Rattle wrote:

President Bush on Thursday called on Congress to reauthorize the 16 provisions of the USA Patriot Act that are slated to expire at the end of the year, calling them "practical, important and ... constitutional."

"Congress needs to renew them all and, this time, Congress needs to make the provisions permanent," Bush told an audience of about 150 officers at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy in Columbus.

"We basically said we've very much like to hear about specifics," Gantman said. "The ACLU then, for really over a year, had no specific abuses they could point to. On their behalf, I'd say one of their problems, like us, is we have a helluva time getting information from the Justice Department about what was going on there."

The ACLU, in a posting on its Web site, said the Bush administration and former Attorney General John Ashcroft "essentially refused to describe how it was implementing the law; it left numerous substantial questions unanswered, and classified others without justification.

"In short, not only has the Bush administration undermined judicial oversight on government spying on citizens by pushing the Patriot Act into law, but it is also undermining another crucial check and balance on surveillance powers: accountability to Congress and the public."

I think anything the ACLU or Amnesty Internation says we should do - we should do the opposite. They are anti-American, pro-world-government, anti-individual rights.... which is all bad.

As for the Patriot Act - Bush is a wimp. Republicans are wimps.

We need to pass a law that says "If we think you are involved in terrorist or national security issues - we can override all rights and bypass all laws to save our nation". Hell, they should just do it covertly - we are talking about survival here - who cares about balance if you are dead?

I say kill the terrorists at all costs, and if the ACLU or left-wing liberals OR republicans get in the way - KILL THEM TOO; just try not to smile too much while you are doing it.

Hearing on Patriot Act Ends in an Angry Uproar

A hearing on the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act degenerated into chaos on Friday, as Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. called Democrats "irresponsible," gaveled the session to a premature close and stormed out of the room.

Representative Jerrold D. Nadler, Democrat of New York, protested, "Point of order!" as the Republican committee members filed out of the room; the staff eventually unplugged his microphone.

After Mr. Nadler spoke, one witness, Dr. James J. Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, continued to testify, but about the hearing itself. "As we are lecturing foreign governments," he said, "I am really troubled by what kind of lesson this is going to teach to other countries in the world."