:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 11.10.2003 ::

:: Dubya: I luv Ya Big Brudder ::

From Wired News:
Gore to Bush: Rescind Patriot Act
An Associated Press report

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Al Gore says the Bush White House is using the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to justify a major offensive against the freedoms and liberties Americans have enjoyed for centuries.

"They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, 'big brother'-style government -- toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book 1984 -- than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America," Gore charged in a speech.

Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 presidential election to President Bush, brought many in the crowd of 3,000 to their feet Sunday when he called for a repeal of the Patriot Act, which expanded government's surveillance and detention powers, allowing authorities to monitor the books citizens read and conduct secret searches.

He said terrorism-fighting tools granted after Sept. 11, 2001, amount to a partisan power grab that has led to the erosion of the civil liberties of all Americans.

The Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said Monday that while he's not ready to support repealing the Patriot Act, he is skeptical of the way it's been used by the White House and said there is "a lot of concern about the assault on civil liberties."

In my opinion, it makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden," Gore said (in a speech sponsored by Moveon.org).

You can find Gore's remarks -- "Freedom and Security here.

posted by me

:: 10:36:00 PM [+] ::
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