"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln
# # # # # Four years ago this week, on October 26, 2001, our cherished American style of democracy was changed with the stroke of a pen and the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act. This controversial law was rushed through Congress 45 days after the 9/11 attacks -- despite many Congressfolks admitting afterwards that the [more controversial] version they voted to enact was NOT the same version they were provided the day before to review. (A legislative "bait and switch" operation, in fact.) With such radical changes -- warranted or not -- being made to the fundamental tenets of American society in light of the 9/11 attacks, how much mainstream media (MSM) coverage has there been on this commemoration this week? Little, if any. Sure, there's lots going on to create political controversy in the news right now, but such a significant cultural change in American society running contrary to our traditionally-espoused love of freedom and liberty for all law-abiding people in this great land deserves SOME mention, no matter which side of the issue you support. As such, to mark the four-year anniversary of this questionable and (I believe) anti-American law's enactment, I present a few links: Remarks by the President at Signing of the Patriot Act, Anti-Terrorism Legislation http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011026-5.html EFF Meta Page on USA PATRIOT Act http://www.eff.org/patriot/ ACLU PATRIOT Act Reform Page http://action.aclu.org/reformthepatriotact/ USDOJ PATRIOT Act Propaganda Portal http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/ American Library Association USA PATRIOT Act Protest Site http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/mediarelations/patriotactmedia.htm FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations (reg req'd) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102301 352_pf.html Comments invited; I'll aggregate and repost them accordingly. -rick Infowarrior.org # # # # # "Patrick Henry never said, Give me absolute safety or give me death!¹" --John Stossel " The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." - H. L. Mencken "Patriotic societies seem to think that the way to educate school children in a democracy is to stage bigger and better flag saluting." - S.I. Hayakawa You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
