Results tagged “patriotact”

Thanks to the Freedom Of Information laws and the PATRIOT Act, we were able to petition the federal government to listen in on last night's weekly Manning Family phone call. Here's a sample: more ›

Bostonist always has trouble deciding how we feel about well-intentioned but utterly useless projects. So it was with mixed feelings that we learned of House Bill 1881 in the Mass. Legislature, which proposes a statewide resolution supporting the Constitution and condemning the USA PATRIOT Act (which has to be in all capital letters because, annoyingly, it stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools for Intercepting and Obstructing Terrorism"). It's not that we disagree with the message - we are huge fans of the Constitution, having sworn to protect it against all enemies foreign and domestic. But the news lately suggests to us that no amount of haughty scolding from the likes of Massachusetts will dissuade the current administration from its belief that certain constitutional rights (like, for example, being free from unreasonable detention, having a speedy, public trial with a lawyer to defend you, and having due process of law) are all like, totally five-minutes-ago. After all, despite revelations that many of the people being held without charges in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are not terrorists, Donald Rumsfeld reiterated last week the necessity to keep the facility up and running for years to come. (It's also not a good sign when government lawyers arguing in favor of indefinite detention have to rely on one of the most shameful and racist actions by the federal government in the last 100 years.) more ›