Jul. 10, 2004 - 21:40 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Freedom Denied

Looks to me like the Republican part of our government is trying to keep "we the people" backed up tight into a corner by unfair laws.

An article by M. E. Sprengelmeyer of the Rocky Mountain News of today -- in part.

Patriot Act upheld by stopping clock

"Washington -- Last minute vote switches put two Colorado Republicans in the middle of a controversy this week over a landmark anti-terrorism law."

"Following a highly charged debate on Thursday, the House of Representatives upheld controversial provisions in the so-called USA Patriot Act that let the government demand bookstore and library records in terrorism investigations."

"The final vote was 210 -- 210 with the tie killing the effort to change the law. But that only happened after Republican leaders kept a 15-minute roll call vote open for an extra 23 minutes -- enough time to convince several lawmakers to switch their yes votes to no."

"Two Colorado Conservatives, U.S. Reps. Tom Tancredo and Marilyn Musgrave, were among those who had last-minute changes of heart."

"What looked like an 18-vote lead for the yes argument soon disappeared, with angry Democrats chanting "Shame ! Shame !" because the clock had stopped."

"It's like in a football game when (a team) loses after four quarters and so they keep adding quarters until they get the score they want," said Josh Freed, a spokesman for U. S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver."

"In the end. Colorado's congressional delegation split strictly on partisan lines, with Democrats DeGette and U.S. Rep. Mark Udall voting for changes to the USA Patriot Act and the state's five Republican lawmakers all voting no."

Tancredo decided to change his vote after being told that the Justice Department had confirmed that suspected terrorists used public library facilities to communicate with one another, spokesman Carlos Espinosa said."

"In a prepared statement Musgrave said she was persuaded by floor discussions pointing out "misinformation" spread by groups such as the American Civil Liberties union. "It became quite apparent that this section has never been abused, Musgrave said."

"Still, Democrats cried foul over the creative time-keeping that helped with vote switches."

"A majority of the House supported protecting civil liberties when everyone who was present voted," Freed said. "It's very dismaying that the Republican leadership did not abide by the standards of fair play."

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My opinions are growls mostly. Snarls too. Creative time keeping hah, how in the world can those that caused the clock to stop justify that sort of thing in any decent actions of any organizations, let alone Congress ? Is that any way to run a railroad, game or government ?

So arm twisting and runners to bring back the locker room laggards to the floor to vote changed the picture. Those who were interested and paying attention voted one way and then after the 23 minutes extra the Republicans swung the votes their way. Bah !

To my way of thinking the Justice Department has dirty political motivated hands.

" . . . . used Internet services provided by a public library," Yeah right . . . . . of course nobody can use an internet cafe anywhere in the world to access internet services. Jeepers look at the proliferation of spam from hiden sources and countries on the internet. Seems like a scare flag to me.

I highly suspect that the Republicans resent the influence of the Civil Liberties Union, figures -- guess they are considered lower than scum to those brass on the right hand side of the fence.

I think Mr. Freed chose his words wrongly, "by the standards of fair play hell son it ain't PLAY in our legislative organizations, its more like dog eat dog and the dog catcher is on vacation.

Then in todays news there is a headline, "The CIA botched it, Senate inquiry says" There, to my opinion, is botching all around in our government now by people and organizations who seem to be jumping and sacrificing people for the good of George Bush. Things being put off until the election is over. Electronic voting machines disputed over their functions. No hanging chads there, just an electronic wilderness with no paper trail.

How soon, I wonder, will we hear the bells tolling and read, Freedom Denied . . . . . .

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