Thursday, December 22, 2005
Crap Comment of the Day
I'm going to bring back another long-neglected feature of this blog: the Crap Comment of the Day.
Today's Crap Comment comes from my junior senator, Republican John Cornyn.
"None of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead."
Cornyn's statement is quoted in a December 20 article in The Hill, an allegedly nonpartisan and unbiased paper covering Capitol Hill.
Cornyn was, of course, referring to the fight in Congress over renewal of the USA Patriot Act. As you hopefully recall, that bill was rushed into law by a Chicken Little Congress immediately after September 11, 2001. Very few members actually read the legislation and it passed without even so much as a handful of opposition.
With the terrorist attacks four years behind us, Congress has had the opportunity to reconsider its haste. Many, even in the GOP, have come to realize the number of Patriot Act provisions that make America more like Russia...circa 1985. Still believing in some sense of civil liberties, a number of Republicans have joined Democrats in fighting to reform the Patriot Act. Hardline Republicans (you can't call them conservatives because true conservatives wouldn't give the government so much power) are in lockstep with the Bush administration in an effort to make the Patriot Act a permanent part of American jurisprudence.
All of this has led to a showdown in Congress and kept the members in D.C. much longer than is customary before their extended holiday recess. The week began with all indications that the Patriot Act would be allowed to sunset on December 31. The Bushies wanted all or nothing and Democrats were going to filibuster to keep that from happening.
In a surprise move last night, the Senate passed a six-month extension for the Act. Senators claim they'll use the extra time to work out compromises in the most Gestapo-friendly provisions. As this is written, the House has just passed a one-month extension. This comes after a threat by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (one of those lockstep Bushies) to kill altogetherher. Sensenbrenner and his ilk are in that all or nothing crowd.
Meanwhile, President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been making dire predictions for the nation's security should they not get their way. They've expressed outrage and accused Democrats of trying to hurt the country (which, come to think of it, they do on almost every issue). Feeling the force of compromise, however, Bush has had to back off from his fiery rhetoric.
That fiery rhetoric bring us back to Mr. Cornyn. The problems with his statement should be obvious. In case you don't see it, perhaps some 200-year-old wisom will help. As Ben Franklin once said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Today's Crap Comment comes from my junior senator, Republican John Cornyn.
"None of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead."
Cornyn's statement is quoted in a December 20 article in The Hill, an allegedly nonpartisan and unbiased paper covering Capitol Hill.
Cornyn was, of course, referring to the fight in Congress over renewal of the USA Patriot Act. As you hopefully recall, that bill was rushed into law by a Chicken Little Congress immediately after September 11, 2001. Very few members actually read the legislation and it passed without even so much as a handful of opposition.
With the terrorist attacks four years behind us, Congress has had the opportunity to reconsider its haste. Many, even in the GOP, have come to realize the number of Patriot Act provisions that make America more like Russia...circa 1985. Still believing in some sense of civil liberties, a number of Republicans have joined Democrats in fighting to reform the Patriot Act. Hardline Republicans (you can't call them conservatives because true conservatives wouldn't give the government so much power) are in lockstep with the Bush administration in an effort to make the Patriot Act a permanent part of American jurisprudence.
All of this has led to a showdown in Congress and kept the members in D.C. much longer than is customary before their extended holiday recess. The week began with all indications that the Patriot Act would be allowed to sunset on December 31. The Bushies wanted all or nothing and Democrats were going to filibuster to keep that from happening.
In a surprise move last night, the Senate passed a six-month extension for the Act. Senators claim they'll use the extra time to work out compromises in the most Gestapo-friendly provisions. As this is written, the House has just passed a one-month extension. This comes after a threat by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (one of those lockstep Bushies) to kill altogetherher. Sensenbrenner and his ilk are in that all or nothing crowd.
Meanwhile, President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been making dire predictions for the nation's security should they not get their way. They've expressed outrage and accused Democrats of trying to hurt the country (which, come to think of it, they do on almost every issue). Feeling the force of compromise, however, Bush has had to back off from his fiery rhetoric.
That fiery rhetoric bring us back to Mr. Cornyn. The problems with his statement should be obvious. In case you don't see it, perhaps some 200-year-old wisom will help. As Ben Franklin once said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
