I thought we had a Republic, not a Monarchy or Secret Police State.

Have the Terrorist already won?

The moment that the congress and senate approved the Patriot Act after Sept 11, 2001 the terrorist won a fight against democracy.  Every senator except Russell Feingold of Wisconsin voted for approval of the Patriot Act, with out reading the 342 pages.  And even if you read it you would constantly have to refer back and forth between other laws and the Patriot Act to figure out what changes were made to the current laws.  Congress had no idea what they were approving, they were told it will make the country safer from terrorist (but not the government). Thank goodness they realized that they may be overreacting and had a sunset provision on some of the provisions.

In mid December the Senate rejected the renewal of the Patriot Act as it was currently written.  Forty – seven senators from both parties were ready to filibuster if needed to stop the renewal of the act.  They wanted an extension of 3 months so that they could go over the bill and make sure that American civil liberties were not trampled on, in the pursuit of terrorist that want to harm this country and it citizens.  Thank God the people in Washington DC are using there brains and looking out for the people that put them in office.  Before the year ended the Senate and the President agreed to a short extension and hopefully they can reach an agreement and restore our privacies and protect the Civil Liberties of the citizens of the United States.

What is the use of living in a FREE United States of America if we have to give up the things that made America the great country it is.  If we wanted to live in a police state we could have gone over to the Eastern Block countries.  If you want to live in a police state now you can go to China or North Korea.  If we have laws and policies that let the government spy on its citizens to protect them from terrorist, then the terrorist have already won.  The terrorist have succeeded in changing our way of life and the freedoms that we have taken for granted.

Are you living in a free country when the government can secretly view what you are reading from the Library or bookstore?  How about when they can check your medical records?  Or see what web sites you have been visiting on the Internet?  The subpoena that they must get is given by a special secret court and when one of these subpoena is issued, the library, bookstore, doctor and/or internet provider, can not tell anybody that the government has issued a warrant for your records.  If the librarian, bookstore employee/owner, doctor or somebody else discloses to anybody that the government has requested any records they can be jailed. Sounds like a Secret Police State doesn’t it!!

What about when the government listens to telephone conversations of it citizens with foreigners that they consider a terrorist threat, WITHOUT any court order.  President Bush under his own authority is also having the NSA monitor the internet and email traffic of those same citizens.  This is without a Court Order and no Judicial or Congressional oversight.  The President has authorized the NSA to spy on the Citizens of the United States at his discretion.  There is a special court that was setup to issue these warrants, but the President has chosen to bypass the Court.  He claims that sometimes they need to act quickly and do not have time to go to the court.  This is CRAP, they can immediately act and have 72 hours to go to the special court and get the warrant after the fact.

The government must specify that you are contacting a terrorist in thier opinion.  This is the same government that has misled the American people on Iraq.  Should we trust them to determine who the terrorist are?  I sure don’t!!

President Bush’s administration has done more things in Secret then any other and here are some examples:

1. Keeps Presidential Library notes sealed.
2. Has secret closed door meetings to decide an Energy policy  that failed (Enron and $3/gallon gas and high heating oil and Natural gas prices)
3. Secretly approve eavesdropping on international phone calls and emails of people inside the US by the NSA (normally a warrant is issued by a special court set up by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)
4. Allegedly operating secret detainment centers in foreign counties where foreign nationals can be interrogated using harsher means then approved by the Geneva Convention.
5. Authorized the kidnapping and torture of foreign nationals.  They then contacted the German goverment and asked them to not confirm that an innocent German citizen was kidnaped and tortured by the CIA in a secret detainment center for 5 months.
6. Mislead Congress and the American people about the true extent of Iraq’s Weapons of Mass destruction programs.
7. Has the Pentagon doing surveillance inside the United States on peaceful Anti-war meetings and rallies.

Bush Administration had strongly resisted a provision that had broad support in congress that would ban torture and limit interrogation tactics.  Finally the White House agreed to language supported by Congress and McCain (who was tortured by the North Vietnamese when he was a POW in Vietnam).  The White House wanted exceptions for CIA operatives, the same agency that kidnapped a foreign national, because of an identity mistake.  President Bush when he signed the bill stated some verbal exceptions to the bill he was signing and whose language he agreed to earlier.

The current Administration of President Bush is:

1. Surrounding their actions in secrecy
2. They have mislead the Congress and the citizens
3. They have reduced our Civil Liberties
4. Are illegally spying on its own Citizens

If you look at what the United States is becoming it seems like it is becoming more of a Police State or a Monarchy were the executive branch has unlimited power, then a Free Republic.  It seems ironic that the government is spying on its citizens, to protect them from the terrorist who want to harm them and hate the freedoms they have.  If anything in a time of war we need to pay extra attention to protecting our rights and freedoms, not degrading them to protect ourselves.

After September 11th we should have shown the terrorist what Americans are made of and what we cherish.  Show them that in spite of what they did, we would not be scared by them and a power hungry government to give up the rights and freedoms we cherish.  I am afraid the terrorist have won, they have forced us to give up some of the freedoms that we cherish with out so much as a whimper.

Are ready to take our Freedoms back?  Contact your Senators and Congressman and tell them:

1. We want an end to the secrecy in government
2. Eliminate the provisions in the Patriot Act that infringes on our Civil Liberties
3. Congressional and Judicial over site of the Executive branch

If you are not sure who your Congressman or Senators are then click on this http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ to find out.

Maybe then we can truly say we live in a Free Country and the terrorist did not win, by influencing our government to eliminate and reduce our rights and freedom.

Inntrepid

January 22, 2006

Summary of Patriot Act of 2001

 http://www.cdt.org/security/011031summary.shtml

Bush Spying on US Citizens without Court Order

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20051220/D8EK47HG1.html

Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?

 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10454316/

Bush Clamping Down on Presidential Papers

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20731-2001Oct31

President Bush’s signing statement on Torture Ban

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06020/641039.stm

Kidnap and Torture of German Citizen by CIA

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/03/AR2005120301476.html