Patriot Act up for another vote soon

[Noob]

Currently there are nine different bills introduced in Congress, three in the House and six in the Senate, that would extend the provisions of the Patriot Act for one to three years. Four of the Senate bills are already out of committee and scheduled for a vote on the General Calendar. One that sees much press but has no co-sponsors is Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) S. 193: USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011, and is a likely vehicle for furthering the dictates of the original Patriot Act.

All of the proposed measures would extend the most objectionable parts of the Patriot Act; the “lone wolf” provision that permits indiscriminate government surveillance of individuals for no reason; the “library records” provision; and the “John Doe roving wiretap” provision that ignores the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee of probable cause and proper court order.

Already made permanent in the original Patriot Act or in the 2006 “ improvement” legislation are expanded wiretapping for computers and all wireless communications, the notorious National Security Letters, a stealthy “sneak-and-peek” provision, and the dreaded “business records” search that allows the government to wiretap businesses at will and to take “any tangible thing” from a business which is related to an investigation.

The FBI and its director Robert Mueller are in favor of extending the provisions, which is no surprise, as the FBI has benefited greatly from the Act that gave them carte blanche to ignore “probable cause” and to conduct searches based on its own search warrants -- without judges -- as long as they call them "National Security Letters (NSLs). In a late March committee hearing Mueller stated he was unaware of any FBI abuses of the three most contentious provisions of the Act. But the Electronic Frontier Foundation begs to differ, finding numerous and documented abuses by the FBI under Freedom of Information Act requests. Furthermore, the Inspector General’s report of a Justice Department review of FBI activity revealed a circumvention of “the requirements of the Electronic Communications Privacy” law.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,” is the wording of the four-fold protections guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment.

Because so many of the popular Tea Party candidates that were elected last fall failed to understand the principles of the Fourth Amendment, they voted to extend certain provisions in the Patriot Act in early 2011 for the fourth time. Help educate your elected officials on the principles and protections of the Fourth Amendment and demand that they honor their oath to support and defend the Constitution by repealing the permanent provisions of the Patriot Act, and not extending those set to expire.

http://www.votervoice.net/core.aspx?AID=972&Screen=alert&IssueId=24744&APP=GAC&SiteID=-1&VV_CULTURE=en-us

[Cap]

With the OBL blowback being bantered about by the media (terrorism to go on for 100 years), I figure this is one of the main reason that they trotted out the story that "we got him". Their true goal is to further cement the patriot act into permanency. If Obama's numbers improve it's a win win for them.

[sailingaway]

Yeah, the 90 day extension is almost up. We have to contact our reps so they don't think we no longer care about that. Or that they can pretend we no longer care about that.

My signature picture is a hyperlink to the Campaign for Liberty petition on that, by the way....

And Mitch McConnell already plans to try to make it permanent. We at least want to get rid of the FISA trials, and I'd like to get the whole thing repealed, obviously.

[jmdrake]

It's up to us to push a simple message. Since the GWOT was to get OBL it's time we get our freedoms back.

[doodle]

I wonder what her take is on this:

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/video/Susie_Castillo_Sexually_Assaulted_TSA_Style?id=9ef 29e6f733805a0b6a

[Noob]

the House Judiciary Committee voted 22-13 in favor of a bill extending two expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for six years—and making another permanent. Now is a crucial time in the legislative process, and we must make sure members of Congress hear grassroots voices opposing the Washington agenda and the surveillance state.

Despite feeling “betrayed” by the FBI’s violations of these powers just last year, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and other members of the House leadership are aggressively promoting PATRIOT Act reauthorization without adding protections for civil liberties. Meanwhile, people from across the political spectrum have raised their voices and called on Congress to reject the proposed reauthorization and restore constitutional rights.



For nearly ten years, the USA PATRIOT Act has allowed the government to spy on law-abiding Americans without warrants. Meanwhile, inadequate oversight has allowed increased executive secrecy and a dramatic expansion of executive power. Yet Congress has a constitutional responsibility to check and balance the Executive Branch.

With key provisions of the PATRIOT Act now up for renewal, I urge you to oppose H.R. 1800. This bill would reauthorize Section 215 powers and roving wiretaps until 2017 and make the “lone wolf” provision permanent. Further, this bill does not include any protections to address the numerous and ongoing documented violations of individual privacy and civil liberties.

The JUSTICE Act, on the other hand, offers extensive protections to correct and prevent further potential abuses under the PATRIOT Act. The JUSTICE Act would not only curtail PATRIOT abuses, but also reverse the Supreme Court's erroneous decision in Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder and restore some limits to the NSA's unprecedented and constitutionally offensive warrantless wiretapping program.

As a constituent gravely concerned about constitutional rights and liberties, I urge you to oppose H.R. 1800 and any other PATRIOT Act reauthorization bills that do not provide strong new protections against abuse. I further encourage you to cosponsor the JUSTICE Act, which will soon be introduced in the Senate by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL).


http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/498/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6830

[sailingaway]

Yeah. There is a Senator planning an amendment for it to sunset in 3 years (none permanent) and to repeal fully the National Security letters which aren't even up this time, otherwise. Apart from repealing it entirely, that is what I would want.