BODYBAGS

Question Congressmen

If you voted for the USA Patriot Act (H.R. 3162), did you read the 150+ pages between the day it was introduced and the day it was voted on (October 23-24 House; October 24-25 Senate)?

If you voted for the USA Patriot Act, how do you justify that it allows the following:
1. Indefinite detention of non-citizens who are not terrorists on minor visa violations if they cannot be deported because they are stateless, their country of origin refuses to accept them, or because they would face torture in their country of origin.
2. Minimal judicial supervision of federal telephone and Internet surveillance by law enforcement authorities.
3. Expansion of the ability of the government to conduct secret searches.
4. Gives the Attorney General and the Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations and deport any non-citizen who belongs to them.
5. Grants the FBI broad access to sensitive business records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime.
6. Leads to large-scale investigations of American citizens for "intelligence" purposes.

How was something as large as the USA Patriot Act put together so quickly?
Are there provisions in it that have been previously rejected and collecting dust on shelves that were dusted off and inserted?

Read More About The U.S. Government and Special Interests

US Patriot act Prompts Second Look (The Hill, May 1 2002)