Patriot Act II Destroys What is Left of American
Liberty
Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member
of Congress was allowed to read the first Patriot Act that was passed by
the House on Oct. 27, 2001. The first Patriot Act was universally decried
by civil libertarians and constitutional scholars from across the political
spectrum. William Satire, while writing for the New York Times, described
the first Patriot Act-s powers by saying that President Bush was "seizing
dictatorial control."
On Feb. 7, 2003, The Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan public interest
think-tank in D.C., revealed the full text of the Domestic Security Enhancement
Act of 2003. The classified document had been leaked to them by an unnamed
source inside the federal government. The document consisted of a 33-page
section-by-section analysis of the accompanying 87-page bill.
Note: On Feb. 10, 2003, I discovered that not only was there a House version
that had been covertly brought to Dennis Hastert, but that many provisions
of the now public Patriot Act II had already been introduced as pork barrel
riders on Senate Bill S.22.
Dozens of subsections and even the titles of the subsections are identical
to those in the House version. This is very important because it catches
the justice Department in a bald-faced lie. The Justice Department claimed--that
the secret legislation brought into the House was only for study, and that
at this time there was no intention to try and pass it.
Now upon reading S.22, it is clear that the leadership of the Senate is fully
aware of the Patriot Act II, they have passed these riders out of their
committees into the full bill. I spent two hours scanning through S.22 and,
let me tell you that it is a nightmare for anyone who loves liberty. It even
contains the Our Lady of Peace Act that registers all gun owners. It bans
the private sale of all firearms, creates a federal ballistics database,
and much more.
The bill itself is stamped "Confidential - Not for Distribution." Upon reading
the analysis and bill, I was stunned by the scientifically crafted tyranny
contained in the legislation. The Justice Department Office of Legislative
Affairs admits that they had indeed covertly transmitted a copy of the
legislation to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-ILL.) and the Vice
President of the United States, Dick Cheney, as well as the executive heads
of federal law enforcement agencies.
It is important to note that no member of Congress was allowed to see the
first Patriot Act before its passage, and that no debate was tolerated by
the House and Senate Leadership. The intentions of the White House and Speaker
Hastert concerning Patriot Act II appear to be a carbon copy replay of the
events that led to the unprecedented passage of the first Patriot Act.
There are two glaring areas that need to be looked at concerning this new
legislation:
The secretive tactics being used 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, insuring 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 any legislation by the Executive
Branch is clearly an impeachable offense.
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 eleventh
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 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:
SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration´s
"enemy combatant" definition to all American citizens who -œmay" have
violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section
802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is "any
action that endangers human life that is a violation of any federal or state
law.-) Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to Section
125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly
broad Section 802 of the first USA Patriot Act isn´t broad enough, and
that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.
Under Section 501 a U.S. citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed
off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice
Department states that they can do this because the person "had inferred
from conduct" that they were not a U.S. citizen. Remember Section 802 of
the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of federal or state law
can result in the "enemy combatant" terrorist designation.
SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member
of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the
incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement
does not even have to tell the press whom they have arrested and they never
have to release the names.
SECTIONS 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database) set up a national
database of "suspected terrorists" and radically expand the database to include
anyone associated with suspected terrorist groups and anyone involved in
crimes or having supported any group designated as "terrorist." These sections
also set up a national DNA database for anyone on probation or who has been
on probation for any crime, and order state governments to collect the DNA
for the federal government.
SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations
against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court
injunctions against federal violations of civil rights across the board.
SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign powers and again
strip them of all rights under the "enemy combatant" designation.
SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of
whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine
intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news-gathering illegal.
SECTION 103 allows the federal government to use wartime martial law powers
domestically and internationally without Congress declaring that a state
of war exists.
SECTION 106 is bone-chilling in its straightforwardness. It states that broad
general warrants by the secret FSIA court (a panel of secret judges set up
in a star chamber system that convenes in an undisclosed location) granted
under the first Patriot Act are not good enough. It states that government
agents must be given immunity for carrying out searches with no prior court
approval. This section throws out the entire Fourth Amendment against
unreasonable searches and seizures.
SECTION 109 allows secret star-chamber courts to issue contempt charges against
any individual or corporation who refuses to incriminate themselves or others.
This section annihilates the last vestiges of the Fifth Amendment.
SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in the first Patriot Act
were not sunsetted and removes the five-year sunset clause from other subsections
of the first Patriot Act. After all, the media have told us: -œThis
is the New America. Get used to it. This is forever.
SECTION 111 expands the definition of the "enemy combatant" designation.
SECTION 122 restates the government´s newly announced power of "Surveillance
without a court order."
SECTION 123 restates that the government no longer needs warrants and that
the investigations can be a giant dragnet-style sweep described in press
reports about the Total Information Awareness Network. One passage reads,
"Thus the focus of domestic Surveillance may be less precise than that directed
against types of crime."
Over and over again, in subsection after subsection, the second Patriot Act
states that its new Soviet-type powers will be used to fight international
terrorism, domestic terrorism and other types of crimes. Of course the government
has already announced in Section 802 of the USA Patriot Act that any crime
is considered domestic terrorism.
Section 126 grants the government the right to mine the entire spectrum of
public and private sector information from bank records to educational and
medical records. This is the enacting law to allow ECHELON and the Total
information Awareness Network to totally break down any and all walls of
privacy.
The government states that it must look at everything to "determine" if
individuals or groups might have a connection to terrorist groups. As you
can now see, you are guilty until proven innocent.
SECTION 127 allows government to take over coroners and medical examiners
operations any time they see fit. Reminds us of that special medical examiner
Bill Clinton had in Arkansas, who ruled that people had committed suicide
when their arms and legs had been cut off.
SECTION 128 allows the federal government to place gag orders on federal
and state grand juries and to take over the proceedings. It also disallows
individuals or organizations to even try quashing a federal subpoena. So
defending yourself will be a terrorist action.
SECTION 129 destroys any remaining Whistleblower protection for federal agents.
SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their activities with toxic
biological, chemical or radiological materials.
SECTION 205 allows top federal officials to keep all their financial dealings
secret, and anyone investigating them be considered a terrorist. This should
be very useful for Dick Cheney to stop anyone investigating, Halliburton.
SECTION 303 sets up a national DNA database of suspected terrorists. The
database will also be used to "stop their unlawful activities." It will share
the information with state, local and foreign agencies for the same purposes.
SECTION 311, federalizes your local police department in the area of information
sharing.
SECTION 313 provides liability protection for businesses, especially big
businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security, violating their
privacy agreements. It goes on to say that these are all preventative measures.
Has anyone seen the movie "Minority Report"? This is the access hub for the
Total Information Awareness Network.
SECTION 321 authorizes foreign governments to spy on the American people,
and the sharing of information with foreign governments.
SECTION 322 removes Congress from the extradition process and allows officers
of the Homeland Security complex to extradite American citizens anywhere
they wish. It also allows Homeland Security to secretly take individuals
out of foreign countries.
SECTION 402 is titled "Providing Material Support to Terrorism." The section
reads that there is no requirement to show that the individual even had the
intent to aid terrorists.
SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass destruction to include
any activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce.
SECTION 404 makes it a crime for a terrorist or "other criminals" to use
encryption in the commission of a crime.
SECTION 408 creates "lifetime parole" (basically, slavery), for a whole host
of crimes.
SECTION 410 creates "no statute of limitations" for anyone that engages in
terrorist actions or supports terrorists. Remember, any crime is now considered
terrorism under the first Patriot Act.
SECTION 411, expands crimes that are punishable by death. Again they point
to Section 802 of the first Patriot Act and state that any terrorist act
or support of terrorist act can result in the death penalty.
SECTION 421 increases penalties for terrorist financing. This section states
that any type of financial activity connected to terrorism will result to
time in prison and $10-50,000 fines per violation.
SECTION 427 sets up asset forfeiture provisions for anyone engaging in terrorist
activities.
There are many other sections that I did not cover in the interest of time.
The American people were shocked by the despotic nature of the first Patriot
Act. The second Patriot Act dwarfs all police state legislation in modern
world history.
Usually, corrupt governments allow their citizens lots or wonderful rights
on paper, while carrying out their jackbooted oppression covertly. From snatch
and grab operations to warrantless searches, Patriot Act II is an Adolf Hitler
wish list. You can understand why President Bush, Dick Cheney and Dennis
Hastert want to keep this legislation secret not just from Congress, but
the American people as well. Bill Allison, Managing, editor of the Center
for Public Integrity, the group that broke this story, stated on my radio
show that it was obvious they were just waiting for another terrorist attack
to opportunistically get this new bill through.
Mr. Allison then shocked me with an insightful comment about how the federal
government was crafting this so that they could go after the American people
in general. He also agreed that the FBI has been quietly demonizing patriots
and Christians and "those who carry around pocket Constitutions."
I have produced two documentary films and written a book about what really
happened on September 11. The bottom-line is this: the military-industrial
complex carried the attacks out as a pretext for control. Anyone who doubts
this just hasn´t looked at the mountains of hard evidence.
Of course, the current group of white-collar criminals in the White House
might not care that we´re finding out the details of their next phase.
Because, after all, when smallpox gets released, or more buildings start
blowing up, the President can stand up there at his lectern suppressing a
smirk, squeeze out a tear or two, and tell us that, "See, I was right. I
had to take away your rights to keep you safe. And now it´s your fault
that all of these children are dead." From that point on anyone who criticizes
tyranny will be shouted down by the paid talking-head government mouthpieces
in the mainstream media.
You have to admit, it´s a beautiful script. Unfortunately, it´s
being played out in the real world. If we don´t ´get the word out
that government is using terror to control our lives while doing nothing
to stop the terrorists, we will deserve what we get -tyranny.
But our children won-t deserve it.