Bunning refutes Patrick Henry

"Civil liberties do not mean much when you are dead." -- Sen. Jim Bunning (Repug-Kentucky). Millions of prisoners in gulags past and present would agree that it is quite possible to have neither liberty nor life. But this country was based, in its founding documents, on the principle that life and liberty are equally inalienable rights. Senator Bunning took an oath to uphold the Constitution, of which the fourth amendment is an integral part. His quote, above, indicates that he doesn't take that oath seriously. As far as I'm concerned, this shows greater disrespect for this country than if he were to take a crap on the flag in the capitol rotunda.

The Senate just approved cosmetic "improvements" to the Patriot Act, with only real patriots Russ Feingold, Robert Byrd, Tom Harkin and James Jeffords insisting that real changes to Bush's version of Hitler's Enabling Act are needed. Like the Patriot Act, the Enabling Act had a euphemistic title (Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich). But Bush outdid Hitler by having the name of the bill be an acronym ("Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" -- USA PATRIOT).