Monday, November 21, 2005

The Patriot Act - "The Civil Liberties Seven"

CLICK TO READ: TomPaine.com - The "Civil Liberties Seven"

An update on and summary of what exactly is at stake in the renewal of the Patriot Act and why, if Congress doesn't get it right, it's worth a fillibuster:

"The Senate left town on Friday for two weeks. Before disparaging the senators for taking such a long recess, consider that the country is really better off with Congress on vacation or deadlocked. So many of their top agenda items—extending Bush's tax cuts, slashing social spending—at best don't benefit ordinary Americans, and at worst, do them harm. Add to that list the push to renew provisions of the PATRIOT Act without strong assurances that civil liberties will be protected. Thanks to the principled resistance of a bipartisan group of senators, the Senate didn't manage to vote on the controversial legislation before heading home.

The senators threatened to fillibuster the legislation because it did not go far enough in 'making reasonable changes to the original law to protect innocent people from unnecessary and intrusive government surveillance.'"

Find out why conservatives are joining Democrats in opposing this legislation.

RELATED ARTICLE: Patriot Act extension shelved - The Boston Globe

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