Democrats vote to renew Patriot Act

[Hannah Bell]

With almost no debate, the Democratic leadership in Congress pushed through an unamended extension of the USA Patriot Act’s most notorious provisions, granting sweeping powers to eavesdrop and seize library, Internet and other personal records of US citizens.

The provisions were set to expire by Sunday. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the legislation before then, securing his administration the ability to continue and expand the domestic spying and attacks on basic democratic rights that he and other Democrats had pretended to oppose under the Bush administration.

The three extended provisions give US intelligence agencies the power to: 1) conduct “roving” wiretaps without specifying a particular phone number or e-mail account; 2) force institutions to surrender credit, banking, medical, mental health and library records; and 3) spy on so-called lone-wolf foreign nationals, who have no affiliation to either terrorist organizations or foreign governments.

The Senate approved the one-year extension Wednesday by a voice vote and without any debate. The House followed suit on Thursday night, voting 315 to 97 in favor of the legislation.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/patr-f27.shtm...

[bluestateguy]

1. Absolutely necessary to keep an eye on the Teabaggers

nt

[EFerrari]

7. "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

11. "Absolutely necessary to keep an eye on Liberals" - Bush

Thanks but no thanks.

[rcrush]

13. wtf

[Political Heretic]

15. Are you fucking serious?

Please tell me that you are joking.

[bobbolink]

71. I notice you still have the great sig line image....

Do you know if that photo still exists somewhere, without the text?

I'm looking for it....

Thanks!

[Bluebear]

29. Yeah, that's who they will use this on. Wow.

[Biker13]

31. Unbelievable.

nt

[ThomWV]

33. and you

[anonymous171]

73. You forgot your sarcasm tag. nt

[rhett o rick]

75. Tell me you are being facetious. nt

[rhett o rick]

76. This type of post is called a "hit and run". Strikes early in the thread, leaves a little "present"

and runs for the hills.

[kudzu22]

2. Not the change I was hoping for

[IntravenousDemilo]

3. The more things change, etc. n/m

[EFerrari]

4. Every day it's a little harder to read news out of D.C. n/t

[leftstreet]

5. YIPPEE for Unreasonable Search and Seizure!

Here's the Roll Call vote:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll067.xml

[flyarm]

50. wait a second ..that roll call vote says it is about : BILL TITLE: Medicare Physician Payment Reform

not patriot act..do you know ..which is it?

Is ths roll call vote about the patriot act or BILL TITLE: Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act
???

[leftstreet]

58. It's all in one bill - HR3961 has Patriot Act crap shoved in with healthcare

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3961/show

[suede1]

61. Here, hope this helps.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3961:

[flyarm]

67. thanks both of you for your answers..thanks alot!! eom

[waiting for hope]

6. Whatever happened to

Russel Tice? I swear, they have mountains of evidence that it really isn't effective and that in actuality, it's illegal .. you have to wonder, who makes the big bucks by continuing this? Greed again rears its ugly head.

[NYC_SKP]

8. Here are the 97 who voted "Nay"

Some of my favorites voted "Yea", it seems.

Abercrombie
Baldwin
Bartlett
Becerra
Berman
Bishop (UT)
Blumenauer
Boccieri
Braley (IA)
Capuano
Chaffetz
Chu
Clarke
Cleaver
Cohen
Costello
Crowley
Cummings
DeFazio
Dingell
Doggett
Duncan
Edwards (MD)
Ehlers
Ellison
Engel
Farr
Filner
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Green, Al
Grijalva
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Heller
Hinchey
Hirono
Holt
Honda
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (IL)
Jones
Kagen
Kucinich
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Loebsack
Luján
Maffei
Maloney
Markey (MA)
Matsui
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
Meeks (NY)
Michaud
Miller, George
Minnick
Moore (WI)
Nadler (NY)
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Olver
Pallone
Pastor (AZ)
Paul
Payne
Perriello
Pingree (ME)
Polis (CO)
Price (NC)
Richardson
Ryan (OH)
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Speier
Thompson (CA)
Tierney
Towns
Velázquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Welch
Woolsey
Wu
Young (AK)

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll067.xml

.

[Hannah Bell]

9. 162 democrats voted yes, 87 no. wow.

[winyanstaz]

21. 87 traitors to the Constitution...

and to their party and to their base.

[Hannah Bell]

25. i think it's the 162 who were the traitors, actually, & the 87 who voted not to renew.

i.e a majority voted to reauthorise.

[winyanstaz]

48. you are correct...

I was so mad I couldnt see straight
This is such a blow to the Constitution.
It breaks my heart.

[L0oniX]

56. They are wiping their ass with the Constitution.

[winyanstaz]

69. yup and have been doing so for some time..

So they just keep getting worse about it.

[jtrockville]

38. Looks like my useless rep (Van Hollen) voted against me again.

Thanks for posting the results.

[NYC_SKP]

60. I'm going to write Jerry McNerney for standing up for us. He's our guy.

Replaced one of the worst, Richard Pombo.

[high density]

66. Mine voted nay

I should send her a thank you note.

[Dramarama]

10. Thanks Rep, Speier

[reggie the dog]

12. shouldn't democrats vote to repeal the patriot act?

[LWolf]

45. No question.

But what have they done, since '06, that gave you the impression they were Democrats, other than carry a "D" next to their name?

[reggie the dog]

52. not a damn thing

[bobburgster]

14. Sure slipped that one in.....

I barely heard about it until after the fact.

[Political Heretic]

16. I remember when DU was OFF THE FUCKING RAILS IN OUTRAGE over the Patriot Act

Now... nothing but crickets.

What a bunch of hypocrites and cowards.

[readmoreoften]

18. Yes, yes, but its DEMOCRATS taking away your rights. They only uphold the Republican status quo.

They don't invent devious new shit. If you don't vote for Democrats then Republicans will come in and invent more devious shit that Democrats will have to uphold. Of course, sometimes Democrats also have to invent devious new shit--like destroying public education and forcing Americans to buy shitty, overpriced insurance policies. But those are devious shits that Republicans could never get away with, so the Democrats must take on those issues.

Bipartisanship: Now Everyone's Fucking You Over.

[AnneD]

40. Dear Readmore....

can I use your quote about Bipartisanship as a tag line for a while-it is deliciously true....

[Starry Messenger]

43. +100,000

[scarletwoman]

62. "Bipartisanship: Now Everyone's Fucking You Over." Absolutely PERFECT!

[anonymous171]

74. +infinity

[JCMach1]

24. Just as pissed...

[Greyhound]

27. Outrage fatigue? Genuine psychosis?

Just so terrified at the prospect of more republikon malfeasance that they'll tolerate anything as long as it comes trailing a 'D'?

[Yurovsky]

32. Makes me sick to my stomach...

are these people so damned scared of the teabaggers and neocons that they'll cast their lot with the very people who've trampled the constitution all in the name of fighting "terrorism"?

OK, fine, just give away all of your constitutional rights so the far right can invade anyone's privacy on a whim. How many are rotting in jails (many of them "black sites") on trumped up BS charges "supported" by "evidence" garnered illegally and in violation of basic constitutional, civil, and human rights?

I certainly hope no members of the Progressive Caucus joined in this travesty.

[Tesha]

68. Paul Hodes, one of NH's two Democrats and a nominal "progressive", voted for it.

He wants to be elected Senator come November; I wrote to him
tonight telling him that after this vote of his, he can do so without
my help. (He's my rep.)

Perhaps now he'll face some competition in the primary?

(Shea-Porter, our other rep, voted against it. You go Carol!)

Tesha

[Greyhound]

80. It's all just stumbling sideways into disaster and we are the ones that will

end up holding the bag.

The enormity of the wasted opportunity will haunt Obama and the party for generations, if they survive at all.

[Last_Stand]

17. Ah, the grand puppet show...

Not sure why I bother watching anymore.

[upi402]

19. Still want my party back, n/t

[XOKCowboy]

20. A certain Who song comes to mind.... nt

[upi402]

22. I was humming that BEFORE the Superbowl halftime show

It's soooo fitting. The late 70's seem like a dream world now.

[winyanstaz]

23. Kiss your ass Goodbye America....

Proof we have been played...
Proof there is mostly only ONE party now...and its not on the side of the people.

[RedCloud]

26. Now Obama, not Bush, can get you! Be very afraid racists!

[MadHound]

34. Everybody should be very afraid, not just racists

We've officially institutionalized these outrageous invasions of our privacy and civil rights. This effects everybody.

More of that whole "change" thing that we can't apparently believe in anymore.

[lib2DaBone]

28. Yes We Can... Change we can believe in...

.. the Audacity of 'Nope'

[woo me with science]

30. I understand we will all be issued laptops. nt

[Biker13]

35. ...

Yup, the President of Change has become the President of Continuity.

[Dr.Phool]

36. This is why I left the party.

Fuck 'em!

Keep funding wars...telecom immunity...FISA...Patriot Act..............

[western mass]

37. Dispelling any doubt that Dems were FULL PARTNERS

...in the Bush Years.

[rug]

39. I don't know what's worse, the vote or the lack of debate.

[Moochy]

41. We got what the so-called democratic system would allow for us

someone who would continue the corporate welfare by maintaining the fascist foreign & domestic policy agenda set by Bush.

[pokerfan]

42. Voted for change

and got bush's third term

[L0oniX]

54. LOL ...you thought your vote would mean anything? LMFAO

[pokerfan]

59. Not really

It's not like the people who really run this country show up on ballots.

[Cetacea]

44. 9/11 was the Golden Egg for fascists. And cowards.

[Ishoutandscream2]

78. Yep, +1

[Last_Stand]

46. There's some interesting information regarding all of this...

on this small blog I stumbled across:

http://irregulartimes.com /


Here he discusses Senate Amendment 962 which passed unanimously on April 2, 2009.
This ensured that any future legislation that would weaken the Patriot Act could not pass without 60 votes:

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/02/25... /


Finally, here are links to the amendment and a .pdf of the actual language on the Library of Congress website:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SP00962 :

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbn...



I don't know if this is relevant to anyone or if I'm just tilting at windmills here, but I found it interesting at least.

It's sad and telling that there's not much reporting or outrage out there for either events.

[Blue-Jay]

47. It's hard to convince anyone to *relinquish* power.

Fuckers.

[branders seine]

49. Well isn't that special...

[upi402]

51. Nothing to see here, move along

No 4th Estate left, no opposition party.
And only HUSTLER magazine is reporting Sibel naming names.

[Raineyb]

53. But they couldn't do shit about unemployment.

Priorities I suppose.

[L0oniX]

55. Obviously ...democrats are highly over rated. Duh ...why did I ever think they were any better. ..

than repukes? Stupid me.

[QC]

57. Hopetastic! n/t

[suede1]

63. Cowards, fascists and scum. No matter which party they belong to.

[suede1]

64. Kicking

[upi402]

65. to the top

[bvar22]

70. This only goes to show....

..that Nader was right in 2000.

[rhett o rick]

77. Damnit. Dont tell us the truth. We cant handle the truth. nt

[Better Believe It]

72. Democrats withdrew privacy protections because "some Republican senators objected" !

Democrats retreat from adding new privacy protections to the law
Associated Press
February 24, 2010

In agreeing to pass the bill, Senate Democrats retreated from adding new privacy protections to the USA Patriot Act.

The Senate approved the bill on a voice vote with no debate. It now goes to the House.

Supporters say extending the law enables authorities to keep important tools in the fight against terrorism. It would also give Democrats some cover from Republican criticism that the Obama administration is soft on terrorism.

Some Democrats, however, had to forfeit new privacy protections they had sought for the law.

"I would have preferred to add oversight and judicial review improvements to any extension of expiring provisions in the USA Patriot Act," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "But I understand some Republican senators objected."

Read the full article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35571223/ns/politics-capito ... /

No debate.

No roll call vote.

But rolling over before some Republican objections is acceptable.

Disgusting behavior.

Why didn't just one Democratic Senator demand a roll call vote?

[Moochy]

79. Kick

Why indeed? What a pitiful excuse for an excuse. Who is twisting whose arms?

Is this the kind of objection they brought up in 2001 that shut down the senate building? Those kinds of 'objections' that come in the form of white powder?