- Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times
that no member of Congress was allowed to read the first Patriot Act that
was passed by the House on October 27, 2001. The first Patriot Act was
universally decried by civil libertarians and Constitutional scholars from
across the political spectrum.
-
- William Safire, while writing for the New York Times,
described the first Patriot Act's powers by saying that President Bush
was "seizing dictatorial control." On February 7, 2003 the Center
for Public Integrity, a non-partisan public interest think-tank in DC,
revealed the full text of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003.
The classified document had been leaked to them by an unnamed source inside
the Federal government.
-
- The document consisted of a 33-page section by section
analysis of the accompanying 87-page bill.
-
- The bill itself is stamped "Confidential - Not for
Distribution." Upon reading the analysis and bill, I was stunned by
the scientifically crafted tyranny contained in the legislation. The Justice
Department Office of Legislative Affairs admits that they had indeed covertly
transmitted a copy of the legislation to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,
(R-Il) and the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney as well
as the executive heads of federal law enforcement agencies. It is important
to note that no member of Congress was allowed to see the first Patriot
Act before its passage, and that no debate was tolerate by the House and
Senate leadership. The intentions of the White House and Speaker Hastert
concerning Patriot Act II appear to be a carbon copy replay of the events
that led to the unprecedented passage of the first Patriot Act. There are
two glaring areas that need to be looked at concerning this new legislation:
-
- 1. The secretive tactics being used by the White House
and Speaker Hastert to keep even the existence of this legislation secret
would be more at home in Communist China than in the United States. The
fact that Dick Cheney publicly managed the steamroller passage of the first
Patriot Act, ensuring that no one was allowed to read it and publicly threatening
members of Congress that if they didn't vote in favor of it that they would
be blamed for the next terrorist attack, is by the White House's own definition
terrorism. The move to clandestinely craft and then bully passage of any
legislation by the Executive Branch is clearly an impeachable offense.
-
- 2. The second Patriot Act is a mirror image of powers
that Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler gave themselves. Whereas the First
Patriot Act only gutted the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments,
and seriously damaged the Seventh and the Tenth, T he Second Patriot Act
reorganizes the entire Federal government as well as many areas of state
government under the dictatorial control of the Justice Department, the
Office of Homeland Security and the FEMA NORTHCOM military command. The
Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as the Second Patriot
Act is by its very structure the definition of dictatorship.
-
- I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act
and to compare it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of
Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with terrorism
and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles reaching into
every facet of our society. It strips American citizens of all of their
rights and grants the government and its private agents total immunity.
Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some of the draconian measures
encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation:
-
- 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.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database)
set up a national database of "suspected terrorists" and radically
expand the database to include anyone associated with suspected terrorist
groups and anyone involved in crimes or having supported any group designated
as "terrorist." These sections also set up a national DNA database
for anyone on probation or who has been on probation for any crime, and
orders State governments to collect the DNA for the Federal government.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign
powers and again strip them of all rights under the "enemy combatant"
designation.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 103 allows the Federal government to use wartime
martial law powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring
that a state of war exists.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 109 allows secret star chamber courts to issue
contempt charges against any individual or corporation who refuses to incriminate
themselves or others. This sections annihilate the last vestiges of the
Fifth Amendment.
-
- 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."
-
- SECTION 111 expands the definition of the "enemy
combatant" designation.
-
- SECTION 122 restates the government's newly announced
power of "surveillance without a court order."
-
- SECTION 123 restates that the government no longer needs
warrants and that the investigations can be a giant dragnet-style sweep
described in press reports about the Total Information Awareness Network.
One passage reads, "thus the focus of domestic surveillance may be
less precise than that directed against more conventional types of crime."
-
- *Note: Over and over again, in subsection after subsection,
the second Patriot Act states that its new Soviet-type powers will be used
to fight international terrorism, domestic terrorism and other types of
crimes. Of course the government has already announced in Section 802 of
the first USA Patriot act that any crime is considered domestic terrorism.
-
- 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 break down any and all walls
of privacy. 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.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 129 destroys any remaining whistle blower protection
for Federal agents.
-
- SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their
activities with toxic biological, chemical or radiological materials.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 303 sets up national DNA database of suspected
terrorists. The database will also be used to "stop other unlawful
activities." It will share the information with state, local and foreign
agencies for the same purposes.
-
- SECTION 311 federalizes your local police department
in the area of information sharing.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 321 authorizes foreign governments to spy on
the American people and to share information with foreign governments.
-
- SECTION 322 removes Congress from the extradition process
and allows officers of the Homeland Security complex to extradite American
citizens anywhere they wish. It also allows Homeland Security to secretly
take individuals out of foreign countries.
-
- 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.
-
- SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass
destruction to include any activity that affects interstate or foreign
commerce.
-
- SECTION 404 makes it a crime for a terrorist or "other
criminals" to use encryption in the commission of a crime.
-
- SECTION 408 creates "lifetime parole" (basically,
slavery) for a whole host of crimes.
-
- SECTION 410 creates no statute of limitations for anyone
that engages in terrorist actions or supports terrorists. Remember: any
crime is now considered terrorism under the first Patriot Act.
-
- SECTION 411 expands crimes that are punishable by death.
Again, they point to Section 802 of the first Patriot Act and state that
any terrorist act or support of terrorist act can result in the death penalty.
-
- SECTION 421 increases penalties for terrorist financing.
This section states that any type of financial activity connected to terrorism
will result to time in prison and $10-50,000 fines per violation.
-
- SECTIONS 427 sets up asset forfeiture provisions for
anyone engaging in terrorist activities. There are many other sections
that I did not cover in the interest of time. The American people were
shocked by the despotic nature of the first Patriot Act. The second Patriot
Act dwarfs all police state legislation in modern world history. home
|
