Rights And the USA Patriot Act
update: to sign a petition for the repeal of the USAPA
From Yellow Times
further update: Jim at Objectional Content (the best kind) has provided his thoughts and many useful links on this subject. Thanks for the links Jim and thanks for the link.
Q: Just who is a terrorist?
A: Anyone (non-U.S. citizen or U.S. citizen alike) Attorney General Ashcroft designates as one.
Q: On what evidence can Ashcroft designate someone as a terrorist?
A: Mere suspicion and hearsay.
Q: What legal rights and Constitutional protections does someone detained on the grounds of being a suspected terrorist have?
A: Next to none.
It may be difficult for some hard-core, patriotic Americans to believe the veracity of the preceding question and answer series, but the answers to the questions are based upon the implications and dangerous ramifications of the USA PATRIOT Act (USAPA) that was passed last October by so-called congressional representatives who never bothered to read or debate it.
"A suspected terrorist needs only to be "certified" by the Attorney General on "reasonable grounds that he "believes" someone to be engaged in terrorist activities. No solid evidence is required only a belief or suspicion."
This worries me. It is more than that I think the Act is an overreaction to a real problem. I have two area's of concern. One is the climate of fear we live in. The fear that results in us abandoning rational thought. In normal times, the courts would be on top of this sort of Law, defining and limiting the provisions to ones that are reasonable and prudent. It seems however that in this climate of fear they are deferring to the executive branch. They are abandoning their constitutional duty. Only time will tell if this fear is unfounded and they will act quickly enough to prevent the most grievous abuses. The second aspect that is that the Attorney General makes the decision. The problem with this, even given that you trust the Attorney General, I don't, is that as a practical matter these decisions originate at lower levels, reviews when they exist tend to look for reasons to support the conclusions already reached below. There are no real checks and balances in the process. And in my opinion that is the good news.
Here is a link to the entire article at Yellow Times and here is a link to the USA PATRIOT Act.
