Bush Radio: "We can't afford to be w/o Patriot Act for a single moment"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051210.html

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week members of a House and Senate conference committee reached an agreement on reauthorization of the Patriot Act. Since its passage after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, the Patriot Act has proved essential to fighting the war on terror and preventing our enemies from striking America again.

This week's agreement would renew all 16 provisions of the Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire at the end of this month -- and it would make 14 of these provisions permanent. It reauthorizes critical national security tools, while bolstering the Patriot Act's significant protections of civil liberties. It also includes provisions to fight crime and terrorism at America's seaports, and tougher criminal penalties and increased resources to combat the dangerous spread of methamphetamine abuse throughout our country.

I applaud the conference committee for its good work. Now Congress needs to finish the job. Both the Senate and the House need to hold a prompt vote, and send me a bill renewing the Patriot Act so I can sign it into law.

Over the past four years, the Patriot Act has been a strong weapon for going after the terrorists. America's law enforcement and intelligence personnel have put the Patriot Act to wise and effective use while protecting our civil liberties. They have used the law to prosecute terrorist operatives and supporters or break up terror cells in New York, Oregon, Virginia, California, Texas, and Ohio. The Patriot Act has accomplished exactly what it was designed to do -- it has protected American liberty and saved American lives.

By renewing the Patriot Act, we will ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence officers have the tools they need to protect our citizens. The Patriot Act tore down the legal and bureaucratic wall that kept law enforcement and intelligence authorities from sharing vital information about terrorist threats. Now law enforcement and intelligence officers are working together.

The Patriot Act also allowed federal investigators to pursue terrorists with the same tools they already use against other criminals. For example, before the Patriot Act, it was easier to track the phone calls of a drug dealer than the phone calls of a terrorist. Before the Patriot Act, it was easier to get the credit card receipts of a tax cheat than those of an al Qaeda bankroller. The Patriot Act ended these double standards. The theory is straightforward: If we have good tools to fight street crime and fraud, then law enforcement should have at least the same tools to fight terrorism.

The Patriot Act is helping America defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all our people. The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Under the act, law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone or search his property. Congress also oversees our use of the Patriot Act. Attorney General Gonzales delivers regular reports on the Patriot Act to the House and the Senate.

The valuable protections of the Patriot Act will expire at the end of this month if Congress fails to act, but the terrorist threats will not expire on that schedule. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this vital law for a single moment. So I urge Congress to approve the conference committee agreement promptly and reauthorize the Patriot Act.

Thank you for listening.

listening"

... the one that starts, "My fellow Americans, as many of you know, this is my last official address before I join the rest of my administration in Federal Prison ..."

And he has the gall to blame his failure to do something on the bureaucracy.

Sieg heil you miserable failure of a "leader"

New UK laws to stifle and make crimes of citizen dissent. FBI creating files on peaceful American protesters. What's next?....don't tell me , I can guess.

to 9/11 . . . it was fully developed and on the shelf, just waiting for the right time to introduce it . . . preferably a time when the nation was in shock and when Members of Congress and Senators wouldn't bother reading it before voting . . .

and that's exactly the way it went down . . .

why cant they provide us with a list of the numerous terrorists that have been discovered, caught and convicted as a result of the patriot acts unique tools?

Giving VERY poor marks to the White House for not implementing almost all of the recommendations.

you rich-ass, white bastard?

anymore and rummage through your desk and computer in the name of fighting "terror"?

How in the world will they be able to tap any and all phones that they want to tap?

How will they be able to plant tracking devices to follow us around as easily?

I mean, how will they be able to do a decent job of intimidation and manipulation on American citizens now?

This is an outrage!!

To THINK that the Bush Administration won't be able to terrorize Americans as much as they are doing now.

Well, its just down right anti patriotic not keeping that Patriot Act in place!!

...so he can blackmail them into rolling over?

DeLay resorted to bribes and threats on the House floor. Maybe Bush's preferred tool is Wilkes' Hospitality Suites and intesive monitoring under the Patriot Act.