Patriot Act Info
From matti posted on CommonDreams September 5th, 2008 6:38 pm
The trick with the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act (that's the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001") is that its not so much a Law, but a huge collection of Amendments, Revisions, and Alterations of existing Laws.
Its a bunch of "where it now reads 'and' will be changed to read 'the' on lines 44-67 blah, blah, blah..." with only reference numbers and names for the laws it changes. So, this makes it impossible for anyone without a Law Library to understand what the hell is going on with this Act.
I took a Quarter-length course on it and I still don't really get the whole thing but to have a go at your questions:
1. Yeah. Some. Kinda. Not the Members of Congress who passed it, but other people.
2. Not without many other documents to reference. Unless you mean "allowed" to be read. Then the answer is Yes, of course, it's an Act of Congress -your servants in Government- the paper it's written on, the ink with which it is written, the file it is in, the filing cabinent that is in, and finally the building that surrounds all this is Public Property. Your Property. My Property. Our colletive Property.
3. Don't know. But remember that a new Congress can chuck all this out- as long as they have the resolve to do the right thing. The "Patriot" Act changed many laws, therefore an "Anti-Patriot" Act could change them back, or again.
4. No, that would be hard to do. The U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is much sneakier. First it muddles up a bunch of old Laws makes them vague and confusing and therefore difficult to apply. Second, it carves out a bunch of exemptions in regard to "terrorism", "suspected terrorism" "conspiracy to do all kinds of stuff", and -important for the protesters to remember- "Anarchists" and "Anarchist Groups" that allow Police and Federal Agents to do all kinds of crazy B.S. Remember in the first or second season of "South Park" where Stan's Uncle or whatever and his 'Nam buddy aren't allowed to hunt, but all they have to do is yell "Its comin' right for us!" and they can kill whatever they want, however they want in "self defense"? The "Patriot" Act does kinda the same thing, an Agent or Officer simply shouts "Suspected Terrorists!" and those Citizens' Rights and huge swaths of the Law and Legal Precedent magically disappear and the Cop can do whatever they want. That's a gross simplification, but I hope you get the "feel" of the thing from it.
What should be really disturbing is the continued "Nationalization" of Law Enforcement that the RNC and DNC situations demonstrate. The "Joint" actions between local Police and the FBI and the "cooperation" between the Dept. of "Homeland" Security and the local Sheriffs, all this stuff seems to be leading to a Federalized, Centralized, command structure and heirarchy for Law enforcement in the U.S., with the old-style "Metropolitan Police" responsible for Citizen Protection morphing into a Brotherhood of Paramilitaries directed at Citizen Repression.
The U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is an essential part of all this, but the momentum toward this Radical Change has gone beyond that now and the problem is much larger and more difficult.
If only the Members of Congress who signed this monstrosity without reading it would develop the courage and honor required to admit that mistake (the not reading) en mass and publicly!
That would cut some of the wind from the sails of this fascist Revolution.
Also remember the Courts, as packed full of political appointments and old yachting buddies as the Federal Courts are, this stuff is slowly percolating through the system.
And the Civil Courts? Let's just say I wish I was Amy Goodaman's Attorney. Nothing more fun that stickin' it to the fascist bastards in the only place they feel pain -their wallets.
Have Fun,
-matti.
The trick with the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act (that's the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001") is that its not so much a Law, but a huge collection of Amendments, Revisions, and Alterations of existing Laws.
Its a bunch of "where it now reads 'and' will be changed to read 'the' on lines 44-67 blah, blah, blah..." with only reference numbers and names for the laws it changes. So, this makes it impossible for anyone without a Law Library to understand what the hell is going on with this Act.
I took a Quarter-length course on it and I still don't really get the whole thing but to have a go at your questions:
1. Yeah. Some. Kinda. Not the Members of Congress who passed it, but other people.
2. Not without many other documents to reference. Unless you mean "allowed" to be read. Then the answer is Yes, of course, it's an Act of Congress -your servants in Government- the paper it's written on, the ink with which it is written, the file it is in, the filing cabinent that is in, and finally the building that surrounds all this is Public Property. Your Property. My Property. Our colletive Property.
3. Don't know. But remember that a new Congress can chuck all this out- as long as they have the resolve to do the right thing. The "Patriot" Act changed many laws, therefore an "Anti-Patriot" Act could change them back, or again.
4. No, that would be hard to do. The U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is much sneakier. First it muddles up a bunch of old Laws makes them vague and confusing and therefore difficult to apply. Second, it carves out a bunch of exemptions in regard to "terrorism", "suspected terrorism" "conspiracy to do all kinds of stuff", and -important for the protesters to remember- "Anarchists" and "Anarchist Groups" that allow Police and Federal Agents to do all kinds of crazy B.S. Remember in the first or second season of "South Park" where Stan's Uncle or whatever and his 'Nam buddy aren't allowed to hunt, but all they have to do is yell "Its comin' right for us!" and they can kill whatever they want, however they want in "self defense"? The "Patriot" Act does kinda the same thing, an Agent or Officer simply shouts "Suspected Terrorists!" and those Citizens' Rights and huge swaths of the Law and Legal Precedent magically disappear and the Cop can do whatever they want. That's a gross simplification, but I hope you get the "feel" of the thing from it.
What should be really disturbing is the continued "Nationalization" of Law Enforcement that the RNC and DNC situations demonstrate. The "Joint" actions between local Police and the FBI and the "cooperation" between the Dept. of "Homeland" Security and the local Sheriffs, all this stuff seems to be leading to a Federalized, Centralized, command structure and heirarchy for Law enforcement in the U.S., with the old-style "Metropolitan Police" responsible for Citizen Protection morphing into a Brotherhood of Paramilitaries directed at Citizen Repression.
The U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is an essential part of all this, but the momentum toward this Radical Change has gone beyond that now and the problem is much larger and more difficult.
If only the Members of Congress who signed this monstrosity without reading it would develop the courage and honor required to admit that mistake (the not reading) en mass and publicly!
That would cut some of the wind from the sails of this fascist Revolution.
Also remember the Courts, as packed full of political appointments and old yachting buddies as the Federal Courts are, this stuff is slowly percolating through the system.
And the Civil Courts? Let's just say I wish I was Amy Goodaman's Attorney. Nothing more fun that stickin' it to the fascist bastards in the only place they feel pain -their wallets.
Have Fun,
-matti.
posted by jefraldo at 5:45 PM
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