The USA (Un)PATRIOT(ic) Act is poised to become the (mostly) permanent law of the land:
The agreement ensures the extension of all 16 provisions of the law that were set to expire in six weeks. Fourteen will be extended permanently, and the remaining two - dealing with the government’s demands for business and library records and its use of roving wiretaps - will be extended for seven years.
Don’t worry, though, it’s not like the government would ever abuse this power. After all, it’s not like they’ve gone about torturing people, detaining citizens indefinitely without access to the legal system, or obtaining the records of citizens without obtaining a formal warrant.
Oh crap… I guess they have done all of those things.
If you ever needed incentive to call your elected representatives, the government’s abuse of its power over the course of the past four years should be all that you need.
Dick Cheney says the administration’s Democratic critics are ‘dishonest’ and ‘reprehensible’ for making entirely supportable assertions that this administration lied us into war.
I’ll tell you what’s dishonest and reprehensible.
It’s dishonest to withhold crucial caveats from intelligence information in order to get the American public to support the invasion, occupation, and failed state creation which has occurred in Iraq.
It’s reprehensible to advocate the use of torture against our enemies.
It’s dishonest for his chief of staff to lie about blowing Joe Wilson’s wife’s cover.
It’s reprehensible that he was involved in an administration which engaged in torture in eastern Europe, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, and God knows where else.
It’s dishonest for the administration to tell us that they “know where the WMD are” in Iraq.
It is reprehensible that we used “incendiary” (read - chemical) weapons in civilian areas in Iraq.
While the Democrats were responsible for giving the Republicans political cover to wage an unjust war in Iraq, even that does not rise to the level of “dishonest” and “reprehensible” behavior engaged in by this administration - to this very day.
