On December 13, President George W. Bush signed a big chunk of Patriot II into law–but the “major media” were focused on Saddam’s spider hole.
Coincidental timing? Bush hasn’t signed a bill on Saturday since–more than a year ago–the government would have shut down Monday if he didn’t, according to the San Antonio Current.
Patriot I freed the FBI from pesky Fourth Amendment restraints (like probable cause) in its dealings with “financial institutions.”
The new law (US 108-177) extends the definition of a “financial institution” to include car dealers, airlines, jewelry stores, and any other business “whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters.”
Public furor after details of the Patriot Act II leaked led to a change in the plan–but not what we hoped for. Instead,
Ashcroft and Co. disassembled Patriot Act II, then reassembled its parts into other legislation. By attaching the redefinition of “financial institution” to an Intelligence Authorization Act, the Bush Administration and its Congressional allies avoided public hearings and floor debates for the expansion of the Patriot Act.
Look, I’m in favor of fighting terrorism–but if this bill is needed then why is Bush working so hard to sneak it in under the radar? Why isn’t he instead telling the world about how and why it’s important?
I’m hoping my fellow-bloggers will join me in reminding our national representatives and media that this event deserves to be noticed, not tamely forgotten.
Or, if you’re too busy, maybe I could interest you in buying a nice tshirt that says “I Wasn’t Using My Civil Rights Anyway“.
Thanks to John Battelle’s excellent SearchBlog for this story.
3 responses so far ↓
1 noam chimpsky // Dec 29, 2003 at 8:31 am
Forget expecting the the media and congress to do their job. They are scared of the junta and they go right along as Bush creates a police state.
2 Stu Savory // Dec 29, 2003 at 8:52 pm
Oy yes, they’re only doing it for our safety!?!
Here in Germany we are having an “under the radar” snuck-in ‘security benefit’ too.
An automated system is being installed to collect the truck-tolls on the Autobahn throughout the country. Of course its 18 months late and way over budget, but what the hell, it’s only our tax-money. So the overhead cameras are up and running, but the toll-collection bits aren’t working yet.
So how to use the cameras ‘profitably’?
Scan ALL numberplates in realtime, alarming the police when a stolen plate or any plate on their hit-list (are you a suspicious person for any arbitrary reason?) drives by. And if they can get you for speeding too, that only proves you’re a criminal, thus putting you on the watchlist anyway.
Big Brother is watching you; welcome to 1984.
Stu Savory
3 jason@j... // Jan 5, 2004 at 7:27 am
I agree — this sort of thing is beyond frustrating. The worst part is that too often there seems to be nothing average people can do about it, beyond just griping; voting every two years is too coarsely-grained a measuring tool to capture people’s anger over things like this, and polling doesn’t get at it either, because who’s going to pay to conduct a poll on the issue? And even if they did, why should anyone pay attention?
I wanted to try and make a difference on this issue — to give people a way to stand up against the expansion of PATRIOT. That’s why I launched the “$15 for the Fifteen” campaign:
http://www.paydemocracy.com/campaigns/1030
There were 15 Republican representatives who broke with their party to vote against this bill, specifically because of the PATRIOT language. I’m a Democrat, and I’m not usually on these guys’ side, but I thought that kind of stand deserved support.
That’s what “$15 for the Fifteen” does — it asks for people to put $15 into a fund that will be distributed equally among all 15 of those representatives, along with letters indicating that they’re getting the money because they opposed PATRIOT expansion. The hope is that, if enough people get on board — and it doesn’t take many $15 contributions to make a serious chunk of change — next time something like this comes up a lot more than fifteen people will find their principles.
If you’re as frustrated by this PATRIOT issue as I am, have a look at the campaign and consider giving. We’ve got to show these people that there’s a constituency out there for opposing laws like PATRIOT. This, I think, is one way to do that.