Patriot Act
To all my readers who embrace the Patriot Act as a necessary and good policy in these troubled times, take heed of this story and know that any tech-punk with minimal skills could easily make an example of you or your own children.
Support the Patriot Act and its attack on basic, fundamental civil liberties out of fear if you must, but be ready to accept that you, or someone you love, could be wrongly subject to detention without any claim to due process recourse.
But I have this to say to you: If you think this one "mistake" is worth the price of your illusion of feeling more secure, you are no friend of freedom. The simple fact is that you are willing to sell out your fellow American's freedom without any solid guarantee of your own. And that's friggin' sick.
UPDATE: Friday, May 8, 2009: 10:00AM: One of my readers informs me in the comments that an update to this story has been filed that calls into question the Patriot Act as the source for this detention and arrest. Here's the new story: Link. Thanks to Eric for bringing this to my attention. It is still quite true that the Patriot Act could be used in this way and that detention without recourse to due process is possible under the Patriot Act. So I still stand by my general comments. As a matter of principle, the Patriot Act's potential assaults on the freedoms of American Citizens and their access to due process make any supporter of the Patriot Act no friend of freedom.
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2 comments:
The media source that originally reported this story has issued a correction: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5105258/
"Annette Lundeby said Thursday afternoon she had assumed federal agents arrested her son under the Patriot Act based on jackets they wore that read "Terrorist Task Force" and because they have given her no information about the case."
U.S. Attorneys are saying the charges did not invoke or use the Patriot Act, that they were based on federal laws pertaining to bomb threats and death threats.
Some media are reporting that the boy may have actually called in the bomb threats, and that his mother may have known it. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies conducted 'an extensive investigation' on the case prior to making the arrest.
I can understand why some people may have problem with the Patriot Act, but this case has nothing to do with it.
Thanks, Eric. I'll update my posting accordingly.
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