Thursday, December 15, 2005
Assholes
Pardon my French. Or is it Anglo-Saxon? But that's the only way to describe the 251 members of Congress who voted to extend the Patriot Act. This ill-advised law, rushed onto the books in the days after 9/11 mostly unread, is unnecessary and unconstitutional. Period. The fact that its authors managed to give it a title that would acronymize to PATRIOT is a travesty; a slap in the face of all those patriots who died in the American Revolution.
Luckily, we still have the Senate to hold back this shredding of our rights and our very heritage as Americans. I've already contacted mine to demand that they oppose the Patriot Act. If you love the freedom and liberty upon which this country was founded and made great -- if, in short, you're a patriotic American -- you'll do the same.
Spying on Americans, harassing them, throwing people in prison without charge, creating secret no-fly lists (shades of Soviet-era travel passes), shipping folk off to foreign prisons to torture them will not and will never keep us safer. The only thing the Patriot Act does is turn America into a police state, destroying the very freedom we supposedly value so much.
Every single Congressperson who voted for this act today should be kicked out of office at the next election, if not sooner, regardless of party -- and replaced with someone who will actually do what elected members of Congress are supposed to do: Defend the Constitution.
And, of course, there's the biggest irony of all. BushCo. loves to trumpet that bullshit meme that terrorists attack us because "they hate our freedom." First off, no, that's not why. They hate our imperialistic incursions into their lands, and our support of Israel over all Muslim nations. Second, with its support of the Patriot Act, it would seem that Bush and his Administration hate freedom more than any terrorists. The Patriot Act itself is a terrorist act against our Constitution. We had the mechanisms in place to stop terrorism in 2001. We also had a government that didn't do their job. If they had, and would, then we would be safe, and we wouldn't need to spin Orwell in his grave to do it.
To the Senate: do whatever you can to kill this law. We, the People (remember -- your bosses?) will be watching. And any Senator who gives their "Aye" vote to the rape of the ideals which created America had best watch their back in the next election.
Remember -- it looks like Diebold is imploding. Their CEO has resigned in the wake of investigations, and Florida has outlawed their machines. Republicans won't be stealing the next election like they have the last two. Which means -- fair fight.
If you're a true patriot, then the Patriot Act has no place in America whatsoever.
Luckily, we still have the Senate to hold back this shredding of our rights and our very heritage as Americans. I've already contacted mine to demand that they oppose the Patriot Act. If you love the freedom and liberty upon which this country was founded and made great -- if, in short, you're a patriotic American -- you'll do the same.
Spying on Americans, harassing them, throwing people in prison without charge, creating secret no-fly lists (shades of Soviet-era travel passes), shipping folk off to foreign prisons to torture them will not and will never keep us safer. The only thing the Patriot Act does is turn America into a police state, destroying the very freedom we supposedly value so much.
Every single Congressperson who voted for this act today should be kicked out of office at the next election, if not sooner, regardless of party -- and replaced with someone who will actually do what elected members of Congress are supposed to do: Defend the Constitution.
And, of course, there's the biggest irony of all. BushCo. loves to trumpet that bullshit meme that terrorists attack us because "they hate our freedom." First off, no, that's not why. They hate our imperialistic incursions into their lands, and our support of Israel over all Muslim nations. Second, with its support of the Patriot Act, it would seem that Bush and his Administration hate freedom more than any terrorists. The Patriot Act itself is a terrorist act against our Constitution. We had the mechanisms in place to stop terrorism in 2001. We also had a government that didn't do their job. If they had, and would, then we would be safe, and we wouldn't need to spin Orwell in his grave to do it.
To the Senate: do whatever you can to kill this law. We, the People (remember -- your bosses?) will be watching. And any Senator who gives their "Aye" vote to the rape of the ideals which created America had best watch their back in the next election.
Remember -- it looks like Diebold is imploding. Their CEO has resigned in the wake of investigations, and Florida has outlawed their machines. Republicans won't be stealing the next election like they have the last two. Which means -- fair fight.
If you're a true patriot, then the Patriot Act has no place in America whatsoever.
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