The PATRIOT Act and it's beaurocratic cousin Homeland Security team up with your Federal Government to annihilate that most pesky of rivals, the US Constitution.

     The Associated Press released an article Sept. 14 entitled "Terror Law Nabs Common Criminals". That's right. All this time you thought all that right-robbing legislation was to catch Osama & the gang, but as predicted, is used instead to allow our government to disregard our laws to catch common criminals.     How can they do this? The feds simply said the perpetrators were involved in "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction". One of the cited criminals was caught operating a methampetamine lab. According to Prosecutor Jerry Wilson, the law states that a "chemical weapon of mass destruction" is "any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury". Really? The more sensible among us have been warning about this erosion of our rights. What about bleach? Ammonia? What about air pollution? Second hand smoke? Before you tell me I'm nuts, remember that our government just used a law supposedly designed to capture international politically motivated terrorists to arrest a drug dealer. Not Osama. Not Saddam. Who's next? Armed robbers? Muggers? Like the above-mentioned drug dealer, such people are already addressed by laws. And yes, armed robbers and even drug dealers have rights. We have law enforcement to catch these people. In using these terrorist laws, the government has proclaimed loudly that proof is not required to violate rights.     If you are suspected of a crime, regardless of whether it was committed or not, you can fall into this loosely defined term "terrorist". Once so defined, you have no rights. Tim Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice at the CATO Institute says they're getting reports of local police creating files on people who protest the War in Iraq. Other stories abound about files created for members of various protest and political groups. Member of the Green Party? Have you purchased or checked out any "questionable" publications? Did anyone hear you call Ashcroft a freedom hating control freak? That's right. The First Amendment is pretty much over and done with. You no longer have the right to say or think whatever stupid thought may enter your little brain. You have the right to remain silent; anything you ever say can and will be used against you, not only in a court of law, but also as a valid means of violating your rights to get information that will get you into that court of law. Unless of course you are also labelled an "enemy combatant"; then you don't even get court, just go to jail and get charged at some later unspecified date when they can "find" more on you.     Is this an attack on terrorists or absent minded liberals? Don't think about it too much; you don't get to decide. That's what government is for.