[Clips] Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision

[Tyler Durden]

"You can bet that the Alito-Roberts court will rule that it is whatever the
  executive branch says."

Yes, but what it will BE is whatever the lead thug says it is. Looks like I 
could be jailed for wearing Birkenstocks, or for not giving them a cut of my 
hard-earned crack dollars.

Gettin' time to bum rush da show...

-TD


>From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>To: cypherpunks at jfet.org
>Subject: [Clips] Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
>Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:52:02 -0500
>
>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
>   Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
>   Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:47:47 -0500
>   To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
>   From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>   Subject: [Clips] Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
>   Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
>   Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com
>
>
><http://newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?s=pf&page=http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/26/101607.shtml>
>
>   Reprinted from NewsMax.com
>
>   Land Mine in Patriot Act Provision
>
>   Paul Craig Roberts
>
>   Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006
>
>   A provision in the "Patriot Act" creates a new federal police force with
>   power to violate the Bill of Rights. You might think that this cannot be
>   true, as you have not read about it in newspapers or heard it discussed 
>by
>   talking heads on TV. However, it is a looming reality.
>
>   Go to House Report 109-333 - "USA PATRIOT Improvement and 
>Reauthorization
>   Act of 2005," and check it out for yourself.
>
>   Sec. 605 states the following:
>
>   "There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be
>   known as the 'United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.'"
>
>   This new federal police force is "subject to the supervision of the
>   secretary of homeland security."
>
>   The new police are empowered to "make arrests without warrant for any
>   offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for 
>any
>   felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have
>   reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has 
>committed
>   or is committing such felony."
>
>   The new police are assigned a variety of jurisdictions, including "an 
>event
>   designated under Section 3056(e) of Title 18 as a special event of 
>national
>   significance," or SENS.
>
>   "A special event of national significance" is neither defined nor does 
>it
>   require the presence of a "protected person" such as the president in 
>order
>   to trigger it. Thus, the administration, and perhaps the police 
>themselves,
>   can place the SENS designation on any event.
>
>   Once a SENS designation is placed on an event, the new federal police 
>are
>   empowered to keep out and to arrest people at their discretion.
>
>   The language conveys enormous discretionary and arbitrary powers. What 
>is
>   "an offense against the United States"? What are "reasonable grounds"?
>
>   You can bet that the Alito-Roberts court will rule that it is whatever 
>the
>   executive branch says.
>
>   The obvious purpose of the act is to prevent demonstrations at 
>Bush-Cheney
>   events. However, nothing in the language limits the police powers from
>   being used only in this way.
>
>   Like every law in the United States, this law also will be expansively
>   interpreted and abused. It has dire implications for freedom of 
>association
>   and First Amendment rights. We can take for granted that the new federal
>   police will be used to suppress dissent and break up opposition. The
>   Brownshirts are now arming themselves with a Gestapo.
>
>   Many naive Americans will write to me to explain that this new provision 
>in
>   the reauthorization of the "Patriot Act" is necessary to protect the
>   president and other high officials from terrorists or from harm at the
>   hands of angry demonstrators, "No one else will have anything to fear."
>   Some will accuse me of being an alarmist, and others will say that it is
>   unpatriotic to doubt the law's good intentions.
>
>   Americans will write such nonsense despite the fact that the president 
>and
>   foreign dignitaries are already provided superb protection by the Secret
>   Service.
>
>   The naive will not comprehend that the president cannot be endangered by
>   demonstrators at SENS when the president is not present. For many
>   Americans, the light refuses to turn on.
>
>   In Nazi Germany, did no one but the Jews have anything to fear from the
>   Gestapo?
>
>   By Stalin's time, Lenin and Trotsky had eliminated all members of the
>   "oppressor class," but that did not stop Stalin from sending millions of
>   "enemies of the people" to the Gulag.
>
>   It is extremely difficult to hold even local police forces accountable. 
>Who
>   is going to hold accountable a federal police protected by Homeland
>   Security and the president?
>
>   --
>   -----------------
>   R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>   The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>   44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>   "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>   [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>   experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
>   _______________________________________________
>   Clips mailing list
>   Clips at philodox.com
>   http://www.philodox.com/mailman/listinfo/clips
>
>--- end forwarded text
>
>
>--
>-----------------
>R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'