http://www.cleveland.com/editorials/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1117099951303600.xml&coll=2Thursday, May 26, 2005
Secrecy is the enemy of liberty. Why, then, is the Senate Select Committee on Intelli gence meeting in secret today to finish the details of its Patriot Act rewrite?
Officially, it is to hear classified information about how the Patriot Act has been used. But such a session - and the entire direction of the Intelligence Committee's efforts to expand unchecked the secret activities of federal investigators - should raise serious concerns among those who believe such broadened powers demand strict judicial oversight.
The committee, at the behest of the White House, not only seeks to make permanent the Patriot Act's most onerous features, but plans as well to give federal authorities yet more unquestioned access to the private medical, financial and transactional records of Americans without so much as a by-your-leave from any court.
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