Arrest Me   [truthout.org]

George W. Bush is out of control. I'll say it again. George W. Bush is out of control. I'm waiting...     Read More

Total Police State Takeover   [InfoWars.com]

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member of Congress was allowed to read the first Patriot...     Read More

Civil liberties face another challenge   [Coloradoan Online]

The Bush administration appears to be preparing a follow-up to the USA Patriot Act that would increase its authority to...     Read More

Patriot II: The Sequel   [FindLaw.com]

Soon after the terrorist acts of September 11, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which conferred broad new powers upon...     Read More

Quotations Whose Publication May Cause My Arrest   [LewRockwell.com]

Quotations Whose Publication May Cause My Arrest For "Sedition" Under GW Bush's Misnamed "Patriot" Act, Indefinite Detention, Secret Trial In...     Read More

In the Dead of the Night   [LewRockwell.com]

As the latest massive corruption and incompetence of our nation’s intelligence bureaucracy was being revealed, top administration brass huddled in...     Read More

Who Hates Our Freedom?   [The Loose Cannon]

Waitaminnit. I thought Osama and his home boys hated America because we have freedom. That’s what our faithful and venerated...     Read More

Transcript: Bill Moyers interviews Chuck Lewis   [Public Broadcasting System]

MOYERS: Chuck Lewis, whom you just saw in that piece is with me now. He is the Executive Director of...     Read More

Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews Nat Hentoff   [Public Broadcasting System]

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to NOW. My guest tonight is the most passionate defender of the Bill of Rights I know...     Read More

Repeal the USA Patriot Act, Part I   [truthout.org]

This is the first in a six-part series of articles on the USA Patriot Act: "Uniting and Strengthening America by...     Read More

Repeal the USA Patriot Act, Part II   [truthout.org]

This is Part II of a six-part t r u t h o u t series on the USA Patriot...     Read More

Repeal the USA Patriot Act, Part III   [truthout.org]

This is Part III of a six-part t r u t h o u t series on the USA Patriot...     Read More

Repeal the USA Patriot Act, Part IV   [truthout.org]

This is Part IV of a six-part t r u t h o u t series on the USA Patriot...     Read More

Repeal the USA Patriot Act, Part V   [truthout.org]

This is Part V of a six-part t r u t h o u t series on the USA Patriot...     Read More

Repeal the USA Patriot Act, Part VI   [truthout.org]

This is Part VI of a six-part series on t r u t h o u t on the USA...     Read More

Freedom Forfeited By The Few   [Fairbanks BORDC]

It's been one year, four months and eighteen days today since the passage of the USA PATRIOT ACT. That document...     Read More

The USA PATRIOT Act And Beyond   [Homefront Confidential]

The USA PATRIOT Act's impact on newsgathering is still largely unknown a year and a half after Congress rushed to...     Read More

Former "Patriot Act" Law Brought Down A President   [Common Dreams]

Many Americans are suggesting that the Patriot Act (and its proposed "improvements" in Patriot II) is totally new in the...     Read More

Global Eye—Troubled Sleep   [The Moscow Times]

"When you gonna wake up, and strengthen the things that remain?" —Bob Dylan The secret policemen snatched the citizen from...     Read More

An Unpatriotic Act

Staff Writer
New York Times (website)
8/25/2003

Attorney General John Ashcroft has embarked on a charm offensive on behalf of the USA Patriot Act. He is traveling the country to rally support for the law, which many people, both liberals and conservatives, consider a dangerous assault on civil liberties. Mr. Ashcroft's efforts to promote the law are misguided. He should abandon the roadshow and spend more time in Washington working with those who want to reform the law.

When the Patriot Act raced through Congress after Sept. 11, critics warned that it was an unprecedented expansion of the government's right to spy on ordinary Americans. The more people have learned about the law, the greater the calls have been for overhauling it. One section that has produced particular outrage is the authorization of "sneak and peek" searches, in which the government secretly searches people's homes and delays telling them about the search. The House last month voted 309 to 118 for a Republican-sponsored measure to block the use of federal funds for such searches.

Congressional opponents of the act, on both sides of the aisle, are pushing for other changes. A Senate bill, sponsored by Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, and Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, addresses many of the law's most troubling aspects. One provision would make it harder for the government to gain access to sensitive data, including medical and library records, and records concerning the purchase or rental of books, music or videos.

Another change would narrow the definition of "terrorism," so the law's expanded enforcement tools could not be used against domestic political protesters, such as environmentalists and anti-abortion activists, with no link to international terrorism. The bill would also require the government to be more specific about the targets of wiretaps obtained under the law, and would restrict the kind of information that could be collected on Internet and e-mail use.

One member of Congress, Representative John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, has charged that Mr. Ashcroft's lobbying campaign, in which United States attorneys have been asked to participate, may violate the law prohibiting members of the executive branch from engaging in grass-roots lobbying for or against Congressional legislation. Legal or not, the campaign seeks to shore up a deeply flawed piece of legislation. The Patriot Act is the Bush administration's attempt to make the country safe on the cheap. Rather than do the hard work of coming up with effective port security and air cargo checks, and other programs targeted at actual threats, the administration has taken aim at civil liberties.

The administration is clearly worried, as opposition to the excesses of the Patriot Act grows across the country and the political spectrum. Instead of spin-doctoring the problem, Mr. Ashcroft should work with the law's critics to develop a law that respects Americans' fundamental rights.

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