DVDs:

	Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties Anthony Romero, Tom Ridge The Disinformation Company, 2004 average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Autumn of 2001 brought us assaults against Americans' comfort zone on many fronts. We learned that we could fall victim to attacks on US soil, and we learned that those guarantees provided to us in the Constitution were equally vulnerable.

Unconstitutional is the third in a series of Public Interest Pictures films that follows Unprecedented: The 2000 Election and Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War. True to their legacy, Unconstitutional provides the facts and stories that illuminate administration lies, wrongheaded policies and the real victims of these actions ? the American people.

Here, you'll get the real story behind the USA PATRIOT Act and other administration policies and the gut wrenching stories behind those affected ? from law abiding sales clerks to United States Olympians unable to travel. It'll remind you of what America used to stand for and what it seems we're falling for now. In short, this film will affirm why you're angry and give you a tool to help others join your ranks.

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It's the end of the innocence

As with all documentaries I've seen by Robert Greenwald, he enlists experts to give credible testimony to support the information in his programs. In `Unconstitutional' you are able to hear from experts on legal analysis and constitutional law along with counter-terrorism specialists to confirm the disturbing information about our disappearing rights and civil liberties.

Just over a month after the cowardly attacks of September 11, 2001, American citizens were presented with the `Patriot Act' which was, in essence, protections for citizens against terrorism and tools for the war on terror. If it was such a good plan, why did the Bush administration present it to Congress and tell them not to hold hearings on its contents which would then avoid any public input whatsoever? To add insult to injury, this legislative bill was presented to Congress before anyone had a chance to review its contents but it still passed with overwhelming support. It even contained provisions that Congress previously rejected before 9-11 ever happened. Using the cover of terrorism, the `Patriot Act' largely and inappropriately expanded the power of federal law enforcement which may haunt us for many years to come.

Not long after 9-11 occurred, federal law enforcement began to indiscriminately arrest and detain immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries. This sinister trend began to look suspiciously like ethnic or religious profiling not to mention targeting someone because of stereotypes. Those that were victims of the system were subjected to solitary confinement, inhumane treatment, no contact with the outside world whatsoever, and no due process of the legal system. The phrase `guilty until proven innocent' immediately springs to mind and it fits the equation. The Justice Department even coined a term for this nefarious activity. It was the `hold until clear' policy.

A solution was even found to incarcerate those detained (in the interests of the war on terror) outside of the United States. It was in the form of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This opens up a completely new level of questionable legalities due to the known information. First, those confined in this facility are not subject to legal restrictions. Secondly, everyone here is not subject to constitutional protections because they are not being held in a United States territory. Lastly, no one is subject to the Geneva Convention because they are not combatants and therefore are not considered prisoners of war. As the war on terror continues, it becomes readily apparent that the government makes the rules as they go to fit their agenda.

When it comes to your expectation of privacy as a citizen, well, that is right out the window. Without probable cause, federal law enforcement agencies can check your employment, medical, and bank records without your approval. Oh, your email traffic and internet browsing history isn't confidential either. And if that's not enough, the `Patriot Act' also allows for secret search warrants of your home and wiretaps of your phones, again without your permission. Big Brother is not only watching you now, it is smothering you and taking away the protections that the Constitution has promised you for over 200 years.

`Unconstitutional' is a very good documentary, in my opinion, and it relates a very serious message that every American citizen absolutely needs to hear. It can also be interpreted as a warning of sorts of what is to come in the future if no attempts are made to change these dangerous policies. A government for the people, by the people, and of the people should be just that and not an all-powerful administration teetering on the edge of totalitarian control. I highly recommend this documentary to everyone and I commend the producer for his courageous work.

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The Truth (And The Lies) Behind The Patriot Act

Much more than buildings, airliners, and lives were destroyed on September 11, 2001. So too was America's ability to balance liberty and security. Only six and a half weeks after the Twin Towers fell, a 345-page piece of legislation fell into the laps of all 535 members of both the House and Senate, and it was passed into law--sight unseen! That legislation was the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, or USA-Patriot Act. But as producer Robert Greenwald and director Nonny De La Pena tell us in UNCONSTITUTIONAL: THE WAR ON OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES, it is not about either uniting or strenghtening America--far from it.

Part of Greenwald's so-called "Un" trilogy of documentary films (including UNPRECEDENTED: THE 2000 ELECTION, and UNCOVERED: THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR) that depict the seemingly endless trail of lies that have been perpetrated by the Bush junta against this great nation of ours since 9/11, UNCONSTITUTIONAL focuses in on what has basically been the fulcrum of Bush's existence as president, namely the Patriot Act. But in its 69 minute running time, we get a glimpse of what the Patriot Act has actually done to America--some of it via interviews with people of Muslim heritage who have been singled out for scrutiny simply because 9/11 was the work of Muslims, and some of it with important Constitutional scholars on both the Left and the Right, from ACLU president Anthony Romero all the way over to far right-wing Georgia congressman Robert Barr, who give us a glimpse at the fine print of this hideous and insidious thing draped in the American flag, and crafted for the purposes of National Security--a fairly nebulous thing even in the best of times, and a dangerous and often false presumption in our post-9/11 world.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL makes its point, in a low-key, matter-of-fact way, that the alleged success of the Patriot Act is, in fact, an illusion. Neither our security nor more importantly our liberty are in any way guaranteed or safeguarded by this heinous diktat. And unless we make it a point to put this false sense of security on the ash heap of history, we will lose not only the War On Terror but also everything about America that makes us truly strong--our freedom.

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MUST SEE

Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties Without question, this is a must see by all Americans who cherish their civil liberties. See what Bush and Cheney are aggressively doing to destroy our freedoms and our constitution.


Less Is Not Always More

This is a fantastic film - but it doesn't go far enough. Though its central premise - that the USA Patriot Act is unconstitutional - is sound, it buttresses that premise with a minimum of anectdotal incidents. As heart-wrenching as these incidents are, they could too easily be dismissed as simply the kinds of things that always go wrong because of "human error." The incidents are clearly tied to provisions of the USA Patriot Act, so it's not a stretch of the imagination to conclude that those particular incidents would not have happened had it not been for that Act. But I have to say (as cold-hearted as this may sound) that the film would have been stronger had the director not tugged so hard at the public's heart-strings; but, instead, included a broader range of individual incidents. It's clear that the ACLU, which pretty much produced this film, is not party to any 911 conspiracy theories: clear precisely because they seem genuinely confused by the round-up of Arab and Muslim people after 911. They see it as a huge mistake, which will create ill-will for decades. What they fail to see is the huge - I mean HUGE - public relations benefit for the Administration. What this roundup did (and, in my view, was meant to do) was thoroughly ingrain in the public's consciousness the idea that Muslims are THE ENEMY. And the proof was in the overwhelming public support for invading Iraq.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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