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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag
Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus 2004-10-12

He may not have trashed any hotel rooms, but U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft spent over $200,000 of taxpayer money in a four-week, 31-city tour last year promoting the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, according to a report by Congressional auditors released Tuesday.

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-19
Anonymous (1 replies)
It's not about internet access - it's about freedom of expression, thought and the essential rights that this nation was founded on. Remember the Constitution? the doctrine that the president's primary oath is to defend?

The need for anonymous speech is real and essential in our society. People who have illnesses or lifestyles that might not be well received by their communities are able to seek support in chat rooms without fear of reprisals.

The right to criticize government policy without fear of being put on 'investigative lists' is becoming a real thing. How many people were accused of being 'unpatriotic' because they didn't support some views of the current administration? It's offensive in a free society that a person can be branded 'less American' because they are exercising their constitutional right.

Consider the Hoover administration - anyone who disagreed with the gov't was investigated and in some cases subject to smear campaigns. Since then, many laws have passed to ensure that the balance between government abilities and the constitution were enacted.

The "I am doing nothing wrong so I have nothing to fear" is naive to say the least. McCarthyism is alive and well, and we must be diligent not to sacrifice the very freedoms that we are trying to preserve.

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