1115.org

Remember December 13? It was a wonderous time, as we all sat in rapt attention in front of our television sets, watching a disheveled Saddam Hussein spend some quality time with a tongue depressor.

December 13 was also notable for another reason, as the administration quietly signed into law significant parts of the Patriot Act II, giving the FBI sweeping and unprecedented new powers. Oh, you didn’t hear about that? Don’t feel bad; the media was too busy pontificating about Saddam to notice, either.

Of course, now that it’s two weeks later, the news is coming out. The new powers, buried away in a routine funding act for intelligence activities, ramp up provisions of the original 2001 Patriot Act while adding some new twists. The most interesting is the redefinition of a “financial institution” as pretty much any business that deals with cash transactions. And the FBI now has the authority to obtain financial records with a simple request letter; no probable cause or pesky judges are needed, and no oversight is required.

Here are two other nuggets of info: When Congress first passed this legislation, they used a voice vote so that no one could have individual accountability. And December 13, besides being the Saddam Circus, was a Saturday, making this the first bill Bush has signed on a Saturday in more than a year (and that prior bill was no routine legislation — it was a spending measure needed to avoid shutting down the Federal Government the following Monday).

Throughout Bush’s presidency, the administration has been masterful at deflecting attention from their less popular goals, making sure that their more controversial policies were kept largely out of the spotlight. Considering the implications of these new powers given to the intelligence community, and the possibility of widespread abuse, this should have been a story on every news outlet. Instead, it becomes law without anyone noticing, and without any public debate.

This is democracy? This is the freedom that we are so proud of? Or is it the exploitation of a public and media who are simply too distracted to notice?

Do you feel safer now?