid is referring to the RINOs, I suggest that he pay close attention. Thus far, he has three on his side. I doubt Joe Lieberman will go with the filibuster, so the numbers right now show that he has two votes crossing party lines. That still makes the final vote 53-47. The last time I checked that means the Patriot Act passes.
The situation has made strange bedfellows of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. It's also forced some senators into political contortions.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a press conference yesterday to tout part of the bill she's worked on for years aimed at cracking down on the manufacture and sale of methamphetamine.
But Mrs. Feinstein said she still might filibuster the bill.
"I have not announced whether I'm going to vote for cloture or not," she said.
Lord, don't try to pin these people down. They can't decide on anything important before they get their marching orders from the barking moonbats that seemed to have seized the power of their party. She still needs to see which way her activist groups want her to vote instead of voting her conscience when it comes to protecting the nation.
More than just politics is at stake. The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that the Patriot Act is "a proven tool in the global war on terror."
"The Patriot Act breaks down barriers to information sharing, enabling law-enforcement and intelligence personnel to share information that is needed to help connect the dots and disrupt potential terror and criminal activity before they can carry out their plots," the department said.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the law had resulted in the arrest of more than 155 persons, 142 indictments, the seizure of more than $25 million in illicit profits and the closure of several unlicensed money-transmittal businesses.
Read: The detection, disruption, and dismantling of cells wishing to do us harm.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) yesterday said it was disappointed that the House failed to "protect the liberty and freedom of innocent Americans when that body adopted flawed legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act."
"With a vote likely later this week, we urge senators to stand firm in their commitment to our fundamental freedoms and reject this unsound bill," said Caroline Fredrickson, who heads the ACLU's Washington legislative office.
Again, the proof, please. These people can't cite an instance unless they count their rhetoric involving Jose Padilla. This man is a US citizen who was planning to execute acts of terrorism in Chicago. But they want him protected. They don't see a differentiation between a terrorist and a citizen. No citizen has been subjected to the scrutiny of the Patriot Act without some sort of probable cause. They fail to remember that despite it's supposed violations of civil liberties, there are still checks in the legislation to prevent such violations. A judge must still be approached to issue a warrant for searches, seizures, wire-taps, etc.
The Patriot Act has to be renewed. Our security depends on it. Without it, we run the risk of allowing the terrorists an upper hand in this war we can't afford. They can't be allowed to quietly plot and plan in this nation without being under the eye of the government. The government's job is to protect the citizens of this nation. The Patriot Act ensures they have the ability to do this. It's time for the Democrats to wake up and choose their sides in this war. Either you are with America, or you're going to help our enemy with the stances you take on behalf of special interest groups that could care less about the security of this nation, and the safety of Americans.
Publius II
Iraqi Update: From NR for Pajamas Media at 8:15 a.m. (Mosul):
The governor of Mosul, Mr. Draid Kashmola, visited some of the polling stations in the province, and in his talking with some of the people he emphasized on participating in this process and that voting should not be based on sectarian or ethnic affiliations that didn’t present anything to the Iraqi people during the previous period. He added that all the Iraqis are in "one boat" and they all have a common future. He went on with his speech by criticizing those who doubted our security forces' ability to keep the stations safe from the terrorists.
On the other hand the representatives of some of the political bodies expressed their concerns about the fraud that might happen during counting the votes since they were not able to see any of the supervisors and they sent an emergency call to the NGOs working in Mosul to take part in this stage to make sure that the voting process will remain fraud-free.
One of the candidates on list #829 stated that he suspects that fraud had taken place in Mosul’s suburbs and added that he prefers not to talk about it now, while other people mentioned that elections in Mosul were clean and no fraud took place anywhere inside Mosul but they still think it is not impossible to happen.
Though it only minutes away from closing the boxes but still there are substantial numbers of people still coming to the stations and this success is due to the callings made by some clerics in Mosul urging the people to vote. One of the managers said that since no attacks happened in Mosul urged the families to participate in a large way.
The IECI called for the media and the supervisors and the representatives of the political bodies to stay for the votes counting. Mosul police command declared that they will provide cars to transport the people who live far from the polling stations and this gesture was highly appreciated by many of the people who benefited from this service.
The polls are now closed on this historic day. Turnout went beyond what even we, at the Asylum, predicted. Congratulations to the Iraqi people for a fairly violence-free election. The last time I checked the wires, only three people were killed in the sporadic violence across Iraq. Our prayers go to those families for their loss. But, we remind everyone that the entire population had been threatened that if they voted, they might be killed. They braved the threats, yet again, and came through with flying colors.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 10:20 AM
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