Secret vote on Patriot Act angers some conservatives

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - A closed-door vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee to expand law enforcement powers under the USA Patriot Act is prompting sharp criticism from some conservative leaders who are otherwise among the most vocal allies of President Bush and the Republican leadership.

The conservative leaders, who have formed a coalition with critics on the left, including the American Civil Liberties Union, vowed to press their concerns in public statements, rallies and advertising.
...
"It is a slap in the face to the Constitution," said Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, who leads a bipartisan coalition of groups calling for limits on the act, which was passed six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In a separate interview, the head of the American Conservative Union, David Keene, said he was upset that the administration appeared to be encouraging reauthorization of the expiring Patriot Act provisions through the more-secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, despite pledges of openness.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3221729

[bpilgrim]

1. that's why the reTHUGs shut down the PA witness hearings Friday

they don't want Americans to hear about the ABUSES.

peace

[AuntiBush]

15. Brilliant Point!

[stlsaxman]

2. Bob Barr is the ONLY name used in this article.

The ONLY "conservative" to be sited. And he's been saying this for at least 6 months, to boot....

Is the Houston Chronicle just discovering this?

Bogus.

[Rose Siding]

5. Here's a piece that quites Norquist, and AmConU's Keene

snip>
The White House and the congressional leadership generally enjoy enthusiastic support from conservative activist organizations, though the Republican base has experienced profound disagreements over the decision to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and over the general expansion of government under President Bush.

But now, said conservative activist Grover Norquist, every major conservative grass-roots organization has expressed concern about expanding the Patriot Act. He emphasized that his concern was directed not at the White House but at Congress. Other conservative leaders, however, are aiming their criticism at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
...
The head of the American Conservative Union, David Keene.....is particularly upset with Atty. Gen. Gonzales, who has agreed in recent meetings with conservative activists, participants said, to the principle of open discussion and careful review of the Patriot Act before 16 of its most important provisions are renewed. The Intelligence Committee's decision to proceed on the Patriot Act was made without objection from the White House or from Gonzales.

"I find it disquieting that he talks like he is a reasonable guy and then, when it comes down to it, acts like he is not," Keene said. "We need to know: Who is the real Gonzales?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-patriot12jun12,0,47470.story?coll=la-home-nation

[DBoon]

11. These conservatives don't understand something

that their agenda cannot be realized without vastly expanding the police powers of the state.

You can't have a society of economic slavery without a police state to keep the masses in line. Pinochet understood this well.

[glitch]

23. I think they may be starting to get it now, a few of them.

The dangers of ignorance are very real.

[Fovea]

16. Who is the real Gonzales?

That Keene can ask this is a sure sign he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder...

I mean, damn! Gonzales is the guy who loves to torture people, for Goddess' sakes, and everyfreakinbody knows it!

[starroute]

37. Keene goes all the way back to YAF in the 60's

Keene was national chairman in the late 60's when Young Americans for Freedom was first coming on strong. Guys like that have spent the last 40 years building a conservative movement, having it apparently sweep the country -- and now having all that turn to ashes in their mouths. You've got to feel a certain amount of pity for them, as well as a degree of understanding if they're a little slow to wake up to what is happening all around them.

Here's what I think it's really about: When I was little, my momma taught me that liberals were for coming up with idealistic schemes and trying them out, while conservatives were good for critiquing the more hare-brained schemes of the liberals and slowing the pace of change down to the point where ordinary human beings could assimilate it. Conservatives go very awry when they stop trying to actually conserve things and want to turn into revolutionaries. I think the YAFers and their ilk were struck in the 60's by a bad case of revolution-envy, and it's been warping them ever since.

Life in these parts would be much better for everyone if the conservatives would just go back to doing their job and let us liberals do our job. I'm hoping that at least some of those who missed their path 40 years ago will realize this and come to their senses.

[Toots]

3. despite pledges of openness.

This just has to be the most open government in the history of the US :sarcasm:

[Supersedeas]

51. backdoor deals began with the Energy task force--remember that?

[DiverDave]

4. Imagine that, keene

the fascists lied to you :eyes:

"In a separate interview, the head of the American Conservative Union, David Keene, said he was upset that the administration appeared to be encouraging reauthorization of the expiring Patriot Act provisions through the more-secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, despite pledges of openness"

[earthboundmisfit]

21. Yep. This administration personified is Jon Lovitz' "Pathological Liar"

character on SNL a few years back.

[sattahipdeep]

6. "Fascism Anyone?"

FASCISM’S 14 IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. Freedom Fries anyone?
Prominent displays of flags and nationalist jingoism in the approved
corporate media to the ubiquitous lapel pins and bumper stickers, to the
fervor to show patriotic nationalism, and UNITY both on the part of the regime
itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy are clear signs of fascism.
Catchy slogans, such as Support the Troops that utterly lack meaning and a
general pride in the military and covert organizations are common themes in the
current rise of fascism. Nationalism coupled with a ever more xenophobic
(fear of different/foreign) suspicion of things foreign is also fascist.
To seek solutions from foreigners or from foreign systems is considered
traitorous or treasonous by fascists.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/02/1719333.php


Secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, despite pledges of openness.
:banghead:

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Not to put toooo fine a point on it, but

Would it not be more proper to have written:

"said Bob Barr, a Republican former congressman from Georgia"

as opposed to what was actually written:

"said Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia"

Last I checked, Barr was still a Republican. Good reportage needs good grammar. No?

[Ilsa]

9. You're right. The uninformed reader might

assume that Barr had switched parties and therefore was riding the GOP's ass all of the time over minutiae, which this is not.

My grammar is far from perfect. But I strive to communicate the meaning I intended. It bugs me when journalists make these errors. Unless, of course, it was intended, and it may have been.

[reprobate]

27. They won't print the most important stories and you want grammar?

[Ilsa]

32. No, I want the stories printed, but i also

don't want them to misinform with misplaced modifiers and stuff like that. But I share your outrage over news of interest and importance being skipped for entertainment news.

[Pystoff]

30. About Bob Barr

Barr backed the Libertarian canidate in the last election...maybe that's why they wrote it that way eh?

[baby_bear]

14. I like it this way

"said Bob Barr, a Republican and former congressman from Georgia"

b_b

[tblue37]

20. "...said conservative Republican Bob Barr, a former

congressman from Georgia."

[baby_bear]

26. even better n/t

[johnaries]

39. Maybe they kicked him out?

:shrug:

[nashville_brook]

8. i think it's cool the dems are coalition-building with "conservatives" on

the privacy matters and coalition-building with the "moderates" on the court appointments -- i mean -- best if we didn't have to budge at all, but at least we are getting SOME traction and hopefully will put the brakes on this stuff.

takes criticism off the table in terms of bi-partisanship.

[Fovea]

17. In the park the other day,

I had a self-identified conservative note my blue wrist band.

When I told him that I was a committed progressive. We both discussed how universal health care would help America.

I mentioned how it would unload business's costs, and he mentioned how he as a cop could no longer afford medical benis. Then he said this.

The difference between Liberals, Conservatives, and these assholes (in the WH) is that we can compromise with each other, and can see each other's point of view, and agree when it makes sense.

No anti gay marriage, no tax and spend liberal BS...
Did I mention this was in Kansas?

It was the biggest smile I had that day.

[AX10]

10. Facism is alive and well!

I thought it could never happen in America, I guess I was wrong.

[spanone]

12. We are witnessing an ongoing coup. Started in 2000.

Continues to this day.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

24. and the planning goes all the way back to the Reagan years..

at least. They've been planning this for a very long time.

[fla nocount]

25. 800 years at least..to the concept of compound interest.

Blame the Templars.

[aquart]

13. Uh, that's what fascists do, darlings.

And I think the conservative Republicans should be so impressed with what they've created...because this monster wouldn't be taking shape without them.

[hootinholler]

18. Who is on the Intelligence Committee???

I can't find it on senate.gov

-Hoot

[Roland99]

19. Google "Senate Intelligence Committee:

http://intelligence.senate.gov/members.htm

[hootinholler]

45. Thanks

I couldn't find it, even when I googled it. Odd.

-Hoot

[thecrow]

36. I suppose that's a secret, too....?

[usregimechange]

22. I want to know who is responsible for this.

[Rainscents]

28. I think it's that asshole. Sensenbrenner! He is the head of the committee

[baron j]

29. Remember to call him "Tex"

apparently he hates that: http://americablog.blogspot.com/

[chomskysright]

34. consider a small donation to Amnesty Internl who stood up to Sensenbrenner

from the person who presented before Sensenbrenner this past Friday:

here is the place to make a small donation.


https://secure3.ctsg.com/amnestyusa/donation/index.asp?item=1&ms=47


This is from:


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061205X.shtml

Democracy in Action?
By Chip Pitts : her is chair of Amnesty International in the US
or: [e-mail]
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Sunday 12 June 2005

"...Several Congressman at the hearing strongly criticized Amnesty International, mischaracterizing our positions and even stating that we were actually endangering American lives by documenting the administration's tragic and counterproductive torture policy. I was prevented from responding, until the barrage became so great that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D- N.Y.) insisted, as a "point of decency," that I be allowed to do so.
My response emphasized that it was not Amnesty International that created the firestorm of outrage over the abuses at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere - but the administration officials themselves. They were the ones who constructed Guantánamo and other secret detention centers around the world as legal "black holes," denied access to Amnesty and the Red Cross and others, and created both the rationale and the environments conducive to torture, ill-treatment, "disappearances," arbitrary detention, military trials, and extra-judicial executions. ...."

[stickdog]

44. Start with Diane Feinstein. DiFi's never met a Patriot Act abuse she

didn't approve of!

[AceAlmighty82]

31. Figures!

I was having a good day today too. I've watched a little bit of that NonSensenbrenner fiasco...like i spelled is name..it was nonsense. I keep telling myself..what goes around, comes around. It'll bite the SIC's ass, Bush's ass, Cheney, Rumsfeld, all of those fristians.

[mbee]

33. We need millions of bumper stickers on the cars now saying -

PATRIOT ACT - SECURITY FOR BUSH CRIMES!

[Bouncy Ball]

35. Does this mean a few conservatives are waking up to the fact

that their party has been completely hijacked by criminals and thugs?

[Pepperbelly]

38. are unpublished votes even legal?

Were the Democrats present?

This is fucked up. They are so up to something.

[johnfunk]

40. Patriot Act Push Angers Some on Right

But... but... the ACLU is eeeevil! FReeper heads will explode as latest example of conservative cognitive dissonance rears its ugly head:

Patriot Act Push Angers Some on Right
• A Senate panel vote riles conservatives concerned about the reach of federal power.
By Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — A closed-door vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee last week to expand law enforcement powers under the USA Patriot Act is prompting sharp criticism from some conservative leaders who are otherwise among the most vocal allies of President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress.

The conservative leaders — who have formed a coalition with critics on the left, including the American Civil Liberties Union — vowed to press their concerns in coming days with public statements, rallies and radio advertisements in key congressional districts.

The conservatives, including former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and political activists who have been long-standing critics of the anti-terrorism law, lashed out with particular force last week against the White House, members of Congress and Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. They said they had expected a more open review of the Patriot Act in which lawmakers considered some limits in order to safeguard civil liberties.

[bluestateguy]

41. How I make conservative students think about the USA Patriot Act

Ijust aske them, "Would you trust a President Hillary Clinton with these government powers"? That makes them think.

[rodeodance]

42. the media and many dems and repugs talk as though passage is

a done deal. lets hope these cracks get bigger!!

[Douglas Carpenter]

43. Write/E-mail Congress NOW!!

:bounce:


Write/E- Mail Congress NOW to Limit PATRIOT Act


Here are two important links to write your Representative or Senators now:

https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=157&page=UserAction


http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AS_CongressLookup


:bounce:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

46. What a surprise. A dictatorship operating secretly.

[barb162]

47. Bob Barr is calling for limits on the Act? Whoa, is he turning over

a new leaf or something?

[Eloriel]

48. No, he's always been strong on these civil liberty issues

He's a jerk, but he's a TRUE conservative on that score. He was even working WITH the ACLU as a consultant, maybe still is.

[barb162]

49. wasn't he just about personally dedicated to destroying Clinton

I remember wanting to strangle Barr.

[PurityOfEssence]

50. yeah, but they'll goosestep along nontheless

I wonder what Ron Paul and the libertarian caucus has to say? Surely they hate this crap, but their ugly, primitive selfishness will compel them to keep in step, just as long as taxes are kept low and they can make as much money as they please.

What do the Log Cabin Republicans have to say?

[bpilgrim]

52. kick

peace