CONSERVATIVE WARNING! I'm going on a Civil Libertarian rant,again.

 By D.C.

 I usually start out these posts like this.I know it drives my Conservative friends crazy when I go off on a Civil Libertarian rant.This recent rant of mine caused many Conservative readers to rip their hair out by the roots,"Liberty is not just a word.Even the ACLU gets that." My own thinking is,I can't understand why more Conservatives do not agree with me on these issues.I'm not sorry if my positions make Conservatives uncomfortable.

 One would think people who say they believe in a smaller,less powerful central government would join me in loathing the day the Patriot Act was signed into law.Those "I call myself a Conservative" folks who are so vocal about Obamacare seem to be rather quiet about the Patriot Act.

 I do not believe,nor will you convince me,that the Department of Homeland Security or the Patriot Act have prevented one act of terrorism,saved one American life from terrorism or done one thing to preserve the Founding Father's vision of Liberty.

 All the Constitution asks us to do is follow this vision of Liberty and work to preserve it for future generations of Americans.The Constitution does not tell me what I can or cannot do,it tells the government what it cannot do to me.The Patriot Act flys in the face of this.

 The Patriot Act is yet another government perversion of Liberty.I will believe in global warming before I will believe that the Patriot Acts' molestation of Liberty is good for this nation.It is just another massive expansion in the size,scope,cost and power of the federal government.

 What prevented the airplane "Shoe" and "Panty" bombers? The passengers on the airplanes,not a warrantless wire tap.What stopped the "Times Square Bomber"? A concerned citizen who told a beat cop,not the Department of Homeland Security.

 There have been several instances of foreign nationals trying to cross the U.S./Canada border with weapons and/or explosives who were caught.They were caught by normal border guard contraband inspections and good 'ole fashioned street cop work,not by some warrantless FBI special investigation.

 Several of the so-called terrorist plots busted by the FBI smell a little bit fishy to me.I think some of these cases are basically dreamed up plots by FBI agents,who find some dope to go along with it.Then arrest that person,the dope,and claim some sort of victory.

 The Iranian terror plot is another story about a plot that wasn't.It's just a guy who was running a long con on some nasty folks in Iran.This guy was just taking them for suckers,ripping off their money.This career used car salesman may be guilty of being a con man,but he was never going to pull off any terrorist attack.

 Once the New York Times figured this out,the story died in the liberal media.The Neo-Conservative media's "I told you so,let's nuke Iran train" story fell off the tracks too,but the Sean Hannity's of the radio world didn't bother to tell their listeners about that train wreck.

 At least this Iranian guy,who by the way is an American citizen,is lucky.He will get his day in court to face his accusers,in front of a jury of his peers,with legal representation and a judge to fairly administer his due process.

 Considering how the Constitution has been twisted by government lawyers to justify it's actions,President Obama could have just flown a drone over this guy's house and dropped a Hellfire missile on his head while he was grilling hot dogs in his own backyard.

 All of which brings us to this New York Times' Op-Ed,"How the Patriot Act stripped me of my free speech rights",by Nicholas Merrill.

 In 2004,Mr.Merrill was running a small computer Internet service provider business when he was approached by the FBI.The FBI presented Mr.Merrill with a letter called a National Security Letter,or NSL.

 These NSL's were created by a provision in the Patriot Act.Through a FBI legal interpretation of this provision,they use (abuse) these letters to gather private information on American citizens without a warrant.Also they force the letters receiver to keep all the information secret under penalty of imprisonment.

 The FBI has used thousands of these NSL's to (illegally) collect information on hundreds of thousands of American citizens,without the oversight of a judge or grand jury issuing a warrant.Ask yourself this,why would the FBI need to use these NSLs? Because they know they do not have enough information of any crime to get a judge to grant a warrant.They are fishing for information and then forcing other American citizens to remain silent about their warrantless (and illegal) investigations.

 An internal Justice Department investigation of the FBI's use of NSLs found "widespread rules violations".Some members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the FBI's legal interpretation of the law did not follow a "plain reading of the text (of the law)".Sen Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said,

“When the American people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the Patriot Act, they will be stunned and they will be angry.”

Having given you that background,back to Mr.Merrill's story.Merrill was delivered one of these NSLs by the FBI demanding private information about one of his business clients and for him to keep this secret.

 Mr.Merrill refused to turn over the information without a legal warrant from a judge and he claimed the forced secrecy violated his First Amendment right to free speech.Of the thousands of NSLs used by the FBI,Mr.Merrill is the only person to ever say no and challenge it.

 Regardless of Mr.Merrill's personal politics,his actions here are the definition of what a Patriot is.

 Merrill was caught in a tough situation.Even though he refused to turn over the information,just his knowledge of the NSL put him legal jeopardy.He worried if he just discussed this with a lawyer that he would violate the "gag order" that came with the NSL and face going to prison.So,he did what most folks in situations like this do,he went to the ACLU.

  During the next six years of legal litigation,Mr.Merrill could not discuss the case with his wife,family,friends,the media,anyone.He had to lie to his wife as to where he was going when he went to court.In court papers,Mr.Merrill's case is a John Doe case.His name could not even be made public in regards to the case.

 Finally,in an agreement with the FBI,Mr.Merrill did not have to turn over the information,which by now is probably irrelevant,he will not go to prison and he can publicly discuss some matters of this case.He still cannot discuss the name of the person the FBI wanted information on or what that information is.This is where now,Mr.Merrill says his First Amendment rights are still being violated.

 He cannot fight this in court because all the FBI documents are redacted.So,he has no evidence to present in court and the "gag order" keeps him from discussing many aspects of the case in court.In other words,Mr.Merrill has no case.He is caught in a legal limbo caused by the FBI's abuse of the Patriot Act,and there is really nothing else he can do about it.He has to take the details of this case to the grave with him or face imprisonment.

 Some might say that Mr.Merrill should have complied with the NSL in the name of American security.If it was so important to American security,then the FBI should have been able to get a federal judge to issue a warrant for the information,at which time,Mr.Merrill would have turned over the information.The FBI obviously didn't have the evidence to get that warrant and trust me,the FBI can get warrants on pretty shaky grounds.

 Also,remember this.If a person who say,works at the Pentagon and that person has to sign a secrecy agreement is not the same thing as Mr.Merrill's case.That Pentagon worker agreed to the terms,Mr.Merrill was ordered by the government to keep his mouth shut.That is a violation of Mr.Merrill's Constitutional rights.

 Mr.Merrill's predicament,that is not of his own making,is very unfortunate and a sad testament of the Patriot Act.But the true victims of the Patriot Act are those hundreds of thousands of American citizens who had their personal information unconstitutionally (in my opinion) collected by the FBI.

 All those citizen's Fourth Amendment right to privacy has been violated.We may never know who these people are and what information the FBI collected.Only God knows what they did with this information,at least until some brave politicians begin to call hearings on this and make a major issue out of it.

 I cannot understand how Conservatives,who claim to believe in the Constitution,can stand quietly by on this issue.Some of you even champion this slap in the Founding Father's faces called the Patriot Act.You should be ashamed of yourselves.I don't want to hear you Neo-Cons ever say that you believe in the vision of the Founders,because you don't.

 Like Obamacare,the Patriot Act is a monster.One that keeps growing larger and more powerful everyday.Also like Obamacare,the Patriot Act cannot be tweaked or fixed.Like the monsters they are,both must be killed by completely and totally repealing them.

 The Patriot Act is a perversion of the Constitution.The Founding Fathers would be disgusted with the amount of power it puts into the hands of the federal government and by the massive monetary cost to the American taxpayer.

 At the time the Patriot Act passed,it was very politically popular,given the public fear following 9/11.It was drafted in haste,due to that public fear,and written on the heavy side of granting the government (unconstitutional) powers in the name of security.

 Politicians of both parties were tripping over each other to jump on the Patriot Act bandwagon.It easily passed both Houses of Congress and President Bush,who was always hungry for more executive power,eagerly signed it.I can confidently say this,none of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence would have voted yes on the Patriot Act and George Washington would have never signed it into law.

 October 26th was the 10th anniversary of the Patriot Act becoming law.Now having 10 years of hindsight to see the amount of abuse of American citizens Constitutional rights done by the Patriot Act and the fact that the Patriot Act has done nothing to make America any safer from terrorism,both political parties need to admit the Patriot Act was the wrong thing to do.It is time to repeal the Patriot Act.It is what the Founding Fathers would do.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin,1759