Unconstitutional:the War on Ou

See it and vote on Nov. 2. I disagree with an earlier reviewer who compares the film to those of Michael Moore. There is nothing tongue-in-cheek in UNCONSITUTIONAL, no use of humor to dampen or soften the blow of this documentary. This is as serious as they get. Very compelling film. Should be required viewing for everyone BEFORE they vote. Big props to director Nonny de la Peña and producer Robert Greenwald (responsible for the other "UN" docs and the potent "OUTFOXED") for making this vital, necessary film. As UNCONSTITUTIONAL points out, there was no debate on The Patriot Act before Congress passed it. Now is the time to have that debate, in the public arena.

It's about time someone delved into the repercussions of the Bush administration's Patriot Act, a hurried piece of legislation that was supposed to provide us a safeguard against terrorists. Director Nonny de la Pena, under the supervision of Robert Greenwald (who directed the blistering "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism", also strongly recommended) has made an eye-opening, sometimes shocking documentary that brings new, unfiltered light to the underbelly of the Patriot Act. Subjected to last-minute additions and changes before passing that dramatically altered its orientation, it has had a significant and heretofore unknown impact on our civil liberties, and the film pulls no punches in outlining those violations. De la Pena asserts that many of the provisions in the Patriot Act have little to do with terrorism and were just changes that various conservative Republicans wanted for a long time.

The invasion of privacy highlighted is enormous. According to the film, the government can now demand customer records from stores and conduct sneak-peek searches in people's homes without a warrant. There is no limit to what the Patriot Act allows, and the original purpose has been lost. The documentary does provide good news in that the officials who actually passed it are beginning to question its effectiveness and clamoring for public debate about it. De la Pena even interviews Representative Robert Barr, one of the more conservative members of Congress, who is quite open about his concerns regarding the credence of the Act. But the most telling portion of the documentary is the story of the Hamouis, a Syrian family who owned a grocery store in Seattle for over a decade. Under the guidelines of the Patriot Act, the government arrested and detained them, not allowing them access to many of the rights due even to criminals. They were held with only vague charges even though for all intents and purposes, the Hamouis are "American". And even after the FBI cleared them, they remained in jail for months, with little legal recourse. This is exactly the racist world that conservative muckraker Michelle Malkin proposes in her disturbing book, "In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror", and it's sad to realize that it is coming into fruition. De la Pena shows how mistaken identities lump the good in with the bad, and the Patriot Act allowed innocent citizens to be removed from Florida voter rolls for having names similar to those of felons. This is essential viewing for anyone who values the U.S Constitution and champions the battle against intolerance.

Besides thought provoking, this film will make you sad, fearful and angry. Anyone that suggests that this film bears any resemblance to Moore's F9/11 has not seen the film. This is pretty much straight documentary, without the music and humor that Moore used. It focuses on the aftermath of 9/11 and the passage of the so-called "Patriot Act." The wholesale attack upon civil rights and the abuses of both citizens and foreign nationals that the film documents is truly frightening. Every American should see this film because it focuses on the rights we have under the Constitution and the attack upon those rights that 9/11's hysteria has allowed. Truly a conversation starter but NOT for the faint of heart as it is critical of current US policy.

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