Coalition Forms to Oppose Parts of Antiterrorism Law

[Rose Siding]

Battle lines were drawn Tuesday in the debate over the government's counterterrorism powers, as an unlikely coalition of liberal civil-rights advocates, conservative libertarians, gun-rights supporters and medical privacy advocates voiced their objections to crucial parts of the law that expanded those powers after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Keeping the law intact "will do great and irreparable harm" to the Constitution by allowing the government to investigate people's reading habits, search their homes without notice and pry into their personal lives, said Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman who is leading the coalition.

Mr. Barr voted for the law, known as the USA Patriot Act, in the House just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks but has become one of its leading critics, a shift that reflects the growing unease among some conservative libertarians over the expansion of the government's powers in fighting terrorism.
...
Other conservatives who voiced concerns Tuesday included Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Taxpayer Reform; David Keane, chairman of the American Conservative Union, and leaders of the Second Amendment Foundation and other gun-rights groups.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/23/politics/23patriot.html

[Gman]

1. The strangest of bedfellows

[bluestateguy]

2. The only way the law will expire is with conservative allies

I don't like it either, but look at who's in power in Washington right now. They won't listen to people on the Left who make arguments in opposition to the law, but they might listen to Grover Norquist (who is a very important regime manager for the alliance of conservative groups that support the Republican party right now) or Davod Keene who can cast opposition to the Patriot Act in the language of conservatism. A win is a win. We should take it.

[NVMojo]

3. in a twisted way, this is good news ....this law must go!!!

[maddezmom]

4. kick to combine

[earth mom]

5. Left-Right Coalition Rises to Oppose USA Patriot Act Provisions

Left-Right Coalition Rises to Oppose USA Patriot Act Provisions

Thu Mar 24,11:20 AM ET

Abid Aslam, OneWorld US

WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 24 (OneWorld) - A novel coalition of conservatives and liberals normally at each other's throats over the nature of government and free speech have made common cause to oppose key parts of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law.

The American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) (ACLU), long vilified by conservatives, has joined forces with right-wing groups the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Free Congress Foundation to spearhead the ''Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances'' coalition.

The Patriot Act's supporters have said it has kept America safe since 2001 but opponents have said the law is intrusive and threatens to let the government spy on innocent Americans. The new coalition will lobby Congress to roll back provisions allowing law enforcement agents to look at library users' records and to conduct unannounced searches of homes and private offices.

''Checks and balances are absolutely essential, even and especially during times of threat,'' said coalition leader Bob Barr, a former Republican Congressman from Georgia who voted for the law in 2001. ''Our message is universal. Liberty is not divisible, even in the face of terrorism, and we must not allow any part of it to be sacrificed in our efforts to defeat acts of terrorism.''


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=655&ncid=655&e=1&u=/oneworld/20050324/wl_oneworld/45361083571111681239

[w4rma]

6. Awesome!! (nt)

[UCLA Dem]

7. wow. thats good news. we all need to work together to stop this madess.

[Zhade]

8. "Free Congress Foundation"???

You mean, ex-Nazi Paul M. Weyrich-founded FCF???

Egads. Strange, horrific bedfellow.

[Mark E. Smith]

9. Left-Right Coalition Rise To Oppose USA Patriot Act Provisions

WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 24 (One World) - A novel coalition of conservatives and liberals normally at each other's throats over the nature of govt and free speech have made common cause to oppose key parts of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law.

The American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU), long vilified by conservatives, has joined forces with right-wing groups the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Free Congress Foundation to spearhead the "Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances" coalition.

The Patriot Act's supporters have said it has kept America safe since 2001 but opponents have said the law is intrusive and threatens to let the govt spy on innocent Americans. The new coalition will lobby Congress to roll back provisions allowing law enforcement agents to look at library users' records and to conduct unannounced searches of homes and private offices.

"Checks and balances are absolutely essential, even and especially during times of threat," said coalition leader Bob Barr, a former Republican Congressman from Georgia who voted for the law in 2001. "Our message is universal. Liberty is not divisible, even in the face of terrorism, and we must not allow any part of it to be sacrificed in our efforts to defeat acts of terrorism."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=655&ncid=655&e=1&u=/oneworld/20050324/wl_oneworld/45361083571111681239

Nice to see Bob waking up. Maybe he should read things before he signs them.

My take? The right is getting ready to abandon The Chimp, and this is a wedge issue they will use to rally certain so-called conservatives away from the Bush camp and into their side of the GOP. Key parts of the Patriot Act expire on 12/31 with hearings begin shortly. Could get interesting.

[malmapus]

10. Maybe there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel yet....N/T

..

[Dancing_Dave]

11. Not in Our Name Project leading this for 3 years now!

http://www.notinourname.net/index.html

If you could spare a buck or two, they need some help to keep their great enlightening website up. ;)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

12. It's about time conservatives woke up to the threats of fascism n/t

[BigBearJohn]

13. On YAHOO: Left-Right Coalition Rises to Oppose USA Patriot Act Provisions

WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 24 (OneWorld) - A novel coalition of conservatives and liberals normally at each other's throats over the nature of government and free speech have made common cause to oppose key parts of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law.

The American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) (ACLU), long vilified by conservatives, has joined forces with right-wing groups the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Free Congress Foundation to spearhead the ''Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances'' coalition.


The Patriot Act's supporters have said it has kept America safe since 2001 but opponents have said the law is intrusive and threatens to let the government spy on innocent Americans. The new coalition will lobby Congress to roll back provisions allowing law enforcement agents to look at library users' records and to conduct unannounced searches of homes and private offices.


''Checks and balances are absolutely essential, even and especially during times of threat,'' said coalition leader Bob Barr, a former Republican Congressman from Georgia who voted for the law in 2001. ''Our message is universal. Liberty is not divisible, even in the face of terrorism, and we must not allow any part of it to be sacrificed in our efforts to defeat acts of terrorism.''


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=655&ncid=655&e=1&u=/oneworld/20050324/wl_oneworld/45361083571111681239

[librechik]

14. cripes, Bob Barr...

have to be an AWFULLY big tent

[UrbScotty]

15. There's always good news somewhere in the world!

You just have to know where to look.

[Daphne08]

16. I watched this on C-Span and

if we Americans have any hope at all of saving our civil liberties, I think we are going to have to do it through compromise.

It is on C-Span.org here: http://www.c-span.org/VideoArchives.asp?CatCodePairs=,&ArchiveDays=100&Page=2 and is entitled "Patriots to Restore Checks & Balances" (03/22/2005).

Grover Norquist even stated twice that Congress did not read it before they passed it into law. I was surprised he openly said that, but he did.

[GettysbergII]

17. Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (PRCB) website

http://www.checksbalances.org/aboutus.php

Our Mission

Our mission is to fix the Patriot Act to enable the government to fight terror while preserving important checks and balances on law enforcement, thus limiting undue government intrusion into the private lives of average Americans.

[struggle4progress]

18. kick