2008 Woodie Awards
Patriot Act is a slippery slope
Timothy Chrestman--Daily Mississippian (U. Mississippi)
Issue date: 2/19/03 Section: Opinion
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U-WIRE) OXFORD, Miss. - I hope that you caught the CNN headlines over the weekend.
Millions of people around the globe gathered to voice their opinions on the impending war with Iraq. The University of Mississippi Activist Coalition sponsored such an event on the Oxford Square Saturday, which had reported crowd attendance of 175-200 people.
Many of you may be saying "So what? I don't care about politics." Or perhaps, you agree that President Bush is acting in the best interests of Americans.
However, I wonder if you are familiar with some terrifying facts about what it means to be an American today.
Are you aware that my mere presence at the Anti-War rally on the Square Saturday would constitute grounds for me to lose my American citizenship according to the latest documents surfacing about a possible Patriot Act II (for the full Act, check out this address http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/downloads/Story_01_020703_Doc_1.pdf). According to the American Constitution, we are all given the right to free assembly and free speech, among others. However, the leaked confidential government document renders the judicial branch of our government completely irrelevant and powerless in its duty as a check and balance.
Under one of the provisions of this act, anyone who "materially contributes" to a group that is deemed to support terrorism can have their unalienable right to citizenship revoked, even if he contributed to said group in a legal way.
Further and more disturbing, according to the wording that I have seen in various news articles, a terrorist or terrorist supporting group could be any group that the government, rather the Attorney General, deems as acting "un-citizen like."
They could just declare that anyone protesting the pending war with Iraq is supporting terrorism, and they can - under the proposed act - secretly hold you for no set time, without Miranda rights, and without an attorney.
In other words, McCarthyism is making a comeback in a big way. In fact, this legislation was so secretive that many legislators didn't even know it existed until someone leaked it to the press.
Millions of people around the globe gathered to voice their opinions on the impending war with Iraq. The University of Mississippi Activist Coalition sponsored such an event on the Oxford Square Saturday, which had reported crowd attendance of 175-200 people.
Many of you may be saying "So what? I don't care about politics." Or perhaps, you agree that President Bush is acting in the best interests of Americans.
However, I wonder if you are familiar with some terrifying facts about what it means to be an American today.
Are you aware that my mere presence at the Anti-War rally on the Square Saturday would constitute grounds for me to lose my American citizenship according to the latest documents surfacing about a possible Patriot Act II (for the full Act, check out this address http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/downloads/Story_01_020703_Doc_1.pdf). According to the American Constitution, we are all given the right to free assembly and free speech, among others. However, the leaked confidential government document renders the judicial branch of our government completely irrelevant and powerless in its duty as a check and balance.
Under one of the provisions of this act, anyone who "materially contributes" to a group that is deemed to support terrorism can have their unalienable right to citizenship revoked, even if he contributed to said group in a legal way.
Further and more disturbing, according to the wording that I have seen in various news articles, a terrorist or terrorist supporting group could be any group that the government, rather the Attorney General, deems as acting "un-citizen like."
They could just declare that anyone protesting the pending war with Iraq is supporting terrorism, and they can - under the proposed act - secretly hold you for no set time, without Miranda rights, and without an attorney.
In other words, McCarthyism is making a comeback in a big way. In fact, this legislation was so secretive that many legislators didn't even know it existed until someone leaked it to the press.