Sunday, September 20, 2009

Looming Patriot Act Battle

Read the article for some insight into my comments that follow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/us/politics/20patriot.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Battle Looms Over the Patriot Act
By CHARLIE SAVAGE Published: September 19, 2009

Here is what I have to say to the story linked above:


We should all be concerned about the results of this debate, specifically the ways that the FBI (and the rest of the intelligence agencies of our government) will be allowed to use "national security letters" in the future, and whether the immunity granted to the telecommunications companies when they agreed to assist the Bush administration in unconstitutionally invading our privacy will be allowed to stand (a national travesty I might add).


The intelligence agencies have the tools that they need to do their job without those specific provisions, and believe me, any "oversight" apparatus is not ever going to fully be privy to the ways in which these unconstitutional allowances are abused. The really scary thing will be what happens when future rogue government officials get into positions of power with these "tools" at their disposal. The freedoms of our children and theirs will be decided by this debate. Get interested. Get informed. Form your own opinion. Make your voice heard.


And furthermore... whenever a "security specialist" says that they "doubt that (fill in the blank with the agency of your choice) has the capability to do that today..." you can translate that to mean that the specialist doesn't really know what they're talking about.