Unconstitutional Amendments et al

Finally, there are some reports on the absolute unlawfulness Bush's Patriot Act. Conservatives can claim this as appropriate legislation designed to prevent terrorist attacks in this country, but as far as I know, it has only been used for drug dealers. This amendment is such a clear violation of Civil Rights that it still boggles my mind how it got passed in the first place.

There is a national movement aiming to bar the Patriot Act from numerous cities and states. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee is working to educate the public and urge journalists to write about it... it seems that many that have heard about it don't know to what extent this law can impede on our basic liberties.

"Under the act, federal investigators can obtain individuals' library, financial, health and education records from cities while barring municipal workers from letting anyone know authorities have seized the documents. Officials can also monitor the activities of people who have not been identified as suspects and search a home or office without prior notice.

The municipal resolutions, crafted individually by each community, vary in language. They affirm, for the most part, that city employees aiding federal authorities in national security investigations will not violate the rights of people under investigation, such as monitoring political and religious gatherings where people are engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment.

Hawaii was the first to pass a statewide resolution, citing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a motivating factor.

Talanian said fewer than five municipalities rejected resolutions brought before them. These included Boston and Petaluma, California, a small town north of San Francisco.

Fred Hemmings, a Republican state senator in Hawaii who voted against a resolution passed in his state, called the resolution a political play by leftists bent on criticizing the government.

'There are constitutional zealots that somehow believe, especially in times of war, that some of our adversaries should be protected by rights given to us by the Constitution,' he said. 'But the people on the left are forgetting that we're fighting a war against a nationless enemy. It has to be fought on completely new terms.'

...Some provisions of the Patriot Act will expire in December 2005. But the Bush administration and congressional allies have been pushing aggressively to get Congress to null the expiration clause. In January, President Bush called on Congress to renew the Patriot Act in his State of the Union address. He has been urging the same in stump speeches on his campaign trail.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has said repealing or changing the Patriot Act would hamper the government's ability to catch terrorists and protect the public.

But the government may be getting the message that citizens are unhappy with the legislation. In March, Chuck Rosenberg, chief of staff to James Comey, the second-highest official in the Justice Department, told a reporter in St. Louis, Missouri, 'We're losing this fight.'"

What Fred Hemmings apparently doesn't understand is that many of the people that this legislation is being used to "protect" us against are US citizens. Even if they were only legal residents or aliens, they are protected under constitutional law. If we have to find out information by bypassing normal judiciary procedure, like getting search warrants, wire taps, etc. then we are opening up a new can of worms and we should rewrite the whole constitution... we could, and we'd start with the second amendment