MADCOW

Erosion of freedom

The USA Patriot Act (H.R. 3162), which was rushed through Congress and signed into law by the Resident monkeyboy of the United States, provides for the following:

1. Indefinite detention of non-citizens who are not terrorists on minor visa violations, if they cannot be deported because they are stateless, their country of origin refuses to accept them, or because they would face torture in their country of origin.
2. Minimal judicial supervision of federal telephone and Internet surveillance by law enforcement authorities.
3. Expansion of the ability of the government to conduct secret searches.
4. Power to the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations and deport any non-citizen who belongs to them.
5. Broad access for the FBI to sensitive business records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime.
6. Large-scale investigations of American citizens for "intelligence" purposes