Bush: Renew Patriot Act or Else

[DealMonkey]

Patriot Act: Helping fight terrorists, or unnecessarily infringing on our citizen's rights?

Bush: Renew Patriot Act or Else

WASHINGTON -- Declaring the Patriot Act a vital tool in the war on terror, President Bush says Congress would place the nation at greater risk of attack if it fails to renew the law's wide-ranging law enforcement powers.

Key elements of the post-Sept. 11 law are set to expire next year and "some politicians in Washington act as if the threat to America will also expire on that schedule," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.

"To abandon the Patriot Act would deprive law enforcement and intelligence officers of needed tools in the war on terror, and demonstrate willful blindness to a continuing threat."

Several conservative Republicans have joined liberal Democrats in saying that portions of the law are too intrusive on Americans' lives. They are threatening to allow the provisions to die at the end of next year. Some want to impose more judicial oversight of how police and prosecutors conduct investigations.

"Our government's first duty is to protect the American people" and the Patriot Act "fulfills that duty in a way that is fully consistent with constitutional protections," Bush said.

Asked Friday whether Bush was making a campaign issue of the Patriot Act, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president is "going to continue to talk about it" and there are "some clear choices on this issue ... in this election."

Bush's remarks strike a theme that he will return to next week, beginning Monday in Pennsylvania, a state that is key to his re-election hopes.

There, he and law-enforcement officers will stress the Patriot Act's importance. On Tuesday, the president will speak about the Patriot Act again with law-enforcement officers in Buffalo, N.Y., the site of recent criminal cases against the Lackawanna Six, a group of Yemeni-Americans convicted of supporting terrorism by briefly attending al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.

"Since I signed the Patriot Act into law, federal investigators have disrupted terror cells in at least six American cities," said Bush. He said that since Sept. 11, the Justice Department has charged over 300 people in terrorism-related investigations, more than half of whom have been convicted or pleaded guilty.

A recent study concluded that while the Justice Department has sharply increased prosecution of terrorism-related cases since the Sept. 11 attacks, many fizzled and few produced significant prison time.

Bush says the Patriot Act must not be weakened. The law "tore down the artificial wall between the FBI and CIA, and enhanced their ability to share the information needed to hunt terrorists," said the president.

He said the Patriot Act also marked a major shift in law enforcement priorities in which "we are no longer emphasizing only the investigation of past crimes, but also the prevention of future attacks."

Because of the law, FBI agents can better conduct electronic surveillance and wiretaps on suspected terrorists, he said.

 

[Czar]

that is what I think everyone said after it was first annonced, that congress would let it expire or that it would be declared unconstitutional by the courts

 

[digitalsm]

Parts of the Patriot Act as legit. Other parts need to be done away with.

So, as whole NO, the Patriot Act should not be renewed. However new legislation should be passed, concerning the legit parts of the Patriot Act.

 

[digitalsm]

Originally posted by: Czar
that is what I think everyone said after it was first annonced, that congress would let it expire or that it would be declared unconstitutional by the courts

Parts most certainly be unconstitutional if someone with alot of money appealed it to the US Supreme Court. Parts of the Patriot Act, need to be kept. Not all of the Patriot Act is bad.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: digitalsm
Parts of the Patriot Act as legit. Other parts need to be done away with.



So, as whole NO, the Patriot Act should not be renewed. However new legislation should be passed, concerning the legit parts of the Patriot Act.

There are definately parts that should stay, but as a whole, it should not be renewed.

 

[conjur]

A modified and effective version should be created instead of the hastily thrown together version that was passed.

 

[Ozoned]

The parts of the act that can be abused will be tested in court if they are abused.
The act needs to stay, but needs to evolve..

 

[SuperTool]

Originally posted by: digitalsm
Parts of the Patriot Act as legit. Other parts need to be done away with.



So, as whole NO, the Patriot Act should not be renewed. However new legislation should be passed, concerning the legit parts of the Patriot Act.

That's what I think too. I think any law that was passed "in the heat of the moment" and not even read by many who voted for it should be scrapped and replaced by a well thought out legislation that incorporates what has worked, and throws out what hasn't and has been abused.

 

[AEB]

What parts are bad? I watched something on CSPAN or something with one of the attorney generals and it seems that things need to have a juges approval. Just so i know which parts would you change and why?

 

[LordMagnusKain]

and the option for 'this is a bias poll'?

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain
and the option for 'this is a bias poll'?

How can Yes or No be biased?

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain
and the option for 'this is a bias poll'?

How can Yes or No be biased?

Neither option contains the name "Jesus"?

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain
and the option for 'this is a bias poll'?

Yeah LordGenghisKhan, please elaborate on how this is biased? I intentionally made it yes/no to avoid any potential for bias.

 

[Gaard]

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain
and the option for 'this is a bias poll'?

LOLOLOL !! Yes or No = a biased poll.

 

[wkabel23]

Don't renew the current version of the Patriot Act. I don't want to see any version of the Patriot Act in effect, but if they decide it's essential hopefully they will modify it.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: conjur
A modified and effective version should be created instead of the hastily thrown together version that was passed.

I don't think it was hastily thrown together. It was waiting in the wings for the right political climate to pass it. The big problem is it was hastily passed, without informed debate that might have blunted some of its most intrusive and most easily abused provisions.

 

[UltraQuiet]

It should modified to toughen the Congressional and judicial oversite of the couple of parts where the most potential for abuse exists. Other than that it's good to go and should be renewed.

 

[DealMonkey]

Oh, but wait, Bush is not talking only about renewing the Patriot Act, he's talking about renewal + expansion, see:

Bush urges Patriot Act renewed, expanded

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- President Bush urged Congress to renew the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act and strengthen it before the law expires next year, saying it gives investigators the tools to stop "terrorist monsters."

...

He urged Congress to make permanent all the act's provisions and to add others that he said would strengthen the law.

Those include provisions expanding the federal death penalty for terrorist attacks, restricting bail for suspects facing terrorism charges and allowing administrative subpoenas to be issued without a judge's or a grand jury's approval in cases "where speed is of the essence."