ELF and the PATRIOT act

More on the Maryland fires. If it turns out that this was a racist incident, I think one could safely make the case that vandals known as "ecoterror" groups should not be prosecuted under the PATRIOT ACT. Two and a half years ago politicians assured us that the act would target only al Qaeda and similar groups, and for good reason. Now, there's already calls to include groups like the ELF--hey, it's been long enough to forget what we said back then, right? Imagine if the arsonist really were a racist, and imagine the arsonist is smart enough to simply tag the sidewalk with those three letters. The arsonist would be miles away before the authorities get smart to what's going on if we use the force of the PATRIOT ACT to pin the act on the ELF. Now imagine a fundamentalist Islamist doing the same thing; broadcasting his evil deed to al Jazeera from the comfort of his home cave.

Just one more reason to not use the PATRIOT ACT--or the intelligence overhaul bill for that matter--to prosecute fringe environmental groups, even if Fox News thinks it'd be a good idea: it can be abused by people that we don't want to be able to abuse it.