Posted on May 30, 2015
Choosing between Big Brother and the Bill of Rights. Where do you stand?
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Around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, there was a seismic shift in the U.S. Congress. As the Senate deadlocked over what to do about several expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, it became clear that political momentum had moved away from surveillance and secrecy toward freedom and privacy.
In a rare and theatrical overnight session, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried and failed to reauthorize or even briefly extend the Patriot Act's surveillance powers before senators left Washington for their weeklong holiday break. At every turn, he was blocked by a bipartisan group of civil libertarians and surveillance skeptics led by presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, and Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. Their main target was Section 215, which the government argues allows the National Security Agency to collect, store and analyze Americans' phone records and other intimate information in bulk.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0529-abdo-martin-nsa-20150529-story.html
In a rare and theatrical overnight session, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried and failed to reauthorize or even briefly extend the Patriot Act's surveillance powers before senators left Washington for their weeklong holiday break. At every turn, he was blocked by a bipartisan group of civil libertarians and surveillance skeptics led by presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, and Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. Their main target was Section 215, which the government argues allows the National Security Agency to collect, store and analyze Americans' phone records and other intimate information in bulk.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0529-abdo-martin-nsa-20150529-story.html
Constitution
Bill of Rights
National Security
Privacy
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 23
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I believe we traded some liberty for security through the USA PATRIOT Act, and I wasn't happy about it then, and I'm still not happy with it now. But it wasn't with Section 215 and the NSA collecting phone numbers for use in chaining future calls. It was the FBI being able to check in libraries with no warrants for what books you were reading, to snnop on your ISPs about your Internet use, and the other kinds of blatant 4th Amendment rights that were violated by the Act.
He said it many ways, but I'm with Ben Franklin who said, "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither." As much as I trust the people we have empowered, I still do not want to cede that power to them, or to anyone. It is my power and I prefer to keep it for my own use in the cause of Liberty!
He said it many ways, but I'm with Ben Franklin who said, "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither." As much as I trust the people we have empowered, I still do not want to cede that power to them, or to anyone. It is my power and I prefer to keep it for my own use in the cause of Liberty!
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
Bill of Rights.
And I personally would like to talk to anyone who is for big brother.
Bill of Rights.
And I personally would like to talk to anyone who is for big brother.
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For any of the Bill of Rights to be modified, the change needs to come through the Constitutional amendment process. Anything else goes against the US Constitution which all politicians take an oath to uphold and defend. The question that needs to be asked is what happened to the Rule of Law?
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We pay a cost for our freedom...and sadly, or gratefully?, many here on RP will pay the lion's share of that cost.
With this being said, their is a difference between collecting information on our citizens and anyone else in the World. I think a big part of the population do not realize that their are people trying to protect the privacy 'rights' of people plotting the destruction of our Nation?
With this being said, their is a difference between collecting information on our citizens and anyone else in the World. I think a big part of the population do not realize that their are people trying to protect the privacy 'rights' of people plotting the destruction of our Nation?
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21 years I worked for "Big Daddy" Largest Chunk was in the Reagan Years. I remember signing a document every year "Thou Shalt not Spy on thy Fellow Americans" I suspect that rule, law and document are still in effect. The only thing that I suspect has changed that in my time, when in doubt we assumed you were "Our Fellow Americans" I suspect the reverse is the case now. Proceed until you know for a fact that is "American".
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I didn't know there was an article in the Bill of rights limiting the government from monitoring communications. ??? No one wants the government spying on us, but has any American been hurt or had their rights trampled on - or been their lives affected - because the NSA is tracking phone numbers? Not even organized criminals, politicians, or targets of FBI probes have been bothered by this - because courts require warrants. So, who has really been bothered by the NSA doing its job in a time increasingly consumed by evolving communications???
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