As quoted in an AP release in today's paper (The Idaho Statesman..bears your attention IMO.
Quoting:
"My disagreement with the president's statement at his press conference is that the ability to connect the dots is still in place, " Craig said. "The firewalls are not in that area of the law that's expiring."
Craig said he he and most members of Congress believe a majority of the provisions in the Patriot Act are appropriate, but there were iimportant civil liberty safeguards left out of the final reauthorization bill that give the federal government powers "that have a real opportunity for misuse."
// If there is ANYONE that should get a handle on the objections stated in Sen. Craig's press release is it Rush Limbaugh. If there are dittoheads reading this now, and have been following Rush's situation with his own medical records, you can CLEARLY SEE how the government can and have abused their power. Considering the back room deals this 109th have shamefully struck, Judges, Aliens, First Ammendment, and the USSC decisions on Eminent Domain, I see absolutely NO REASON to accept 'trust me' as an adequate assurance that our constitutional rights, even during a time of war, would be ensured.
Therefore, I believe Sen. Craig's concerns ought to be considered by President Bush....
Gun records they probably shouldn't even have.
Thank you Senator Craig. I want the names of the monsters who slipped this POS into the bill.
I am so glad you posted this...
I have asked for days, on several threads...if anyone knew why Craig, Murkowski, Hagel, and Sununu were "filibustering" the Patriot Act...
I understand Craig's reluctance to sign if medical and gun records are left "open"...but, I wonder how, then, the Republicans in the HOUSE let that get through...
Is it the authors belief that we should be able to access the library cards of terrorists but not their gun records?
My problem is with the lapsing many provisions on December 31, even those that Senator Craig did not feel needed revising. While revising others, if needed, can continue to be debated, letting them lapse on December 31 is a far greater danger in the short term.
The filibustering Senators should have agreed to a simple alternate bill, extending the Patriot Act provisions "as is" for three months, or whatever, for Congress to come back and work it out. Letting it all lapse on December 31 produces real dangers over concern for "potential" problems that can be fixed later. Craig and the other three were wrong, no matter what their concerns were. There were solutions to their concerns without the lapse on Decemebr 31 endangering us all.
There is a point at which a stand on principle becomes an unprincipled stand.
Larry listen up. Right now we have a Patriot Act that is 100% intact. We have had ZERO successful attacks on American soil. So when you and your Democrat buddies plus ACLU Bobby Barr get to water down the act, how will you know when to stop? Will it be after a few car bombings? Maybe it will be when parts of America's history are blown up, but when will you and your followers say "OOPS! I guess we cut a little too deep!" Think about it pal. Just how much terrorism is ok with you to satisfy YOUR ideas of how much security is too much security.
Some of the terrorost thugs that flew planes into the Twin Towers booked their tickets on-line at the local library.
IMO that trumps any concern for library rights.
I have made this challenge 16 times and not ONCE have any of the Hysterics been able to provide a single instance of abuse of the Patriot Act. Note to Hysterics. ANY thing the Goverment does can be abused. To demand perfection before doing anything is infantile. Perfection cannot be achieved. Grow up you silly twits before you get MORE Americans killed with your infantile behavior.
You better start listening to Rush then. He thinks the Senator is a moron and this opposition to the Patriot Act the behavior of hysteric children.
Using Craig's standard NOTHING should ever be done by Government. It may be abused by some future government so we cannot do it! THAT is why the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance not eternal inertia! It was EXACTLY this hysteric mindset that created the Gorelick Wall. Sorry but the Constitution is NOT a suicide pack. The Anti-Goverment paranoia of the Baby Boomer's is childish. We ARE the Government. Government of, for and BY the people. It is not some sort of enemy grouping out to "get you". We are at War. Wake UP before you get MORE Americans killed with your rabid paranoia.
Listening to Rush now.. Larry Craig requested time on Rush's show to EXPLAIN HIS POSITION. He will be on at the top of the hour according to Rush.
Please pass along as you see fit. Thanks ~jj
Senator Craig is one voice out of many whose concerns should be addressed by Congress and then the president. Sunsets are a kind of checks and balances upon our government. The Patriot Act is four years old and the concerns of citizens troubled by parts of the Act have not been adequately addressed. More time is needed. For some of the more troubling provisions to become permanent, with no sunset, is unsettling.
The worries about gun registration are a legitimate concern. More so when considering that 90% of the "sneak and peek" warrants issued have been used in criminal cases, not in cases of terrorism as it intended. Source: Department of Justice.
We should not be inclined to suffer these evils, though obviously many consider them sufferable, not when the provisions in question will become permanent, with no sunset likely. More time is required to iron out the differences.