The following is excerpted from a San Francisco Chronicle editorial. Read it in its entirety at this link.
"A freshman senator once opposed parts of the law, but now that he's president, Barack Obama feels the measure is justified. ... The Bush and Obama presidencies are nearly indistinguishable on such anti-terrorism policies." (SF Chronicle)
In the Senate, the fight against renewing the Patriot Act may be doomed, but it’s collected odd political bedfellows who deserve praise in their uphill fight. … For California voters, it’s worth noting that one of biggest cheerleaders for renewing the Patriot Act is Sen. Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who views the measure as an indispensable tool.Opponents aren’t convinced and object to three parts of the law: “roving wiretaps” that allow investigators to eavesdrop across a wide range of devices, “business records” provisions which allow deep diving into personal data, and “lone wolf” language that permits surveillance of people with no known terrorist connections.
Fighting terrorism requires active and watchful intelligence gathering. But this battle can’t be an excuse for erasing privacy and personal liberties. The Patriot Act goes too far in a constitutional society by erasing bedrock guarantees of privacy and personal protections.
