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Congress extends Patriot Act, Obama votes “present” via Autopen

Posted 27 May 2011 in Barack Obama, Big Brother, Patriot Act, politics


I’m disappointed to see that our elected officials waited until the wee hours of the morning to pass a four-year extension of the odious Patriot Act. Not surprisingly, President Obama couldn’t be bothered to perform his primary duty to sign the legislation. He’ll allow an Autopen to carry out his responsibility.

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) and Devin Dwyer (@devindwyer) report:   Congress officially passed an extension of the Patriot Act tonight, just hours before key provisions of the national security law were due to lapse at midnight.

President Obama, currently on an overseas trip, is not at the White House to sign the bill, a requirement for the measure to become law.

So the White House will use an autopen –- a machine that replicates Obama’s signature -– to sign the extension, according to White House spokesman Nick Shapiro.
[...]
Jay Wexler, a Boston University law professor and author of “The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution Through Ten of Its Most Curious Provisions,” says the constitutionality of using an autopen was confirmed in a thorough 2005 Office of Legal Counsel opinion.

I understand that everyone was scared in the wake of 9/11 and was wanting to do whatever it took to prevent another terrorist attack. And that’s an admirable goal. But in the past several years, we’ve seen too many intolerable encroachments on the liberty of American citizens, such as the TSA grope-downs and the nullification of Fourth Amendment protections which date back to the Magna Carta:

In a 3-2 ruling, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that there is no right for a private citizen to resist an illegal entry by a police officer. The court stated in its ruling “that there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.”

The Patriot Act is setting precedents that go way too far to abridge our liberty. And this issue is far too important to simply green-light it again without having a national discussion and referendum about what’s working, what needs to be reformed, and what needs to be repealed. It’s especially disappointing that our legislators blithely approve a continuance toward a police state on the eve of Memorial Day, when we are to commemorate those who fought, bled, and died to preserve our freedoms. And to add insult to injury, our Chief Executive won’t even deal with the issue in person. If Obama has to rely so heavily on Teleprompters and Autopens to perform the duties of president, why do we even need him? Surely there’s a robot that could play golf as often as Barry.

Michelle Malkin managed to get in the best snark of the day:

“No word yet on whether or not the autopen accidentally dated its signature 2008.”

Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT

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