After reading this story, I’ll sleep a little less soundly knowing that we have idiots working for in charge of important government agencies.
The FBI used expanded powers under the USA Patriot Act to demand information from banks and other companies as part of the investigation of Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield, who was wrongfully arrested in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004, according to a report issued yesterday.
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine also found that although FBI investigators did not abuse any of its powers in the case, the Patriot Act anti-terrorism law “amplified the consequences” of the FBI’s misidentification of a fingerprint by allowing numerous agencies to share flawed information.
The findings are part of a 273-page report by Fine’s office that was declassified and released yesterday. It expanded on a summary released in January.
The full report provides many new details about the treatment of Mayfield, who was the subject of surveillance and secret searches before he was hurriedly arrested in response to media leaks about the case. FBI examiners had wrongly identified a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators as Mayfield’s and then resisted the Spanish police’s conclusion that the print belonged to someone else, according to the report.
Incompetence, arrogance, and laziness all rolled up into a nice little ball of governmental abuse. Of course, no the FBI admits there was no abuse in the sense of misconduct, but the bottomline is a huge screw up leaving one wondering if the FBI is now a new clown school or something.
Via the Agitator.
Update: Also from the Agitator is this article about how there is now a new national security threat! Methamphetamines!
The new version of the Patriot Act scheduled to become law later this week will protect us from more than just terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. It addresses what lawmakers are calling another threat to our nation: methamphetamine, an illegal homemade stimulant.
According to the commander of the Albany County Narcotics Unit, rightfully so.
Beginning Sept. 30 it will be harder to buy something as simple as Sudafed. The law is supposed to make it harder to manufacture meth, but it’s cracking down on the people who have to enforce it too.
[snip]
The key ingredient in many cold medicines is also the main ingredient of meth. To crack down on the drug’s processing, the new version of the Patriot Act requires pharmacies to store medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter, impose limits on how much could be bought at once and force pharmacists to collect signatures and identification from consumers.
Screw this signatures and ID crap, I think we need to call in airstrikes on Walgreens right now. And send all pharmacists to concentration camps yesterday!
