Patriot Act Still Needs Reform

Senator Feingold has brought together enough Senators to prevent the Patriot Act from continuing unabated without better protecting our rights. "We can come together to give the government the tools it needs to fight terrorism and protect the rights and freedoms of innocent citizens," said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., arguing that provisions permitting government access to confidential personal data lacked safeguards to protect the innocent. "We need to be more vigilant," agreed Sen. John Sununu, a Republican from New Hampshire, where the state motto is "Live Free or Die." He quoted Benjamin Franklin: "Those that would give up essential liberty in pursuit of a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security." Read More: ABC News Today we found out Bush may think that anything goes in his war to protect us, "within the law". Authorizing a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States. Bush needs to know: We are not scared of the terrorists! We won't surrender our liberties because of them! We will fight them anywhere, anytime but we won't let Bush use the terrorist threat to take our rights!!! We won't let you CUT and RUN with our Constitutional Rights. Shocked Lawmakers Demand Spy Program Probe By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Dismayed lawmakers demanded on Friday that Congress look into whether the highly secretive National Security Agency was granted new powers to eavesdrop without warrants on people inside the United States. "There is no doubt that this is inappropriate," declared Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He promised hearings early next year. President Bush refused to discuss whether he had authorized such domestic spying, saying to comment would tie his hands in fighting terrorists. Nor would other officials confirm or deny whether the nation's largest spy agency was permitted to gather communications from Americans under a presidential directive signed in 2002. Instead, they asserted in careful terms that the president would do everything in his power to protect the American people while safeguarding civil liberties. "I will make this point," Bush said in an interview with "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." "That whatever I do to protect the American people — and I have an obligation to do so — that we will uphold the law, and decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people." The reported program, first noted in Friday's New York Times, is said to allow the agency to monitor international calls and e-mail messages of people inside the United States. But the paper said the agency would still seek warrants to snoop on purely domestic communications — for example, Americans' calls between New York and California. Read More at: CBS News