Mrs. Giddyup and I just celebrated our 12th anniversary on 10/26 which was also the anniversary of the signing of The Patriot Act and The Gunfight at the OK Corral...
Whether you like the Patriot Act or not, the political fallout of Obama going into office, and getting it repealed and THEN having a terrorist attack on US soil that could be dangerous. Whether the attack could have been prevented by using the powers of the Patriot act would be moot. Republicans would nail them with the fact that they got rid of potential protection of those types of threats. That's why, if its repealed, its done so bit by bit, quietly and over time, with more moderate alternatives put into place that protect citizens without trampling all over their rights.
Such a large part of what our ancestors faught for to give birth to our country was based on the belief that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I will admit that when Bush first came out with the Patriot act I had no problem with Illegal wire taps and un-lawfully holding accused terrorists with out due proccess. But that was just emotion taking over after 9-11. Taking away constitutional rights with out due proccess is just wrong. There is a reason why we would rather take a chance on releasing a murderer back onto the streets than take a chance on locking up an innocent person. Once we start giving up our constitutional rights the USA stops being the USA.
Yes. Repealing it should be one of the first things done by the Obama Adminstration and the Democratic Congress. Repeal it, create a new set of laws that do what is required for national security without taking a crap on the Constitution, and for god's sake, change the ****ing name. The name is a travesty. And while we are at it, change the name of the Department of Homeland Security. We aren't a freakin' "Homeland." We are the United States of America, damn it. Leave the "homelands" to the Europeans and those who want to copy them. We do things our way and we call them names that fit our culture. In my opinion, "homeland" isn't on the list.
I'd repeal FISA first. It's like 1983.5, and the PATRIOT Act is just the last 0.5 that brings us to 1984. In fact, the parts of the PATRIOT Act that deal with things other than FISA powers are mostly inoffensive changes to spy procedures to keep up with technology. Repealing the PATRIOT Act is really just cutting the tail off the rhino.
