Patriot Act

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Patriot Act, fine dei prolungamenti

Alla House of Representatives è stata fermata l'annunciata estensione temporale della legge approvata da George W. Bush in seguito agli attentati dell'11 settembre. Contestate le misure di monitoraggio dei cittadini a stelle e strisce

PI: Patriot Act, fine dei prolungamenti

Roma - Un'insolita alleanza, formata alla House of Representatives statunitense dalla fazione democratica e dai principali esponenti del movimento conservatore noto come Tea Party. Un'unione per bloccare sul nascere l'ennesimo prolungamento del tanto contestato Patriot Act.

277 voti favorevoli, 148 contrari. La scadenza per la legge approvata da George W. Bush - in seguito agli attacchi terroristici dell'11 settembre - non verrà spostata ancora una volta in avanti, piuttosto sottoposta ad un accurato dibattito politico. I vertici della Casa Bianca avrebbero pensato ad un'estensione del Patriot Act fino all'anno 2013.

L'esito della votazione ha scatenato le più visibili frustrazioni del congressman repubblicano James Sensenbrenner Jr., tra i principali fautori della legge a stelle e strisce. Inizialmente scadute nel dicembre 2009, le misure previste dal Patriot Act erano state prolungate fino alla fine dello scorso anno.

Una decisione che aveva attirato le critiche più aspre da parte delle varie organizzazioni a tutela della privacy. Al centro delle polemiche erano finite tre specifiche predisposizioni del Patriot Act, in primis quella che permette agli agenti federali di ottenere intercettazioni sulla base di una legge nota come Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Per poi proseguire con una misura conosciuta con il termine lone wolf: i mandati ordinati da un giudice in base al FISA permetterebbero il monitoraggio elettronico di un soggetto qualsiasi, senza che debbano emergere particolari prove di un suo eventuale legame con il terrorismo internazionale o un pericoloso paese straniero.

La terza misura che potrebbe ora sparire è meglio nota con l'espressione business record, con cui le autorità a stelle e strisce non sono costrette a provare l'eventuale legame tra una determinata richiesta di informazioni personali (dati bancari, medici e via dicendo) e le presunte malefatte di un qualsivoglia cittadino a stelle e strisce.

Mauro Vecchio

[Bèrghem]

26 Repubs who supported liberty & rejected the Patriot Act: Who are they?

26 Repubs who supported liberty & rejected the Patriot Act: Who are they? - Los Angeles LA County Libertarian | Examiner.com

Out of the 26 Republican Congressmen who voted no on the Patriot Act, eight of them are Repblicans who voted no on it in last year. Ten Republicans total voted no on the Patriot Act in 2010, so that leaves an explanation due for two of those ten. Vern Ehlers of Michigan, who served eighth terms in Congress after first being elected in 1993, retired and did not seek office for 2011. Ehlers was replaced by Justin Amash, a Tea Party candidate who is pro-life, for lower taxes and smaller government. He is of Palestinian and Syrian descent, "the first Palestinian American in Congress". Amash is Christian, and a former Michigan statehouse member who voted no on more bills than anyone else. Amash voted no on the Patriot Act.

The second out of the ten who voted no last year is Jason Chaffetz of Utah. He just began his second term in Congress, and it is not clear at this time why he changed his vote from no to yes on the Patriot Act this year.
Following are brief profiles on the remaining eight reps who voted no both this year and last:

Roscoe Bartlett from Maryland: Serving his 10th term, his website states "Roscoe G. Bartlett considers himself a citizen-legislator, not a politician."

Rob Bishop from Utah; he was elected to congress in 2003 and is currently serving his 5th term.

John J. Duncan, Jr. from Tennesse has served in Congress since 1988 and was formerly a State trial judge.

Dean Heller from Nevada is serving his 3rd term and previously served in Nevada state government.

Timothy V. Johnson represents the 15th District of Illinois and was first elected in 2000. Not to be confused with Congressman "Hank" Johnson, the Democrat from Georgia who famously expressed concern that Guam may 'capsize' a few years back. Although it should be noted that Hank Johnson also voted not to renew the Patriot Act provisions, both this year and last.

Walter B. Jones, Republican from North Carolina, was elected to Congress in 1995. His website states that Jones "concern for Vietnam-era veterans led him to introduce the War Crimes Act of 1996, which allows prisoners of war, the opportunity to bring their persecutors to justice in U.S. courts."

Don Young from Alaska has served since 1973 and is "Alaska’s only Representative to the United States House of Representatives".

Last but certainly not least, Dr. Ron Paul.

Now on to the eighteen people who voted No on the Patriot Act in 2011 who were not on the 'NO' LIST in 2010. Ten of them were already in office, and switched their votes to support liberty. Eight others took office for the first time this year. Out of the following eighteen people, only eight are serving their very first term in Congress. This means that out of 87 newly elected Republican Congressman, only eight of those voted NO on the Patriot Act. (13 new Republican Senators took office last mont for their first term).

Rep. Justin Amash from Michigan, was profiled above.

Paul Collins Broun, Jr, GA, has been in Congress since 2007 and is a Tea Party Caucus member. He is son of Georgia state senator Paul Brown.
John Campbell is a former California state legislator from Irvine. Thanks John, for voting no today.

Mike Fitzpatrick, PA, served in Congress for one term from 2005-2007, but then lost his seat to Jim Greenwood, and regained his seat this year.

Chris Gibson is a 46 year old from New York and is a former officer in the United States Army serving his first term.

Tom Graves of Georgia formerly served in the GA house of reps and was elected to Congress June 14, 2010 in a special election. His website says he wants to cut spending.

Randy Hultgren, a former state rep from IL, is in his first term and says he wants to repeal Obamacare.

Jack Kingston of Texas has served in Congress since 1993.

Raul Rafael Labrador of Idaho, a former Idaho state rep, just began his first term. He is Mormon with a wife and 5 kids.

Connie Mack, aka Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV, is from Florida and has served in Congres since 2005.

Kenny Marchant, TX, has served in Congress since 2005

Tom McClintock of California just began his second term. McClintock, whose career and policy positions I have extensively documented, was initially endorsed by Congressman Paul when he ran for Congress for the first time in 2008. McClintock's voting record was great as a state rep, but he has wavered since entering Congress, supporting DNA seizures, the Patriot Act, and the wars during his last term. McClintock is pro gun, pro sovereignty, and he has an excellent understanding of the proper role of limited Constitutional government. I am very happy to see that McClintock has regained loyalty to his Constitutional roots and rejected the Patriot Act after supporting it last year. I was a strong supporter and advocate of McClintock when he ran for governor of California against Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003. McClintock supported Fred Thompson for president in 2008, but even after Thompson dropped out, McClintock refused to endorse Ron Paul. McClintock told this writer on live radio in 2008 that he's "not sure that Ron Paul is presidential timbre".

Denny Rehberg from Montana has served in Congress since 2001. He is a rancher who oversees 500 cattle and 600 cashmere goats.

Phil Roe, TN, has served since Jan 2009 and is a retired ObGYN and city mayor.

Dana Rohrabacher, a former Reagan speechwriter, is typically an establishment Republican who has served in Congress since 1989.His wikipedia page states that "In his younger years, Rohrabacher was an anarcho-capitalist libertarian", so maybe has has experienced a newfound youth and left the dark side.

Bobby Schilling of Illinois, who just began his first term in Congress, is a Roman Catholic pizzeria owner with a wife and 10 kids. He was a Tea Party candidate and is pro life, pro guns, and for small government.

David Schweikert of Arizona is serving his first term in office. He formerly worked in the real estate business and served in the AZ statehouse. The Club for Growth endorsed Schweikert, who has stated that he wants secure borders, but would then consider a guest worker program after border is secure.

Rob Woodall, begining his first term in Congress, served as chief of staff for U.S. Congressman John Linder since 1994.

February 8th, 2011

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Sen. Rand Paul Opposes Patriot Act Renewal