Love my country. Fear my government
From DJ Mitchell, friend and reader:
“The following is excerpted from an AP report today on the ACLU’s latest challenge to the Patriot Act:
The Justice Department defends the [Patriot] act as a crucial weapon in the war on terrorism… “The Patriot Act was a long overdue measure to close gaping holes in the government’s ability, responsibly and lawfully, to collect vital intelligence information on criminal terrorists to protect our citizens from
savage attacks,” [Justice Department spokesperson Barbara] Comstock said.
The Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested [a] mosque’s imam and prayer leader, Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, on Sept. 8, 2002… The U.S. attorney’s office accused Kariye of Social Security fraud and he was sentenced to five years probation.
“Criminal terrorists” include people who commit Social Security fraud? It’s good to know that we can rely on the government to limit its abuse of civil liberties to cases where only the most heinous crimes are at issue!
It used to be only the most reactionary right-wingers who would display a bumper sticker like the following, but I think it should be revived for the current administration: “Love my country. Fear my government.”