The Patriot Act redux

[realFedUp]

Listened to Erwin Chemerinsky
last night in Pasadena speaking on the Patriot Act.

Just so we don't lose sight of how far removed from our Constitution this administration has taken this country...remind yourselves and act. Tell your representatives not to pass a Patriot Act 2 and to amend or throw out Patriot Act 1.

http://www.ccl-foothills.org/overview.html

An Overview of the USA Patriot Act

I. History of the Patriot Act

• It was passed with no debate.
• Many members of Congress did not fully read the Act.
• It was introduced just one week after Sept. 11, 2001, and voted on when many in Congress didn't have access to their offices, due to the anthrax scare.
• Attorney General John Ashcroft silenced debate by warning that anyone who contested the Act would be akin to a traitor, abetting the terrorists.
• Many provisions had previously been debated and rejected by Congress.
It is a recycled hodge-podge compilation of many extreme "wish lists" that were rejected in the past by Congress and simply resurrected in the immediate post 9/11 wake of fear.

II. The Act Erodes Our Privacy Rights and Constitutional Protections

• It applies to everyday citizens: The Act "expands 'terrorism' laws to include an overly-broad definition of 'domestic terrorism,' which could subject political organizations to surveillance, wiretapping, harassment.
• It allows easy government spying of Internet and web browsing.
• It allows for secret searches & surveillance: It expands the ability of law enforcement to conduct secret searches, gives them wide powers of phone and internet surveillance, and access to highly personal medical, financial, mental health, and student records with minimal judicial oversight.
• It divulges confidential library reading records, and other highly personal records (medical, educational, and financial records).: It allows the government to search the patron reading records at libraries and bookstores, with no showing of possible criminal wrongdoing, despite the misleading nature of such records. Moreover the Act places a "gag" on librarians and booksellers, barring them from telling anyone about records that have been searched.
• It creates a loophole to 4th Amendment Constitutional protections: It expands the secret foreign intelligence court to everyday crime fighting to create a loophole to avoid the Constitution's protections against unreasonable "searches and seizures."
• It unfairly targets immigrants and minorities:
• Lawful immigrants can be jailed on mere suspicion at 6-month increments, possibly indefinitely, if the person can't be deported.
• Immigrants can be denied entry based solely on their free speech activities.

III. This is Part of a Federal Program for Large-scale Domestic Spying on Citizen Groups

Historically, these powers have been abused before.
• Alarmingly, in conjunction with the Patriot Act, the Administration has lifted the ban on government spying of domestic religious and political groups. These regulations were put in place years ago to safeguard citizens from "COINTELPRO"-type spying abuses of the 50's, 60's, and 70's, in which the FBI sought to disrupt and discredit thousands of individuals and legitimate political groups.
• Patriot II actually goes so far to encourage another Watergate: it shields individuals who break the law if they were directed to do so by a high-placed member of the Executive Branch.
• McCarthyism ruined people's reputations, but the Patriot I goes further by putting people in jail and Patriot II could strip you of your citizenship!
This is one of many government incursions into privacy and electronic surveillance. Patriot I is part of a broader plan of broad surveillance of everyday citizens and the ensuing attack on privacy rights.
These government programs include:
• "TIPS" (a program for citizens to spy on each other)
• Total (renamed "Terrorist") Information Awareness Program (a massive database effort to track all records on citizens in a central database--in real time!)
• "Carnivore" (an FBI computer hacking software)
• National I.D. cards with tracking devices for all citizens has been proposed
Meanwhile, the Justice Dept. is blocking citizens' efforts for Freedom of Information, stating that it will usually back agencies that deny requests.

IV. National Opposition to the Patriot Act

• Over 130 cities and 3 states have passed resolutions opposing Patriot I. (For an up-to-date list, visit click here.
• Leading conservatives have decried the Patriot Act.
• Law professors across the country have denounced it.
• Both Liberal and Conservative Groups have opposed the Patriot Act.
• Local librarians all over the country--and the American Library Association and the California Library Association--have denounced the Patriot Act as threatening our right to free speech.
• A large coalition of groups nationally and locally have endorsed this effort

[ima_sinnic]

1. I have put together quite a bit of information on both I & II

at my website, in my sig line. Click on "civil liberties in jeopardy." Thank you for posting this link and I will be adding it to my site.

[realFedUp]

2. Thanks and you should post your website...

it looks good.