Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Kurt Schlatzer" <kurt AT kurtschlatzer.com>]

So let me get this straight, you believe that we need to repeal the Patriot
Act because the government is picking on criminals? I have my own concerns
about "Big Brother" but there is nothing in this form letter that makes a
good case for repeal.

Some jackass got nailed for running a meth lab using the act. How is this a
bad thing?

Before you go pushing your causes on the group, make sure you do some
serious research and have a valid argument. Don't just throw a form letter
at us. Better yet, send it for another forum. I'm sick of getting crap like
this in my inbox.

Kurt Schlatzer


-----Original Message-----
From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Shea Tisdale
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 10:58 AM
To: 'Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/'
Subject: [internetworkers] Patriot Act


I am hoping you will forgive this use of bandwidth to promote a cause of
mine.  Namely, the repeal of the USA Patriot Act.  I know everyone won’t
agree with me, and I’m actually glad that is the case.  Otherwise, life
would be pretty boring.  Therefore, I encourage you to read my opinion and
the information below and anything else you can find and form your own
opinion and make it known to your representatives.

And let me say that I think it’s important you do this whether you agree
with me or not.

The price good people pay for their indifference to public affairs is to be
ruled by evil men.
— Plato (427-347 BC)

I don’t know how many of you are aware or not, but the USA Patriot Act is
being used increasingly against US Citizens for common crimes.  The law was
never intended for this (at least publicly they never said this when it was
proposed) and it is a subversion of Constitution and our basic rights as
citizens.

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey
if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the
harms it would cause if improperly administered.

— Lyndon B. Johnson

I know that the “Security concerns” following Sept. 11 made many people feel
that laws like this are necessary, but I personally believe that it wasn’t a
lack of laws that lead to this or that caused us to fail in preventing it.

And afterward, the events of Sept. 11 were used by the government as an
excuse to pass laws that remove civil liberties in the name of “protecting
us” from the evil of terrorism.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and
hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series
of hobgoblins; all of them imaginary.


—        H.L. Mencken

While I will concede that not all threats to us are imaginary, and the acts
of Sept. 11 certainly prove that.  I do think that it is appropriate to
consider that the aim of politicians and governments is to increase their
power at the expense of the people.  Our forefathers knew this well and
built many protections into the constitution and debated issues such as
this.  In considering the Constitution, James Madison quoted this:  In
dubiis, non praesumitur pro potentia. In cases of doubt, the presumption is
not in favor of a power.

Everything that the terrorists did was against the law, from being here
illegally, to using forged paperwork, to the heinous acts they carried out.
And several agencies had all the information they needed to investigate and
failed to do so.  So I don’t think the government needs more laws – only to
enforce the laws we already have.  They don’t need new surveillance powers,
they had information already.  They simply failed to act on it or to pass it
on to other agencies that might have been concerned.  But seeing an
opportunity, our government has made a power grab that gives them
unprecedented new powers and leaves ordinary citizens at their mercy.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.


— Benjamin Franklin

So that is my take on it with a few quotes thrown in by people much smarter
than I.  Please consider this and read some of the news stories below.



http://www.centralmaine.com/view/editorials/030917edit_pat.shtml (If you go
to this website, please read the story, but you might also look at their
address banner near the top of the page and run your cursor across it.  Cool
effect)

Within six weeks of passing the Patriot Act the Justice Department conducted
seminars teaching enforcement agencies how to use the provisions of that law
against citizens not suspected of terrorism.

Some learned that lesson too well.

A North Carolina county prosecutor used the law to charge a man accused of
running a methamphetamine lab of manufacturing chemical weapons. The accused
could get 12 years to life behind bars. The normal sentence for the crime is
about six months.

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Terrorism_militias/20011031_eff_usa_
patriot_analysis.php

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/04.02A.JVB.Patriot.htm


http://www.securityfocus.com/news/5010

http://www.bordc.org/Repeal.pdf


http://www.coloradoan.com/news/stories/20030807/opinion/17728.html

http://www.msnbc.com/news/950176.asp


http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=patriot+act+used&ei=UTF-8&url=nKXoUopC
Sz0J:www.azstarnet.com/star/mon/30915nPatriotAct-commonc.html

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/061703F.shtml

http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=822&fcategory_desc=Under%
20Reported


http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00000143.html




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