Congress Has Second Thoughts On Patriot Act

Taking a clear stand against anti-privacy provisions in the Patriot Act, the U.S. House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort last night agreed to an amendment that would bar federal law enforcement from carrying out secret "sneak and peek" searches without notifying the target of the warrant.


The Otter Amendment, added to the Commerce, Justice and State Departments funding bill and named after Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, an Idaho Republican, passed by an extraordinary margin of 309 to 118, with 113 Republicans voting in favor.


"Not only does this provision allow the seizure of personal and business records without notification, but it also opens the door to nationwide search warrants and allowing the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and NSA (National Security Agency) to operate domestically," Otter said.

www.alternet.org...

The Congress needs to take a hard look at the entire 'Patriot Act' and 'Patriot Act II'. And they probably will, (that don't mean to sit back and not prod them into doing so) because it they leave PA I in place and pass PA II, there will be no need for a Congress anymore. The entire country will be run by a dictatorship. Any of you out there who think this is BS, you obviously have not read either document.

" The amendment still has to get past the Senate and Pres. Bush before it becomes law. "

What will happen if the Senate and The President do not follow the Congress ?

I really think that the Senate will follow along with Congress (providing Congress really gets into the PA I and PA II), I guess 'follow along' is not a good choice of words, they will realize that these documents are not what they were proclaimed to be, and are really aimed at circumventing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We may even see, for a change, a uniting of both Congress and the Senate, (maybe even both parties) in the saving of the US as we know it, from what is planned for it.