Two recent clips from NPR:
ACLU Membership Soars Since Sept. 11 ... and not solely for the reasons some might think.
Patriot Act Faces Opposition
...and, my 2 cents:
Apologists universally point out that prior times of crisis have engendered similar suspensions of civil liberties. Most often mentioned are: The Alien and Sedition Acts of the John Adams administration; Lincoln's wartime suspension of habeas corpus; Roosevelt's internment of Japanese-Americans (and, I recently discovered, Native Alaskans). The apologists also state, correctly, that each and every measure of this type has been temporary.
That does not, however, make such measures correct; neither is it any guarantee that the current reactionary laws will also be temporary. It is, to me, the height (or perhaps "depth" is more appropriate) of cynicism to name the abrogation of the Fourth Amendment an act of "patriots".
Current Events » in reply to re: If I may.
If I also may...
The whole thread (28 posts)
- New evidence of Iraqi WMDs
- Schlesinger: The Imperial Presidency Redux
- The Imperial Presidency Redux
- re: The Imperial Presidency Redux
- The Imperial Presidency Redux
- Schlesinger: The Imperial Presidency Redux