One month after the tragic Sept. 11, terrorist attacks, Congress passed a 342 page act to combat those terrorists.
The Public knew little about it, and even those who knew were so in shock they readily supported anything the government could do to protect them.
This Act was called the Patriot Act.
The government claims that:
“The Department of Justice’s first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part - and often the leading role - in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. While the results have been important, in passing the Patriot Act, Congress provided for only modest, incremental changes in the law.”
"Modest, incremental changes" my ass.
The Patriot Act violates over half of the Bill of Rights:
Violation of the 1st Amendment - Freedom of Speech, and right to petitition the government for redress of grievances
The Bill of Rights also claims that a citizen cannot be searched "solely on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution." That means you can't have your records searched solely because you wrote an article criticizing the Patriot Act. Like me.
But if you were not born in America and write that article, well, that's not "solely" anymore, is it? You foreigners better watch what you say, because
"[The Patriot act] creates a broad new definition of "domestic terrorism" that could sweep in people who engage in acts of political protest and subject them to wiretapping and enhanced penalties. This means they can jail anyone who disagrees with them, and keep them in jail for life without a trial."
And if you wish to exercise your right to 'petition the government for redress of grievances'? Too bad. The president has issued orders to lock down presidential records, so not only can we not question his actions, we don't even have the right to know what they are.
Violation of the 4th Amendment - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons of things to be seized.
"The Patriot Act has eliminated the Constitutional guarantee of probable cause when investigating a crime, and allows the police -- at any time, for any reason -- to enter and search your house, files, bank account-and not even tell you about it."
Violation of the 5th Amendment - Right to trial, right to life, liberty or property and right to due process of law
"Hundreds of non-citizens, [including many foreign students], have been rounded and detained, many for months, without probable cause and due process. The government has repeatedly refused any requests for information regarding the detainees by loved ones, lawyers and the press; it has denied them access to legal representatives; and has conducted its hearings in secret, in some cases denying the very existence of such hearings."
Violation of the 6th Amendment - the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Courtesy of your friendly Patriot Act, now the accused or suspicious 'terrorists' have no jury, no representation, are not informed of the accusation, get no witnesses, and heck, may get no trial at all, ever.
The War on Terror has completely compromised the fundamental rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.
"The Patriot Act allows the Attorney General to incarcerate or detain non-citizens based on mere suspicion, and to deny re-admission to the United States of non-citizens (including lawful permanent residents)."
The DOJ can now rifle through your records if they don't like what you're reading, let alone saying. Librarians and bookstore owners are now having to be forced to secretly hand over information about a patron's reading and Internet habits. If you're Middle Eastern and happen to like reading about planes, borrow the books from someone else.
Libraries aren’t the only ones getting angry - businesses are starting to become annoyed as well. There has been an increase of "national security letters" requiring businesses to hand over electronic records on finances, telephone calls, e-mails and other personal data.
The Patriot Act also grants the FBI broad access to sensitive medical, financial, mental health, and educational records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime and without a court order.
There’s a proposed sequel to the Patriot Act, called the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act." This will give the government authority to wiretap an individual, collect a person's DNA without court orders, detain people in secret, revoke citizenship, among other things.
I hate how they call it the “security enhancement act” when in reality, none of these measures can guarantee security.
With 300 million Americans, there is no way we can watch what every single person is doing. It disgusts me and scares me at the same time that the government is now trying to do this ‘Big Brother’ thing.
Yes, some measures help keep us secure, like Airport checks, but when do you cross the line?
When did privacy and rights become a trade off for alleged safety?
I read on msn.slate.com – this opinion forum, that someone believed,
“the Patriot Act, has much to recommend itself, if you trust the government.”
Yes we should trust the government.
But we should also have a right to question them.
But how do we question them when they aren't being open about what is going on?
Why should we trust a government that apparently doesn't trust us?
And by 'us' I don't mean just the citizens.
I mean the immigrants, the foreign exchange students, the legal residents, the innocent people who are in this country just trying to learn or make a living. A few psychotic bastards from another country does not justify what the government is doing to foreigners.
I have a group member in my class who told me after my speech in BA324 that now he has to travel to San Antonio every year to get interrogated, fingerprinted, and basically harassed for studying here. I feel so bad for him, and it makes me all the angrier.
How much should we trust the government?
As much as they trusted the Japanese-American citizens when they threw them in concentration camps during WWII for security reasons?
As much as they trusted the pacifists, political radicals, liberals, foreigners or anyone who did not support the Cold War or traditional American economic and political values during the Red Scare?
Trust is essential, but if we trusted the government blindly and followed their orders without question, it would no longer be a democracy.
Why vote? We should just trust them to pick a president for us.
Besides, who the hell friggin died and gave George Bush the right to pick and choose who is a patriot or not? I'm not a 'patriot' because I don't support his stupid, wasteful, badly planned War on Terror?
A Patriot is "someone who loves, supports and defends our country."
And by supporting our country we should also support everything else is stands for; not war or power or who carries the big stick, but democracy, freedom of speech, equality, and a legacy of fiercely defending our rights against those audacious enough to dare take them away from us.
But what do you do when the one threatening everything America stands for is your own government, your own President?
I think the true Patriots of America:
Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, every damn colonial who fought in the American Revolution would be rolling in their graves if they knew our Government was now using the word ‘Patriot’ to mask the blatant violation of our rights.
Don't tolerate this rapage of our Constitutional Rights.
The Public knew little about it, and even those who knew were so in shock they readily supported anything the government could do to protect them.
This Act was called the Patriot Act.
The government claims that:
“The Department of Justice’s first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part - and often the leading role - in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. While the results have been important, in passing the Patriot Act, Congress provided for only modest, incremental changes in the law.”
"Modest, incremental changes" my ass.
The Patriot Act violates over half of the Bill of Rights:
Violation of the 1st Amendment - Freedom of Speech, and right to petitition the government for redress of grievances
The Bill of Rights also claims that a citizen cannot be searched "solely on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution." That means you can't have your records searched solely because you wrote an article criticizing the Patriot Act. Like me.
But if you were not born in America and write that article, well, that's not "solely" anymore, is it? You foreigners better watch what you say, because
"[The Patriot act] creates a broad new definition of "domestic terrorism" that could sweep in people who engage in acts of political protest and subject them to wiretapping and enhanced penalties. This means they can jail anyone who disagrees with them, and keep them in jail for life without a trial."
And if you wish to exercise your right to 'petition the government for redress of grievances'? Too bad. The president has issued orders to lock down presidential records, so not only can we not question his actions, we don't even have the right to know what they are.
Violation of the 4th Amendment - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons of things to be seized.
"The Patriot Act has eliminated the Constitutional guarantee of probable cause when investigating a crime, and allows the police -- at any time, for any reason -- to enter and search your house, files, bank account-and not even tell you about it."
Violation of the 5th Amendment - Right to trial, right to life, liberty or property and right to due process of law
"Hundreds of non-citizens, [including many foreign students], have been rounded and detained, many for months, without probable cause and due process. The government has repeatedly refused any requests for information regarding the detainees by loved ones, lawyers and the press; it has denied them access to legal representatives; and has conducted its hearings in secret, in some cases denying the very existence of such hearings."
Violation of the 6th Amendment - the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Courtesy of your friendly Patriot Act, now the accused or suspicious 'terrorists' have no jury, no representation, are not informed of the accusation, get no witnesses, and heck, may get no trial at all, ever.
The War on Terror has completely compromised the fundamental rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.
"The Patriot Act allows the Attorney General to incarcerate or detain non-citizens based on mere suspicion, and to deny re-admission to the United States of non-citizens (including lawful permanent residents)."
The DOJ can now rifle through your records if they don't like what you're reading, let alone saying. Librarians and bookstore owners are now having to be forced to secretly hand over information about a patron's reading and Internet habits. If you're Middle Eastern and happen to like reading about planes, borrow the books from someone else.
Libraries aren’t the only ones getting angry - businesses are starting to become annoyed as well. There has been an increase of "national security letters" requiring businesses to hand over electronic records on finances, telephone calls, e-mails and other personal data.
The Patriot Act also grants the FBI broad access to sensitive medical, financial, mental health, and educational records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime and without a court order.
There’s a proposed sequel to the Patriot Act, called the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act." This will give the government authority to wiretap an individual, collect a person's DNA without court orders, detain people in secret, revoke citizenship, among other things.
I hate how they call it the “security enhancement act” when in reality, none of these measures can guarantee security.
With 300 million Americans, there is no way we can watch what every single person is doing. It disgusts me and scares me at the same time that the government is now trying to do this ‘Big Brother’ thing.
Yes, some measures help keep us secure, like Airport checks, but when do you cross the line?
When did privacy and rights become a trade off for alleged safety?
I read on msn.slate.com – this opinion forum, that someone believed,
“the Patriot Act, has much to recommend itself, if you trust the government.”
Yes we should trust the government.
But we should also have a right to question them.
But how do we question them when they aren't being open about what is going on?
Why should we trust a government that apparently doesn't trust us?
And by 'us' I don't mean just the citizens.
I mean the immigrants, the foreign exchange students, the legal residents, the innocent people who are in this country just trying to learn or make a living. A few psychotic bastards from another country does not justify what the government is doing to foreigners.
I have a group member in my class who told me after my speech in BA324 that now he has to travel to San Antonio every year to get interrogated, fingerprinted, and basically harassed for studying here. I feel so bad for him, and it makes me all the angrier.
How much should we trust the government?
As much as they trusted the Japanese-American citizens when they threw them in concentration camps during WWII for security reasons?
As much as they trusted the pacifists, political radicals, liberals, foreigners or anyone who did not support the Cold War or traditional American economic and political values during the Red Scare?
Trust is essential, but if we trusted the government blindly and followed their orders without question, it would no longer be a democracy.
Why vote? We should just trust them to pick a president for us.
Besides, who the hell friggin died and gave George Bush the right to pick and choose who is a patriot or not? I'm not a 'patriot' because I don't support his stupid, wasteful, badly planned War on Terror?
A Patriot is "someone who loves, supports and defends our country."
And by supporting our country we should also support everything else is stands for; not war or power or who carries the big stick, but democracy, freedom of speech, equality, and a legacy of fiercely defending our rights against those audacious enough to dare take them away from us.
But what do you do when the one threatening everything America stands for is your own government, your own President?
I think the true Patriots of America:
Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, every damn colonial who fought in the American Revolution would be rolling in their graves if they knew our Government was now using the word ‘Patriot’ to mask the blatant violation of our rights.
Don't tolerate this rapage of our Constitutional Rights.
posted by Steph at 11:55 AM
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