Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall. But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.
For the last few months I've been looking for a cause of my own, seems appropriate that I as the owner of this domain should have one don't ya think? Well, I'm glad to say I've found it. I plan on using my blog to fight the Patriot Act. I'm going to highlight every egregious act of tyranny against our U.S. Citizens committed in the name of fighting terror from abroad. I'm going to petition my Congressmen and women for redress on this issue. I will not stop my cause until the Patriot Act is done away with forever... and 16 year old boys like Ashton are returned to their families.
Lets let your own time honored words convict you oh great Command-in-Thief:
Barack Obama on Homeland Security
Q: Does the Constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants?
A: No. I reject the Bush Administration’s claim that the President has plenary authority under the Constitution to detain U.S. citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants.
Source: Boston Globe questionnaire on Executive Power Dec 20, 2007 Then why are you holding this 16 year old and not allowing him to have proper legal representation or basic human rights?
Barack Obama on Homeland Security You said you would, "Restore habeas corpus to reach Muslims abroad." If you were a Muslim overseas listening to Rudy Giuliani say “they are coming here to try to kill you,” which is the tenor of many of the speeches that are delivered by Republicans, you would get an impression that they are not interested in talking and resolving issues peacefully. Now, what we need to do [to reach Muslims] is we need to close Guantanamo. We need to restore habeas corpus. We need to send a strong signal that we are going to talk directly to not just our friends but also to our enemies. Source: 2007 Democratic radio debate on NPR Dec 13, 2007
Barack Obama on Homeland SecurityYou said, "Why don’t we close Guantanamo and restore the right of habeas corpus, because that’s how we lead, not with the might of our military, but the power of our ideals and the power of our values. It’s time to show the world we’re not a country that ships prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far off countries. We’re not a country that runs prisons which locks people away without ever telling them why they’re there or what they’re charged with. We’re not a country which preaches compassion to others while we allow bodies to float down the streets of major American cities. That’s not who we are.
We’re America. We’re a nation that liberated a continent from a mad man, that lifted ourselves from the depths of depression, that won civil rights and women’s rights and voting rights for all our people. We’re the beacon that has led generations of weary travelers to find opportunity and liberty and hope on our doorstep. That’s who we are."
Source: Take Back America 2007 Conference Jun 19, 2007 I guess that doesn't apply to 16 year olds?
Pretend President FactCheck: Promised to repeal Patriot Act, then voted for it
Clinton took direct aim at Obama and connects fairly solidly: “You said you would vote against the Patriot Act; you came to the Senate, you voted for it.” Clinton is correct to say that Obama opposed the Patriot Act during his run for the Senate. She’s relying on a 2003 Illinois National Organization for Women questionnaire in which Obama wrote that he would vote to “repeal the Patriot Act” or replace it with a “new, carefully crafted proposal.” When it came time to reauthorize the law in 2005, though, Obama voted in favor of it. He started out opposing it: In Dec. 2005, Obama voted against ending debate--a position equivalent to declaring a lack of support for the measure. Then in February of that year, Obama said on the floor that he would support th Patriot Act’s reauthorization. In March 2006, Obama both voted for cloture and for the Patriot Act reauthorization conference report.
Clinton, by the way, followed exactly the same path on the 2005 bill, from speaking in opposition to voting for it.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 Facebook/WMUR-NH Democratic debate Jan 5, 2008 Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act.
This vote reauthorizes the PATRIOT Act with some modifications (amendments). Voting YEA extends the PATRIOT Act, and voting NAY would phase it out. The official summary of the bill is:
A bill to clarify that individuals who receive FISA orders can challenge nondisclosure requirements, that individuals who receive national security letters are not required to disclose the name of their attorney, that libraries are not wire or electronic communication service providers unless they provide specific services, and for other purposes.
Opponents of the bill say to vote NAY because: - Some may see the vote we are about to have as relatively trivial. They are mistaken. While the bill we are voting on makes only minor cosmetic changes to the PATRIOT Act, it will allow supporting the PATRIOT Act conference report that was blocked in December. Cosmetic changes simply don't cut it when we are talking about protecting the rights and freedoms of Americans from unnecessarily intrusive Government powers.
- The White House has tried to make life uncomfortable for Senators. It has suggested they are soft on terrorism, that they don't understand the pressing threat facing this country, that they are stuck in a pre-9/11 mindset. Those attacks should be rejected.
- We can fight terrorism aggressively without compromising our most fundamental freedoms against Government intrusion. The Government grabbed powers it should not have when it passed the original PATRIOT Act and we should not be ratifying that power grab today. The PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report is flawed. S. 2271 pretends to fix it but I don't think anyone is fooled, least of all our constituents.
- Because the Republican leadership obstructed efforts to improve the bill, the "police state" provisions regarding gag orders remain uncorrected. The Senate should get down to the serious business of legislating real fixes to the PATRIOT Act. Reference: USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments; Bill S. 2271 ; vote number 2006-025 on Mar 1, 2006
Is this your idea of change Mr. President? What if it were one of your daughters held in detention as this young man is? What was your vote with regard to the Patriot Act, Mr. President?
Mr. Obama, it is within your power to do the right thing. Order the immediate release of Ashton Lundeby. Then do what you promised, Repeal the Patriot Act.
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Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process
obama still has not repealed the patriot act
As most of you know, I simulated a forced shutdown of Blogacause by the Obama Administration. It was interesting to note that my over-all traffic to the site did not lessen much, perhaps only 10 percent. What was telling and disappointing is the absolute lack of coverage by other sites.
It seems the City Council and the Police, who have nothing better to do in a world-wide financial crisis with Juan and Rufus selling crack on the corner, don't like it that this man is doing his part to be green and make a little extra for his family and in the process earn a some money for family vacations.
