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House Clears Path For PATRIOT ACT Extension

House Clears Path For Extension Of Government Spying On American Citizens

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
February 11, 2011

Two days after proposals to extend provisions of the draconian PATRIOT Act failed to attract a super majority in a fast track vote, another vote in the House of representatives has cleared the way for the smooth passage of the legislation.

Last night’s vote put in to place a new rule that will allow the legislation to be passed by just a simple majority. It is expected that the House will vote again on the legislation next week, and that it will easily pass.

Earlier in the week, House Republicans had attempted to suspend House rules and pass the extension with limited debate and no amendments. That fell 7 votes short because a 2/3rds majority was required.

Last night’s ballot saw 248 vote in favour of allowing the extension to proceed, while 176 voted against.

Just four Republicans, including Congressman Ron Paul, voted against the extension. On Tuesday 26 Republicans had voted against. The other three Republican nays were Chris Gibson (N.Y.), Raul Labrador (Idaho) and Tom McClintock (Calif.).

Several representatives who ran on a Tea Party platform of restoring civil liberties also voted in favour of the legislation, following a lecture by Homeland Security Head Janet Napolitano, who told the congressional oversight panel that the nation faces a “heightened” terror threat, the like of which has not been seen since 9/11.

Meanwhile, 172 Democrats voted against proceeding Thursday, up from the 148 who voted against the measure on Tuesday.

Excluding the 15 who voted for the extension, Democrats protested the Republican attempt to hold the vote under the “closed rule”. Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) said Republicans were practicing “unique trickery” by calling the bill back for a second vote.

“We have a right to have a voice and that voice has already been expressed,” said Lee. “What more needs to be said?”

Read Full Article Here

PATRIOT ACT FAILS: Obama Wanted 3 Year Extension

 



PATRIOT ACT FAILS: Obama Wanted 3 Year Extension

PATRIOT ACT FAILS: Obama Wanted 3 Year Extension

Raw Story
February 9, 2011

Faced with a looming vote on a planned one-year extension of special powers authorized in the USA PATRIOT Act, the Obama White House did not object or propose reforms, as the president vowed to do as a candidate.

The Obama administration instead asked Congress to grant those powers for an additional three years.

As a US Senator and candidate for the presidency, Barack Obama never actually argued for a repeal of the Bush administration’s security initiatives. Instead, he’s consistently argued for enhanced judicial oversight and a pullback on the most extreme elements of the bill, such as the use of National Security Letters to search people’s personal records without a court-issued warrant.

While many in his own party opposed the PATRIOT Act outright, as president Obama has said repeatedly that the emergency measures remain a valuable tool for law enforcement engaged in national security prerogatives.

On Tuesday, ahead of a House vote to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act for another year, the White House did something unexpected: they asked for even more.

A prepared statement issued Tuesday afternoon said that President Obama “would strongly prefer enactment of reauthorizing legislation that would extend these authorities until December 2013.”

The move was likely aimed at avoiding the potential conflation of national security legislation and an election year’s hyper-partisan atmosphere.

The House voted last night 277 to 148 in favor of the single-year PATRIOT Act extension, falling 23 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it. Some two dozen tea party-backed Republican freshmen ended up joining with a majority of Democrats in voting against it.

The power-shift caught Republican leadership off guard. Even after keeping the 15-minute vote open far longer than the rules permitted, they did not have a two-thirds majority.

Some suggested that the House’s most liberal member, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), might have played a role in the sudden spurt of rebellion. He issued a challenge on Tuesday aimed at Tea Party Caucus members in the House, urging them to join him in standing up for civil liberties by resisting the PATRIOT Act’s extension.

“I am hopeful that members of the Tea Party who came to Congress to defend the Constitution will join me in challenging the reauthorization,” he wrote.

While the brief alliance might not be enough to stave off the extension, as the PATRIOT Act was expected to return after its unexpected defeat, it could be the first inklings of a political common ground between libertarian-leaning tea party Republicans and progressive Democrats, especially since both groups are largely seen as disillusioned with the two-party system and partisan gridlock.

The only significant proposal to reform the PATRIOT Act came from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who proposed last month that Congress add greater judicial oversight to the bill. Leahy’s bill would have also extended the PATRIOT Act’s powers until 2013, shifting the extension away from 2012’s election season.

When the act was first signed into law, “sunset” provisions were employed to quiet the concerns of civil libertarians, who were largely ignored once Congress set about on their successive extensions of the emergency powers.

Unfortunately, the concerns of civil libertarians proved to be well founded, and a 2008 Justice Department report confirmed that the FBI regularly abused their ability to obtain personal records of Americans without a warrant.

The only real sign of strong opposition to the act was in 2005, when a Democratic threat to filibuster its first renewal was overcome by Senate Republicans.

 



PATRIOT ACT Signed Into Law With No Debate

PATRIOT ACT Signed Into Law With No Debate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSpqPtmX_bE

Republicans want to make Patriot Act permanent

The FBI Has Been Violating Your Liberties in Ways That May Shock You

 



Ron Paul San Francisco Speech

Ron Paul San Francisco Speech – (9/4/2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FobnAnrFG3c

 



DOJ: Constitutionalists and Survivalists Are Terrorists

Department of Justice Lists Constitutionalists and Survivalists Alongside Al-Qaeda

The Final Hour
August 31, 2010

Another document has emerged that shows exactly what the U.S. government thinks about the patriot movement. A recently discovered Department of Justice guide on terrorism and extremism actually lists “constitutionalists” and “survivalists” alongside Al-Qaeda and the Aryan Brotherhood. Apparently believing in the U.S. Constitution or preparing for the difficult economic times that are coming is enough to be labeled as an extremist these days. The guide, the cover of which you can see at the top of the article, is 120 pages long and it is entitled “Investigating Terrorism and Criminal Extremism – Terms and Concepts”. You can read a full copy of this report right here. The guide describes itself as “a glossary designed primarily as a tool for criminal justice professionals to enhance their understanding of words relating to extremist terminology, phrases, activities, symbols, organizations, and selected names that they may encounter while conducting criminal investigations or prosecutions of members of extremist organizations.”

It is a sad day for America when the U.S. government starts labeling American citizens as potential criminals and terrorists just because they have a different political view than the majority. This is the kind of thing that happened under Hitler, Stalin and Mao. But it is happening in the United States in 2010. People are being branded as terrorists and extremists simply based on their political speech.

The following definitions come straight out of the report….

Patriot Movement: The “patriot” movement is a general term used by its members to describe the collective movements and individuals on the extreme right wing. In one form or another, this practice dates back many decades; in the 1930s, many on the far right referred to themselves as “superpatriots.” In the 1960s and 1970s, it was common to refer to the “Christian Patriot” movement, but this term is less common now than then. Among the types of individuals that can be found within the “patriot” movement are white supremacists, sovereign citizens, tax protesters, militia members, and sometimes antiabortion or anti-environmental groups.

Constitutionalists: A generic term for members of the “patriot” movement. It is now often used to refer to members of the sovereign citizen or common law court movement. Sometimes the word “constitutionist” is also used.

Survivalists: The survivalist movement feared a coming collapse of civilization, generally as the result of nuclear war, and tried to prepare themselves to survive it. Survivalists typically stockpiled food, water, and weapons, especially the latter, and instructed themselves on topics ranging from first aid to childbirth to edible plants.

New World Order: A term used by conspiracy theorists to refer to a global conspiracy designed to implement worldwide socialism.

Information Warfare: Synonymous with cyberwarfare, information warfare is the offensive and defensive use of information and information systems to deny, exploit, corrupt, or destroy an adversary’s information, information-based processes, information systems, and computer-based networks while protecting one’s own. Such actions are designed to achieve advantages over military or business adversaries.

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): Along with the Bilderbergers and the Trilateral Commission, one of the three key groups that conspiracy theorists claim operate behind the scenes to control the world and to establish the “New World Order.”

Bilderbergers (Bilderberg Group): Along with the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the three groups targeted by right-wing extremists for conspiring to dominate the world.

Keep in mind that these terms are listed alongside “Al-Qaeda” and “the Aryan Brotherhood” in the guide. It is clear that the Department of Justice considers “patriots”, “anti-abortion groups”, “constitutionalists” and anyone concerned about a “New World Order” to be extremists just like members of “Al-Qaeda” are considered to be extremists.

Are you starting to get the picture?

This is disgusting. Please contact your representatives and express your outrage over this report. All the authors of this report deserve to lose their jobs.

This kind of demonization of political speech is horribly anti-American and has no place in our republic. Hopefully some of the major mainstream media networks will pick up on this report and make it a huge story, because it deserves to be one.

Homeland Security Calls Free Speech Terrorism