Many of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire at the end of 2005. The Senate Intelligence Committee has already held closed meetings--closed! how reassuring!--in which they didn't merely approve continuing the Act, but devised ways to expand its powers.
The bill will likely go through some modification before it comes to the floor of the Senate and House for a vote. Let your representatives know you oppose un-American expansion of law enforcement's powers.
Find the contact information for your Senators and Representative here. (While you're there, you can also browse their votes and scorecard on civil liberties issues.)
Suggested talking points when you get through:
- Listen to your constituents. People across the country have spoken out in opposition to the powers the PATRIOT Act already gives to law enforcement.
- Protect our privacy. The PATRIOT Act will give the government unprecedented access to our tax information, medical records, and library reading.
- Protect the Constitution. The PATRIOT Act gives law enforcement unnecessary powers that go far beyond the war on terrorism.
Oregon angle:
Senator Ron Wyden voted with the 11-4 minority against the expanded PATRIOT Act provisions.
Background:
The original PATRIOT Act was drawn largely from a wish-list from the Right of measures to strengthen law enforcement by weakening civil liberties assembled long before 2001 and rushed through Congress largely unread in the furor following 9/11; it created new abilities for law enforcement such as demanding library records for our reading, regardless of any proof or even suspicion that the library patron may be involved in terrorism or any other crime (and the librarians, served with such a demand, are forbidden by law from telling anyone that it's happened).
But that's apparently not enough for the White House and their allies and enablers in Congress--and you can sympathize in a way, since, for example, the government hasn't done much of a job of catching bin Laden with the tools at hand, although perhaps they're just looking in the wrong place.
The new and improved PATRIOT Act will also allow the FBI to act on "administrative subpoenas," saving them the bother of getting a judge to approve a search warrant by simply authorizing themselves to conduct the search.
The Bush administration originally claimed that Section 215, allowing them to raid library check-out lists, had not even been used , raising the question of why they believed they needed the authority in the first place. In any event, the administration assures us that they would never, ever abuse these laws. They won't provide the record of their use to date, but they give us their word nonetheless.
Their word, on this subject, is meaningless. The United States is, as the old phrase goes, built on a system of laws, not of men--meaning that our rights are protected by statute, not by the good will and generosity of whoever happens to hold office at the moment. If our representatives pass a law allowing warrentless searches, then we have no legal protection against it, no matter what promises get made at the latest press conference.
And when that happens, here's the sort of thing you tend to get next:
- Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us
- Protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States
- Depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
- Transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
1 comment:
Bill, love your blog. Thanks for all your insights. Now my finger hurts! Roy Vanderhoof
Post a Comment