A sign of the times, I suppose. The editors hope that you too noticed the important news of the week, just announced today and then quickly buried towards the back of the news pile, as all stories are that (a) don’t bleed or (b) don’t involve Paris Hilton.
Anyways, it turns out that an internal FBI audit has discovered that there have been serious misuses of the provisions for obtaining private information as outlined in the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. Over 1/5 of the letters and other pieces of information obtained were not even kept in the records.
This shocking news is just the sort of scary scenario that the growing power of the government in this day and age can lead to. (Wow, that last sentence was horrible!) What I mean is, the rights of the people are being disregarded. The danger in all these laws was not just the law itself – some could be justified by the needs of the day (though we here still disagree with most of them). But when such laws are enacted in a climate that breeds disrespect for the rule of law and in a country where the president clumsily bungles his way through wars and “diplomacy,” both national and international, what else can we expect but abuse?
But what about Britney shaving her head?????
By: Willie on March 10, 2007
at 12:42 pm
Shockingly, Dimitri, I voiced concerns about the misuse of gov’t power to one of our more left-wing mutual friends in early 2002 — this same friend is a philosopher and a lover of Goethe, if you get my drift — and he pooh-poohed my concerns in the name of ’security’. I found his attitude ironic then and even moreso now.
By: Ernesto Bolivar on March 11, 2007
at 7:14 pm