- It's time we started calling this crap what it is. Representative
Sensenbrenner (see article below) has come up with yet another ironically
named attack on our freedoms the "Defending America's Most Vulnerable:
Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005" (H.R.
1528) This act would require you to report any of the following examples
to the police or face a two year jail sentence.
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- * You see someone you know pass a joint to a 20-year
old college student.
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- * Your cousin mentions that he bought Ecstasy for some
of his college friends.
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- * You find out that your brother, who has kids, recently
bought a small amount of marijuana to share with his wife.
-
- * Your substance-abusing daughter recently begged her
boyfriend to find her some drugs even though they're both in drug treatment.
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- * You can also be forced to go under cover in order to
trap your friends or relations into giving the police enough evidence to
prosecute them -- do it or go to jail yourself.
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- We have just finished observing Memorial Day in which
we honor the soldiers who gave their lives defending this countries' freedoms.
The kind of law that Sensenbrenner is proposing would be perfectly fitting
in Hitler's Nazi Germany. How many people died in order to prevent Hitler
from imposing this kind of government on the rest of the world? Sensenbrenner's
H. R. 1528 is Fascism, so let us call it what it is. We show a fine sense
of gratitude to our heroic dead when we sheepishly allow miscreants like
Sensenbrenner impose the Fascism that they fought against on us.
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- Memorial Day is a good time to assess our country and
our citizenship in it. I think, though, that a second opinion would be
useful. Let us use our imaginations to call up the ghosts of our countries
dead defenders and ask them what they think. Perhaps we can ask the spirit
of one of the corpses bobbing in the surf of Normandy beach on D-day what
he thinks of Sensenbrenner and his legislation. What do you think he'd
say? And perhaps we can call up the ghost of an Eighth Air Force air crewman,
who, too badly wounded to bail out of his B-17, rode it down to it's fiery
death on the soil of Germany, as many hundreds of them did. What would
he think of the USA Patriot Act which undermines American freedom in a
way that would have made Hitler proud? What would he think of the people
that wrote it? Or the people that voted for it?
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- And finally, can we face these imaginary dead and justify
our citizenship to them? Are we letting freedoms' enemies within do to
us what freedoms' enemies without could not? I think we are, I think that
America is failing on our watch and if it goes down it will be our fault.
What do you think? What would freedom's fallen defenders think?
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- Guy Herron Murray, Utah USA
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- cc Representative Jim Matheson, Just about every activist
I know.
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- You've Been Drafted - Uncle Sam Wants You For The War
On Drugs
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- Drug Policy.org 5-18-5
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- "I want to thank the over 4,400 people who have
sent emails to their Representatives opposing Congressman Sensenbrenner's
draconian mandatory minimum sentencing bill. This bill is now garnering
national attention.
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- This bill would have serious consequences for our democracy,
requiring you to spy on all your neighbors, including going undercover
and wearing a wire if needed. Refusing to become a spy for the government
would be punishable by a mandatory prison sentence of at least two years.
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- We need your help to fight this bill, including your
ideas.
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- We alerted you last week to the bill, entitled "Defending
America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection
Act of 2005" (H.R. 1528). Thousands of you have faxed Congress in
opposition to the bill and we've already raised $2,000 online to fight
it. Thank you!
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- We already told you about many of the terrible provisions
in this legislation, but we are especially concerned about a section of
the bill that turns every American into an agent of the state. Here's how
it works:
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- If you "witness" certain drug offenses taking
place or "learn" that they took place you would have to report
the offense to law enforcement within 24 hours and provide "full assistance"
in the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of the people involved.
Failure to do so would be a crime punishable by a mandatory two year prison
sentence.
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- Here are some examples of offenses you would have to
report to the police within 24 hours:
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- * You see someone you know pass a joint to a 20-year
old college student.
-
- * Your cousin mentions that he bought Ecstasy for some
of his college friends.
-
- * You find out that your brother, who has kids, recently
bought a small amount of marijuana to share with his wife.
-
- * Your substance-abusing daughter recently begged her
boyfriend to find her some drugs even though they're both in drug treatment.
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- In each of these cases you face jail time if you don't
call the police within 24 hours. It doesn't matter if the offender is your
friend or relative. It also doesn't matter if you need 48 hours to think
about it. You have to report the person to the government within 24 hours
or go to jail. You also have to assist the government in every way, including
wearing a wire if needed. Refusing to cooperate would cost you at least
two years in prison (possibly up to ten). In addition to turning family
member against family member, the legislation could also put many Americans
into dangerous situations by forcing them to go undercover to gain evidence
against strangers.
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- This is what we're up against in Congress and, as I told
you last week, it's not going to be easy. Sensenbrenner, the chair of the
powerful Judiciary Committee, usually gets what he wants. Lots of people
are afraid to challenge him. But we have a duty to our children to stop
our country from turning into a police state. I'm sure you feel this duty,
as well."
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- http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/051805sensen.cfm
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