Apr. 11, 2003 - 20:38 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Little

After 9/11 when our fearless politicians in overkill panic pushed through the Patriot Act because the American public finally realized that, "It can happen here," some people still haven't realized that our government can find out anything about anybody they desire to investigate, including your private life and transactions.

At the time I was very vocal that we were allowing our government to become a dictatorship as it was obvious to me that there was no requirement for our arms of the law to conduct themselves in a totally fair manner, no one had to divulge a darn thing, one could be taken and held, in secret. Government now has the capacity to check our J C Penny account and see what brand and size briefs we wear, what books we borrow from the library and any credit card transactions are an open book to the nosy parkers in Washington. Pray your wife does not buy from Victoria's Secret or Frederick's of Hollywood any intimate apparel that might embarass the family. Subscriptions to magazines ? Hah, open information to the government.

I don't intend to violate the law, steal, embezzle, blackmail or any of that sort of thing nor do I intend to be a spy and sell information to a foreign government. But one thing I can plainly see, I seem to be at the point of having to keep my opinions secret or suffer the whims of bureaucracy.

Weapons Of Mass Destruction haven't been found as yet, still looking. In the On Point section of the Rocky Mountain News today it says, "On Wednesday Vice President Dick Cheney told a group of editors that the war is "One of the most extraordinary military campaigns ever conducted," big words for small potatoes maybe ? Are we in a heavy campaign of propaganda ? Could we be trying to cover up the facts of what actually is happening by calling this a War Of Liberation ?

Back to the Patriot Act. According to the editorial page of The Rocky Mountain News this morning, "Congress wisely added sunset provisions to the USA Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism bill it passed one month after Sept. 11,2001. That 342 page act gave federal law enforcement sweeping new search-surveillance powers, including covert access to computers and financial records -- even the right to take a secret peek at what's being checked out of the local library." The article goes on to say, "Congress has still not thoroughly examined how the act is being used - or abused. But the sunset provisions don't kick in until December 31, 2005, so there is still plenty of time -- except that congressional Republicans want to lift those provisions now, making those broad new powers permanent."

In an article by Dan Thomasson of the Scripps Howard News Service in the same paper today makes this point, "But there is no need at this time for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch's proposal to make the law permanent, particularly when there are grave concerns about its use so far. The Justice Department has not been forthcoming about how it is being applied."

Mr. Thomasson ends his column thusly, "Let's slow down here and make certain we haven't damaged our own liberty. There certainly were enough doubts to include the sunset provision in the first place. Why ignore that concern now ?"

It is a bit tiresome to be practically called a traitor because I think our civil rights are under attack. I feel that there is a need to examine and bring under oversight and control the application and use of the laws as well as keep the cloak of secrecy hung on the wall rather than screen out what the officials do not want anyone to know.

Am I running around squawking about the, "Sky is falling, the sky is falling, or am I making a valid observation ? I don't intend to be another Chicken Little . . . . . . . . .

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