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  1. #1
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    Patriot Act ONLY Extended for SIX MONTHS! VICTORY!

    This article can be found at www.nytimes.com:

    Senate Agrees to a Six-Month Extension of the Patriot Act
    By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
    WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - With time running short on Capitol Hill, the Senate breathed new life late Wednesday night into the moribund USA Patriot Act, agreeing to extend it by six months. President Bush said he appreciated the move, but it was unclear if the House would approve it.

    "No one should be allowed to block the Patriot Act," Mr. Bush said in a statement, referring to a bipartisan coalition of senators who last week derailed a measure to update the act, the nation's main antiterrorism law.

    With 16 major provisions of the act set to expire on Dec. 31, the Senate action put an end to a game of brinksmanship between that bipartisan coalition and Mr. Bush. Along with the Senate Republican leadership, Mr. Bush had repeatedly vowed to oppose any short-term extension of the act, but Republican aides said the White House had signed off on the Senate deal.

    The bill's future now rests with the House, which comes back into session Thursday. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, said he had not consulted with House leaders.

    The Senate action came after a day of frantic negotiations in the Capitol and a stern admonishment from the president, who warned Wednesday morning that the nation would be vulnerable to a terrorist attack if the act's major provisions were permitted to lapse.

    "The terrorists still want to hit us again," Mr. Bush said Wednesday morning, as he was leaving the White House to make a hospital visit to wounded soldiers. "There is an enemy that lurks, a dangerous group of people that want to do harm to the American people, and we must have the tools necessary to protect the American people."

    The Patriot Act, which greatly expanded the government's surveillance and investigative powers in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, has provoked intense debate about the proper balance between protecting national security and civil liberties. The House passed an updated version of the 2001 bill last week, but that measure got bottled up in the Senate, where Democrats, joined by four Republicans, blocked it with a filibuster on grounds that it did not do enough to protect civil liberties.

    Backers of the filibuster had pressed for a three-month extension, but the White House and Mr. Frist resisted.

    "I will only smile and say this was not a three-month extension," said Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, one of the four who backed the filibuster.

    Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin and a supporter of the filibuster, said, "They lost the game of chicken."

    The break in the Senate impasse began early Wednesday. With lawmakers eager to leave town for their holiday break but uneasy about letting the antiterrorism law lapse, a majority of the Senate - 52 senators, including 8 Republicans - signed a letter calling for the original law to be extended for three months.

    One of the eight, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, chairwoman of the Committee on Homeland Security, said she was so concerned about the impending expiration that she asked Mr. Bush to support the three-month extension in a telephone call Tuesday on an unrelated matter.

    "To let the underlying law expire all together just strikes me as really unfortunate," said Ms. Collins, who supported the House measure.

    Senators on both sides of the debate seemed to agree that some form of the antiterrorism law was necessary, but they differed deeply on how much latitude the government should have in searching homes and obtaining business, medical and library records of terrorism suspects.

    "What we're trying to do is achieve a balanced and effective Patriot Act, one that promotes our security and preserves our freedom, a bill that's going to earn and deserve the widespread support of the American people," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who led the filibuster and pushed for the extension.

    Mr. Bush and Mr. Frist, though, were publicly holding fast against any extension. The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, restated the president's opposition to an extension, but brushed aside questions about whether Mr. Bush would veto one. Mr. Frist said Wednesday morning that he remained "very hopeful" that the Senate would simply approve the House measure, which was a product of intense negotiations in a House-Senate conference.

    "It is the will of the Senate and of the House together," he said.

    But by early Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Frist was in the thick of negotiations, and crucial players in the debate could be seen in animated conversation on the Senate floor, apparently trying to strike a deal.

    Among them were Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and the Judiciary Committee chairman who is responsible for shepherding the conference measure through the Senate, as well two Republican opponents of the conference bill, Mr. Craig and Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire.

    Afterward, Mr. Specter said prospects for the renewal were brightening, while Mr. Sununu could be seen pacing the Senate floor, alone and seemingly deep in thought. In his remarks at the White House, Mr. Bush sharply criticized senators who opposed the act, singling out the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, who declared at a rally last week that Democrats had "killed the Patriot Act."

    "The senators obstructing the Patriot Act need to understand that the expiration of this vital law will endanger America and will leave us in a weaker position in the fight against brutal killers," Mr. Bush said.
    "POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." Sir John Dalberg-Acton

  2. #2
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    I think this is a HUGE VICTORY for us. 6 MONTHS AGO, NO REPUBLICAN would have thumbed their noses at Bush's DEMANDS to renew the Patriot Act for another four years. In fact, just last week, he SWORE he would veto ANY short-term extension!!

    Along with the Senate Republican leadership, Mr. Bush had repeatedly vowed to oppose any short-term extension of the act, but Republican aides said the White House had signed off on the Senate deal.
    OUR REPRESENTATIVES, at least SOME of them, are seeing the LIGHT! Bush's "MANDATE" just NEVER GOT OFF THE GROUND, did it???
    "POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." Sir John Dalberg-Acton

  3. #3
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    Chalk one more GOOD THING up for Senator Specter:

    Among them were Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and the Judiciary Committee chairman who is responsible for shepherding the conference measure through the Senate, as well two Republican opponents of the conference bill, Mr. Craig and Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire.
    "POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." Sir John Dalberg-Acton

  4. #4
    Senior Member dman1200's Avatar
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    "No one should be allowed to block the Patriot Act," Mr. Bush said in a statement, referring to a bipartisan coalition of senators who last week derailed a measure to update the act, the nation's main antiterrorism law.
    How dare anybody stand up to the King? Is there any doubt that this clown wants to run a police state? Of course he won't use the Patriot Act on illegal aliens and their supporters.

    "The terrorists still want to hit us again," Mr. Bush said Wednesday morning, as he was leaving the White House to make a hospital visit to wounded soldiers. "There is an enemy that lurks, a dangerous group of people that want to do harm to the American people, and we must have the tools necessary to protect the American people."
    Stop with the sharade. You are spying on American citizens under the guise of terrorism. With this guy as our president, who needs enemies?
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  5. #5
    Senior Member JuniusJnr's Avatar
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    "The terrorists still want to hit us again," Mr. Bush said
    The terrorists HAVE hit us again! By extending the Patriot Act. I'm so ashamed of them.
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    But, remember, JJ--they ONLY EXTENDED it for SIX MONTHS. BUSH wanted to made PERMANENT. This is NO SMALL VICTORY. Now, maybe they can tear it apart and get rid of all of the really EVIL parts.

    I agree with every word you said, dman!! WHO NEEDS MORE ENEMIES. I don't believe we could FIND any enemies more dangerous than the ones who operate out of the White House. Of course, I'm not implying they would KILL INNOCENT AMERICANS BUT what they're doing is even worse because THEY are taking from us what our Founding Fathers and our Constitution granted us and, in the long run, THAT is the REAL THREAT to our country.
    "POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." Sir John Dalberg-Acton

  7. #7
    Senior Member JuniusJnr's Avatar
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    I realize it's only an extension. But nevertheless, they extended something harmful to American citizens and that is why I'm ashamed of them.
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  8. #8
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    True. But, let's take the CRUMBS!!! At least, right now anyway, it is a SLAP IN BUSH'S FACE!
    "POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." Sir John Dalberg-Acton

  9. #9
    Senior Member JuniusJnr's Avatar
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    I don't see it as a slap to him so much as a slap to us.

    He wants to keep it alive as long as possible so that he can spy on people as much as possible. I think if they took the damn paper and burned it and denied it ever existed at all they wouldn't be any worse than he is for wanting to spy on his own people.

    Who's to say that he won't have thrown up another smokescreen by the next time it comes up for discussion and other things will seem more important so it will sneak through as permanent. I just don't trust these jokers at all when it comes to certain things and the Patriot Act is one of them.
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  10. #10
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    Oh, I KNOW he will try to come up with SOMETHING to SAVE IT. NO QUESTION. It is just a slap in the face because he HAS NO MANDATE and even REPUBLICANS refused to bow to his demands to make it permanent. THAT is a slap in the face.

    The extension at least gives all of us time to start lobbying our representatives to let all of the stupid stuff in it expire. It buys us some time and we can make OUR VOICES HEARD. I think it was a REAL BLESSING that the NY Times broke the story about the NSA spying on AMERICANS when they did or I BET they would have made the Patriot Act permanent. I have already written all of my representatives expressing my OUTRAGE at the spying and telling them that I would NOT be satisfied if they renewed portions of the Patriot Act that ROBBED US OF OUR FREEDOMS and all of you need to do the same. BOMBARD them about this just like we do about illegal immigration and we MIGHT WIN.

    JJ--you HAVE to see that this cocky so and so THOUGHT that HIS CONGRESS would give him what he was asking for and THEY DIDN'T DO IT. THAT has to SMART! Remember--the sucker SAID he would veto it and let it EXPIRE if they only did a temporary extension rather than making it permanent. Does that not sound like he really BELIEVED everyone would fall right in line????
    "POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY." Sir John Dalberg-Acton

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