Evolution Surrenders!

Thought for the Day courtesy of Willow: "Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."

- Benjamin Franklin

I know the threat of terrorism is real, but this had to be done:

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy, dealing a major defeat to President Bush and Republican leaders.

Maybe. Bush has hit his low bounce, and is going to start creeping up in ratings again. I see the Bush administration is now starting to take on its critics, and that is going to make a huge difference in the long run versus their "stay hush" strategy they've been using. It has only lead to mis-trust thus far, and the Bush administration has finally picked up on that. But that is off topic, so go on...

In a crucial vote Friday morning as Congress raced toward adjournment, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to garner the 60 votes necessary to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47

Thank you.

Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and GOP congressional leaders had lobbied fiercely to make most of the expiring Patriot Act provisions permanent, and add new safeguards and expiration dates to the two most controversial parts: roving wiretaps and secret warrants for books, records and other items from businesses, hospitals and organizations such as libraries.

Becuase the most logical solutions to a temporary problem are to void and null permanently, freedoms that we have taken for granted.

Making most of the act's provisions permanent was a priority for both the Bush administration and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill before Congress adjourns for the year. The House on Wednesday passed a House-Senate compromise bill to renew the Act that supporters say added significant safeguards to the law. The failure to renew the provisions would be "interpreted by our enemies as somehow inviting or even enabling further terrorist attacks on U.S. soil," Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah, said.

Or it could say that we are not going to change our principals in the face of your vile threats.

But the law's critics, such as Sens. Feingold and Craig, say they don't want the Patriot Act to expire — they just want enough time to improve the bill to the point where it doesn't infringe on American liberties. That idea was rejected by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R.-Tenn., and by the White House. "In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without these vital tools for a single moment," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said earlier today before the Senate vote.

You can always do it the old way, and get a judges approval to tap those that you suspect of wrong doing. If you have the evidence, it shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure you could make leniencys for special circumstances where danger to the public is at hand, without having full evidence, but good reason for suspicion. The way it is now though, the government can tap and spy on anyone they please, at any time. So what is the problem with doing it the old way with some new provisions?

Congress passed the Patriot Act overwhelmingly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The law expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the terrorists won when that happened.

The bill's opponents say the original act was rushed into law, and Congress should take more time now to make sure the rights of innocent Americans are safeguarded before making most of the expiring provisions permanent. They says the current Patriot Act gives government too much power to investigate people's private lives.
Link.

A funny thing, the right used to use the Franklin qoute when talking about second amendment rights. They were right in doing so, so why don't they see that as true in this case as well? Of the utmost importance is that our way of life is preserved, that is how we defeat the terrorists. The terrorists are real. They are not a right wing conspiracy like some on the far left say. If that is the case, how do you explain what is going on in Sudan, Kashmir, The Phillipines, Indonesia, Europe, Chechnya, the Balkans, etc; etc; etc;? Only a fool would say that the U.S. and Israel have parts to play in those conflicts, and you won't see the "anti-zionists" claiming that. Zarqawi, Bin-Laden, and others are not part of a Zionist plot, the fundamentalist ideas put forth by Islamic extremists are very real indeed. One needs only to look at Saudi Arabias Wahhabi history over the last 200 years to know what is going on here. Ask the fundis what happened with the Ikhwan and their early adventures into Iraq. As they go into their frothing of the mouth in describing the old glory days of their early history, listen to what they did to the Kuffar Shiites of the region. If you don't know the story, pick up a history book on it. Read how in victory to Allah, babies were cut from pregnant womens wombs, and killed to show the Kuffar the greatness of Wahhabism and fundamentalist Islam. It started along time before the U.S. became a world power.

9/11/2001 was a horrible day. The images of those towers coming down, and the people jumping out of those buildings brings my blood to an absolute boil everytime I see footage of that despicable day. Almost 3,000 lives were lost, and sometimes I think the horror of that day truely is forgotten.That's a sin in itself, and it shouldn't be forgotten why we are in this war on terror that we are in now. But it's also not unpatriotic to question why we are doing the actions we are doing to fight that threat to our way of life.

What gets lost in the "Patriotic" feeling towards supporting the Patriot Act is this, and may you really think about this one. Yes, the reason that 3,000 people that died that day was in fact partly due to our freedoms that we enjoy in this country. They had freedom to move about without overly intrusive Big Brother watching their every move. They had freedom to have private conversations that they didn't have to worry about being tapped at random. They didn't have to worry about being classified as a threat due to their religion or racial background. Yes, they took advantage of this, and yes, they wounded us deeply. But how did this come about?

This came about becuase millions sacraficed their own lives to make sure we had these freedoms Statistics gathered from Here.

The Revolutionary War: 25,324 die to insure we are given our God given rights, including the right to be protected against unreasonable search and siezure.

The War of 1812: 2,260 die to make sure the British don't take away the rights established during the Revolutionary War.

The Confederate War:

Union: 498,332
Confederacy: 364,821

The Union and its ideals are preserved. Blacks are freed. In Antietam 5,000 American lives are lost in a single day. Nearly double the lives lost on 9/11.

World War I: 116,516 lives lost defending our ideals, and making sure the Europeans have freedom in the future. Liberty wins against totalatarionism.

World War II: 405,399 die to preserve our way of life, and make sure the Nazis don't see to their goal of a third world reich. To get a clue, you might not like the way they did things in Poland, why grant any government those kind of priveleges?

Korea: 54,246 die to make sure the people of South Korea have their proper freedom. So we accept these deaths in the name of spreading our ideals abroad, what happens when we get hit with 3,000 casualties?

Vietnam War: 56,244 sacrafice their lives, and their mates get called out before the job is finished. Millions more die shortly afterwards in the final cleansing of the region of the capitalists. Is Iraq headed this way? Probably not, but back to the original point.

Millions sacraficed their lives to insure that we have the freedoms we do. 3,000 died on 9/11. I feel pretty confident that many of those that died that day would not have wanted to see our liberties stripped away in the name of security. The way the Patriot Act is worded, it gives liberty to big brother to search and sieze those for mere drug violations. Don't be fooled. This is a ruling in favor of a Big Brother type society. Some may say, "I'm not a terrorist, I'm not doing anything wrong, why worry?" The reason to worry is that everytime you give up any of your your liberties, you invite for the next one to happen. The old saying of give them an inch, and they'll take a mile will ring true. This administration won't have a problem doing it, and the millions who sacraficed their lives in the belief that they did so to protect the freedoms we have enjoyed, would be ashamed of us all for letting this happen. What was paid for in blood by millions should not be given up because of the death of 3,000. The Dems are wrong for waving the white flag on the war on terror, but the right has also waved the white flag on us in trying to change us into what the terrorist want. Another scared society giving in to big brother, and whistfully waving away our rights so many died for, in the name of feeling a little safer. Doing this, we deserve neither security nor freedom. Doing this, we have become the sheep lending ourselves to the protection of the wolves.