In the Dark of Night
Last Thursday, singer Steve Earle played at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. Voice hoarse from too much touring, he struggled through a 90-minute set that was, as usual, motivated by his various, very righteous political causes: anti-death penalty, pro-labor, and now, not at all surprisingly, anti-war with Iraq. (The stage was festooned with "No War with Iraq" signs and the show ended with an appropriately embattled version of "What's so Funny About Peace Love and Understating." )
At one point, Earle--often Billy Bragg-ian in his tune-to-tune patter--noted that while the justice department might not "be watching you yet, I know they're fuckin' watchin' me." The line got a collective nod of recognition, in large part because Earle's latest CD, Jerusalem, kicked up noise in the news because of a song entitled "John Walker Blues," in which Earle empathizes with the disillusioned spirit of a young American Muslim. "Well, fuck 'em," Earle exclaimed. And the band launched into a scorcher.
Little did Earle know that at that very moment, Attorney General John Ashcroft's office was passing around a sequel to the USA Patriot Act that endeavors to expand even further the government's ability to gather "intelligence," while simultaneously decreasing judicial review and public access to information. The bill, entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, has not been officially introduced by the Department of Justice, but it's making its way around the beltway and is available in its entirety online, at the website for the Center for Public Integrity.
Since Earle's show, there have been a few small news stories on the Patriot Act's scary sequel, and decent play given to the consequences on various websites, such as the home page for Bill Moyer's NOW. But, for the most part, though, news about the impending war on Iraq and heightened states of domestic alert have pushed this very disturbing development to the back page. For those who don't remember, the first Patriot Act was literally passed in the dark of night. Hopefully, this document will get a lot more folks like Earle ranting and raving before it sees the daylight.
11:06:19 AM 
|
|
