Daniel Akaka- HI, Tom Harkin- IA, Carl Levin-MI, Jeff Bingamin-NM, Ron Wyden-OR, Jim Jeffords-VT, Patrick Leahy-VT, Patty Murray-WA, Russ Feingold-WI, and Robert Byrd-WV all voted against the renewal of the Patriot Act. Daniel Inouye-HI did not vote. The other 89 senators voted ‘aye’.
The bill, which extends 16 provisions of the USA Patriot Act (14 permanently and two through 2009), now goes to the House, which will act on it next week. That chamber has already approved the general measure, but it must vote again to accommodate the late changes put in by the Senate.
Since a majority of House members support the Patriot Act — and since the House procedures do not include a filibuster, under which a minority of lawmakers can stall legislation — passage in the House is certain, barring an extraordinary shift in sentiment in the days just ahead.
History will remember these 10 brave politicians that attempted to make amendments to this totalitarian bill and, when they were stymied, had the guts to oppose it.
I like to think that all the times that I have called and emailed Levin’s office had something to do with his vote!
seize the exhilaration you get from it, and use it as the force that keeps you calling and protesting in the future. It’s the only way we are going to get our country back.
Thanks for the info, BooMan. I’m glad nine other Senators stood with Feingold, that is nine more than the original passage of the bill after 9/11. (I’m stretching for some optimism here, please don’t break my half-full glass today)
Good to keep in mind for single payer!
were Jeffords, Byrd, and Feingold. They were the only 3 to vote against cloture (Vitter (R-LA) did not vote).
I wanted to clarify that I am not taking anything away from those who did vote against it today.
The number of Senators to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act increased tenfold over the vote for the first incarnation. There is something to be said for that.
Agreed.
They may be some of the very few that don’t get voted out of office by a massive ‘none of the above’ vote movement.
Boxer? Obama? Durbin? Unfreakin believable. I expect that kind of crap from Clinton, Biden et al.
talks more sense than anyone else in Washington, DC.
He always has. Wish we could clone him and get rid of Stabenow–can’t believe her!
tSen Feingold– the real McCoy. Ya won’t find this if you google: Feingold reads fourth amendment.
BUT- go to Google news and then type in the above and guess what!
One single entry–!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a great country.
billjpa@aol.com
as of 5;35 EST
Hillary
Biden
Kerry
Thank you very much.
Does anyone have a list of those who voted against.
Patiently waiting to vote against Obama next election….
In November, you appeared to understand the dangers inherent in passing the Conference Committee draft of Patriot Act re-authorisation, yet a scant 3 moths later you vote for a bill with only cosmetic changes.
I could really use the health care that comes with a seat in the United States Senate, and appreciate your desire to get me into that august body, but if the price is the destruction of our fundamental liberties, it’s not worth it.
I don’t know…I mean, you’re talking health care benefits…:D…maybe you could compromise and just destroy one half-assed ideal and call it even.
I Incorporated your suggestion, and a couple more tweaks, before sending as a Press release.
That’s the way life is supposed to work. A convergence of creativity and tweak-tools to enable more voices to be heard….and not just the ones in my head, either.
As Kurt Nimmo puts it:
No longer do the people enjoy the right to “peaceably to assemble”–unless you
consider being corralled in a “free speech zone” encircled in concertina wire
a right–and the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” is effectively
down the tubes, as the above mentioned vacuum cleaner approach makes painfully
obvious, a subversive plot completely destroying the concept of “probable cause”
(our rulers and their minions believe this has mysteriously vanished from the
Fourth Amendment, as Gen. Michael Hayden actually attempted to argue at the
National Press Club in Washington in January, a fact ignored by the corporate
media, not that it particularly matters–sadly most Americans know more about the Simpsons than the First Amendment).
Considering the widespread violations of the Bill of Rights literally spanning over many decades and numerous presidents, the renewal of the Patriot Act is no big deal and may even be considered anti-climatic. Forget the Sedition Act, the Palmer Raids, the Smith Act, COINTELPRO, Operation Chaos, Cable Splicer, Operation Garden Plot, Rex-84, ad nauseam–the Bill of Rights was tenuous from the beginning. Thomas Jefferson, away in France in December 1787, wrote James Madison that he was concerned about “the omission of a bill of rights…. providing clearly…. for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, and restriction against monopolies.” Jefferson was worried “that a succession of artful and ambitious rulers” would eventually subvert the Bill of Rights because all governments seek an “augmentation of power at the expense of liberty.” Fact of the matter is our rulers harbor a deep hatred and mistrust of natural rights, social contracts, and universal rights, disagreeing with John Locke that these rights are integral to the very idea of what it means to be human.
Well say! The $64,000 question is “When will the people of this nation remove the blinders from their eyes and see what is truly happening and demand change?
James, thanks for posting this from Kurt Nimmo!
heh…I’ve been wrong too many times already. I’ve had several ‘hey, this one has to be the one’ moments but nothing changes.
My next guess would be when the citizens realize that serious internet surveillance and monitoring has been done on everyone since about 2002 by some of the same private contractors who are pleading guilty for criminal partnerships with the politicians.
sigh
Names that I’m disappointed, but not surprised, as voting for the act:
Kennedy (He’s not running for President and what, like he’s worried about not being re-elected in Mass.?)
Kerry (“When danger reared it’s ugly head, Sir Robin bravely turned and fled.”)
Clinton (What’s the Bill of Rights, Constitution, etc. – versus your political career right?)
Obama – (There’s been such difference between his talk and actions, that I keep wondering when folks will realize that despite the talk he’s more a politician than liberal hero of the ages.)