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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cLM9FHR-C5CNUVfu-UbB18AVEC-YjWjSSgLzyBsGy3E/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13jCMvJY2Hy7ryumiyUUJzfMh7Y_IFtNvtgCQiLv_k5A/edit

An act of patriotism... Sounds like an honorable, and righteous thing no matter what the perspective... So right off the back the name is misleading! "America land of the free" is actually short for the real expression, it actually is said "America land of the free, unless your Black, Jewish, Italian, Asian, Indian, Poor, Latino, but ESPECIALLY Middle Eastern". The Patriot Act enables the American government to write a legal document to secretly spy on any citizen. Even better if they find any evidence of "suspicious activity" they can make arrests without even notifying the "alleged criminals" of their crimes or rights. Talk about unconstitutional, when this bill was written in 2001 congress pulled down their pants and left a nice one all over the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 14th amendments. 

I understand their are very valid debates to why this law can be for good. It does tighten security and makes it easier to catch the bad guys. The extremely evident problem I see is who decides who the bad guys are? I cant say that I’ve never made a racial stereotype but I can say I’ve never wanted to arrest someone for looking or acting a certain way without being certain of their guilt towards a crime. The level of ignorance and corruption in US politics that continues to flow through the media has completely turned me off to any idea that the American government is actually on the side of the people who aren't rich or white, and I’m saying this as a fucking well off white man!!!!  

 

Don’t get me wrong I’m 100% a patriot, I love America, I love Philadelphia, I love the communities in which I’ve been brought up in, and I love my life. However if there’s something I love more then America it’s a respect for human rights. I’ve never been oppressed and the one quality I was born with that links my ancestors to oppression is my mothers Judaism. That being said I consider myself an empathetic person who believes in social rights, and liberties for all people regardless of race or religion. The people who were involved in 9/11 are murderers, and animals for which I share no compassion, however to punish an entire race for the crimes of few is savage and putrid. In the The New York Times editorial of the patriot act their congressional research service committee gives a summery of the act. In the fourth sentence of the summery I quote “It creates new crimes, new penalties, and new procedural efficiencies for use against domestic and international terrorists.” HOWEVER it does not list what those new crimes, penalties, and procedural efficiencies are! That means there are laws that are private to the American public. Penalties that are not disclosed with the average citizen. Worst of all policies that only exist in clandestine government files. How in any way is that Patriotic?

 

Imagine a city under domestic military control, where the government has access to any amount of private information and has the ability to legally arrest and torture any citizen. Now imagine that the head of this military operation is a rich, racist, chauvinistic, white man, who got the military position from family connection rather then merit and personal accomplishment. In 1960 Bobby Kennedy was appointed as commanding general without any previous experience. (Not to bash Bobby Kennedy just an example of family connection leaking into office) That may not be the case but this “patriot act” is the first step in giving the government that kind of power. My criticism of the US government does not reach into all branches. I do believe that things could be a lot worse then they are, and that much of the government has righteous and morale intentions. My hope is that the Patriot Act is not abolished but instead refined. All information should be made public and it should be evident that the government works for the people, not the other way around. I don’t have a problem with catching the bad guys but the perception of what is right and wrong should not only be left to a specific number of government officials no matter how qualified or unqualified to make that decision they are. Citizens need to understand that its their responsibility to be informed of all laws and what could be considered suspicious behavior, however in order to do that the information needs to consistently be pushed in the publics face. The people should have a say in any law that affects them especially one like the Patriot Act.

 

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/usa_patriot_act/index.html

 

http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/index.html

The U.S.A P.A.T.R.I.O.T Act is by no means an act with a great purpose. And the sole purpose is to secure peace and prevent further attacks on American soil with the citizens. I think it's a great act, that has and can furthermore save american lives, if more of these attacks were planned to be carried out. The act gives the government many branches of agencies immense power to monitor, track and detain anyone they suspect of having relations or planning terroristic acts. 

However, with all the good that seems to come with it. There has to be a limit, sure a lot of the procedures are a necessity but it violates many rights from the Constitution. A fine line should be set that when things are no longer seeming as if it could relate to terrorism, then it should stop. Personal information to that person should never be leaked or used as an advantage. It's worst than identity theft and that's definitely a crime. In other words, this counter-terrorism operation is a privilege and it should be rightfully conducted, not abused by agencies who run whatever they think is right or at their will. The point is to protect not violate people's rights and the constitution. Once again, keep in mind that there are certain necessities that need to be bypassed in order to carry out the operations. 

Enemy of the state is a kind of interesting movie because as i was watching it i was learning about the government. in this movie, government is portrayed as intelligent as well as evil too. They were also a kind of superior to other American people. When we talk about the privacy of citizens in this movie, then i think citizen's privacy is not being respected in this movie as i saw they were putting some camera and all that showed me that citizens privacy in not being respected in this movie. 

I think government should have all access to our personal information because i believe that if government is not having any kind of personal information of any citizen, how would they be able to find terrorists living around us ( which is their responsibility to protect citizens from any suspicious or threatening activity). So in this case, government should have every kind of access to any kind of personal information of citizens. Also i don't think so that any individual's freedom should be restricted for safety of community because its citizens right and may be it can be restricted in some cases like when someone is doing any kind of suspicious activity being in a community of freedom, then in this case freedom can be restricted.

​ The United and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism is an Act that promises a better national security in America. Few Americans are still questioning what the act means for them and the future of America. Congress spent a brief time debating and discussing what the outcomes of signing the act would precede to in our future. Thus result in little information about the topic. Most citizens, representatives and even yours truly barely knows what the act stands for in our lives.

From reading all the articles and comments, from New York Times, there are still debates playing between being for or against the Patriot Act. I believe that my government is doing everything in their power to prevent another 9/11. 9/11 was a wake up call to America, that our government was slacking off. Because of the Patriot act they are now fighting the War Against Terror by hacking in to the accused dangerous people's records and history. Now our government can seek another attack before it happens. Statistics have shown that at least 15 terrorist plots have been tampered since 2002. And normal citizens should not worry because unless they are doing something illegal then they have nothing to worry about. I believe this law has the potential to be and continues to be a game changer.

Although this law is a pivotal moment in our recent history, there are still many controversies surrounding it. I understand perfectly why American citizens should be upset. Although I did mention that normal citizens should not worry because unless they are doing something illegal they have nothing to worry about, sometimes the information the government receives can be misleading. For instance, if a college student wanted to do a paper on the Manhattan project and he needed information on Atomic bombs and how to make them. The government could misinterpret what the student wanted to do. Because the evidence is against the student he might get life in prison. (The scenario is fake and made up) Other scenarios that could be mislead the government would be  like if an American-Arabian brought 3 guns for protection but was arrested because someone thought he wanted to engage in terrorism. American citizens do have rights to the first Amendment and should have their privacy protected. Also in a way government will become enraged with power. The affect of that will result in corruption. The corruption could ruin what America has fought so hard to become. If that is the case then America will lose the value of what it once was and as a country we can not allow that to happen.

With those scenarios in mind along with the statement I made before I'm going to believe what one of the comments made in the A Vital Weapon article. The Act should remain and stay as is but there should be a fine line between what should be looked into and what should be considered terrorist. Every American should have the right to do what ever without being questioned by the government. Unfortunately to do that at this point peoples privacy will remain tampered but for the greater good America will be safe.