Home > PATRIOT Act Is A Full Frontal Assault On The Bill Of Rights And Constitution

PATRIOT Act Is A Full Frontal Assault On The Bill Of Rights And Constitution

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 7 March 2006
8 comments

Democracy USA

WASHINGTON - March 7 - On the eve of House consideration of amendments to the USA PATRIOT Act, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement:

"At the very time our troops are overseas heroically fighting and dying in the name of protecting and promoting freedom and democracy, tomorrow the House of Representatives will consider a bill to strip those very freedoms at home.

"The PATRIOT Act threatens the civil liberties of every citizen of this nation, and is a full frontal assault on the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. Like every other Member of Congress I take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, to vote for this bill would violate this sacred oath. This bill violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to our Constitution.

"The PATRIOT Act permits the government to continue to conduct criminal investigations without probable cause, to conduct secret searches, to gain wide powers of phone and internet surveillance, and access highly personal medical, financial, mental health, and student records with minimal judicial oversight.

"This bill threatens to turn back the clock on over 200 years of progress in the protection of civil liberties in this nation.

"America can and must be both safe and free. The USA PATRIOT Act fails to protect citizens, fails the Constitution of the United States and fails this great nation."

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0307-01.htm

Forum posts

  • amen dennis now how did you vote? i didnt see your name opposing it on the vote tally, i like what yyou say but i see your actions

  • Kucinich on the house floor...

    “I rise in strong opposition to this legislation because it offers only a superficial reform that will have little if any impact on safeguarding our civil liberties. Furthermore, it has become crystal clear that this Administration is currently and will continue to abuse, attack, and outright deny the civil liberties of the people of this country in defiance of our Constitution. The Administration is illegally wiretapping American citizens, illegally collecting information on peace groups, and illegally signing statements to ignore the torture ban recently enacted by this Congress.

    “Some of my colleague will stand up here today and argue that the Patriot act has nothing to do with these nefarious activities. But my colleagues are not looking at the big picture. The Administration has violated the laws Congress has passed and is trampling on Constitution of the United States.

    “I will not give the Administration any additional police power. Congress has failed to do its job as a coequal branch of government. The Administration’s attack on our democracy has to be reigned in. This Congress must not walk away from its role and providing a check and balance to the Administration’s exercise of executive power. This Congress was not zealous in oversight prior to 2001. But, since that time, this Congress has ignored its constitutional duty and 200 years of American democracy has suffered.

    “The complacency of this Congress is clearly viewed by the Administration as a license to ignore the laws it disagrees with and it demands Congress pass expanded police powers. In the name of the Constitution of the United States of America I reject this complacency. I will not vote to give a single new police power to this Administration.

    “I voted against the Patriot Act when it first passed, and I remain even more opposed to this legislation today. The bill before us today enables the FBI to investigate any American for any reason, without the checks and balances of the judicial system.

    “History tells us that unchecked police powers with little or no oversight will be abused and the citizens will be harmed. The administration’s record in this area is concrete proof that history repeats itself.

    “I am for a police function that protects citizens of this great nation, not a police function that is used to terrorize them. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Patriot Act Reauthorization; to stand up for our Constitution; to stand up for our Bill of Rights; to remember the long struggle that was instrumental in establishing those liberties."

  • The so-called Patriot Act is the most treasonous piece of legislation to be passed in the history of the USA, bar none. The only excuse that Congress had, was that they didn’t have time to read it. They have had more than enough time to read it since, plus the extension, changes, etc. If they still vote for it, they are signing their names as traitors. As such, they should be shot!

    • dont get me wrong last comment , i agree patriot act is nothing but the same as hitlers reichtag act made everything he did legal by german laws. however we all know about the nuremberg trials, but somehow these present day murderers seem to think they are immune from international laws.and i voted kucinich, then i started looking a little deeper into his voting record, like i say i have always enjoyed listening to kucinich and i also like what ron paul say, but the simple fact is they take turns voting no on things as long as they know they have the votes for it to pass. they are all conspirators , i suggest throw them all out

    • The last 2 postings are DEAD ON THE MONEY!!! This fake ass 2 party system is a classic case of GOOD COP/BAD COP....and as "The Protocols Of Zion" say: it is important to CONTROL both sides of ALL arguements -and if an antagonist dosen’t already exist,CREATE one..If one already exists,infiltrate and strive to rise to a CONTROL position!! The protocols also say that sometimes one’s OWN compatriots must be "scapegoated" as in IRVING "scooter" Lewis&Jack Abramoff!!
      .......A BRAND NEW PARTY must be created and Great care must be taken to keep the VERMIN out!!...GOOD FREAKIN" LUCK

    • That is a Kucinich bashing website. Congressman Kucinich’s house website is at http://kucinich.house.gov/

    • help me fulfill my task , despite numerous attempts to get this in main stram media and despite the fact that i have family who play a major role in the major msm (in laws) i have been unable to get anyone to publish this , and i am tired and i feel that if this doesnt happen, very soon, that we will have past the point of no return and all out mayhem will erupt , like has never been witnessedbefore on earth before, if you read this please print make copies as soon as you can and try everything in your power to help me fulfill my task, i am pleading for help. thanks for listening this long , and please read this in its entirety , whether you believe me or not, i swear this to be the truth as i know it.you know what gets me attled , is all this talk of democracy and free speech and free press, and the trouble you have when trying to utilize these basic rights for humanutty no not msp, look at all the grief that comes from it, i mean you have major news agencies suing the us government for murdering their reporters, and with all the evidence that is so very clear, bush and his murderous cabal have started their murderous threats against victim number 3 apparently , iran. how can thee blatant hippocrites live with themselves. another thing i would like to try and get off my chest with the hopes of not offending anyone is that why some religions cannot accept the fact that history is easily revised, and that indeed a saviour for all religions may or may not have already came over 2000 years ago and may return again at any second , for all who have answered his call no matter how he revealed himself to them. i would like to extend an invitation to all religions worldwide today , and say think for a moment, how in the world we live in,where the truth can be so tangled before we ever hear anything about what may or may not have happened.if in a world like today where crimes can be committed, evidence can be planted and the situation done and cleaned up with before any experts can be allowed to examine,well i am no lawyer , but if ever mea culpa is established , i think covering up the biggest nationwide disaster in us history that i am aware of in 229 years, would be it. but who am i, a pure simpletin idiot fired from a job for reporting that a supervisor threatened to kill me on my lunch period , in front of another supervisor and 2 other employees, well who do you think they believe , not me , even though i am the only one willing to submit to any voice analyzer or truth detector they have.so they give me an advantage by giving me time to sit and reflect on life. i have tried to utilize this very nice vacation to start working on the oaths i have made to my saviour over my lifetime.alas you may call me many things , but A liar i am not,not very often anyway , and most definitely not when taking an oath before God,but getting to another thing that attled me is an understanding of how they get these unemployment numbers, now mind you my sups defense was he did not say i would , which i definitely heard, he swore that he said the government would take me out from a 1000 yards , and i would never know what hit me. now mind you in his shoes , i guess this was the best lie he could come up with. if you loook at the fact that i ran robotic machinery that cuts hardened stainless steel, this isnt a very smart thing for a supervisor to say to an employee getting ready to go back to his mandatory saturday overtime job ,already tired how would a bossman think that telling him , that just because my ideas arent mainstream, that the goverment would kill me and i would not even know it, it wasnt like i was sitting there preaching them to anybody , they both came up to me and sat down, bill started playing 20 questions , and me not being one that minds voicing his opinion when asked, am not skeeered to tell it, i look at it like if you are scared of what you might hear, why ask. well i walts defense i guess this is the best he had, since his supervisor mark admitted to me that the witnesses had heard it but all thought it was a joke. cest la vive, unemployment i thought , going on 50 and never enjoyed this salvation net from not having a job , i was almost looking forward to a vacation for a few weeks, so i filed my claim and knew i had truth on my side. i was denied, and told this was standard procedure when there are conflicting reports from employer , emloyee, and to appeal the decision.so i appeal, i write simply , my boss said , i would take you out from a 1000 yds and you would never know what hit you, and was fired for reporting this to human relations., or something very similar to this.appeal was also said benefits denied, i am told this is standard procedure when there are conflicting testimonies, and told to hire a lawyer and appeal again, this i do , and despite due to time , having to sign an agreement that basically says lawyer can take your money and laugh, i forked over the 450 fee and priority sent it in, after numerous cancellation dates fro my employer , nearly 7 months later my case goes to trial, if you have never had one of these phone trials and you can avoid it , i highly recommmend not allowing to be forced into trial by phone, my employer called 5 witnesses for their case , i was my witness, now i have no control over how anyone can determine who is lying , when trying to discern the truth, so i can understand the dilemma one must face when they are overwhelmed by a preponderance of liars under oath, i however cannot underrstand how a judge could condone a supervisors defense that it wasnt me it was the government who i told him would kill him right before he goes back to running very dangerous machinery ,( we had a death about a year earlier where a man was dragged into the machine and basically eaten alive)and i know how they handled that by calling a meeting and telling us that if we respected the company we would not talk to any press that would be there shortly. a fine thing to do , cover ups. yes liars will be liars.but basically after running out of appeals spending loads of money that i didnt have despite being out of work for a very extended time , alas i was out of options unless i decided to drag myself back into their corrupt justice system. so i understand how they get the 4.7% despite that there are nearly 50 million of us americans who are seeking permanent employment.now i could sit here and rant all day i have 1000’s of examples that i would like to share , but alas i have other things to do, but i do want everyone to realize how easily history can be altered and just think, and when you have thought it through , act if you dont want your grandchildren to grow up in a world of lies. thanks for listening to me, this is how i feel. and if you will let me explain one more oath i must fulfill, call me crazy many have, and a few know the truth, i have literally with sober eyes have seen the angel of the lords shining brilliance as he rescued me from 12 would be attackers, in kannapolis nc at ooops a cop bar where i was having a couple of beers after a large dinner on 7-17-98, also a year later his presence saved me again which iknow where one of the witnesss who tried to kill me this time is , in the ca penal institute, but thats another story, and after with vivid pictures in my mind of when i was 12 and saved , he reminded me of the oath i took that God could use me in any way he saw fit and i would obey.i ws showed one simple message, that if mankind could not learn to love one another , that i would see his return in my lifetime , and to help spread the gospel to all. with no instructions as to how , and being a simple minded good hearted man , this is still a very daunting task, no matter how many ideas , i hgave came up with , all attempts to fulfill my oath have been thrawted or however thats spelled, i lie very seldom and there is not one lie in this, and i am hoping that this will fulfill my last oath , and help many of you, please help me share this message all over the world. sincerely gary lineberger