The Patriot Acts: The most unpatriotic of all
Lately I feel like a sighted person in the land of the blind. So many people, from my husband to my parents, and many, many others are in full support of our administration's actions since the tragedy at the World Trade Center.
Before you start calling me a traitor (as it seems it is acceptable to do these days if you dare to question our government), know that I feel that Saddam Hussein and his crowd are Bad News and Should Be Stopped.
However, that being said, how do we justify our high-handed manner of pretty much telling the rest of the world where to get off, just because we're the United States? Are we then a domineering nation, bent on doing whatever we like, no matter the consequences? Perhaps our President dreams of a new Empire, where all are happy, healthy and protected and the US is in control.
Certainly they seem to be doing that *here*. The Patriot Act, passed in October after the bombings in New York, gives our government the right to wiretap, and detain people without a warrant. Is the the United States? It seems that no member of Congress was allowed to see the first Patriot Act before its passage. Interesting, no? Is the act of the 'home of the free'? I mind the poem that starts 'When they came to take the Jews I did nothng'. How long before no one is left to protest?
Here is an analysis of the newly proposed (in Jan '03) Patriot Act II, by InfoWars: (My comments preceded by ***)
==========================================
SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration’s “enemy combatant” definition to all American citizens who “may” have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is “any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.”) Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to Section 125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act isn’t broad enough and that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.
Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person “had inferred from conduct” that they were not a US citizen. Remember Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of Federal or State law can result in the “enemy combatant” terrorist designation.
***Does this sound like someplace familiar? Like from about the 1940's? Think, do you do anything that might make a hyper-alert terrorist watcher decide you aren't a citizen? What about all those here on Green Cards, work Visas, student Visas and the like? Since they're not citizens, apparently that makes them automatically suspect. That's sure to cut down on immigration, eh?
SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who they have arrested and they never have to release the names.
***Secret police? OMIGOD! Can you say Nazi? Good googly-moogly, just what do they think they're DOING?
SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil rights across the board.
***So, not only can they scoop you up and hold you without recourse to your constitutionally granted right to representation, they can't be sued for it afterward.
SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal.
***Well, this is certainly one way to stop the media. Notwithstanding Geraldo Rivera's idiocy in sketching troop movements on national TV, now, you can't find anything out either. Wonder what *this* will do to CNN?
SECTION 103 allows the Federal government to use wartime martial law powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring that a state of war exists.
***Oh, wonderful. So now they can do all these other things, and act like we're at war when we aren't. Wonder if they'll start rounding us up this year, or if they'll wait until after the election?
SECTION 106 is bone-chilling in its straightforwardness. It states that broad general warrants by the secret FSIA court (a panel of secret judges set up in a star chamber system that convenes in an undisclosed location) granted under the first Patriot Act are not good enough. It states that government agents must be given immunity for carrying out searches with no prior court approval. This section throws out the entire Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.
***Apparently the Constitution no longer applies. Wonder when we became a police state?
SECTION 109 allows secret star chamber courts to issue contemp charges against any individual or corporation who refuses to incriminate themselves or others. This sections annihilate the last vestiges of the Fifth Amendment.
***And* we're going to be forced to testify against others.
SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in the first Patriot Act were not sunsetted and removes the five year sunset clause from other subsections of the first Patriot Act. After all, the media has told us: “this is the New America. Get used to it. This is forever.”
***Well, we are now officially a dictatorship. Wonder if President Bush learned this from Saddam, or from some other despotic leader? D'ya think he's planning a state television service?
***Note: Over and over again, they keep stating how they're going to treat all crimes as terrorism, and that they can do this in direct violation of our accepted constitutional rights.
SECTION 126 grants the government the right to mine the entire spectrum of public and private sector information from bank records to educational and medical records. This is the enacting law to allow ECHELON and the Total Information Awareness Network to totally break down any and all walls of privacy.
***They can use your health, your spending habits and your education or lack of it to incriminate you in whatever scheme they come up with. Will it be camps, or just straight to execution to keep costs down?
The government states that they must look at everything to “determine” if individuals or groups might have a connection to terrorist groups. As you can now see, you are guilty until proven innocent.
***....and there goes the court system.
SECTION 127 allows the government to takeover coroners’ and medical examiners’ operations whenever they see fit. See how this is like Bill Clinton’s special medical examiner he had in Arkansas that ruled that people had committed suicide when their arms and legs had been cut off.
SECTION 128 allows the Federal government to place gag orders on Federal and State Grand Juries and to take over the proceedings. It also disallows individuals or organizations to even try to quash a Federal subpoena. So now defending yourself will be a terrorist action.
***Well sure. You can't have a dictatorship without supression of information and disallowing individual's rights to a Fair Trial and defense of their actions. Hell, even McVey got a trial! But no more....
SECTION 129 destroys any remaining whistleblower protection for Federal agents.
***and thereby ensures that any corruption or abuse of powers that occurs in the government never gets out.
SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their activities with toxic biological, chemical or radiological materials.
***Lovely, just lovely.
SECTION 205 allows top Federal officials to keep all their financial dealings secret, and anyone investigating them can be considered a terrorist. This should be very useful for Dick Cheney to stop anyone investigating Haliburton.
***Gee, except for the blatant awarding of the Iraq rebuilding to Haliburton, a direct slap in the face to the American public, saying that we can't do a thing about what they do.....
SECTION 313 provides liability protection for businesses, especially big businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security, violating their privacy agreements. It goes on to say that these are all preventative measures - has anyone seen Minority Report? This is the access hub for the Total Information Awareness Network.
***Fab. So now we can be spyed upon with impunity (and federal protection) by our bosses.
SECTION 402 is titled “Providing Material Support to Terrorism.” The section reads that there is no requirement to show that the individual even had the intent to aid terrorists.
***....and when they came to take me, there was nobody left to say anything.
SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass destruction to include any activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce.
***Vunderbar! So does that mean they'll repeal the silly interstate shipping laws for alcohol?
SECTION 408 creates “lifetime parole” (basically, slavery) for a whole host of crimes.
***Gee, we spent the last 150 years trying to get rid of it, and now, with one fell swoop, it's back!
Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride, boys and girls.
If you love your freedom, it is your duty to fight this unconstitutional, despotic act of government terrorism. Call your congresspersons, write them, and let them know that we won't just sit there and let Herr Bush take over the world, or the US without a fight.
Before you start calling me a traitor (as it seems it is acceptable to do these days if you dare to question our government), know that I feel that Saddam Hussein and his crowd are Bad News and Should Be Stopped.
However, that being said, how do we justify our high-handed manner of pretty much telling the rest of the world where to get off, just because we're the United States? Are we then a domineering nation, bent on doing whatever we like, no matter the consequences? Perhaps our President dreams of a new Empire, where all are happy, healthy and protected and the US is in control.
Certainly they seem to be doing that *here*. The Patriot Act, passed in October after the bombings in New York, gives our government the right to wiretap, and detain people without a warrant. Is the the United States? It seems that no member of Congress was allowed to see the first Patriot Act before its passage. Interesting, no? Is the act of the 'home of the free'? I mind the poem that starts 'When they came to take the Jews I did nothng'. How long before no one is left to protest?
Here is an analysis of the newly proposed (in Jan '03) Patriot Act II, by InfoWars: (My comments preceded by ***)
==========================================
SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration’s “enemy combatant” definition to all American citizens who “may” have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is “any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.”) Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to Section 125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act isn’t broad enough and that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.
Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person “had inferred from conduct” that they were not a US citizen. Remember Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of Federal or State law can result in the “enemy combatant” terrorist designation.
***Does this sound like someplace familiar? Like from about the 1940's? Think, do you do anything that might make a hyper-alert terrorist watcher decide you aren't a citizen? What about all those here on Green Cards, work Visas, student Visas and the like? Since they're not citizens, apparently that makes them automatically suspect. That's sure to cut down on immigration, eh?
SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who they have arrested and they never have to release the names.
***Secret police? OMIGOD! Can you say Nazi? Good googly-moogly, just what do they think they're DOING?
SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil rights across the board.
***So, not only can they scoop you up and hold you without recourse to your constitutionally granted right to representation, they can't be sued for it afterward.
SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal.
***Well, this is certainly one way to stop the media. Notwithstanding Geraldo Rivera's idiocy in sketching troop movements on national TV, now, you can't find anything out either. Wonder what *this* will do to CNN?
SECTION 103 allows the Federal government to use wartime martial law powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring that a state of war exists.
***Oh, wonderful. So now they can do all these other things, and act like we're at war when we aren't. Wonder if they'll start rounding us up this year, or if they'll wait until after the election?
SECTION 106 is bone-chilling in its straightforwardness. It states that broad general warrants by the secret FSIA court (a panel of secret judges set up in a star chamber system that convenes in an undisclosed location) granted under the first Patriot Act are not good enough. It states that government agents must be given immunity for carrying out searches with no prior court approval. This section throws out the entire Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.
***Apparently the Constitution no longer applies. Wonder when we became a police state?
SECTION 109 allows secret star chamber courts to issue contemp charges against any individual or corporation who refuses to incriminate themselves or others. This sections annihilate the last vestiges of the Fifth Amendment.
***And* we're going to be forced to testify against others.
SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in the first Patriot Act were not sunsetted and removes the five year sunset clause from other subsections of the first Patriot Act. After all, the media has told us: “this is the New America. Get used to it. This is forever.”
***Well, we are now officially a dictatorship. Wonder if President Bush learned this from Saddam, or from some other despotic leader? D'ya think he's planning a state television service?
***Note: Over and over again, they keep stating how they're going to treat all crimes as terrorism, and that they can do this in direct violation of our accepted constitutional rights.
SECTION 126 grants the government the right to mine the entire spectrum of public and private sector information from bank records to educational and medical records. This is the enacting law to allow ECHELON and the Total Information Awareness Network to totally break down any and all walls of privacy.
***They can use your health, your spending habits and your education or lack of it to incriminate you in whatever scheme they come up with. Will it be camps, or just straight to execution to keep costs down?
The government states that they must look at everything to “determine” if individuals or groups might have a connection to terrorist groups. As you can now see, you are guilty until proven innocent.
***....and there goes the court system.
SECTION 127 allows the government to takeover coroners’ and medical examiners’ operations whenever they see fit. See how this is like Bill Clinton’s special medical examiner he had in Arkansas that ruled that people had committed suicide when their arms and legs had been cut off.
SECTION 128 allows the Federal government to place gag orders on Federal and State Grand Juries and to take over the proceedings. It also disallows individuals or organizations to even try to quash a Federal subpoena. So now defending yourself will be a terrorist action.
***Well sure. You can't have a dictatorship without supression of information and disallowing individual's rights to a Fair Trial and defense of their actions. Hell, even McVey got a trial! But no more....
SECTION 129 destroys any remaining whistleblower protection for Federal agents.
***and thereby ensures that any corruption or abuse of powers that occurs in the government never gets out.
SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their activities with toxic biological, chemical or radiological materials.
***Lovely, just lovely.
SECTION 205 allows top Federal officials to keep all their financial dealings secret, and anyone investigating them can be considered a terrorist. This should be very useful for Dick Cheney to stop anyone investigating Haliburton.
***Gee, except for the blatant awarding of the Iraq rebuilding to Haliburton, a direct slap in the face to the American public, saying that we can't do a thing about what they do.....
SECTION 313 provides liability protection for businesses, especially big businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security, violating their privacy agreements. It goes on to say that these are all preventative measures - has anyone seen Minority Report? This is the access hub for the Total Information Awareness Network.
***Fab. So now we can be spyed upon with impunity (and federal protection) by our bosses.
SECTION 402 is titled “Providing Material Support to Terrorism.” The section reads that there is no requirement to show that the individual even had the intent to aid terrorists.
***....and when they came to take me, there was nobody left to say anything.
SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass destruction to include any activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce.
***Vunderbar! So does that mean they'll repeal the silly interstate shipping laws for alcohol?
SECTION 408 creates “lifetime parole” (basically, slavery) for a whole host of crimes.
***Gee, we spent the last 150 years trying to get rid of it, and now, with one fell swoop, it's back!
Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride, boys and girls.
If you love your freedom, it is your duty to fight this unconstitutional, despotic act of government terrorism. Call your congresspersons, write them, and let them know that we won't just sit there and let Herr Bush take over the world, or the US without a fight.