I do on this.
The USA PATRIOT Act and related government actions undercut many important checks and balances on government law enforcement and intelligence powers.
Under this Act and other Administration actions that were taken without congressional involvement, the government can search your home without notifying you, can get a list of the books you have obtained from your library and your local bookstore and require your local librarian and bookseller to keep this hidden from you, can keep a file on how often you go to church, which churches you attend and the medications you use — even if these activities have nothing to do with the fight against terrorism.
We should provide law enforcement with necessary tools to fight terrorism, but the USA PATRIOT Act and related government actions also gave the government many new powers that go beyond the fight against terrorism. Parts of the USA PATRIOT Act and other government actions take away checks on law enforcement and threaten the very rights and freedoms that we are waging the war on terror to protect.
Take Action Now! Urge your Members of Congress to support corrections to the USA PATRIOT Act and other domestic surveillance powers. Congress must act to ensure government powers adhere to the Bill of Rights.
He and the ACLU have united on this front:
FBI Keeping Lengthy Files on Groups Opposed to Bush’s Policies
by Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has amassed at least 3,500 pages of internal documents from political protest groups in what the targets say amounts to political surveillance of some of President George W. Bush’s leading critics.
The FBI has obtained 1,173 pages of internal documents on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 2001, the rights watchdog and prominent administration critic said Monday. Federal agents also have collected some 2,383 pages from environmental group Greenpeace, a leading voice of anti-Bush protest, the ACLU added.
The figures have emerged as part of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) brought by the ACLU and other groups alleging that the FBI is engaging in politically motivated spying against law-biding organizations.
”We now know that the government is keeping documents about the ACLU and other peaceful groups,” said Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director. ”The question is why.”
A novel coalition of conservatives and liberals normally at each other’s throats over the nature of government and free speech have made common cause to oppose key parts of the antiterrorism law.
The ACLU, long vilified by conservatives, has joined forces with right-wing groups the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Free Congress Foundation to spearhead the Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances coalition.
The coalition, formed in March, has lobbied Congress to roll back provisions allowing law enforcement agents to look at library users’ records and to conduct unannounced searches of homes and private offices.
During the Clinton Impeachment I despised the then Congressman Bob Barr. But I agree with him regarding the dangers of the Patriot Act. Maybe there is hope down the road that America will return as one united country.
