While you were, ah, distracted, Congress was quietly renewing every major provision of the Patriot Act.

[Guest guest]

Kiss the 4th amendment good-bye

 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and

effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and

no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or

affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the

persons or things to be seized.

 

does the new threat of terrorism suddenly make it " reasonable " to issue warrants

without probable cause--i.e., individual, fact-based suspicion--tying a person

to the offense? Such unlimited warrants from King George III were an important

spur to the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. I doubt

that such a venerable and practical constitutional requirement has somehow lost

its value or authority today.

 

Notwithstanding the Administration's consistent protestations to the contrary,

the Patriot Act implicates many other provisions of the Bill of Rights as well.

These range from an overbroad definition of terrorism, chilling peaceful dissent

under the First Amendment, to the allowance of potentially indefinite detention,

flouting due process under the Fifth Amendment and the speedy trial guarantees

of the Sixth Amendment. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/pitts

 

 

 

While you were, ah, distracted, Congress was quietly renewing every major

provision of the Patriot Act.

 

http://alternet.org/blogs/themix/27501/

 

Most of the provisions of the USA Patriot Act, including access to library

records, were supposed to " sunset " this month, five years after the law's

passing. Instead, both the House and the Senate have already voted to renew the

entire act, with only minor revisions. While they're at it, they'd like to add

some decidedly unpatriotic amendments to expand the death penalty.

 

These new amendments would let prosecutors shop around for another jury if the

one they have is deadlocked on the death penalty; triple the number of

terrorism-related crimes eligible for the death penalty; and authorize the death

penalty for a person who gives money to an organization whose members kill

someone, even if the contributor did not know that the organization or its

members were planning to kill.

 

The Patriot Act was enacted during what President Bush called " a state of

emergency. " It wasn't even read by most of the members who voted for it. But the

whole point of the sunset clause was to allow Congresspeople to actually read

the bill and debate it in calmer times. Now, the Act is effectively being made

permanent with little or no debate or discussion.

 

Still, the House and the Senate are still in negotiations over the final wording

of the bill and so it hasn't been made final yet. The Bill of Rights Defense

Commitee is asking people to make one last push to keep it from getting renewed.

They list possible actions you can get involved in and ways to educate your

communities about threats to civil liberties.

 

Rachel Neumann is Rights & Liberties Editor at AlterNet

 

 

 

 

http://BuzzardsRoost.aimoo.com

http://www.GranniesAgainstGeorge.us

 

 

 

" When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have

peace. "

Jimi Hendrix