Sun Gazette

By MIKE REUTHER - mreuther@sungazette.com

BLOOMSBURG—President Bush has taken a beating in recent months amid questions about Hurricane Katrina, mounting losses of American lives in the Iraq War and most recently, his administration's alleged outing of a CIA figure.

It all comes as no surprise to a Bloomsburg University journalism professor, who recently penned a book critical of the president and the Patriot Act.

But then again, Dr. Walter Brasch, has long taken conservatives to task for their misdeeds, often with tongue firmly planted in cheek as he aims in on his victims.

"America's Unpatriotic Acts" by Peter Land Publishing, Inc., New York, is a different vehicle for Brasch, a straight-forward, humorless account of how Bush shoved the Patriot Act upon a frightened public, still recovering from the Sept. 11 attacks.

Brasch isn't the only American to find fault with the Patriot Act, a wieldy document Congress had barely perused before passing in late 2001 while the smoke was still clearing from the rubble left from the fallen World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The Constitution, Brasch argues in his book, has all but been trashed by the Patriot Act, and we, as Americans, are surely the big losers for such transgressions. Brasch uses countless examples to make his point: Muslims rounded up, jailed and stripped of their rights for no other reason than they were suspected of being terrorists, and unrestricted information gathering that reduced oversight function of courts.

But the Patriot Act went beyond the scope of rooting out terrorists, suspected or otherwise. Brasch writes that the Department of Justice "circumvented the intent of the Patriot Act" by going after strip club owners and marijuana smugglers, as well as probing the records of countless people with no criminal history at all.

Much of what Brasch has to say was documented from countless newspaper and magazine articles and other sources. But with so many incidents and examples of freedom violations compiled in one volume it makes for a resounding bang, shaking the very foundations of what the nation was built upon, and causing one to ponder: Are we still living in America?

Brasch said he wrote the book simply because the media were not covering the issue as they should have.
"People were afraid to speak out against anything because of 9/11," he said recently as he sat having lunch at a downtown Bloomsburg eatery.

Brasch, 60, who has copped numerous awards for reporting and column writing through the years, has written more than a half dozen books on topics ranging from the media to pop culture.

Many area people may be familiar with Brasch through "Wanderings," a left-leaning column formerly appearing in "The Muncy Luminary" and still running in 35 other newspapers that he uses to roll his eyes at the foibles of society and political life.

A Bloomsburg professor for 25 years, he considers himself more than anything a journalist.
"I am a journalist who enjoys teaching, and who stays current within my profession."

He said he tries to emphasize to his students ?sound justice? and is as adamant about protecting the rights of a conservative as a liberal.
After all, it's part of his background.

A native Californian, he grew up in a household he described as liberal in a community surrounded by the arts.
"My parents grew up during the Depression in a very liberal atmosphere that saw a burgeoning of labor for the common people."

As a Jew, he said he also is cognizant of speaking out on behalf of justice.
His wife, Rosemary, worked for many years as a labor union grievance officer.

With his scruffy beard, ample girth and twinkling eyes, he could be mistaken, perhaps for a bohemian Santa Claus. Spend any amount of time with Brasch, and it's easy to link the author with his books.

His conversation is sprinkled with satiric jabs at college life, journalism, and society in general. Given the nature of the topic for his most recent book, he said there was no thought of inserting levity, however.
"The book didn't call for humor," he said. "The suppression of civil rights and the slow rip into our Constitution don't lend themselves to satire."

Brasch said when the facts are exposed, people will begin to understand why there has been such outcry against the Bush Administration. He's made it known that many conservatives such as former Republican Congressman Newt Gingrich are lauding his book.
"We have seen over the past four years that it's not just liberals who have spoken out, but conservatives have come together to oppose the (Patriot) Act and the suppression of our freedoms. What has encouraged me is that some of the strongest conservatives have been strong in their opposition to what has happened to our country under the Bush Administration's errant beliefs that dissent is not patriotic. The President's popularity level is now in the mid-30s, with the level for Congress even lower. This shouts out that the people are finally seeing that we have an executive and legislative branch incapable of governing in the best interests of the people."

Brasch makes no apologies for bashing the Bush Administration. Through the years, his writings have challenged the status quo, while taking up with the underdog, the oppressed, the alienated.

He insisted, despite his liberal leanings, that he started his most recent book with an open mind.
"I had suspicions but I didn't realize how bad the abuses of the Constitution were till I started investigating."

But once he began to dig, he was appalled what he did find.
His conclusion?

The Bush Administration truly believes it has the answers to the nation's problems and those who dissent are unpatriotic.
"It makes no difference what Bush, Cheney, and the others in the Administration believe—they probably believe in the right of dissent—it matters how they consistently fail to allow dissenting views to be heard, and how they have limited dissent, thus allowing others who believe erroneously they are patriotic to cast out those who disagree with the president as being unpatriotic."