The Justice Department is using the PATRIOT Act to go after the owners of strip clubs.
This kind of action harms the utility of the PATRIOT Act, which is designed for national defense, not racketeering. The Act was written to extend racketeering laws to terrorism, not terrorism to racketeering laws. If the Justice Department wants to expand their powers to combat racketeering, it should be done under RICO statutes and not the PATRIOT Act. Anything else is a misuse of legislation that harms the government’s credibility and the ability of federal prosecutors to make their cases when the PATRIOT Act needs to be applied for things like actually fighting terrorism.
The nature of the Patriot Act is to put the Constitution on pause, which to me makes it inherently dysfunctional. You attempt to gloss over this fundamentally flawed legislation by suggesting it’s “going too far” by not being narrow enough in its deviation from the Constitution….and that the only way it can work is if we only custom-fit the Constitution to serve our immediate desires “a little”.
I’m waiting for the day when the Patriot Act is used to go after striking union workers. I’d bet money that it’s right around the corner.
and this is why this kind of thinking that Bush has created is so dangerous: “you’re with us, you’re a patriot; you’re against us, you’re a terrorist!”
I mean, we told you that ages ago, and you only realize now? I know you, jay, already criticized this Act, but not enough. The Patriot Act is the fact that should have had a real back-up effect on Bush and his team on people caring for democracy.
Both are not interoperable, that’s for sure.
Now, now, let’s give the Attorney General a little credit. Maybe he got a tip that Osama bin Laden was hiding in a garter belt and stiletto heels. Unfortunately, it turns out that was simply Osama’s usual outfit for weekends.