Happy Birthday PATRIOT Act

Ivon Denosovich · Oct 27, 2007

From Reason's Friday blog, October 26th. The magazine decided to celebrate the sixth birthday of the bill with the following collaboration:

Read about civil liberties Chicken Littles here and here.
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Read "what happens when patriots dissent" here.
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Read about "rosy visions of the PATRIOT Act here.
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Read about the PATRIOT Act and meth here.
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Read about PATRIOT Agonistes here.
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Read (tonight's speaker at Reason In DC) Judge Andrew Napolitano's thoughts on the PATRIOT Act here.
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And here follows some of my favorite excerpts from Reason's well crafted rants:

In March 2007, FBI Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report that undermined that argument. It turned out the bureau had underreported the number of requests for National Security Letters, had issued letters before exhausting other options, and had issued them to Americans who were not the targets of ongoing investigations. In short, the FBI had abused its new powers.
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(Bolding mine.)

If we conclude, each time, that the culprit must be an excess of domestic freedom, a lack of government power, we are traveling a road with no end.
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Though the Act is invariably described as "anti-terror legislation," it seems clear that the majority of "sneak-and-peek" searches conducted under the law's section 213, wherein law enforcement may conduct searches and decline to inform the search subjects they've occurred until many months later, are used primarily for investigations having nothing to do with terrorism.
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The Heritage Foundation, which supports the PATRIOT Act and general drug-control measures, nevertheless charges that even the current loose definitions of money laundering and smuggling are leading to the "overcriminalization" of petty regulatory violations. A Heritage paper cites an astonishing example of how far combating meth could take the PATRIOT Act from its ostensible business of combating terrorism.
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"There clearly back in 2001 was an effort to use to the PATRIOT Act for political power," says Bob Barr, the former Georgia congressman who heads the left-right PATRIOT reform coalition Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances. "Anyone who questioned any of the provisions was not supporting the war on terror. People have heard that now for four years, and my sense is most of them are seeing through that sort of rhetoric now."
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Ivon Denosovich · Oct 27, 2007

And from the ACLU we find these gems:

Brandon Mayfield is a Portland, Oregon resident who is a convert to Islam and an attorney. Mayfield was wrongly accused by the government of involvement in the Madrid bombing as a result of evidence, including mistaken fingerprint identification, that fell apart after the FBI re-examined its case following its arrest and detention on Mayfield on a material witness warrant. Attorney General Gonzales acknowledged before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Section 218 of the Patriot Act was implicated in the secret search of Mayfield’s house. FBI admitted that it entered Mayfield’s house without a warrant based on criminal probable cause and copied four computer drives, digitally photographed sever documents, seized ten DNA samples and took approximately 335 digital photographs of Brandon Mayfield’s home.
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Tariq Ramadan is regarded by many as Europe’s leading moderate Muslim intellectuals. Time Magazine named Ramadan among the Top 100 Innovators of the 21st Century. The government revoked Ramadan’s visa to teach at the University of Notre Dame under Section 411 of the Patriot Act, which permits the government to exclude non-citizens from the country if in the government’s view they have “used [their] position of prominence to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or to persuade others to support terrorist activity.” Consequently, an individual who discusses politics that a terrorist organization may adopt as its own viewpoints may be excluded from the United States, even if the individual does not support terrorist activity. As such, the government can essentially use this provision to deny admission to those whose political views it disfavors. There is no doubt that Ramadan uses his position of prominence to espouse his political beliefs. Notably, Ramadan, who denounces the use of violence in the name of Islam, had already been granted a visa after undergoing an extensive security clearance process and had previously been permitted to enter the country on numerous.
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(Bolding mine.)

Ivon Denosovich · Oct 27, 2007

Finally, what's a birthday without a few laughs?

JustChristian · Oct 27, 2007

The patriot Act is an unacceptable attack on our freedoms as Americans. Ever notice how soon it was passed after 9/11? I wonder why.

betterthanideserve · Nov 1, 2007

BaptistBeliever said:

The patriot Act is an unacceptable attack on our freedoms as Americans. Ever notice how soon it was passed after 9/11? I wonder why.
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Have you ever considered what Bush said ? how it would expire and it was only "temporary"? Then he pushed it to be resigned and permanent?ever wonder why?
CONTROL ! its almost impossible to control people that haven't anything to fear,but give them something to be afraid of i.e. terrorism,bombings,worldwide threats and they will surrender their freedoms quickly...."keep me safe"at any cost. How sad it is to think that americans are giving away freely what fathers and grandfathers fought so valiantly to preserve,even to the giving of their lifes blood.
If america doesn't wake up to the fact that we should be as apprehensive of our own government as terrorism,then we will have what we deserve......life in servitude!

poncho · Nov 1, 2007

How sad it is to think that americans are giving away freely what fathers and grandfathers fought so valiantly to preserve,even to the giving of their lifes blood.
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The saddest part is the strongest defenders of the un American patriot act(s) are the same ones who consider themselves to be American patriots. Everybody who opposes the act(s) are democrats, liberals and traitors in their minds. That's the power of government and mass media propaganda.

betterthanideserve · Nov 1, 2007

poncho said:

The saddest part is the strongest defenders of the un American patriot act(s) are the same ones who consider themselves to be American patriots. Everybody who opposes the act(s) are democrats, liberals and traitors in their minds. That's the power of government and mass media propaganda.
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I used to be a republican,now I'm just an american,christian,conservative,constitutionalist......and proud of it! Although I'm sure that this puts me on somebodys watch list .
I'll just trust the LORD! Let GOD be true and every man a liar.
They can be free to say whatever they want,but if it doesn't line up with Gods word .......I won't pay much attention to it.:thumbs:

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