Legacy of the Patriot Act?

In some ways, I'm ashamed to report that this is happening in my hometown, in other ways, I think that if it's this bad in liberal Seattle, how bad can things be elsewhere in the nation.

This is the story: from BrownEqualsTerrorist.com, as reported by a Shoreline Community College photography student, about his racial profiling and inquisition by several law-enforcement organizations, including some from the Department of Homeland Security.

His 'crime': photographing a railroad bridge at the Hiram Chittenden Locks. And this, after checking with the park ranger to verify that he didn't need any sort of official permission to do so.

This is why we need to end the Patriot Act. Obviously, it was a reaction to the events of 9-11, but abolishing civil rights and personal freedoms aren't keeping our country strong, they're causing very ordinary people to live in fear while transforming our legal system into something which looks as if it should be written about by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn.

We have a choice. We can continue to live with this Stalinist-era legislation, or we can be certain that we make everyone aware that it's not preventing everything, but giving the people who hate us because of our freedom the victory they seek.

•  Security != Freedom

  This just makes me want to go take pictures all over town. Granted, I'm not as visibly ethnic as the writer of this story, but it's just one more reason why we need this to go away.

  by wingedelf on Sun Jul 11, 2004 at 09:21:10 AM PDT

•  The damage is done.

  Ending the Patriot Act will not undo the damage: too many individuals, including some in law enforcement, have been conditioned to equate skin tone with evil. The legacy of the Bush administration will stain our consciousness for a century.

  by iconoclastic cat on Sun Jul 11, 2004 at 09:29:11 AM PDT