Detainee

This is the story of Portland's own Brandon Mayfield, who committed the grievous sin of converting to Islam. It's not like he was a fanatic about it; most people he worked with had no idea he was Muslim ... but the FBI knew. They decided he must be a terrorist, and that had to be his fingerprint they found in the wake of a terrorist attack in Madrid in 2004. So they threw his ass in jail. Spanish authorities said, "Dude, he's not the guy." But what the hell did they know?!

Except they were right.

The FBI used the Patriot Act to persecute Mayfield and his family. He settled with the FBI but retained his right to challenge the Patriot Act. The District Court ruled in Mayfield's favor, but the Bush administration appealed. And on December 10, 2009, the Court of Appeals ruled against Mayfield's challenge due to a technicality.

Just when you think the Bush administration's overuse of wiretaps and peak-and-sneak is a thing of the past -- not so much. Their overreaching just keeps going, and going, and going ...

The melody is from "Deportee" by Woody Guthrie.