[Clips] Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
Tyler Durden
camera_lumina at hotmail.com
Mon Feb 13 10:23:23 PST 2006
"You can bet that the Alito-Roberts court will rule that it is whatever the
executive branch says."
Yes, but what it will BE is whatever the lead thug says it is. Looks like I
could be jailed for wearing Birkenstocks, or for not giving them a cut of my
hard-earned crack dollars.
Gettin' time to bum rush da show...
-TD
>From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>To: cypherpunks at jfet.org
>Subject: [Clips] Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
>Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:52:02 -0500
>
>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
> Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
> Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:47:47 -0500
> To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
> From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
> Subject: [Clips] Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
> Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
> Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com
>
>
><http://newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?s=pf&page=http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/26/101607.shtml>
>
> Reprinted from NewsMax.com
>
> Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
>
> Paul Craig Roberts
>
> Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006
>
> A provision in the "Patriot Act" creates a new federal police force with
> power to violate the Bill of Rights. You might think that this cannot be
> true, as you have not read about it in newspapers or heard it discussed
>by
> talking heads on TV. However, it is a looming reality.
>
> Go to House Report 109-333 - "USA PATRIOT Improvement and
>Reauthorization
> Act of 2005," and check it out for yourself.
>
> Sec. 605 states the following:
>
> "There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be
> known as the 'United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.'"
>
> This new federal police force is "subject to the supervision of the
> secretary of homeland security."
>
> The new police are empowered to "make arrests without warrant for any
> offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for
>any
> felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have
> reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has
>committed
> or is committing such felony."
>
> The new police are assigned a variety of jurisdictions, including "an
>event
> designated under Section 3056(e) of Title 18 as a special event of
>national
> significance," or SENS.
>
> "A special event of national significance" is neither defined nor does
>it
> require the presence of a "protected person" such as the president in
>order
> to trigger it. Thus, the administration, and perhaps the police
>themselves,
> can place the SENS designation on any event.
>
> Once a SENS designation is placed on an event, the new federal police
>are
> empowered to keep out and to arrest people at their discretion.
>
> The language conveys enormous discretionary and arbitrary powers. What
>is
> "an offense against the United States"? What are "reasonable grounds"?
>
> You can bet that the Alito-Roberts court will rule that it is whatever
>the
> executive branch says.
>
> The obvious purpose of the act is to prevent demonstrations at
>Bush-Cheney
> events. However, nothing in the language limits the police powers from
> being used only in this way.
>
> Like every law in the United States, this law also will be expansively
> interpreted and abused. It has dire implications for freedom of
>association
> and First Amendment rights. We can take for granted that the new federal
> police will be used to suppress dissent and break up opposition. The
> Brownshirts are now arming themselves with a Gestapo.
>
> Many naive Americans will write to me to explain that this new provision
>in
> the reauthorization of the "Patriot Act" is necessary to protect the
> president and other high officials from terrorists or from harm at the
> hands of angry demonstrators, "No one else will have anything to fear."
> Some will accuse me of being an alarmist, and others will say that it is
> unpatriotic to doubt the law's good intentions.
>
> Americans will write such nonsense despite the fact that the president
>and
> foreign dignitaries are already provided superb protection by the Secret
> Service.
>
> The naive will not comprehend that the president cannot be endangered by
> demonstrators at SENS when the president is not present. For many
> Americans, the light refuses to turn on.
>
> In Nazi Germany, did no one but the Jews have anything to fear from the
> Gestapo?
>
> By Stalin's time, Lenin and Trotsky had eliminated all members of the
> "oppressor class," but that did not stop Stalin from sending millions of
> "enemies of the people" to the Gulag.
>
> It is extremely difficult to hold even local police forces accountable.
>Who
> is going to hold accountable a federal police protected by Homeland
> Security and the president?
>
> --
> -----------------
> R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
> "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
> [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
> experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
> _______________________________________________
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>--- end forwarded text
>
>
>--
>-----------------
>R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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