Patriots & Propaganda OR Commonsense??

[Bonnie]

PATRIOTS & PROPAGANDA

By HEATHER MAC DONALD

April 11, 2005 -- THE anti-Patriot Act de ception campaign continues at full throttle. The hearings on the law's reauthorization, now under way, offer the Bush administration an important opportunity to set the record straight. In particular, it's time to put the "slippery slope" argument to rest.
Right- and left-wing libertarians have joined together in a new group, "Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances," dedicated to dismantling major portions of the law. They routinely argue that any commonsensical reform of the law-enforcement status quo will send the nation hurtling toward government tyranny.

Yet the Patriot Act's most controversial provision — section 213, which lets the government delay notice of a search — exposes this argument as false.

Say the FBI wants to plumb Mohammad Atta's hard drive for evidence of a nascent terror attack. If a federal agent shows up at his door and says: "Mr. Atta, we have a search warrant for your hard drive, which we suspect contains information about the structure and purpose of your cell," guess what happens next. Atta tells his cronies back in Hamburg and Afghanistan: "They're on to us; destroy your files — and the infidel who sold us out." The government's ability to plot out that branch of Al Qaeda is finished.

To avoid torpedoing preemptive investigations of terrorist or criminal plans, section 213 lets the government ask a judge for permission to delay notifying the target of a search that his property has been examined. The judge can grant the delayed notice request only if revealing the search would risk the destruction of evidence, or put a witness's life at risk, or seriously jeopardize an investigation, among other reasons. The government can delay notifying the subject only for a "reasonable" period of time; eventually officials must tell Atta that they inspected his hard drive.

The crusade against this commonsensical rule has been unrelenting. And the favorite conceit used against it is the slippery slope, the cornerstone of libertarian thought. "Give power to government, and it will be misused," explained the American Conservative Union's David Keene on NPR's "On Point" (during a debate in which I participated).

Well, no it won't, as the unknown history of 213 demonstrates. The power to delay notice of a search does not originate with the Patriot Act. For decades, federal judges across the country have granted government agents in criminal cases the leeway to delay notice under exceptional circumstances. Section 213 merely codifies those judicial precedents in statutory form.

http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/42503.htm

 

[dmp]

Why do Libs apply the "Slippery Slope" argument to the Patriot Act, yet won't allow for it on issues of homosexual marriage?

Weird...good article, Bonnie.

 

[Bonnie]

Why do Libs apply the "Slippery Slope" argument to the Patriot Act, yet won't allow for it on issues of homosexual marriage?

Weird...good article, Bonnie.

Now Darin, think..you already know the answer to that question. Liberal= all that is good and open minded, thoughtful..........Conservatives= backwards, judgemental, closed minded :blah2:

In all seriousness, I do think there are some aspects that need to be revisited, but there are some good things in this law as well.