Don't Let Congress Expand the Patriot Act in Secret

[hiley]

Senate Committee to Review Controversial Patriot Act Legislation in Secret; Draft Legislation Hidden from Public

May 17, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – The Senate Intelligence Committee announced today that it is rushing forward with a markup of Patriot Act reauthorization legislation Thursday, but that the session will be behind closed doors.

Some of the most extreme parts of the Patriot Act are set to sunset, or expire, at the end of this year unless Congress reauthorizes them. When lawmakers passed the Patriot Act just 45 days after 9/11, they included these sunsets because they knew that some provisions shouldn’t be made permanent. The committee will be reviewing legislation involving the sunsets and other key parts of the Patriot Act that impact civil liberties.

Members of Congress have until the end of the year to review and modify the Patriot Act, but some lawmakers hope to steamroll the entire process through Congress in the next few weeks. This closed-door markup is an indication that some in Congress are trying to rush through legislation, and keep the public in the dark.

snip---
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18256&c=206

Don't Let Congress Expand the Patriot Act in Secret

The Patriot Act passed a mere 45 days after the September 11 attacks with virtually no debate or discussion. Fortunately many of the sections that expanded government power were set to expire at the end of this year. Now, some in Congress are secretly considering legislation that would make these powers permanent and expand them.

Hundreds of communities -- and seven states -- have signaled their rejection of the excessive powers in the Patriot Act by passing resolutions. But Congress is ignoring these and other public statements of concern against the Patriot Act and holding key hearings in secret.
Urge your Members of Congress to hold open and public hearings on the expansion of the Patriot Act!

snip---
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?&pagename=homepage&id=203&page=UserAction


A man cries out over his brother's body at Yarmouk hospital, after Maj. Gen. Wael al-Rubaei, director of the National Security Ministry's operations room, and his driver were assassinated by two carloads of gunmen in a drive-by shooting on their way to work, in Baghdad's Mansour district in Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)

[hiley]

1. kick !

very important.

[me b zola]

2. This thread is important!!!!!

This is the call to action that we must be contacting our Senators about now!!!!


The fight over judicial nominations is going to be ongoing, but we must not lose sight of this most important issue before us (soon to be out of sight/mind) right now. We need to begin to call/write to our Senators to demand an open debate on matters concerning the 'patriot act'.

[hiley]

9. Grand jury witnesses can also be gagged at the government’s request (sec.

The Free Press. The public is the ultimate source of power under our democratic system of government. For its decisions to be informed, the press must be unfettered and must have access to the workings of government through the Freedom of Information Act and other open government laws.

Under the draft bill, however, basic operations of government, such as the arrests of terrorism suspects who have not been criminally charged, can be kept secret (sec. 201). These might include material witness detainees, immigration detainees, or American citizens or ((((others labeled “enemy combatants” by the President and incarcerated by the military.))))) Grand jury witnesses can also be gagged at the government’s request (sec. 206).

By casting a veil of secrecy over the basic workings of the judicial branch of our government, Patriot Act 2 violates an essential principle of American democracy and undermines public confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system. As Alexander Hamilton made clear more than two centuries ago, a policy that allows “confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten” is a “dangerous engine of arbitrary government.”<10>
snip--
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12161&c=206

[me b zola]

3. kicking to say...

that we should be consolidating our threads on the Senate massacre, but keep our eye on the other dangerous stuff happening within the hallowed walls of the Congress & Senate


We need to en-mass call our Senators re the patriot ACT

[Al-CIAda]

4. You are on point sir. n/t

[hiley]

11. Detainee Information Exempt from the Freedom of Information Act

Government information black hole. Even while the privacy of Americans is being relentlessly reduced, the Bush Administration continues its assault on public access to information. In addition to the gag orders mentioned above, USAPA II contains several provisions that reduce transparency in government:
Detainee Information Exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (sec. 201). The Government continues its cynical argument that the basis for refusing to give any public information about its detention policies, even to terrified friends and family, is to protect the privacy of those detained.
Gagging the Environmental Protection Agency from informing us of dangers of chemical releases (sec. 202) EPA requires reports on dangers of chemical releases. 42 USC §7412(r). USAPA II limits both what information is given out and who can get it. Only those who live and work in the geographic area likely to be affected can see the reports, and access is "read-only," so they cannot send it on to friends or loved ones (or the press). Additionally, the public is not allowed to see any information that might allow someone to deduce the location of the potential chemical threat.
snip----
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Terrorism_militias/patriot-act-II-analysis.php
Spy vs. Spy
By Bill Piper, AlterNet. Posted May 18, 2005.
Proposed legislation would compel people to spy on their family members and neighbors, forcing all Americans to become foot soldiers in the war on drugs.
Neighbors spying on neighbors? Mothers forced to turn in their sons or daughters? These are images straight out of George Orwell's 1984, or a remote totalitarian state. We don't associate them with the land of the free and the home of the brave, but that doesn't mean they couldn't happen here. A senior congressman, James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), is working quietly but efficiently to turn the entire United States population into informants--by force.
Sensenbrenner, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman, has introduced legislation that would essentially draft every American into the war on drugs. H.R. 1528, cynically named "Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act,"
snip----
H.R. 1528 also establishes new draconian penalties for a variety of non-violent drug offenses, including:


Five years for anyone who passes a marijuana joint at a party to someone who, at some point in his or her life, has been in drug treatment;
Ten years for mothers with substance abuse problems who commit certain drug offenses at home (even if their children are not at home at the time);
Five years for any person with substance abuse problems who begs a friend in drug treatment to find them some drugs.

These sentences would put non-violent drug offenders behind bars for as long as rapists, and they include none of the drug treatment touted in the bill's name.

snip---
http://www.alternet.org/story/22048 /
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3712551

[me b zola]

5. kick

[hiley]

6. Please

do this action and kick for others to see.

[Swamp Rat]

7. Kick and recommended!!!

[hiley]

8. How “Patriot Act 2” Would Further Erode

the Basic Checks on Government Power That Keep America Safe and Free

snip---
Under the amendments to surveillance statutes the bill authorizes, the standards under which a court must approve searches and surveillance is lowered – in many cases, making such review no longer meaningful. The bill creates a new defense that could shield the future Nixon-era wiretappers from prosecution even if they act without a court order, so long as their activities were authorized by high government officials, as they were in Nixon’s day (sec. 106). Likewise, limits on police spying approved by federal courts will be swept aside, freeing state and local police to spy on political and religious activity, thus violating citizens’ First Amendment rights (sec. 312).

The draft bill also rescinds authority for immigrants to challenge the lawfulness of government action by habeas corpus (sec. 504). This section attempts to effectively reverse a Supreme Court decision holding that earlier restrictions on review of immigration decisions had left intact review under the Habeas Corpus Act, enacted in 1789 by the same Congress that ratified the Bill of Rights.<9> As a result, immigrants, including lawful permanent residents, will be subject to arbitrary deportations at the whim of the government.
snip---
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12161&c=206

[hiley]

10. DNA Database (secs. 302) EFF

has long noted the dangers of centralized databases of information about Americans, ranging from the vulnerabilities of such databases to corruption, hacking and information leakage to the inevitability of bad data in large databases and the risk in relying upon them for such important issues as deciding who is a terrorist. USAPA II, by expanding the national DNA database in some extremely suspect ways, exacerbates these problems,
Dramatic expansion of collection from "terrorism" suspects, not just those convicted (sec. 302, 303, 306) Previously DNA samples could only be taken from those convicted of terrorism. 42 USC. §14132. USAPA II allows collection and use of DNA samples of mere suspects, including suspected terrorists and persons suspected of being members of a terrorist organization.
The Attorney General has tremendous discretion to designate someone as a "suspected terrorist." It also allows collection from aliens engaged in activity that endangers national security and those designated "enemy combatants."
Collection from and Use of Database Info Beyond Terrorism (sec. 303). Creation of DNA database for terrorists includes input from all federal agencies -- that is, if the Park Ranger decides that you are a suspected terrorist he can take a DNA sample. USAPA II also grants authority to use all federal biometric databases, including fingerprints, DNA and other identifying information to investigate terrorism or "other unlawful activities by suspected terrorists."
Sharing of DNA Information with State, Local or Foreign Agencies (sec. 303). USAPA II allows sharing of information with federal, state, local or foreign agencies to investigate terrorism or "other unlawful activities by suspected terrorists."
snip---
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Terrorism_militias/patriot-act-II-analysis.php

[understandinglife]

12. Important thread. DU homepage material. Nominated (nt)

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[newyawker99]

13. kick

:kick:

[troubleinwinter]

14. Thank you and kick and nominated!

[hiley]

15. This will be us if we don't stop them.......

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1912

"This so-called ill treatment and torture in detention centers, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people, and later by the prisoners who were freed … were not, as some assumed,inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual prison guards, their deputies, and men who laid violent hands on the detainees."
Rudolf Hoess,
the SS commandant at Auschwitz.

One thing is for certain: There won't be any more mass graves and
torture rooms and rape rooms."—Bush, press availability in Monterrey,
Mexico, Jan. 12, 2004

14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism
http://www.ericblumrich.com/14.html

[savannahana]

16. great work, hiley,, thank you. nominated

& :kick:

[hiley]

17. Roberts intends to hold a closed meeting on Thursday!!!!!

FBI asks US Congress for power to seize documentsBy Alan Elsner
Reuters
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; 1:06 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI on Tuesday asked the U.S. Congress for sweeping new powers to seize business or private records, ranging from medical information to book purchases, to investigate terrorism without first securing approval from a judge.
Valerie Caproni, FBI general counsel, told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee her agency needed the power to issue what are known as administrative subpoenas to get information quickly about terrorist plots and the activities of foreign agents.
Civil liberties groups have complained the subpoenas, which would cover medical, tax, gun-purchase, book purchase, travel and other records and could be kept secret, would give the FBI too much power and could infringe on privacy and free speech.
Snip—
CLOSED HEARING
Roberts intends to hold a closed meeting on Thursday, above the objections of some Democrats, to move the legislation forward out of his committee. But the provision still faces a long road before it becomes law, since the Senate Judiciary Committee also has jurisdiction over the bill, while the House of Representatives is drawing up its own legislation.
Democrats on the committee expressed concerns and pressed Caproni to give examples of cases where the lack of such powers had hampered an investigation.
Snip----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052400746.html
Keep Andy Stephenson in your thoughts.....

[hiley]

18. USA Patriot Act due to expire..., the closed meeting

is Thursday !

The issue of administrative subpoenas dominated the hearing, which was called to discuss reauthorization of clauses of the USA Patriot Act due to expire at the end of this year.

The act was passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. However administrative subpoena power was not in the original law. The proposed new powers, long sought by the FBI, have been added by Republican lawmakers, acting on the wishes of the Bush administration, to the new draft of the USA Patriot Act.

Committee chairman, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, noted that other government agencies already had subpoena power to investigate matters such as child pornography, drug investigations and medical malpractice. He said it made little sense to deny those same powers to the FBI to investigate terrorism or keep track of foreign intelligence agents.


snip---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052400746.html
Only good thoughts for you, Andy!

[DearAbby]

20. Kicked to the Moon....LET'S DU THIS.

:kick:

[savannahana]

22. "closed hearing" is *not* a term i'm prepared to "get used to"

"book purchase" - "private records" - "medical"

now, *who* is it that's supposed to be responsible for terrorizing me???

:mad:

:kick:

[hiley]

23. savannahana

hi! sweetie,
I know this entire thing is preposterous and we are a centimeter away from a POLICE STATE.
One more "terrorist" attack and we will have Martial Law !
hiley


Read Alex Jones' Analysis of the Secret Patriot Act II, for Which he won a Project Censored 2004 award

1. The secretive tactics being used by 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 of any legislation by the Executive Branch is clearly an impeachable offense.


2. 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 Seventh 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.

snip--
http://infowars.com/print/patriot_act/alexs_analysis.htm

[dzika]

19. Nominated for greatest!

[thecai]

21. Repeal The P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Acts

recommended, and contacted [e-mail]

[merh]

24. We still have a chance to stop this

after yesterday. We stood our ground and kept the filibuster. They blinked. We didn't have to resort to the shutdown option and repukes are not blindly following the leader.

We still have a chance.

[annabanana]

25. this thread needs more oomph

kick it a couple

[fooj]

26. kick!

:patriot:

[Pepperbelly]

27. kick nt

[dusty64]

28. I don't think anything

surprises me anymore. Outside of this forum I've heard NOTHING about this at all.

[hiley]

29. dusty64 I am sorry to say

that you won't either unless you watch I.N.N.World Report , DemocracyNow! on FreeSpeechtv or watch LinkTV or on the web!
The only way to stop this is to hammer it to all the people you know. Apparently, we have to be our own Media which really sucks but that is just how it is.
Dusty64,
how have you been , long time no see ?
hiley
http://innworldreport.net/index.htm
http://democracynow.org/
http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/fscm2/genx.php?name=home
http://www.worldlinktv.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok
http://infowars.com/
http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/fscm2/genx.php?name=featured_videos

[understandinglife]

30. Thank you for keeping this critical issue in front of everyone here, hiley

Peace.


Emad Hajjaj, Al-Ghad Newspaper, Amman, Jordan

[hiley]

31. you are very welcome understandinglife

here is a bit of the ripple .....

John Bolton discussion on CSPAN has been very interesting today.
Senator Biden let it rip.
solidarity
hiley

[dusty64]

33. Kick!

Good, took another needed break. Outrage fatigue ya know. The way things are going I'm gonna need another one real soon.

[hiley]

34. I know "they" have tentacles everywhere !

It can be extremely overwhelming. I hope you are renewed for a while, stay strong and remember with solidarity we have a Chance !
A damn good chance too !
peace
hiley
:grouphug:

[Tux]

32. Webmasters?

If anyone here can code in HTML and JavaScript and has time, could they make a DU page that would allow people to write emails to their Senators and Rep all at once just by filling out one form? That would help us organize faster, more efficiently, and have greater degree of contact to Congress.