BY THE NUMBERS
July 10, 2005
Civil libertarians argue that the Patriot Act curtails American freedoms. Fans of the act say those fears are overblown.
By the numbers, since inception of the Patriot Act through 2004:
Civil rights complaints to the Justice Department's inspector general: 7,136
Number of those deemed related to the Patriot Act: 1
"Sneak and peek" warrants, allowing searches without telling a subject: 155
Roving wiretaps: 49
Personal records seizures under Section 215 of the act: 35
Source: Justice Department inspector general
Number not mentioned: Terrorist attacks on U.S. soil: 0
2005-12-21
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Slinger: Maybe indeed these actions have prevented more terrorist attacks. And I agree that the Nadirs and Toms of the world must explain why they add these actions to their list of why they want to impeach Bush, but did not try to impeach Clinton and Carter, who did the same things.
HOWEVER: Maybe the terrorists don't even have to attack us anymore, with their single attack having inspired us to "unleash the genie" of tryany. Don't you know that these sorts of laws *NEVER* remain confined to their intended targets? I believe that some of these tools have already been used in the stupid and surely tyrantical "War on Drugs," just as those anti-mafia RICO laws have been widely used outside of mafia investigations. Police and prosecuters love RICO so much that they try to define any crime as "organized". I believe they are doing the same thing with these new laws, trying to define drug crimes as acts of "terror". Just as politicians around the nation hustle for more federal bucks by redefining all their pork as improving "homeland security".
Which leads me to other ways in which the terrorists are winning, by making us more tyrantical, and even just wasteful: such as those rediculous airport screenings.
Post a Comment