[Seattle-editorial] info on patriot act ii if interested for links

Wed Feb 26 09:13:40 PST 2003

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>Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 05:35:56 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: [infowarriors] Patriot Act II
>Reply-To: infowarriors at yahoogroups.com
>
>Due process in this country has been ion the process
>of being gutted for a long time.  This next act just
>puts it to rest.
>
>
>This item is also available on the web at:
>http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=11817&c=206
>
>ACLU Says New Ashcroft Bill Erodes Checks and Balances
>on Presidential Power; PATRIOT II Legislation Would
>Needlessly Infringe on Basic Constitutional Liberties
>
>February 12, 2003
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>Contact:media at dcaclu.org
>
>WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today
>said that
>new Department of Justice "anti-terrorism" legislation
>goes further
>than the USA PATRIOT Act in eroding checks and
>balances on
>Presidential power and contains a number of measures
>that are of
>questionable effectiveness, but are sure to infringe
>on civil liberties.
>
>For a detailed section-by-section analysis of the
>draft bill, go to:
>http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=11835c=206
>
>"The new Ashcroft proposal threatens to fundamentally
>alter the
>Constitutional protections that allow us to be both
>safe and free,"
>said Timothy H. Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel.
>"If it becomes
>law, it will encourage police spying on political and
>religious activities,
>allow the government to wiretap without going to court
>and
>dramatically expand the death penalty under an
>overbroad definition
>of terrorism."
>
>The Department of Justice has been drafting the new
>legislation --
>called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003
>-- in secret
>over the past several months. It contains a multitude
>of new and
>sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering
>powers and
>expands on many provisions in the controversial USA
>PATRIOT Act,
>passed in late October 2001.
>
>The big picture implications of the bill, the ACLU
>said, include a
>severe diminishment of basic checks and balances on
>the power of
>the executive branch of government and a continuing
>love affair
>with untested and likely ineffective security
>measures, which will, in
>addition to not making America any safer, infringe on
>basic liberties --
>especially personal privacy and the freedoms of
>speech, association
>and religion.
>
>Provisions in the Attorney General¥s bill would allow
>the government
>to strip citizenship from any American who provides
>support for a
>group designated by the federal government as a
>"terrorist
>organization" (section 501). Significantly, the USA
>PATRIOT Act
>broadened the definition of groups that could be so
>designated to
>potentially include domestic protest organizations
>such as Operation
>Rescue or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
>
>Also included are provisions permitting -- without
>court order and at
>the sole discretion of the Attorney General --
>wiretapping of
>Americans for 15 days (sections 103, 104) without a
>declaration of
>war by Congress, if the Executive Branch decides
>unilaterally that
>an attack has created an emergency. While the Justice
>Department
>would have to check in with a judge after the 15 days,
>the
>information gleaned during that period could still be
>retained and
>used against innocent Americans, the ACLU said.
>
>Other contentious proposals in the draft legislation
>include statutory
>authority for secret detentions and the termination of
>court-approved
>limits on police spying. Also, the draft bill would
>apply the death penalty
>to offenses that, because of the redefinition of
>domestic terrorism in
>USA PATRIOT, could sweep in protest tactics that
>"involve violent acts
>or acts dangerous to human life." Under the law, the
>ACLU said, if an
>anti-war protestor broke the law during a
>demonstration and someone
>died as a result, the protestor could be subject to
>the death penalty.
>(Section 411)
>
>These provisions are only a sampling of the civil
>liberties concerns in
>the Ashcroft proposal, the ACLU said. Specifically,
>the bill, if signed
>into law, would also:Make it easier for the government
>to initiate
>surveillance and wiretapping of U.S. citizens under
>the shadowy, top-
>secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
>(Sections 101, 102
>and 107) Shelter federal agents engaged in illegal
>surveillance
>without a court order from criminal prosecution if
>they are following
>orders of high Executive Branch officials. (Section
>106) Authorize, in
>statute, the Department of Justice¥s campaign of
>secret detentions
>by including a provision that would preempt federal
>litigation
>challenging non-disclosure of basic information about
>detainees.
>(Section 201)
>Threaten public health by severely restricting access
>to crucial
>information about environmental health risks posed by
>facilities that
>use dangerous chemicals. (Section 202) Harm Americans¥
>ability to
>receive a fair trial by limiting defense attorneys
>from challenging the
>use of secret evidence. (Section 204) Reduce the
>ability of grand jury
>witnesses in terrorism investigations to defend
>themselves against
>public accusations by gagging them from discussing
>their testimony
>with the media or the general public. (Section 206)
>Allow for the
>sampling and cataloguing of innocent Americans¥
>genetic information
>without court order and without consent. (Sections
>301-306)
>Permit, without any connection to anti-terrorism
>efforts, sensitive
>personal information about U.S. citizens to be shared
>with local and
>state law enforcement. (Section 311) Undercut trust
>between police
>departments and immigrant communities by opening
>sensitive visa
>files to local police for the enforcement of complex
>immigration laws.
>(Section 311) Terminate court-approved limits on
>police spying, which
>were initially put in place to prevent McCarthy-style
>law enforcement
>persecution based on political or religious
>affiliation. (Section 312)
>Provide an incentive for neighbor to spy on neighbor
>and pose
>problems similar to those inherent in Attorney General
>Ashcroft¥s
>"Operation TIPS" by granting blanket immunity to
>businesses that
>phone in false terrorism tips, even if their actions
>are taken with
>reckless disregard for the truth. (Section 313)
>Further criminalize
>association -- without any intent to commit acts of
>terrorism --
>with unpopular organizations labeled as terrorist by
>our government.
>(Section 402) Under the pretext of fighting terrorism,
>unfairly
>target undocumented workers with extended jail terms
>for common
>immigration offenses. (Section 502)
>Provide for summary deportations without evidence of
>crime or
>criminal intent, even of lawful permanent residents,
>whom the
>Attorney General says are a threat to national
>security. (Section 503)
>Abolish fair hearings for lawful permanent residents
>convicted of
>criminal offenses through an "expedited removal"
>procedure, and
>prevent any court from questioning the government¥s
>unlawful actions
>by explicitly exempting these cases from habeas
>corpus. Congress
>has not exempted any person from habeas corpus -- a
>protection
>guaranteed by the Constitution -- since the Civil War.
>(Section 504)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>=====
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>I hate it when they say, "He gave his life for his country." Nobody 
>gives their life for anything. We steal the lives of these kids. We 
>take it away from them. They don't die for the honor and glory of 
>their country. We kill them." -- Admiral Gene LaRocque
>
>http://clix.to/jterpst
>
>
>
>
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-- 

Be realistic and do the impossible, because if we don't do the 
impossible, we face the unthinkable.

-- Murray Bookchin