Patriot Act Needs More Than Fixing

In the wake of September 11, Congress rushed to pass the Patriot Act, and in my opinion taking away long held rights from the American people. In an editorial today in The New York Times they state: The act, which was rushed through Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, gives government too much power to invade the privacy of ordinary Americans and otherwise trample on their rights. Congress, which is now reviewing the act, should rewrite the parts that violate civil liberties. Just what are some of the rights taken from the American people with this act? Libraries and documents..... it allows the government to demand library, medical, and other records, and makes it a crime for the record holders to reveal that the request was made. Secret Searches the "sneak and peek" provision, lets the government search a person's home and delay telling him about it. Information Sharing It authorizes the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and even the White House sweeping access to confidential information gathered about Americans, including telephone and e-mail intercepts. At the hearings Attorney General Gonzalez, (no advocate of indiviual right is he)admitted that the act needs some adjustment. As the NYT rightly points out: These hearings should look beyond the Patriot Act, to the larger picture of civil liberties and the war on terror. After Sept. 11, the government rounded up illegal immigrants, and put hundreds with no ties to terrorism behind bars for months, often in deplorable conditions. The Justice Department's own inspector general found that the government made "little attempt" to distinguish people with ties to terrorism from those without. In conducting this roundup, the Bush administration gave itself far more power than the Patriot Act does. Under the act, aliens are to be held no more than seven days before immigration or criminal charges are brought. MORE.....