Hannity said the patriot act is a good bill.
Does anyone agree or disagree?
I disagree. I think the content of the "Patriot Act" is a disgrace
†, and sadly, it was only the first step in a series of very troubling bills. The very fact that we are, today, having a debate about what data the Government should have unrestricted access to and we have our elected officials telling us it's all cool and that "we struck a balance" and that this sort of thing is necessary to protect us is a sick joke. That Americans buy that bullshit arguments hook, line and sinker and say "oh, well, if it's in the name of the war on terror, then that's fine. I don't have anything to hide! I'm a patriotic American!" is... I don't know that I have the words to describe what
that is.
And we have assholes like John McCain talk out of both sides of his mouth, first saying that he isn't "bothered by the surveillance" then later lamenting that Americans "don't know a lot of things that the government is doing in our effort [to combat terrorism]." No shit asshole... how can we know what the Government does when it's classified, and
you vote to establish and maintain secret courts in which only the Government appears and makes motions, which then reaches decisions which aren't published and are classified and not available.
Or Feinstein, who says: "This renewal is carried out by the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] under the business records section of the PATRIOT Act. Therefore, it is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress." Even if it were lawful, it doesn't make it moral or right.
Or Saxby Chambliss, who says: "To my knowledge, there has not been any citizen who has registered a complaint" which is blatantly untrue - citizens tried to challenge this, only to be rebuked by Courts for having no standing, or when the Government asserted the state secrets privilege. This asshole even voted to give companies that participated retroactive immunity and, in effect, killed litigation that was in progress. And as if that wasn't enough he then went on to add that this program "has proved meritorious because we have collected significant information on bad guys, but only on bad guys, over the years." Really? The data was
only on bad guys? So somehow, magically, this program targets only bad guys?
Do these idiots think we are
that stupid? They should all be kicked out of office and never re-elected - not even to their local school board. Fuck.
† Beyond the content, the name is a spit in the face of each of us.
