Patriot Act to be scrutinized

The tumultuous process of reviewing portions of the Patriot Act is about to begin. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Thursday that his Judiciary Committee will begin a series of three hearings starting April 5 to examine the 2001 law and consider which sections should be renewed before their Dec. 31 expiration date. Only some portions are set to automatically expire.

Renewing the expiring portions of the Patriot Act is a top priority of President Bush. One section of the law that is scheduled to expire permits police to conduct Internet surveillance with only the permission of a network operator, and no warrant. Another, Section 215, permits the FBI to secretly learn what library books a patron has read and what Web sites a library patron has visited.

[Bill Dautrive]

Hopefully they will actually scrutinize it

The 'patriot' act is one of the most grossly unconstitutional and unamerican pieces of legistlation ever thought of.

If there was any justice in america, Bush, his cronies, the people who wrote it and all those who voted for it, should be rounded up and kept in an undisclosed location with no access to lawyern, for several years, without a hearing or formal charges being brought.

Barring that ironic pumishment, they should all be tried for crimes against the constitution and given life terms after being given the fair trial they denied an unknown amount of people, whose only crime was having the wrong skin color.