Opponents Say Republicans Plan Sequel to Patriot Act - NYT

[WillyT]

<snip>

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - House Democratic leaders and civil liberties advocates said Wednesday that a Republican bill responding to the findings of the Sept. 11 commission would go well beyond the panel's recommendations. It would call for broad new powers for law enforcement agencies, they said, and include new authority to conduct electronic surveillance in terrorism investigations.

House Republican officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the bill would incorporate new law enforcement authority that was not specifically requested by the commission, which called for an overhaul of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and other federal agencies responsible for intelligence and counter-terrorism.

A spokesman for Representative J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the House speaker, said pre-emptive criticism of the bill was unwarranted because as of Wednesday evening, the legislation was still not in final form and was not ready for release to the public.

But the spokesman, John Feehery, acknowledged that the bill would call for broadened surveillance powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies that "will help us get terrorists and those who help terrorists." Among the provisions, Mr. Feehery said, are ones to permit surveillance of so-called lone-wolf terrorism suspects who operate without the clear support of terrorist groups.

<snip>

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/politics/23panel.html

Four more years, my ass!!!

Hey conservatives!!! I thought you were against this sort of shit!!!

:grr::nuke::mad:

[Nashyra]

1. Start telling the repukes that this is going to spill over to the IRS

Tell them that large refunds are going to be "red flagged" and there will be a more indepth review. That will get the assholes attention. Tell them that their "poor" neighbors can turn them in and they will have probable cause to investigate.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Folks if you have never seen it, you

truly need to find a copy of the Patriot Act II, it is more than just scary. If you think these folks do not want to impose this, I have a bridge to sell you, cheap

[NEOBuckeye]

3. The Republican Party of Bush is neither Compassionate nor Conservative

[DustMolecule]

4. Gotta get out the hip-wader's to go through THIS crap!!!!

"But the spokesman, John Feehery, acknowledged that the bill would call for broadened surveillance powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies that "will help us get terrorists and those who help terrorists." Among the provisions, Mr. Feehery said, are ones to permit surveillance of so-called lone-wolf terrorism suspects who operate without the clear support of terrorist groups."


uh, yeah...lone wolf terrorism suspects....you mean all of us people (like you...me....your neighbor...the teacher at school, etc.) who don't AGREE with this administration's current policies! Anyone who wants to 'think for themselves' is "NOW IN OFFICIAL MEME: Ta-da!!! (remember you heard it here first folks ;-) ... a LONE wolf (conventional wisdom says: bad connotation...lone wolf)

But why was the wolf sooooooooo lonely....b/c he was fighting for something in his heart that he knew was good and right and true!

All of the people who 'know' (that deep in your heart kinda 'know') what is good, right and true shall/are getting together....and we ARE an awesome force!

[oldhat]

5. John Ashcroft has a posse. Obey Giant.

[struggle4progress]

6. Section-by-Section Analysis of Justice Department draft

Interested Persons Memo: Section-by-Section Analysis of Justice Department draft
“Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003,” also known as “PATRIOT Act II”
February 14, 2003
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=11835&c=206
LONG BUT DETAILED DISCUSSION!


Patriot II: The Sequel Why It's Even Scarier than the First Patriot Act
By ANITA RAMASASTRY

<snip> What if you're lucky enough discover that you've been illegally spied on, in violation of your Fourth Amendment rights? Too bad. Patriot II would provide immunity from liability to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people. The proposed act provides a defense for federal agents who engage unauthorized searches and surveillances relating to foreign intelligence when they are acting "pursuant to a lawful authorization from the President or the Attorney General."

What if a disgruntled business competitor chooses to falsely claim to the government that you're a "suspected terrorist"? Again, too bad. Don't consider suing the competitor, no matter what consequences ensure Patriot II eliminates civil liability for businesses and employees that report "suspected terrorists" to the federal government, no matter how malicious or unfounded the tip may be. <snip>

Suppose you, as a citizen, attended a legal protest for which one of the hosts, unbeknownst to you, is an organization the government has listed as terrorist. Under Patriot II, you may be deported and deemed no longer an American citizen. <snip>

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20030217.html


Patriot II's Attack on Citizenship
By JOANNE MARINER

A basic principle of American democracy is that members of government serve at the behest of the citizenry, and not vice-versa. The people, being sovereign, can use their votes to "throw the bastards out," even though the government has no reciprocal power to jettison disfavored citizens.

Our leadership may distrust or despise certain people, but it cannot strip them of their citizenship involuntarily. Murderers, child molesters, and tax evaders are subject to criminal punishment, not denationalization.

Yet with the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, informally known as "Patriot II," this basic rule is under attack. The draft legislation, the Justice Department's proposed sequel to the 2001 USA Patriot Act, was recently made public after being leaked to the Center for Public Integrity. As Anita Ramasastry explained in a previous column for this site, the bill would go well beyond its predecessor in threatening essential civil liberties.

Among Patriot II's most worrying provisions are those affecting citizenship. Section 501 of the bill, deceptively titled "Expatriation of Terrorists," would provide for the presumptive denationalization of American citizens who support the activities of any organization that the executive branch has deemed "terrorist." While it is already illegal to provide material support to such groups, even for their lawful activities, such support is considered grounds only for criminal prosecution, not for the loss of citizenship. <snip>

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20030217.html

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. Parts of Patriot Act II have ALREADY been signed into law!!....

....where the heck have some of you people been??

With a Whisper, Not a Bang
<http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/122903A.shtml>

Excerpt:

On December 13, when U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein, President George W. Bush not only celebrated with his national security team, but also pulled out his pen and signed into law a bill that grants the FBI sweeping new powers. A White House spokesperson explained the curious timing of the signing - on a Saturday - as "the President signs bills seven days a week." But the last time Bush signed a bill into law on a Saturday happened more than a year ago - on a spending bill that the President needed to sign, to prevent shuttng down the federal government the following Monday.

By signing the bill on the day of Hussein's capture, Bush effectively consigned a dramatic expansion of the USA Patriot Act to a mere footnote. Consequently, while most Americans watched as Hussein was probed for head lice, few were aware that the FBI had just obtained the power to probe their financial records, even if the feds don't suspect their involvement in crime or terrorism.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Start with the real perps.... then you can go after your own citizens

Too bad the media has dropped all of this... it warranted far more attention than it was given... and had it been given the attention it deserves... the poll numbers would be startlingly different.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,589168,00.html
FBI claims Bin Laden inquiry was frustrated

Officials told to 'back off' on Saudis before September 11

Greg Palast and David Pallister
Wednesday November 7, 2001
The Guardian

FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington say they were prevented for political reasons from carrying out full investigations into members of the Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist attacks of September 11.

http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/palast/palast3.html
Khan Job
Bush Spiked Probe of Pakistan's Dr. Strangelove
by Greg Palast

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2003/4.html
Within two months of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Guardian investigative team and BBC Television's Newsnight obtained documents, evidence and insider interviews exposing the Bush Administration's pre-September 11 directives to intelligence agencies blocking inquiries into the bin Laden family and Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks. Driving this policy of deliberate blindness, we have further reported, were the ill combination of petroleum politics and financial conflicts of interest: the Bush family and allies deep ties to Saudi Arabian royals, banks and arms dealers.

http://www.cursor.org/stories/binladenforgotten.htm
Has bin Laden bin forgotten?

America's ever-shifting attitude towards bin Laden tells us far more about the confused war on terror than about bin Laden himself.

[Zorra]

9. Down with all republicans! Enemies of American Liberty!

Destroyers of our Constitution!

Fuck Republicans! Fuck every last one of these nazi wannabes. All of them.

Vote 'em out. They should leave the US if they cannot handle personal liberty, and start their own fascist totalitarian police state based on republican party fascist principles and practices somewhere else. We don't need them, and they are destroying every decent thing our country was founded on.

Republicans are the worst, most dangerous people in America. More dangerous, more of a threat to American security, than any terrorist ever was. Republicans are the only group of people that it is alright to be prejudiced against.

Because everything that republicans believe in and do is against the best interests of the US. Republicans are the enemy. They are the enemies of every person in the United States that believes in the Constitution.