Jon, I don't know whether this info is in one of your links or not, but as far as I understand the Patriot Act is so long and so complex it could not have been written after 9/11 because there was not enough time to do all that work. This means that it must have been written prior to 9/11, a telling fact if ever there was one.
________________

JFK on secrecy and the press

Has "debunked" my above post with this.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement issued at 9:30 p.m.: "These have been complex and difficult negotiations, but after much hard effort we have completed work on this bipartisan agreement."

Meaning that Leahy agreed to the Patriot Act on 10/3, 6 days before the Anthrax Letters, and there was no need to send him Anthrax.

However, what screwloosechange failed to mention is that Congress was being pressured by civil rights groups not to pass the legislation because "people are being told that if they do not sign onto this bill they will be blamed for the next terrorist act", and "the administration (was) bullying lawmakers to overlook constitutional issues that merit greater scrutiny."

It's possible the Administration required "insurance" to make sure the House passed it on 10/24, and the Senate passed it on 10/25 so they could sign it into law on 10/26.

They also failed to address EVERYTHING ELSE in the post.