The Patriot Act is a vital tool in the arsenal of our leaders to combat the terrorists in any form, whether it be from abroad or within, and to aid in the protection of our society's way of life. To take this means away, would hamper our leader's ability to effectively detect and prevent any future attacks.
Big Brother is watching, eh? Keeping you safe. Stopping the bad guys. Good times.
This legislation is an abhorrent. It is a vital tool of oppression, if that's what 'fighting terrorism' is then I guess you are correct. Terrorism is a thinly veiled excuse for the increase of executive and federal power.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. We need to stop just attacking the symptoms and get to the cause. The cause of all these violations is the increase in power allowed by the Partiot Act. Governments need to be controlled, kept small and weak, kept under the control of the general population for a democratic society to exist. The Founding Fathers knew well this truth. That is why they wrote a Bill of Rights. And it was quite clear. Read the Fourth Amendment. Compare to the Patriot Act. Apparently the 4th Amendment is defunct and no one heard about its removal from our Constitution. Or maybe Bush and company are looking at a Fourth Amendment that no one else has seen. But anyone who is informed about the Patriot Act and knows what the Fourth Amendment says would be able to say without a doubt that the two cannot coexist.
Here is a nice mathematical analysis of the usefulness of the NSA's program. I'll quote the important part for you:
I found that quite interesting and a good analysis.
There was no attack on your integrity. I was trying to find out what I was dealing with. Frankly, I can't be sure what you do and don't condone at this point. You are pro-mass spying program, so who knows.
So if American citizens were called enemy combatants (which they can be under this bill, at any time for any reason that Bush/Rumsfeld want, that is undebatable as it is in the bill itself) they no longer have the rights they used to have. That seems a little scary to me, I don't know about you. I guess someone like me has a little more to worry about though.
So you're saying we live in a dictatorship, are you not? Isn't that what dictators do? Say, "well, it isn't the law, but this is the way it is now."? Enact 'emergency' powers? This war we all are admitting won't ever end, yet you are proposing we give up our liberties until it is over?
We do, but personally when I'm called out on it and shown that I'm wrong, I back down. Your actions speak for themselves.
Well, take it how you wish, I suppose.
Thank you.
You said you didn't think you were being arrogant, I explained why I believed you
were. I'm not trying to attack you personally.
Aye, indeed.
It wasn't a statement of opinion, but it matters not now. I'll just get on to the rest of the points at hand.
That is a very telling statement. Do you have ANY facts backing up your opinions, or are you just going on your own expertise with this one?
You know, there's this silly thing that usurpers and dictators like to do. They tend to for some reason stay in their position despite the fact that everyone who is even casually informed knows damn well how they got that office. As crazy as that sounds
Since you won't accept any links, I won't provide them, I'll just throw some numbers at you:
537 - number of votes Bush "won" Florida by
8,000 - number of names on the outright admitted by ChoicePoint 100% incorrect list that was knowingly distributed anyway.
57,700 - number of people put on the scrub list months before the election
90.2 - percent of eligible voters placed on the scrub list
52,000 - approximate number of voters illegally denied their right to vote
Most of these purged individuals were - you guessed it - Democrats. So did Bush win the 2000 election? No, he did not. He was put into office by 5 tyrants in black robes.
At least you can read my sources and know what they are. "Cable news" is vague and you've not referenced any research from it as of yet.
Fixed.
Oh, stop kidding yourself. If the Patriot Act had a real success it'd be in mainstream news for WEEKS. People like Bill O'Reily and Rush Limbaugh would never let ANYONE forget that it worked. But, these cases just don't exist.
I renew my objection to that idea. There is a reason these things keep happening.
That certainly could be a big part of it. We don't want anyone to feel shy about torturing whomever we happen to pick up off the street. With that silly Supreme Court trying to say that illegal enemy combatants have rights under the Geneva Convention, we need our leaders to stay on their true duty - sadistically abusing as many people as possible. Any interruption to that is like terrorism in and of itself, don't you think?
Wow. You really are quite the optimist there. No sinister motives? Can you define 'sinister' please? I'd hate to misinterpret what you are saying here, as it is quite a weighty claim.
It is more than individuals that are abusing powers.
He can't seem to be able to comprehend the Constitution, and that ISN'T full of legalese. So, frankly, I don't trust him with other stuff either. My sister is in 6th grade and she probably knows the Constitution better than that guy. Unless he is deliberately ignoring it. Just throwing that possibility out there.
WOW. Who do you consider "total" pro-Bush and who do you consider NOT cynical about the government? You seem to have little problem giving them all the powers in the world (this type of legislation makes the Enabling Act look weak...) and trust them not to use them for 'sinister' activities. I'm just very confused. And yet, this is very typical of the people who I agrue about this kind of stuff with. They almost always
say that they aren't for Bush, but always support all his important policies
I'm not trying to say you are lying, I'm just commenting that it is a very common thread throughout people I've talked to.
It is good to get away from the mass media.