I'll start
One of my favorites, and least discussed, is:
Democrats (96) in Congress condemn current efforts to intercept terrorist phone calls, to mine data to ferret out future attacks against us, and to trace the movement of terrorist money through banks.
How quickly we forget how the Repub controlled Senate killed a provision for expanded wiretapping in the COMPREHENSIVE ANTITERRORISM ACT OF 1995 that Clinton sent to Congress after the first WTC bombing and Oklahoma City bombing. While it mostly addressed domestic terrorism, it applied to foreign terrorists as well.
Quote:
Dan Burton (R-Ind): Mr. Chairman, this is one of our major concerns among the groups called the conservative action team in the House. I just want to make absolutely clear to all of our colleagues what the gentleman is saying right now, and I want them to understand it. This is going to expand the ability for people to be wiretapped way beyond where it is right now. (Congressional Record)
Orrin Hatch: Mr. President, again, in the real world, in the case of the Unabomber or a terrorist where there is a real threat or an immediate concern, you do not need this provision to get an emergency wiretap. All the Senator's motion does is expand the number of crimes that would trigger the wiretap statute.
Porter Goss (R-Fla - and later CIA director): Mr. Speaker, this effort comes in the wake of three horrible tragedies: The bombing of a military installation in Saudi Arabia, the loss of TWA flight 800 out of New York's JFK Airport, and the recent pipe bomb explosion in Atlanta at the Olympics. While we haven't had time to thoroughly assess these tragedies and the effectiveness of the antiterrorism law Congress passed earlier this year, these attacks tell us that our society remains vulnerable to terrorism. Unfortunately, terrorism is a fact of life. In response to recent events, a series of proposals were offered to solve the problem--some with merit, and some that could cause more problems than they might solve by cutting deeply--and unnecessarily--into the constitutional freedoms of American citizens. I include in that category certain proposals for expanded wiretapping authority for Federal law enforcement. This is a dangerous proposition--and one that would be ceding victory to terrorists, whose goal is to disrupt our society, create anxiety and constrain our freedoms.
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The wiretap provision to expand FISA was eventually dropped from the final bill.
Congress on Thursday passed a compromise bill boosting the ability of law enforcement authorities to fight domestic terrorism, just one day before the first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.
The House voted, 293-133, to send the anti-terrorism bill to President Clinton, who has indicated that he will sign it after he returns from his overseas trip next week.
The measure, which the Senate passed overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, is a watered-down version of the White House's proposal. The Clinton administration has been critical of the bill, calling it too weak.
The original House bill, passed last month, had deleted many of the Senate's anti-terrorism provisions because of lawmakers' concerns about increasing federal law enforcement powers. Some of those provisions were restored in the compromise bill.....
http://www.cnn.com/US/9604/18/anti.t...ill/index.html
Currently, the Dems dont
"condemn efforts to intercept terrorist phone calls." They would just like the law amended to make such actions legal and not at the arbitrary discretion of the president.
*****
As to
# 65-84, in the words of Reagan...."there you go again" rehashing the same old shit.
I would suggest the 9/11 Commission report is a bit more authoritative (even with its many faults) than an obvious partisan editorial in Investors Business Daily:
http://www.9-11commission.gov/