In The Dead Of Night

By Semperpapa

Just as vampires do, our wonderful Congress likes to utilize the dead of night to vote on some of the bills that, I guess, they cannot get to because they are so "overworked" during the day.
But in the case of Thursday night I am gratified by the vote that occurred in the House of Representatives.

The Patriot Act was extended with minor changes by a vote of 315 to 97. Yes, my friends, the same Patriot Act that had been used by the enemies of George Bush to label him as a Nazi, has been extended by a Democrat majority House, after the extension of the Act had been approved by the Senate on Wednesday. Now the bill will be going to the desk of the President for signature.

So why did Congress, a Liberal Congress, voted to extend a provision so vehemently opposed until just over a year ago?
Well there is the possibility that the illustrious members of Congress are finally realizing that the provisions of the Act, which by the way was hastily formulated in just a few days following the September 11 2001 attacks, did provide a workable foundation upon which to build some form of safety and security protocols for our country.

There is also the possibility that the Liberals in charge are now reluctant to take the chance that the relaxation of security brought upon by allowing the expiration of the Patriot Act, would not look good on their resume.

On September 11 2008 I had the honor to be invited with some friends to a memorial that was held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. One of the students at the University had bravely gotten the permission from the administration to set up an American flag for each of the victims of the attack on the beautiful front entrance of the campus and in the sunset of the day, rolling hills covered by American flags was a sight to behold. Moreover, he had invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak.
Mr. Ashcroft speech was inspiring, but one of the particulars that remained with me is his admission that the order of the President to formulate a legislation, which was going to be known as the Patriot Act, was a daunting one. The Justice Dept. worked non stop on the bill, walking the tight rope between reassuring the safety of the American people and any potential infringement upon their Constitutional rights. By Ashcroft own admission, it was not perfect and was going to require amendments, but at that time, when nobody in the right mind believed that another catastrophic attack was not going to happen, it was necessary.

Granted the Patriot Act is only one of the reasons why America has not been attacked on our soil in similar large scale, but nevertheless it is a part of it.

Interestingly, the vote in the House reaffirmed the Patriot Act on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the first attack against the World Trade Center.
26 February 1993 a van loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosives was blown in an underground garage of the WTC, killing 6 people and one unborn baby (for those of us who care).
The plan from Ramzi Yousef and others was simple: blow enough explosive at the base of the tower to cause the tower to fall and hopefully take the other tower down.
The incident was treated by the Clinton Administration as a criminal act, just as so many other incidents of terrorism pre 9-11. The result was that the financier of the 1993 bombing decided that bringing down the WTC was worth another shot. Allegedly, that financier was Yousef uncle, the well known, and photogenic, Khalid Sheik Mohamed.

Eight years later and a hell of a lot of nothing being done to protect America, the plan succeeded.

Today Eric Holder is following Obama’s orders in bringing the anti-terror campaign back to the same approach that the Clinton Administration had.
Is the passing of the extension a sign that dissent with the President is coming back in style? Is it possible that many Democrats in Congress would rather disagree with the loons on the Left and do all necessary to avoid another attack? Who really knows.

What I do know for a fact is that Obama promised to close Gitmo in one year and Gitmo is still open.
Obama stopped enhanced interrogations that deviate from the Army Manual, but he does not appear to exercise much pressure on the Pakistani to deliver the Taliban leaders captured into American hands, and everyone knows that if any interrogation is taking place, it does not involved placing a caterpillar in the cell, if you know what I mean.
And today the Patriot Act.

What I find hypocritical to the point of being criminal is that Obama and Co. are bent on taking complete control of the American people, from the food we eat to the car we drive to what we listen to, but they develop a twisted colon when there is an attempt to track down potential terrorists. The rights of the enemies of America supersede the safety of our citizens.
I am really curious now to see what the Left fringe reaction is going to be when the President signs this bill into law. Or maybe he will change the name of it and have Biden claim it as one of the Administration’s great achievements

Just my thoughts.