Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1st amendment, 2-party system, 4th amendment, barack obama, big government, civil liberties, civil rights, Congress, corruption, DHS, Dictatorship, Empire, fascism, FBI, free speech, homeland security, House, Janet Napolitano, left right paradigm, obama, obama deception, Oppression, patriot act, patriot act extension, privacy rights, right to privacy, Ron Paul, search warrant, self written search warrant, tea party, Tom McClintock, us constitution, War On Terror, warrantless wiretaps, wiretaps
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?”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1st amendment, 2-party system, 4th amendment, barack obama, big government, civil liberties, civil rights, Congress, corruption, dennis kucinich, Dictatorship, Empire, fascism, FBI, free speech, House, judge napolitano, kucinich, left right paradigm, obama, obama deception, Oppression, patriot act, patriot act extension, privacy rights, right to privacy, search warrant, self written search warrant, us constitution, War On Terror, warrantless wiretaps, wiretaps
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.
