| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Rand Paul holds up Patriot Act renewal over gun provisions |
| 2011-05-26 |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 The Patriot Act should not be renewed. Its a tarball of bad policy and kingdom building that was rammed through during the scary days after 9/11. The only thing worth saving is the elimination of the "wall" between the FBI and CIA and that can be handled with a different law. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-05-26 20:32 |
| #3 Things may be worse than believed. Senator Wyden, on the Intelligence Committee, says that there are *two* Patriot Acts, the public one, and a secret, government only interpretation of the Act that is far more broad. “We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says.” |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-05-26 19:19 |
| #2 I hope that Paul stands tougher than the Texas Seanate did. The Patriot Act and TSA have descended into the makings of a police state where the rule of law no longer applies to the rulers and the Constitution does nothing for individuals. See also Indiana. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-05-26 15:52 |
| #1 I fully back Rand Paul on this, using this logic. 1) Large parts of the Patriot Act are used exclusively for non-terrorism related activities, many of which are not even criminal activities, but gratuitously abuse our natural rights. If it is so vital for the police to violate our 4th amendment rights, for example, it should be done for honest reasons, not by deception or judicial fiat. 2) Other parts, while intended for, and correctly applied against terrorists and their activities, are both very expensive and have achieved *zero* results, nor do they show any prospect of achieving *any* results in the future. 3) Both circumstances and technologies have changed since the original bill, so it actually needs *additions* to keep it working. And since there is no post-911 crisis on our hands, it can be done in an orderly manner. 4) Since the problems inherent in the Patriot Act are so substantial, it *must* be open for revision, or it actually becomes a *barrier* to better security. For these reasons, unless it can be revised, it should be discarded and the process begun anew. "Bad law can be worse than no law." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-05-26 12:04 |