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The next year, months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced another bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of "terrorism" that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detection of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review. The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode "constitutional and statutory due process protections" and would "authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations."
Biden himself draws parallels between his 1995 bill and its 2001 cousin. "I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John ******** sent up was my bill," he said when the Patriot Act was being debated, according to the New Republic, which described him as "the Democratic Party's de facto spokesman on the war against terrorism."
(Asterisks automatically added by City-Data software where the last name of the AG of the time appears.)
And another leftist, Joe Lieberman, created the Ministry of Homeland Securitat:
"2002, as Chairman of what was then known as the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Lieberman led the fight to create a new Department of Homeland Security. One month after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, he introduced legislation to reorganize the federal government to better protect the American people from terrorism and natural disasters and steered a bipartisan plan through his committee. After months of opposing the plan, the White House eventually endorsed the concept. Legislation that passed Congress in 2002 created a department incorporating key organizational elements Senator Lieberman advocated.[46]"
The same idiot faction that gave us the wars in Iraq, Homeland Security, stop and frisk, the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay sure loves to prance around as defenders of freedom and liberty. Democrats are slight better, but choosing between them and right wingers would be like choosing between rotten milk and moldy bread.
OP, if you are a libertarian, apologies are in order.
Again, those were neocons (aka leftist Republicans aka Rockefeller Republicans), not paleocons.
And USA PATRIOT and Homeland were the leftist Biden and Al Gore's leftist running mate Joe Lieberman, respectively.
If they did NOTHING and something BIG happen the SAME people would be saying The Liberals are so afraid of offending someone they ALLOWED the Terrorists to win again.
Thanks progressives. The Germans once lost their country to Sozialisten, too.
REALLY? 1000 random pictures from various locations and times with NO context is supposed to mean WHAT exactly? Right after 9/11 Airports had ARMED Military ... If you showed pictures of that NOW you can say anything about it.
Thanks progressives. The Germans once lost their country to Sozialisten, too.
I seem to recall that much if not most of the Homeland Security apperatus was put together during the presidency of George W. Bush. It's been a while, but I seem to remember that Mr. Bush 2 was a Republican?
Whatever.
You wussy conservatives better shape up because the Progressives want to eat your heart and drink your blood and fry your liver. Tremble in fear of us, you neocons and hear us roar!
Who was the vice president in October of 2001? I am pretty sure it was neither Biden nor Gore
What does Vice President anything have to do with Senator Biden having written the bill that was passed up through the AG that became USA PATRIOT Act? And what does Vice President anything have to do with Al Gore's leftist 2000 running mate creating the Ministry of Homeland Security as a U.S. Senator from CT?
Why is Vice President an issue? Where's that coming from? Slapping your head won't help you think any better.
The fallacy is buying into the false "left/right" dichotomy that we're force fed. The "right wing" in America is not increasing our freedoms. How many freedoms were trampled on by George W. Bush's Administration? Who created the Department of Homeland Security? Who signed off on the "Patriot" Act?
None of this is to say that leftists don't support police state actions too. They do, but both sides in America are enemies of liberty. The important distinction is whether a politician is pro-liberty or not, not what party they are in or what "wing" the media claims they hail from. Blindly voting (R) or (D) is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place.
To many Republicans and conservatives think that voting for Romney, Jeb Bush, or Ted Cruz will expand liberty just because they talk a good game when it comes to the free market. Yet even true free market supporting Republicans generally support the government meddling in our personal lives and our bedrooms. They also support domestic spying and the warfare state. Meanwhile "civil libertarians" in the Democratic Party support government interference in the marketplace and healthcare. Increasingly Democrats support never ending war and domestic spying. America needs to wake up and stop looking at the party identifier as anything meaningful.
"When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence." -Gary Lloyd
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