libertarians Fight Patriot Act

Newsday ^ | November 18, 2003 | Tom Brune

[Anthem]

The Republican Party barely acknowledged libertarians or their concerns.

Well that part's 100% accurate.

[MEG33]

What has the Patriot act done to affect your freedom?Had any jackbooted thugs knocking at your door?

[inkling]

Libertarians Fight Patriot Act

All twelve of them?

[wizardoz]

Did you know that Noam Chomsky calls himself a Libertarian Socialist? I had to Google that; I didn't know there was any such thing. It's really bizarre, apparently when you cross Libertarians with Socialists, you get Anarchists.

There's a joke in there somewhere, I'm sure.

[Prime Choice]

What has the Patriot act done to affect your freedom?Had any jackbooted thugs knocking at your door?

Exactly. If these people really want to roll back infringement on our civil rights, they'd put their efforts into something more meaningful...like abolishing the wealth of laws that infringe on our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Oh wait...that'd be hard work. Can't have that.

[wizardoz]

Oh, I've got it;

What would you get if you bred Harry Brown and Maureen Dowd?

Some useless geek who works in a Seattle coffee shop 4 days a week, lives in his mom's garage, and when the WTO comes to town, dresses up in black and breaks the windows of the coffee shop where he works.

Okay, it needs work.

[inkling]

LOL. And the offspring would use the terms "Prada" and "ATF" in every column he/she wrote.

[WackyKat]

That's right . If they've got nothing to hide, what are those whiners complaining about?
It's only criminals who worry about their so-called "rights"

[katz]

Right. No one who complains has ever stated a right that has been denied them or how the Patriot Act has affected their life. They call C-Span every morning and complain. They never say how their lives were affected. It is all, "Ashcroft is destroying our civil liberties". OK. I have heard about the "sneak and peek" provision. That sounds threatening.

[Prime Choice]

This all seems just soooooooooooo reminiscent of Al Gore's complaints about the Patriot Act. And lo, he too doesn't give two squats about our Second Amendment rights being systematically annihilated.

Sorry, kids...there's bigger battles that need attention FIRST.

[gooleyman]

How many people have actually read the Patriot Act? I bet there are very few. All of the 3rd party, Bush haters say the same thing this article is saying without giving any specifics.

I know of what I speak because I tried to read the Patriot Act cover to cover. I wanted to see JUST what it said. But it is simply a bunch of statements which say "change this section to say...", "Delete section such-and-such...and replace it with..." or some such directional statement. You can't just read the Act itself. It is meant to change the United States Code and if you don't read all of the sections of the code which are affected, you can't possibly know what it says.

I've said this before, but I intend to do just that one day. (Although I said I was going to re-assembly my basement bathroom too...10 years ago, but there it sits still waiting for me.) I have downloaded the whole U.S Code, but haven't yet willed myself to challenge the daunting task.

There were prominent people who were saying the same things in this article the very day the Patriot Act was published. And they still say the same things today. There's no way they could have read all the parts of The U.S. Code in that amount of time to know what it really says. They just keep repeating the mantra. And millions of people blindly follow them. I freely admit that I haven't read it, but I bet none of them will admit that.

All I know is that there hasn't been another terrorist attack since 9/11 because, I believe, of the actions taken by people, some of whom were prompted by parts of the Patriot Act. People have made up their minds they aren't going to sit passively by again while terrorists take over their planes and crash them into buildings.

[ladyinred]

The Patriot act is not the all encompassing demon you try to pretend it is.

The Clinton administration gave into libertarians and did nothing about terrorist threats, thus bringing us 911.

[gnarledmaw]

I see you are getting the same inane canned responses. Im surprised so many FDR supporters have learned to surf the net...

[SalukiLawyer]

What has the Patriot act done to affect your freedom?Had any jackbooted thugs knocking at your door?

"Really Mr. Adams, had any redcoated thugs knocking at your door?"

I have this crazy idea that the government could take a lot of rights away from us, if it did it a little at a time, rather than all at once. I have an even crazier idea that calling it the PATRIOT act was a cynical marketing stunt.

When someone is fifty pounds overweight, and chowing down at Burger King, do you say, "What have your unhealthy habits done to hurt you? Had any heart attacks?" Maybe he never will, but it makes sense to be prudent.

[MEG33]

I applaud your dedication.I would like Larry Craig and Bob Barr to explain it to me thoroughly..why our rights are being endangered.I want them to examine historically the civil war,WW2 through the Korean war.

We have gotten so politically correct ,both left and right,we may as well sign a suicide pact.

We are at war.There is an enemy who wants to destroy us.We must have tools in the hands of law officials to find and prosecute them.

[MEG33]

#15

[Badray]

"The Clinton administration gave into libertarians..."

What are you talking about?

[Dr. Marten]

I suggest those of you who make wise-cracks about the libertarians and the Patriot act, take a basic course at your local university in American National Government.

"The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with
one's knowledge of the facts – the less you know,
the hotter you get."

~Bertrand Russel, 1872-1970

[Dr. Marten]

Wrong! Patriot Act = Fishing Net!

[Consort]

Maybe the Patriot Act should be tiered or layered to match the Threat Level.