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* * *About Patriot Act,‘It’s them or us,’
From Ed Zick
O’BrienEveryone should note that our Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden again has voted wrong, this time about renewal of the USA Patriot Act.
He gives as reasons his concerns about provisions, which he says are numerous, that could compromise American privacy rights, but I wonder. The act was enacted in late October 2001: four years, two months ago.
Everyone knows that we were terribly susceptible before then, but what terrorist act has been perpetrated since in the USA? None.
Have the worldwide radical Muslims changed? No. They’re still devoted to the destruction of what western nations believe. Make no mistake: It’s them or us.
They will accept no compromise, and neither can we. So what has changed since the inhuman destruction of the World Trade Towers on 9/11/01 with its 3,000+ people? The answer is the USA Patriot Act, and of course, the fact that we now are taking the fight to them wherever they are.
We Americans are jealous of our rights and freedoms, and we need to remain so while continuing to promote similar rights and freedoms throughout the world. But shouldn’t the Democrats pull their heads out of the sand and realize that what we fight now is a different type of enemy?
This isn’t a country we fight with defined boundaries. Some of them are among us right now, and more are trying to come. This isn’t hysteria, for we are catching some of them.
We know that they like big catastrophes that kill and maim as many as possible like the Trade Center. What’s next?
Nothing, we hope, but we won’t realize that unless we protect ourselves. I believe that the act necessarily infringes on some American’s rights, but I also believe that it is temporary; only for the duration.
Our checks and balances work. The act is for no other reason than to make it possible to locate, identify and capture those willing to do us great harm.
In the four years and two months that the act has been in effect, have we had even one charge of abuse? Come on -- have we? You know that the Democrats wouldn’t keep it a secret.
They take great pains and even invent things to be able to point an accusing finger at the Bush administration. They mainstream media would all over any hint of such abuses like ants on ice cream.
So far we haven’t had one abuse of the act, and not one complaint , so what is Wyden’s problem?
Knowing that we need the act, and knowing that there haven’t been any abuses, my opinion is that he simply is joining other Democrats in obstructing anything that is done during this Republican administration.
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