tintedpane.com

A reaction:

bq. That’s absolutely right. The politicians jump up and down about how the terrorists hate freedom, then turn around and take away freedom in the name of preventing terrorism. It’s very hard to not see the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act as being utter proof that terrorist tactics work—and work well.

bq. The scary thing is that they’re out there watching our government’s reaction, gloating, and planning their next wave of attacks to see what sort of reactionary fascism they can goad our government into next. Not only did the terrorists win, but our government keeps encouraging them by doing exactly what they want—whittling away the freedoms of the United States through the politics of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, all in the name of combatting terrorism.

bq. PATROIT act tactics have not worked in Britain against the IRA, or in Israel against various terror groups. They won’t work in the United States, either. Unfortunately, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I fear that the American public does not learn from history. If that is the case, may God help us all.

bq. In any case, congratulations, Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, et al. Never in the history of the world has anyone caved to terrorism so thoroughly and completely as the United States in the wake of 9/11. You should all be ashamed, and more to the point, you should all be impeached.

Interesting quote by Adolf Hitler’s right hand man, Hermann Goering:

bq. The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

Comparison of above quote and Ashcroft defending the PATRIOT Act with this statement:

bq. To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve.”

I’m sure my bias is pretty evident, so perhaps those who aren’t too jaded could comment…

Edit:

And another interesting quote:

bq. One of Osama’s stated goals is to destroy, through holy war, America (the Great Satan). One of the things that made us great was our Constitution, that great document which protects our freedoms. Yet here goes the House of Representatives, doing exactly what bin Laden wants: Taking away our freedom. In fact, doing the one thing that Osama can never do. The only question I really want answered is, “House of Representatives: Who the heck are you representing?” Because I don’t believe that the majority of America, let alone 60% of us, want the government to be able to get search warrants without a judge’s consent. To force us to keep quiet about a search. To invade the privacy of our medical and library records.

bq. And I don’t want to hear any BS about ‘it will only be used on/against terrorists.’ This government, like any other, has abused/abuses almost every power it was ever given. And you think they’ll pass up something as juicy, and so easy, and so incredibly tempting to abuse as this? Look at RICO. It was passed so the cops could bust meetings of mobsters. Now it’s routinely used against groups of garden-variety criminals.

bq. “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” — H L Mencken. Terrorism is a complex problem. We have to pull off a considerable juggling act: We have to try and defend ourselves against terrorists. We also have to make sure that we have a nation that is free and worth defending when we’re done. We have to find and assauge the root cause of the hatred, because as Vietnam and now Iraq have demonstrated, superior technology can’t defeat a foe with the power of conviction in his beliefs. And we have to reign in our collective ego, and not be too proud to admit that Iraq is a lost cause and that we should leave. And so far, our government is only keeping one ball in the air. The “Patriot” act is an answer that is clear, simple, and dead wrong.

bq. “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” — James Madison
“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” — Abba Eban.

bq. “Most Democrats echoed that support but said they were concerned the law could allow citizens’ civil liberties to be infringed.” translate(BS, ENGLISH) == “The 43 Democrats who voted in favor secretly oppose it but have no spine or willpower to say so.”

bq. “While the Patriot Act and other anti-terrorism initiatives have helped avert additional attacks on our soil, the threat has not receded,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Of course not, dumbass. The threat will not recede until we (the Infidels) remove our troops from the Holy Land (Saudi Arabia) because that’s exactly what Osama expicitly stated! But America won’t do that and we all know why.

bq. “The House debate included frequent references to the attacks earlier in the day, two weeks after larger London blasts that killed 56, including four suicide bombers.” Hmmm… could it be that THIS is what the London blasts were about?

bq. Ugh… I am disgusted with this government beyond words.