The FBI Has Been Violating Your Liberties in Ways That May Shock You

The Hoover Years: The Sequel. (Just what we needed.)

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

"But...but...we're doing it because we're Damn Good Patriots!!" And they really do think that way - if you are a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to hide, and therefore nothing to fear. The internal culture at the FBI is not exactly one that mirrors the culture of the rest of the nation. I find it ironic that the one FBI building that has been most notably attacked in this nation was attacked in the city where the FBI agents themselves would represent their community. What does that imply?

The Patriot Act is an affront to the Constitution that needs to be repealed. The name itself is sickening, because stripping the rights of Americans is in no way "patriotic".

What our government has done in the name of "security" is nothing short of disgusting, and the fact that so many Americans simply do not care is even more so. They reason "it doesnt matter if you have nothing to hide", that it until they themselves are snatched up and have their freedoms taken away.

This, for me, is one of the more disappointing failures of the Obama administration. IMO there is no way the USA PATRIOT Act should have not be repealed by now.

Patriot act was passed by DEM controlled Senate..

why would dem controlled congress repeal it?

I agree with oneofmany. The act should be repealed. I have suspected this spying for a long time, especially when my computer makes these screeching ginding noises. It doesn't make one feel any better when one checks the security of the computer to find that someone has taken over a supervisor and changed the password. We do not want to live in the Soviet United States so the Patriot Act must be repealed and the FBI must be reigned in. No revolution, just common sense.

Jorge,

Patriot act was passed by DEM controlled Senate..

The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the "Patriot Act") is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT

The Democrats were not the majority party in 2001 and have not controlled either house of Congress until Jan., 2007. answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090304151028AAesZjF.

The 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington restored national security issues to the forefront of American politics. In response, President George W. Bush's decision to confront terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq divided the nation along prowar and antiwar lines and further intensified the national party battle. Close national elections between ideologically distinct parties give American politics its harsh tones and its extraordinarily high stakes, thus magnifying the difficulties of governing the world's only superpower.

Republicans maintained their majority in the House of Representatives by the identical close margin of 53 percent to 47 percent. They did improve their majority in the Senate, emerging after the election with a lead of fifty-five to forty-five seats. Even in the Senate, however, Republicans lacked the sixty votes needed to break any determined Democratic filibuster. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/dividedamerica.htm

A little research goes a long way if one is to make an accurate statement.

Yes, a little research does go a long way, so I did some. The 107th Congress began Jan. 3, 2001, with a 50-50 split in the Senate. On June 6th Senator Jim Jeffords (R) announced that he was becoming an independant and that he would vote with the Democrats. So, the dems did have the majority when the Patriot Act was passed Oct. 24, 2001. The vote was 98 for, 1 against. Tom Daschle was the Majority Leader.

Husker gall

a little research does go a long way

Dems controlled the senate when the Patriot act was passed...just like they controled the senate when the IRAQ war was voted on.

DEM Senator TOM DASCHLE was the majority leader.

Well, I'll have to stand corrected.

When the 107th Congress commenced on January 3, 2001, the Senate was evenly divided—that is, there were 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Outgoing Vice PresidentAl Gore acted in his constitutional capacity as ex officioPresident of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. For the next two weeks, Daschle served as Senate Majority Leader. Then, upon the commencement of the Bush administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney became President of the Senate, thereby returning Democrats to the minority in that body; Daschle reverted to the position of Senate Minority Leader. However, on June 6, 2001, Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont announced in that he was leaving the Senate Republican caucus to become an independent and to caucus with Democrats;^[14] this once again returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became Majority Leader. Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned the party to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle once more reverted to being Minority Leader.

Little hard to tell within this short time frame who was what, when. Here is the roll call and the votes. 98 voted in favor.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00313

Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Allen (R-VA), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Breaux (D-LA), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burns (R-MT), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Campbell (R-CO), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Carnahan (D-MO), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Chafee (R-RI), Yea
Cleland (D-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corzine (D-NJ), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Daschle (D-SD), Yea
Dayton (D-MN), Yea
DeWine (R-OH), Yea

Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Edwards (D-NC), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Fitzgerald (R-IL), Yea
Frist (R-TN), Yea
Graham (D-FL), Yea
Gramm (R-TX), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Helms (R-NC), Yea
Hollings (D-SC), Yea
Hutchinson (R-AR), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Jeffords (I-VT), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kennedy (D-MA), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea

Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Miller (D-GA), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nickles (R-OK), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Santorum (R-PA), Yea
Sarbanes (D-MD), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-NH), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Thomas (R-WY), Yea
Thompson (R-TN), Yea
Thurmond (R-SC), Yea
Torricelli (D-NJ), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Wellstone (D-MN), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Yea

Patriot act was passed by DEM controlled Senate..

Still wrong Jorge. Look again, Both Parties voted in the Patriot Act. That's a tally of 50 Republicans, 47 Democrats and 1 Independant. 98 Votes Majority Republican.

I count 49 R yea, 48 D yea, 1 I (actually D) yea, 1 D nay, 1 D no vote.

The are are 50 Senators. So you must have missed one for there were 98 yea votes 2 nay. It's okay either way both parties voted for the Patriot Bill. Not surprising at the speed this passed after 9/11 That's the date of the attack and the bill was signed 10/26. 46 days to come up with a bill to curtail American freedoms.

They did all kinds of things "to do something...anything".

They should have been looking at all the baggage scanners that had the xray portion disconnected from power. Instead they took finger nail clippers out of airports...