The Patriot Act exposed

A diminution of the Constitution of the United States of America

Published on November 21, 2004 By dabe In Politics

The following is an exerpt from an article that has interpreted both Patriot Acts I and II. Although it mentions the following two points of being "glaring" areas of concern, I think that there are more sections that are downright scary, like SECTION 103, which allows the Federal government to use wartime martial law powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring that a state of war exists.

There are two glaring areas that need to be looked at concerning this new legislation:

1. The secretive tactics being used by the White House and Speaker Hastert to keep even the existence of this legislation secret would be more at home in Communist China than in the United States. The fact that Dick Cheney publicly managed the steamroller passage of the first Patriot Act, ensuring that no one was allowed to read it and publicly threatening members of Congress that if they didn't vote in favor of it that they would be blamed for the next terrorist attack, is by the White House's own definition terrorism. The move to clandestinely craft and then bully passage of any legislation by the Executive Branch is clearly an impeachable offense.

2. The second Patriot Act is a mirror image of powers that Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler gave themselves. Whereas the First Patriot Act only gutted the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and seriously damaged the Seventh and the Tenth, the Second Patriot Act reorganizes the entire Federal government as well as many areas of state government under the dictatorial control of the Justice Department, the Office of Homeland Security and the FEMA NORTHCOM military command. The Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as the Second Patriot Act is by its very structure the definition of dictatorship.

I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act and to compare it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with terrorism and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles reaching into every facet of our society. It strips American citizens of all of their rights and grants the government and its private agents total immunity. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some of the draconian measures encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation:

Please go to Link and read on. Then, let's please discuss the merits of this legislation.

Comments

Deference

on Nov 21, 2004

Thank God somebody else out there is also keeping an eye out for this stuff. Please include more links and sources, and keep up the good work. Some will try to write this off as overblown or conspiracy theory, but the effect and substance is all there. Citizens are asleep and seem to be taking a casual attitude to having their civil liberties culled...

LeapingLizard

on Nov 21, 2004

Artist David Mott painted this image during Vietnam. He recently retitled it "Patriot Acts."

tjesterb

on Nov 21, 2004

I agree that sections of the Patriot Act appear to contradict the Constitution. One thing to bear in mind, however, is that the Supreme Court has the power to strike down all or any part of the Patriot Act , if it reviews it , and finds it un-Constitutional. It is the defined purpose of the Judical Branch of the government to interpret the Constition.
The last I checked the Patriot Act was not part of the Constitution, and therefore is subject to the higher authority of the Constitution.
A town I lived in once passed a law stating that a cat owner was responsible for any damage done by his/her cat. However, the State law (Ohio) stated that cats are classified as "feral animals" and thus cannot be "owned" by anyone. So while the local law existed on the books, if anyone ever challenged it, then it would be over-ruled by the higher authority of the State law.
This may be an oversimplification, but I believe the principle is the same in the case of the Patriot Act. What would be best to see, is someone challenging this to the Supreme COurt, but I think that would require some part of the Act to be carried out before someone could challenge its constitutionality.

Daiwa

on Nov 22, 2004

There is a conundrum here.

Almost everyone, including the left, believes our government failed to recognize, understand and preempt the threat that culminated in the 9/11 tragedy. Many, with the benefit of hindsight, have come to recognize that we had unwittingly exposed a weakness by so meticulously isolating domestic security from foreign security. This was probably an inevitable result of our collective sense of domestic invulnerability.

There are many aspects of the Patriot Acts that are troublesome, to some more than others, I suspect. Some of the fears regarding the provisions of the Acts may be quite justified. But I would invite the Patriot Act critics to offer constructive suggestions about how we can better provide for our security. There aren't many more pressing issues than this.

Cheers,
Daiwa

on Nov 22, 2004

http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/actpat.htm Patriot act II document

Like I said in Dark era of Government blog, be worried....

dabe

on Nov 22, 2004

Oh, you bet your ass, I'm worried........... very worried.

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