Perspective

Perspective - Jay Reding recaps a point I'd love to hammer into the heads of some Patriot Act opponents - most notably the Saint Paul City Council:

"For instance, take the infamous Section 215 which allows law enforcement to look through business records such as library records without notifiying the suspect. Civil libertarians have cried foul over this provision, despite the fact it takes a court order to do so, no library records have ever been searched, and such provisions have already been used in other criminal cases. Library records were searched in the hunt for Andrew Cunanan, the man who shot fashion designer Gianni Versace in 1997, and to hunt down the Zodiac killer in New York in 1990. Yet no one raised a fuss about these searches. It is clear that there is a direct double standard at play, fueled by ignorance of the law."

I've long noticed - one never need bother askng for specifics when the left starts yapping about the Patriot Act. They rarely know any - or frequently "know" things, like Jose Padilla's incarceration, that have nothing to do with the Patriot Act.

Don't get me wrong. Speaking as someone who was a libertarian (in fact, a Libertarian) before John Ashcroft assumed office, I am all in favor of being ferocious in defense of any infringements on civil liberties. But that defense has to be reasonable. There are aspects of the Patriot Act that I find troubling - but they are the sort of thing you settle via legislation or the courts, rather than by empty, and in the final analysis cowardly actions like the Saint Paul City Council's resolution on Wednesday.

Posted by Mitch at January 23, 2004 06:35 AM