saw this on anotha site, thought it was interestin..:
Welcome to the American Gestapo
By DOUG THOMPSON
Nov 20, 2002, 08:32
Capitol Hill Blue
Wonder if any of the vast sums of money approved Tuesday
for the new Department of Homeland Security are set aside
for black uniforms with knee-length boots and black leather
trench coats?
Should be. Since we've gone to all this trouble to create
the new American Gestapo we might as well let them look the
part.
Excuse me if I don't join in all the senseless celebration
over creation of yet another mammoth bureaucracy of the
federal government. Pardon me if I don't go ga-ga over a
federal agency that has been given unlimited powers to spy
on Americans, trample all over the First and Fourth
Amendments, ignore the privacy of anyone it chooses and
violate the rights of every man, woman and child who used
to live in the Land of the Free.
Our own paranoia has accomplished what Osama bin Laden and
his minions could not with hijacked airplanes and vague
threats about future attacks - these fears have forced
America to abandon its principles and create a police
state.
This new Department of Homeland Security has the power to
wiretap any American it wants, without a court order,
without cause and without justification to any higher
authority. Homeland Security goon squads will have the
power to enter any American home, without a search warrant,
without probable cause, simply because someone somewhere
says "hey, this guy might be a threat." No checks and
balances, no due process. Nothing.
Video cameras at ATMs, convenience stores, department
stores and office building lobbies already record Americans
living in urban areas 75-100 times on any given day but
that isn't enough for the new American Gestapo. They plan
to erect video cameras on streets, along public highways,
in neighborhoods and deploy them on helicopters and police
cars to record everything you and I do every day of the
year.
"We are entering! a new era of domestic surveillance," says
retired FBI agent Franklin Postel. "One where the
constitution is secondary to the cause. The new department
has the power to document the day-to-day actions of any
American it chooses."
A secret court decision last May already gives the Justice
Department expanded powers to wiretap phones, spy on
Americans and "share information" with other law
enforcement agencies.
These powers, granted under a dangerous piece of
legislation called the "USA Patriot Act," allow Attorney
General John Ashcroft to sign away the normal rights and
protections that Americans used to enjoy - little things
like probable cause, due process and the now forgotten
belief that any accused is presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
Those who support these expanded powers say the system has
"safeguards" where law enforcement personnel must get a
judge's approval before wiretapping an American family but
those who have studied the law said the "safeguards" are,
in fact, "carefully worded loopholes."
"The law only requires an 'administrative review' by the
very department that wants to spy on Americans," says
retired federal judge John Macklin. "Most judges would not
approve such wiretaps but the law is engineered to make
sure that most judges never see the request."
Ashcroft says he will implement the new powers
"immediately" and is already increasing surveillance of
Americans.
Look closer at the powers granted under the act and you
will find things that would make Hitler proud.
They include provisions to allow private citizens to spy on
other private citizens without fear of prosecution if the
Department determines their actions were conducted "in the
national interest."
"I've read some of the abstracts on the new law and they
take the handcuffs off people like me," says private
detective Andrew Burlingame. "I can tap anyone I damn well
please. All I have to do is claim I thought the guy was a
terrorist."
Under the new law, an age! nt of the Department of Homeland
Security can walk into your bank, flash a badge and demand
to see your checking and saving account records. No court
order. All they need is the "presumption of guilt." They
can stop you in your car without cause and search it and
you. They can hold you in jail for 30 days or more without
filing any charges or allowing you to make any phone calls.
They can call up America Online and put a trace on all your
Internet activity without a court order. They can require
Visa to turn over all your credit card activity records
without notice.
"Again, the process only requires an internal
administrative review and not the involvement of any
independent judicial authority," says retired judge
Macklin. "It violates all previous standards for due
process and probable cause."
In other words, they can do any damn thing they want and
there isn't a thing that any of us can do about it.
Some may argue the current terrorist threat requires such
drastic measures. But what happens when that threat is met?
The Department of Homeland Security and its draconian
powers will still exist. Who will determine the new threat?
Who will decide who becomes the enemy?
"An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child
of this great nation," the leader of another country once
wrote. "We must take steps to ensure our domestic security
and protect our homeland."
That was Adoph Hitler, writing about creation of the
Gestapo in Nazi Germany.
Wecome to the American Gestapo. Be careful what you say and do. They are watching and they will be watching from now on.
Welcome to the American Gestapo
By DOUG THOMPSON
Nov 20, 2002, 08:32
Capitol Hill Blue
Wonder if any of the vast sums of money approved Tuesday
for the new Department of Homeland Security are set aside
for black uniforms with knee-length boots and black leather
trench coats?
Should be. Since we've gone to all this trouble to create
the new American Gestapo we might as well let them look the
part.
Excuse me if I don't join in all the senseless celebration
over creation of yet another mammoth bureaucracy of the
federal government. Pardon me if I don't go ga-ga over a
federal agency that has been given unlimited powers to spy
on Americans, trample all over the First and Fourth
Amendments, ignore the privacy of anyone it chooses and
violate the rights of every man, woman and child who used
to live in the Land of the Free.
Our own paranoia has accomplished what Osama bin Laden and
his minions could not with hijacked airplanes and vague
threats about future attacks - these fears have forced
America to abandon its principles and create a police
state.
This new Department of Homeland Security has the power to
wiretap any American it wants, without a court order,
without cause and without justification to any higher
authority. Homeland Security goon squads will have the
power to enter any American home, without a search warrant,
without probable cause, simply because someone somewhere
says "hey, this guy might be a threat." No checks and
balances, no due process. Nothing.
Video cameras at ATMs, convenience stores, department
stores and office building lobbies already record Americans
living in urban areas 75-100 times on any given day but
that isn't enough for the new American Gestapo. They plan
to erect video cameras on streets, along public highways,
in neighborhoods and deploy them on helicopters and police
cars to record everything you and I do every day of the
year.
"We are entering! a new era of domestic surveillance," says
retired FBI agent Franklin Postel. "One where the
constitution is secondary to the cause. The new department
has the power to document the day-to-day actions of any
American it chooses."
A secret court decision last May already gives the Justice
Department expanded powers to wiretap phones, spy on
Americans and "share information" with other law
enforcement agencies.
These powers, granted under a dangerous piece of
legislation called the "USA Patriot Act," allow Attorney
General John Ashcroft to sign away the normal rights and
protections that Americans used to enjoy - little things
like probable cause, due process and the now forgotten
belief that any accused is presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
Those who support these expanded powers say the system has
"safeguards" where law enforcement personnel must get a
judge's approval before wiretapping an American family but
those who have studied the law said the "safeguards" are,
in fact, "carefully worded loopholes."
"The law only requires an 'administrative review' by the
very department that wants to spy on Americans," says
retired federal judge John Macklin. "Most judges would not
approve such wiretaps but the law is engineered to make
sure that most judges never see the request."
Ashcroft says he will implement the new powers
"immediately" and is already increasing surveillance of
Americans.
Look closer at the powers granted under the act and you
will find things that would make Hitler proud.
They include provisions to allow private citizens to spy on
other private citizens without fear of prosecution if the
Department determines their actions were conducted "in the
national interest."
"I've read some of the abstracts on the new law and they
take the handcuffs off people like me," says private
detective Andrew Burlingame. "I can tap anyone I damn well
please. All I have to do is claim I thought the guy was a
terrorist."
Under the new law, an age! nt of the Department of Homeland
Security can walk into your bank, flash a badge and demand
to see your checking and saving account records. No court
order. All they need is the "presumption of guilt." They
can stop you in your car without cause and search it and
you. They can hold you in jail for 30 days or more without
filing any charges or allowing you to make any phone calls.
They can call up America Online and put a trace on all your
Internet activity without a court order. They can require
Visa to turn over all your credit card activity records
without notice.
"Again, the process only requires an internal
administrative review and not the involvement of any
independent judicial authority," says retired judge
Macklin. "It violates all previous standards for due
process and probable cause."
In other words, they can do any damn thing they want and
there isn't a thing that any of us can do about it.
Some may argue the current terrorist threat requires such
drastic measures. But what happens when that threat is met?
The Department of Homeland Security and its draconian
powers will still exist. Who will determine the new threat?
Who will decide who becomes the enemy?
"An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child
of this great nation," the leader of another country once
wrote. "We must take steps to ensure our domestic security
and protect our homeland."
That was Adoph Hitler, writing about creation of the
Gestapo in Nazi Germany.
Wecome to the American Gestapo. Be careful what you say and do. They are watching and they will be watching from now on.
