The Patriot Act and Your Library

Did you hear about that college student who was visited at home by the FBI because he requested a copy of Chairman Mao's communist manifesto?

Probably a hoax assisted by our helpful media, who allowed the 'source' of his own story to remain anonymous. Hello? If he's telling the truth, the FBI already knows who he is, so why the secrecy?

Wizbang has more.

The Patriot Act and your library? You can look up the Patriot Act at Thomas, the website for all things congressional and more. You can download it as a searchable PDF file. See what it says about your library.

Wikipedia's entry is interesting as well.

It's quite true that in every war I know of in this country, Presidents and other political types have used that crisis to amass more power for government. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and while the effects are insidious, I don't think the design is any more so than human nature itself. It's also true that sometimes governments will exaggerate perceived threats so as to instill a crisis mentality in the governed that will make them more willing to relinquish personal freedoms. This is also not any more insidious than human nature. Probably most politicians really do believe that will simplify their job of protecting the nation. I don't care for the paternalism, but I understand it.

Politicians aren't the only ones, however. The media does this too (see the above story). They exaggerate, inflame, and misreport in order to produce the slant they want the public to believe (see Katrina coverage).

While guarding our freedoms from government encroachment we need to be sure we're not protecting ourselves from one hyped up attempt to stir us up on the right by succumbing to just such an attempt on the left. Certain media outlets are shamelessly partisan even while claiming neutrality (See the Times Watch for 'Quotes of Notes, worst of 2005. It's must reading, really it is).

Shall we dance?