Have you ever tried to imagine George W. Bush with a parrot, an eye patch, and a wooden peg for a leg? No, it is not Halloween yet, but this has suddenly become my new belief of his image. I see our president as a pirate. Why, you may ask? Because like a pirate, Bush is stealing. His booty, though, is not riches and wealth; it is our rights. His ship – the USA PATRIOT Act.

Amid all the devastation of last fall, the government pulled a fast one over us, at least over me. Last Thursday’s speaker Ben Stone, director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, raised some thought-provoking issues surrounding the PATRIOT Act. While commercials were reminding us how to be free, our federal leaders were quietly stripping certain liberties from us. As Stone put it, the government is trying to take over our lives.

This acronym really stands for Providing Tools to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. It does not quite spell out “patriot”; the government took a little creative liberty with that. With the act, they primarily stole the freedom promised by the 4th Amendment, the right against illegal search and seizure. Congress sold our privacy rights to the highest bidder – the executive branch.

The PATRIOT Act makes provisions to old laws so the executive branch can search through homes and tap any phone with very few checks. They are still required to get a warrant; however, one must be granted if the official says there is reasonable cause. One of the elements that Stone seemed particularly perturbed by was the possibility of what he called “sneak `n’ peek” warrants. This allows the government to search someone’s house while they are not home and not even tell them. It lets the pirates take just a little more booty, a little more liberty guaranteed to us by the 4th Amendment.

But it does not stop there. The legislation allows the government to obtain medical records, school records and e-mails without permission from anyone. Nothing is sacred, nothing private.

Also explored by the 342-page act are immigration issues. At the inception of the text Congress clearly states “the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans, including Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and Americans from South Asia, must be protected, and that every effort must be taken to preserve their safety.” Well, it is already clear that Congress is absorbing all of these groups’ rights against illegal search and seizure, but is it protecting the specific groups it mentions? That would be a negative. The PATRIOT Act allows the Attorney General, John Ashcroft, to detain and deport noncitizen residents with basically no judicial review, even if they are here legally. He simply has to say, not prove, he has “reasonable grounds to believe” that the person is a threat to national security. It appears Ashcroft might be making a few foreign people walk the plank, all in the blanket of security.

The initiative of National Security is essential, I understand. I just do not agree with the tactics taken in Washington to provide for it. We live under a limited government, where we give up some of our rights in return for protection. This being said, I am not willing to give up my right to privacy, found covertly in the shadows of the 4th Amendment. I do not care how important the government finds the bill – if it removes my privacy rights I declare it unconstitutional and void (not that the government cares what I personally find unconstitutional).

Such is how I feel towards the PATRIOT Act. My other complaint about the act is it is impossible to completely comprehend it just by reading it. The provisions within might just change one or two words, and a researcher would have to go back and find the law to figure out how it was truly affected. Susan Herman, a Brooklyn law professor, claims a person would have to “embark on an elaborate treasure hunt” to determine the true impact of the change.

After such a hunt the zealous examiner may just find a treasure chest under lock and key full of our civil liberties. In it will be things like right to privacy and the right against illegal search and seizure. Then we can tell Captain Bush and First Mate Ashcroft to walk the plank. Until then I will pretend to take my own ship out to sea, enjoy the freedom of the open air and envision that I still have the rights promised to me over 200 years ago when the Constitution was written.

Ayrel

Clark

is a sophomore in journalism

and mass communication from Johnston. She is a member of the Daily’s

editorial board.