At first I could not figure this one out. Was it intended as a compliment to Senator Clinton or an insult? Here is my interpretation: I guess it shows that it was the political fashion to be for the Patriot Act in 2001 and 2006 so Hillary was for it. Now that the Patriot Act has become last season’s gown ball, Hillary is against it.
"HILLARY CLINTON'S VOTING RECORD DISTORTED August 16, 2006
"Republican challenger John Spencer falsely claims she opposes the Patriot Act, which she voted for twice. Republican John Spencer says Hillary Clinton "opposes the Patriot Act" when in fact she voted for the law in 2001 and again in 2006 when it was renewed.
Additionally, Spencer claims "National Security Agency wiretaps of terrorist suspects were vital to stopping this attack" on US-bound airliners. Actually, US law enforcement played a relatively small role. British officials uncovered the alleged plot and quietly followed its development for months before alerting US officials just days before the arrests.AnalysisThe Spencer ad displays a headshot of Clinton beside one of Osama Bin Laden as the announcer states that "Hillary Clinton opposes the Patriot Act and the NSA Program that helped stop another 9/11." However, Clinton voted for passage of the original Patriot Act in 2001, as well as the reauthorization in 2006."
Source: http://www.factcheck.org/article416.html
Here is a link to the Patriot Act, for which Hillary voted twice, as interpreted by the ACLU
Here are two items to let you know that liberals are alive and well in Dallas, despite what the Bush-controlled media may say about Dallas and despite the fact that we seem to be stuck against our protests with having his library at SMU.
FIRST OF ALL MANY OF US DON’T LIKE THE PATRIOT ACT
Texans have passed resolutions opposing sections of the USA Patriot Act in four communities: Austin, Dallas, El Paso and Sunset Valley.Nationwide more than 385 communities have passed resolutions against this hideous assault to our rights to privacy. By selecting the link below you can get all the necessary details for passing a community resolution in your area.
SECOND OF ALL, SOME OF US READ LIBERAL LITERATURE AND INVITE LIBERAL AUTHORS (EVEN IF SOME OF THEM ARE CONVERTED REPUBLICANS) TO OUR TEA PARTIES
If you are visiting in the area on Dec 6, “come-on down” and have lunch with the ACLU and me and other Dallasites. John Dean will be the featured guest.
The Dallas Democratic Forum with the ACLU of Texas, Dallas Chapter presents John Dean, former White House Counsel to President Richard Nixon discussing his latest book:
“Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches.”
Tuesday Luncheon, December 11, 2007.
The Belo Mansion** – at Olive and Ross Ave. Downtown Dallas
RSVP Needed by Thursday Dec 6
Pat./Sust. Members – Free*
To: (214) 855-7151 11:30 AM Registration
Regular Members $35*
12:00 Noon Program Non-members $45*
*Luncheon price includes a copy of the book, Mr. Dean will sign book after the event.
** Link more information on the Belo Mansion.
Three cheers for NY US District Judge Victor Marrero. While Giuliani whoops it up with Ann Coulter, one man in New York is fighting for the US Constitution.
Link WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal court ruling striking down key provisions of the “USA Patriot Act” is “a major victory for the U.S. Constitution and the civil liberties of Americans, and a stunning rebuke of the Bush Administration’s abuse of power and of the Congress that permitted and reauthorized such abuses,” said Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich this morning.
Kucinich, the only Democratic candidate who voted against the original act in 2001 and its reauthorization early last year, said yesterday’s ruling “demonstrates that no official and no agency is above the law, and no member of the House or Senate who passed this law can escape responsibility for the Constitutional violations that have resulted.” “It is a matter of public record that the White House and the Justice Department have no respect for the Constitution or the rights and freedoms of Americans,” Kucinich said, “but this ruling also makes it clear that some members of Congress have been willing accomplices to these Constitutional abuses; and they have a responsibility to explain their votes.”
Yesterday’s ruling by New York U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero struck down various provisions of the act related to “national security letters” issued to telephone companies and Internet providers ordering them to turn over records without telling customers. The NSL’s do not require court review or approval and impose a gag order on recipients that makes it illegal to even acknowledge that they have received the order. In his 106-page decision, the judge said Patriot Act provisions related to the letters are "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values." He also wrote, "in light of the seriousness of the potential intrusion into the individual's personal affairs and the significant possibility of a chilling effect on speech and association - particularly of expression that is critical of the government or its policies - a compelling need exists to ensure that the use of NSL’s is subject to the safeguards of public accountability, checks and balances, and separation of powers that our Constitution “prescribes”. Marrero issued a similar ruling in 2004 regarding the original 2001 Act. His ruling yesterday addressed provisions in the amended Act that was reauthorized by Congress in 2006.
“Congress passed an unconstitutional and unconscionable law in 2001, and then, failing to recognize its mistake, re-authorized the law last year,” Kucinich said. “What makes this situation even more dumbfounding is that five Democrats who voted in the U.S. Senate to support that unconstitutional law are now asking to be elected President.” Kucinich concluded, “If my colleagues had made the right decision in 2001 and in 2006, they would be in a better position today to claim they have the leadership, experience, and wisdom to be President. Their records, however, on this and other issues, such as the war in Iraq, tell a very different story.”
EXTENDED POST Read More »
As usual, it seems the British Press has a little more freedom to express doubts over America's direction than the MSM here does.This article ran in the Guardian a couple months ago, so I shamelessly excerpt it here in the interest of keeping the reminders going [I strongly recommend you read the full article at the link posted]:
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian - Naomi Wolf
Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.
...there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.
As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration. Read More »
I read it, so as to understand what was going on back home. I've had nightmares ever since.
"Good God", I said to myself,
"This sounds like Soviet Russia! How could those idiots have passed this thing?"
It was not exactly a comfort to learn that most members of Congress passed it without even reading it.
"Why, this law gives the Government power to spy on its own citizens, to suspend Habeas Corpus - in short, to toss the Constitution out the window. Why was there so little fuss? You'd think someone would speak out in the face of a virtual coup d'etat!"
"Is one wild-eyed fanatic going to bring an end to America as we know it, and nobody even NOTICE?!"
I was reminded of the oft-quoted remark of some Jihadist whose name I forget,
"We will destroy America from within."
I thought of Kruschev, who said to JFK,
"We will pass each other going in opposite directions."
I was further alarmed to learn that the Bush Administration had actually hired an ex-NKVD officer to show them how to 'manage the media'.
"It's that NeoCon Ashcroft", I thought. "He's at the bottom of this, and we'd better get rid of these dangerous people within the government before they start building Camps."
Imagine my amazement when I read much later that even 'America Uber Alles Ashcroft' wasn't Fascist enough to sign the illegal wiretap order that brought the DOJ Bushpoodle Gonzales to his hospital bedside in the dead of night.
"Surely NOW they will pay attention to Kucinich", I thought. He's the only candidate who is saying we should repeal the Patriot Act. Therefore, he's the only candidate who is truly Patriotic. The facts will speak for themselves. People will recognize the truth when they hear it, and vote for it.
Alas, I was wrong.
"We ought to impeach these NeoCons", I thought. They are destroying the country in the name of saving it!
Who's for that? oh...Kucinich again. I see a picture of him in the WP standing (alone, as usual) on the Capitol steps, reading from the Constitution. His fellow Dems are mocking him in quotes to the Corporate-owned Reuters newswire rep.
Still, I was fascinated by the thought that there was a man in Congress who would take a stand that the Founding Fathers would surely approve, even in the face of mockery and marginalization. I decided to find out more about this rarity, a politician who actually told the truth. Read More »
All but one of the Democratic candidates, Bill Richardson, is a current or recent member of Congress. Let’s face reality: Congress isn’t doing that well, at least not in the polls. The most generous poll, from CBS News, has Congress at an approval rating of 27%. If you can cheer for that rating, take your temperature, you might be ill. Read More »
-The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels-.-For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all--. - H. L. Mencken
2.Deny any additional funding for US Combat roles in Iraq. (This will require the often absent backbone and integrity, but I feel we can do it).-Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare-. Japanese proverb
3.Increase funding for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. They actually did facilitate an attack on our country. Osama Bin Laden is there, maybe.
4.Prohibit torture in any and all of its forms to include the Presidents approved Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. "What we must face squarely is this: whenever we torture or mistreat prisoners, we are capitulating morally to the enemy-in fact, adopting the terrorist ethic that the end justifies the means." Rev. Kermit D. Johnson, Chaplain (Major General), U.S. Army (ret.) Read More »
The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance!
Besides being the only candidate to move for Impeachment, and the only candidate to have a true Universal, Single-Payer Health Plan, Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate calling for the repeal of the Patriot Act. I don't know if most people are aware that the Patriot Act was signed into law without even being read by most legislators.
It's hundreds of pages long, the size of a novel, and it was coauthored by John Edwards, BTW.
Kucinich has a viable alternative called the Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act. Read More »
I just called all 8 democratic members of the House Judiciary subcommittee on Civil Rights and the Constitution... who are holding hearings starting on the 7th into civil rights erosion, privacy intrusions from the Patriot Act etcetera and asked them if the various congressmen could include, weather the federal government should be tracking every prescription written in this country? They all we're very friendly, said they would pass my question along to the congressman or woman (there is one), but it always helps if they hear it from more than one person.This bill removes the privacy between Doctor and Patient, we have to move fast Please Call NOW! Read More »
Dear Julie,
What would post-9/11 America be like if more than 400 cities and towns and 8 state legislatures had not stood up to government efforts to undermine our Constitutional rights and to remove checks and balances? Fortunately, we won't find out.
For five years, thanks to supporters like you, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee has provided local volunteers across the country with strategies, resources, tips, and up-to-date information to make their communities' voices matter in Washington, DC.
Every week, headlines remind us of why our work must continue. For example, without public criticism of parts of the USA PATRIOT Act, Congress would have automatically renewed them without changes. State and local resolutions played a key role in ensuring that Congress added an audit requirement to the FBI's national security letter power. The first audit of that power has revealed the FBI's widespread, systematic abuse of its power, which in turn points to the need for tightening the law and instituting meaningful oversight. The local governments of Brighton, NY, and Eureka Springs, AR, reacted to the news by passing resolutions indicating their intention to challenge any FBI national security letters and section 215 orders that appear to be unlawful. Read More »
I remember being in my 5th grade class at Sunset Elementary school in La Puente California when, one day in 1963, our School Principal, Mr. Hackleman, came into the room. He was sort of crying. He told us that our President, John F. Kennedy (JFK), had been mortally wounded in Dallas Texas. He sent us home.
As the next few years went by, we were all taught about the greatness of John F. Kennedy and how he had a dream for America where we would all be free and happy, where all Americans would enjoy the fullness of liberty promised to us by our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. He talked about a strong America, second to none; whose primary goal in the world was peace, freedom and prosperity. Read More »
Six long years end, as we begin a run of the last two years of the Bush administration. An administration rote with abuse, corruption and intimidation.
Most of the American people have set back and watched as Bush and his cohorts have did their best to tear up the Constitution, leaving it frayed and bruised. Set back and watched as Diebold has disenfranchised their vote. Set back as our elected Representatives in Congress have been corrupted, and intimidated into allowing this destruction of our Constitution. Read More »
We should interpret the Constitution as it fits our world today, but we must not take it to extremes. I would suggest that for abortion, gay marriage and gay rights, that there should be amendments. But as to privacy, we should let the Supreme Court hash it out and then we can rely on precedents. I believe that this mixing of the two would make this the living document that our founding fathers wanted it to be.
I would like to see amendments voted on during presidential elections by We The People, a return to Democracy if you will.
Today’s “interest-group democracy” contributes to the proliferation of phony "rights." When "rights" become merely legal claims attached to interests and preferences, the stage is set for political and social conflict. Interests and preferences may conflict, but rights cannot. There can be no conflict of genuine human rights in a free society. Read More »
The Justice Department said that the FBI misused the Patriot Act in obtaining information during investigations. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller basically offered an "oops, shouldn't have happened" while a couple of Senators sounded a bit more concerned.
Really, who didn't see this coming?
Paul
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