Bush to Congress: Renew Patriot Act
 

:Oh crap

Yeh, and they're also going to let frequent fliers get "travelers ID cards".

To get one you just have to get fingerprinted, retinal scan, and a homeland security full background check. The upside is no waiting lines at airports. You just cruise right through.

:1orglaugh

we got over 3 years left...

im counting the days down..

I disagree....we may have 11 years left, you know Jeb dickfuck is gonna run in 2008, and you know it will be fixed once again.

We are fucked!

If you don't support expansion of the Patriot Act, you support the terrorists!

Turn yourselves in you traitors.

i dont think Jeb will run right after Bush jr... think they will wait a term and then go for the kill..

thats my BIGGEST fuckin fear!!!!!! theres no way in hell Bush won this past election fair & square (the first one, MAYBE..).

i remember before & during the elections, here in Wisconsin, there were reports of republicans saying that vacant old houses were "active voters", and some how, those empty parking lots or acres of land got up on election day & voted for Bush.

Amazing that NOTHING was ever done about that, and yet, it was on the news for weeks. Simply fucking amazing.

Funny, I have not read much about this in the news.

" He said that authorities have used the act to bring terrorism charges against 400 people, with more than half of those charges leading to convictions. "

because its a crock of shit :1orglaugh

can anyone say "police state"?

also funny that only about 250 people get convicted using the patriot act so the rest of the hundreds of thousands of people in the US must have their privacy raped.

http://www.new-enlightenment.com/bush_nazi.jpg

I wash my hands of this fucked up country. I really do. Every day that goes by makes me more fucking ashamed at how things are run by the government...rich, old white assholes who just don't have a fucking clue.

Make no mistake, America is my home, and I really do love it, but when it's the duty of every american to question their government and few do a fucking thing, I just get really bummed out and angry.

Anyone know a person who's renounced their citizenship? Because every fucking day that goes by makes me want to ditch the whole fucking thing and never look back.

you can't quite. where would we be if george washington gave up at valley forge? or if franklin had just given up on getting french aid? america is not a land for quitters.

I just hope that congress has enough sense to not listen to him.

This has no relevance to anything. Congratulations for making me lift an eyebrow to this.

Don't be a fruity fruit. Congress will do whatever he tells them to do.

how is that not relevant? i was responding to his "washing his hands" of this country comment. if more people would stop being distgusted and make their voice heard this country would be much ebtter off.

Good idea. Make their voice heard and get arrested under the partiot act for conspiracy to overthrow the government, perhaps just being a terrorist or even worse guilty of treason.

Good idea. Be heard, then get arrested.

what the hell are you talking about? i never said overthrow. upheaval can come from within. the power is inherent in the people. the system is capable of change. it just takes the will of the country to do so.

america is based on politcal dissent.

Smoke more weed buddy. It's helping numb reality.

americans are getting exactly what they want. go talk to them. they are so brainwashed with fear and bullshit, they WANT this to happen. :disgust

How are they going to fix it? They ran of brothers that are governors. Jeb won't run. If he does he will lose. Trust me, in 3 more years America will be tired of the name BUSH and Jeb knows that.

Really? Despite the fact that Bush got 60 million votes( supposedly ) I can find very few that actually voted for him. Hmmmmmmmmm.

Those people are called REPUBLICANS.

dude, he won fair and square this time. and that just proves that the public education system is a catastrophic failure. this administration is the most unabashedly corrupt crimimal machine in modern american history. they are gutting this country's finances, setting 'middle class' americans up for indentured servitude (bankruptcy legislation) and they're going to try to put many "pornographers" in federal prison all while conducting this massive demonstration of racketeering in the fucking Mid East.

"when they came for the muslims.. i didn't say anything."

and so on.

Yet they only make up 35% of the voting public.

eh hem...

not all republiCANs voted for him...

.

They are also more likely to vote than Democrats and Independents.

The pre-election polls made it obvious it was going to be a very close election.

Final Gallup poll before election (Nov 1, 2004)

49% Bush
47% Kerry
3% Nader

+/- 3%

Actual results:

51% Bush
48% Kerry
1% Nader

No, of course not. Probably about 90% of Republicans who voted punched "Bush". Going by his near record approval rating among members of his own party.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the American public or US politicians to try to change the White House course. The communist witch-hunts of the 1950's were far more overtly disturbing, yet there was no significant public reaction and just 7 senators spoke out against McCarthy initially. Had McCarthy not made the mistake of taking on the army, his search for communist conspirators likely would have lasted much longer.

In fact, you could easily come to the conclusion that hardly anyone in Washington cared about all the abuses which took place, even after they came to light. Although Joe McCarthy drank himself to death soon afterward, Roy Cohn went on to become a leading attorney, with clients such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump: even the Archdiocese of New York.

I wonder how old you are. I wonder how often you read news papers...watch the news via TV...and more importantly how often you watch the House and the Senate via C-Span as they debate proposed bills. I wonder how many times you have voted in city...county...state and federal elections. I wonder how often you have expressed your concerns to your Congressman and/or your Senators and/or the White House...via phone...fax...email...snailmail. I wonder what interest you have taken in your government...other than to bitch.

I have listened to the bitching of people about government my entire life (I am in my late forties) and the "doom and gloom" lectures during all of the Administrations in my lifetime and all of the Congresses in my life time. Many...if not most...of the people I have known in my life have not ever voted in any election...city...county...state...and federal. Many...if not most...have ever contacted their Congressman or Senators...or the White House about any concern. Bottom line is the extent of many...if not most...peoples involvement is...bitching.

Yup. And it happens all over the world too.

I'd say the Euro "doom and gloom" crows is even louder than the American one right now.

A question for you Colin...do you take a more than average interest...in your government?

I take a greater interest than the average bear...and I am sure that the staff of my Congressman have uttered more than a few expletives under their breath...directed towards me. I used to take a big interest in city and county government (less now than before as I become more disabled I get out and about less) as they usually have a direct influence upon my life...more so than the federal government.

From most people's point-of-view, probably not. I do not hold strong opinions on the major issues that divide the parties. I often see both sides of the debate and don't see one side as "right " or "wrong" but rather see that there could be different outcomes depending on one's philosophical viewpoint of what the world should be like.

Raising taxes, for example, can have numerous effects. It can take money out of the hands of businesses and people and so shrink the private sector. It can also reduce the government's budget deficits. But it can also grow the deficit if private sector profits are reduced from having less operating and investment capital and in the end they may pay less taxes. It also grows the power of governments.

No simple answers.

As far as the Patriot Act. It infringes on many rights and liberties which I think are important. It may also help with law enforcement and in bringing dangerous people in to custody. I am not sure how much it helps. The government is notoriously unreliable in citing such statistics. If there is a nuclear terrorist act on US soil the people will demand much more than the Patriot Act. The question is whether the current Patriot Act will actually help prevent such an act or not. And no one knows how capable any would-be terrorists are of such an act though I think we understand there are plenty with enough motivation. Ideally, I would like to see the Democrats take the House or Senate and bring the political power equation a little more in to balance. Then such debates would be a little more interesting and the ability to rescind any such emergency acts as needed would be much greater.

I am intensely interested in history and how government works but as something of an outsider. I don't vote.

The pertinent keywords you used are "No simple answers." This not only applies to government but much of life in general.

Many...if not most...issues addressed by government are complex and are delt with...not in a perfect way...but in a compromising/imperfect way and certainly has never been applauded by all.

As someone once said...throughout our history we have managed to survive government...and I fully expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future.

I agree. Compromise should be the goal of politics. To come to resolution through agreements rather than revolution. I think a healthy point-of-view is to realize that the world will never be the way one wants it. Sometimes it will become a little more like you want it. At other times it will become less so. The question I ask myself is "it good enough"? My answer is firmly "yes". Is America better today than it was in 1950? I strongly believe it is better. Do we have more or less freedoms? I believe more over all. What occupies the airwaves and newstands today would have been impossible in 1950. Of course there is a segment of society from whom there is a backlash. It is always that way. Well, some freedoms advance and some retract. You can't smoke in restaurants in many states and you have to wear a seatbelt when you drive. Draconian!

That is a funny quote. Who said it? Sounds like something Twain would say.