Passed by the Legislature under a cloud of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) immediately following the September 11 attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act (the Justice Department’s spin, or the ACLU’s, or the EFF’s) initiated the erosion of civil liberties and constitutional freedoms. Though ultimately a failure to protect the rights of those whom they are supposed to represent, members of Congress made a singular, farsighted decision in forcing a provision into the bill which set a sunset expiration of December 31, 2005. In the two years since, cities and municipalities across the nation have <a href=”http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/usapatriot020701.html” target=”abc” passed resolutions to encourage their local law enforcement and government officials to not comply with the measures of the Act or investigations using the powers contained therein.
Time and again since the original Act was passed, Bush, Ashcroft, Ridge, et al have tried to get enhancements added in the form of PATRIOT II or “DOMESTIC SECURITY ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2003″ (EFF, ABC, ACLU) or any number of target=”bordc”>others. Ashcroft continues to claim that the powers granted in the original are not sufficient for keeping us safe from terrorism. The enhancements provide for a removal of the expiration, criminal punishment for a wider range of people, expanded powers of surveilance, and continued reductions in rights of those accused. The argument is of course, that these powers are applied only to terrorists, not ever to the well-behaved (or not-so-well-behaved) remainder of the populace. Ordinary criminals are still treated and investigated as ordinary criminals. Well, the connotation of terrorists may be weblog-images of unshaven guys who blow up buildings, the government itself defines terrorism as “conduct that (1) violates federal or state criminal law and (2) is dangerous to human life.” Driving recklessly? Got in a bar fight? No due process for you. You’re a terrorist! Think I’m kidding? The PATRIOT Act contained a measure to specifically identify computer trespassing as a terrorist offense.
In any case, once word of the Patriot Act II got out, the public opinion backlash against it was so strong that it never actually made it to a vote in the Legislature. But courtesy of the geniuses who told you that you would be safe if you sealed all of the airways in your house with plastic sheeting and duct tape (a great idea for those with CO-producing ovens, heaters, stoves, etc.), the measures contained in the Patriot II were quietly and quickly slipped into a an intelligence spending bill that was passed by Congress this week. Oh, apparently the bill also repealed the 10-year-old ban on low-yield nuclear weapons development.
I know I feel safer with each passing day that the Bush Regime is in office.
