The American Civil Liberties Union proudly announced last week New York City became the 250th city to pass a resolution calling for the “narrowing of some of the most egregious portions of the USA Patriot Act and affirming support for freedom in the post-9/11 era.”

The ACLU’s online manifesto concerned with the Patriot Act condemned the “sweeping legislation,” saying it allowed law enforcement to secretly “access your most private medical records, your library records, and your student records.”

Granted, this doesn’t seem too unreasonable to most of us. The government already had the power to do all these things long before the introduction of the Patriot Act. The only stipulation is the government could only do this if you were under investigation for a drug or organized crime related offense.

Remember when Rush Limbaugh was fighting for his right to keep his medical records private? Only weeks after he made a so-called racist statement condemned by ACLU and others, the ACLU turned around and publicly supported his right to keep his medical records private.

Of course it did. While all this was going on, the ACLU was fighting legislation that denied the same rights for those indicted for intending to kill thousands of Americans. If it didn’t support Rush, he would have plainly seen the hypocrisy himself and broadcast this to millions on his radio show.

So the ACLU bit its upper lip and issued support for every liberal’s existence all so it could blamelessly continue to wage war on the “insane” polices of George W. Bush – curiously, the same policies that have prevented any terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11.

The latest attack calls for a support of the Safety And Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act, which it described to be a “set of modest reforms designed to bring the most egregious provisions of the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution.”

Well, revoking these “most egregious provisions” would actually give the government less power to fight terrorism than it had before Sept. 11, which is thankfully why John Ashcroft said the act would be vetoed if it reached the desk of the president in its current form.

The act would restrict terrorist investigators so they would have to prove that the suspect in question was an official “agent of a foreign power” before they could access any business records. This proposed restriction leaves a gaping loop hole for lone bombers and vigilantes who may only sympathize with foreign terrorist groups.

Most of the Democratic presidential candidates have built their entire platforms on cultivating hate for the incumbent president. What better way to appeal to the party that can’t seem to get over the civil rights movement than to belabor Bush’s apparent carelessness for individual rights even if that individual fails to be a legal American citizen and would love to kill thousands of real Americans given the opportunity. Besides, if it weren’t for senators like John Kerry and John Edwards who voted for the Patriot Act we wouldn’t be having this controversy today.

The augmented baseless hate directed at our president continues to show itself in criticism that if given in to, would again put this country in grave danger. If the left wanted to credibly criticize the policies of George W. Bush, it would be good for them to shy away from his most successful ventures like homeland security and focus more on his failing fiscal responsibility and controversial immigration plan. Then again, that would mean they would have to side with ultra-conservatives like Rush Limbaugh again.

Derrick Maxey is a junior in music education. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].