Osama Bin Laden Is Dead, But Will the Patriot Act Live On?

The Patriot Act is (again) up for renewal this month. Now remember, it was initially enacted as a supposedly temporary measure in the wake of 9-11, but more and more of it keeps getting made permanent and the rest has been continually extended for the past decade. With the death of bin Laden, it's finally time for Congress to bring back the pre-9-11 legal norm, before we decided it was okay to toss out our civil liberties if the "bad guys" were scary enough.

A key debate is brewing as the vote grows near: the right wing will argue that bin Laden's demise is evidence that the Patriot Act was justified, despite there being no evidence that it helped in any way in the search for bin Laden (other than constantly distracting law enforcement with thousands of spurious leads). We believe it's now time to fix the Patriot Act once and for all. We must erase bin Laden's ugly legacy, not extend it: by ending the Patriot Act's erosion of our civil liberties, we can protect the freedoms that make America worth fighting for.

Full article here.

Funny how this has gone by virtually unnoticed. On May 27 the patriot act will die if not renewed. Never going to happen but why ? I mean Osama's dead. Give m my civil liberties back and take these why you are at it.

Progressives and Tea Party Republicans initially blocked a long-term Patriot Act extension in January, but a three-month extension was passed in February. During the interim, the House and Senate have held hearings on potential reforms to the expiring provisions. The authorities in question are:

1. Section 215 powers which let the government secretly grab information about you without a court order

2.Roving wiretaps which let the government spy on people without even telling courts who they're spying on

3.The "lone wolf" provision which lets strip the rights of American citizens and treat them under the lower legal standards reserved for enemy governments

I mean if he's dead why should we live in fear. I don't call that living. I call that a nightmare. If after 9/11 everything you claim these acts were for has been accomplished then do away with it. The few articles I could find claimed that its a simple matter of security measures vs. civil liberties. I'll take the later thank you.

Now we all know that there is no way in Hades that this thing is going to be stopped. After the events of the past few weeks. Even more so due to this being a situation where the same reasoning is going to be given from both sides.

With that said lets not imagine a world where this monstrosity is no longer going to exist. Instead let me know how you feel about this.

Also If anyone cares to acknowledge why the President who opposed this so vehemently as a senator is moving so hard to get this passed in the dead of night with near nowt a mention about it just about anywhere, I'd be much obliged.

Some more links

www.insidebayarea.com...

www.aclu.org...

Trowa

Theres already a thread about this topic www.abovetopsecret.com...

The Patriot Act will live on because once you give power, it is increasingly difficult to take it back. We are at war with 2 (does Libya really count?) countries who continue to be pissed at us. Retaliation for Osama's death makes a tidy excuse, so expect that to come up.

The Patriot Act will forever live on with the most ironic name in history. "We patriotically use it to destroy your liberties. You're welcome!"

reply to post by TrowaBarton
To answer your headline, of course it will.

To answer your question, it pisses me off. It was never about bin Laden, as the multitude of pages comprising the PATRIOT act didn't magically just pop up overnight after 911, it was ready to go.

They had already tried to introduce more or less the same legislation after the Oklahoma City bombing, which has its own questions and suspicions. To me it's an obvious case of problem - reaction - solution, only leaving the question:

What's the agenda?

And the fact that this legislation weighs heavily toward the inward-pointing end (aimed at US citizens) as well as some of the other steps the government has taken seriously calls into question if this is a matter of actually being concerned for our welfare, or if it is instead aimed at the welfare of those in power or likely to assume it in the event of the US population ever having an issue with the actions of government.

Humbly,
One concerned investigative citizen.

BLAST! double post.

The Nazis would of been proud of the Patriot act. They would also be proud of the perpetual war the USA has thrown itself into. In fact I wonder if the Nazis just left Germany in 45 for a new home inside the MIC puppet Lords of the uSa and have been slowly grabbing more and more power till they can resurface soon.

"Osama Bin Laden Is Dead, But Will the Patriot Act Live On? "

Ilyas Kashmiri wanted me to tell you yes, yes it will.