Safe and Free from Patriot II

JJ22 writes "The ALCU has a press release about a full page ad they have running in the New York Times. See the ad here. It gives a list of some of the freedoms which were taken away under the Patriot Act, and lists more which Ashcroft is pushing for under Patriot II. Obviously, you should only be concerned about losing your liberties if you're a terrorist (or similar dissident)."

Comments

The harder you push

[Otter]

Hey Michael and JJ22:

Here's a little hint. I'd be a lot more likely to take the time to read the link and comment thoughtfully if you gave me some information instead of of subjecting me to your smirky asides about "jackboots" and "dissidents".

Unless your goal is simply to parade your concern for our admiration. Given that the top-rated post right now is from someone who was confused because you weren't heavy-handed enough (!), maybe there's no problem.

Guess what, it's citizens like me who take civil rights seriously but aren't concerned about striking the most ostentatious pose that you need to win over. On this issue, DRM, file sharing, IP law and all the other stuff you're the worst possible advocate for.

Re:Trolling for Terrorists at the Library?

[uncoveror]

Yes, that could get you profiled as a terrorist. Guilt by association. The Patriot act and Patriot act II are worse than any paranoid delusion conspiracy theorists ever cooked up, and they are real! Welcome to The Fourth Reich.

Next to be classified as Terrorist Organizations..

[dpilot]

The American Civil Liberties Union
The Free Software Foundation

Yet another scary aspect to this... Imagine that some organization that you've long felt to be a worthy charity suddenly becomes reclassified as a "Terrorist Organization." This may happen two ways, either it really was, and you weren't aware, or it really isn't, but it's politically expedient for it to be reclassified as such. In either case, you can get stripped of your citizenship and put in a dog kennel on Cuba.

Re:This law applies to everyone

[schmaltz]

Okay, everybody, okay!! :-) Too much coffee I guess.

Irony kinda went out the window after 9/11, and sarcasm too. Ashcroft has actually threatened members of Congress and the press with prosecution under USA PATRIOT if they spoke against it. If that's not fascism, I don't know what is.