Bush to create new category of crime "disruptive behavior."

[Clara T]

Bush to criminalize protesters under Patriot Act as "disruptors"
by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

Thu Jan 12, 2006 at 03:27:26 PM NZDT

Bush wants to create the new criminal of "disruptor" who can be jailed for the crime of "disruptive behavior." A "little-noticed provision" in the latest version of the Patriot Act will empower Secret Service to charge protesters with a new crime of "disrupting major events including political conventions and the Olympics." Secret Service would also be empowered to charge persons with "breaching security" and to charge for "entering a restricted area" which is "where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting." In short, be sure to stay in those wired, fenced containments or free speech zones.

Who is the "disruptor"? Bush Team history tells us the disruptor is an American citizen with the audacity to attend Bush events wearing a T-shirt that criticizes Bush; or a member of civil rights, environmental, anti-war or counter-recruiting groups who protest Bush policies; or a person who invades Bush's bubble by criticizing his policies.  A disruptor is also a person who interferes in someone else's activity, such as interrupting Bush when he is speaking at a press conference or during an interview.

What are the parameters of the crime of "disruptive behavior"?  The dictionary defines "disruptive" as "characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination."   The American Medical Association defines disruptive behavior as a "style of interaction" with people that interferes with patient care, and can include behavior such as "foul language; rude, loud or offensive comments; and intimidation of patients and family members."

What are the rules of engagement for "disruptors"?   Some Bush Team history of their treatment of disruptors provide some clues on how this administration will treat disruptors in the future.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777/5579182.html

Excuse me sir, could you describe the ruckus?
Must admit if this becomes law I'm in trouble as my grade school teachers will tell you.

[coldiggs]

1. Just another attack on freedom of speach

[FlemingsGhost]

2. It's gonna take a revolution, folks. (n/t)

Flem.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. yep. nt

[kineneb]

3. guess they must mean folks like me

all my teachers thought I was trouble, even in the college classes in which I got A-s. I so wanna' moon Dimson.

I envision something like the Group W incident in Alice's Restaurant(the song)..."you got arrested for mooning the President?"

[NanceGreggs]

4. Under this provision of 'law' ...

... I hereby place George W. Bush under citizen's arrest, for the following crimes:

DISRUPTING the economy of the US by shifting the greater tax burden on the middle-class, and by kow-towing to corporate interests and profits to the dertriment of a once-thriving economy

DISPUPTING the strength of our military by stretching their resources to the breaking point, and directly causing massive casualties and woundings through his inept conduct of the war in Iraq

DISRUPTING the peace of the world through his aggressive attack on Iraq, and his intentions to do so again in Iran

DISRUPTING the Constitutional rights and freedoms of American citizens through illegal activities, such as wire-tapping

DISRUPTING the well-being of our Nation as a whole by encouraging the use of torture, and the unjust incarceration of innocent people, thereby inviting the wrath of those who would do us harm as a result of the aforementioned

The list goes on and on ...

[JDPriestly]

5. This would seem unconstitutionally overly broad and vague.

To be enforceable under the Constitution, a criminal law must be defined narrowly enough that a citizen can know what action would violate it. How will the "crime" of "disruptive behavior" be defined? How can it be defined so that a person will know what not to do in order not to be arrested for it. As I recall, the Patriot Act's language on terrorism is similarly flawed. I don't believe the Patriot Act defines the conduct that constitutes terrorism clearly enough that a person can figure out before he or she does something whether or not that something that could be viewed as terrorism.

[Marie26]

15. It probably is - but it takes a Supreme Court independent

enough to say it. Plus, there are 1st Amendment issues, as well. The right to gather & protest is one of the most fundamental guarantees of the 1st Amendment & it's hard to imagine any court upholding a law that abridges it.

[cosmicdot]

6. did anyone quiz scAlito on this subject? n/m

[ragin_acadian]

7. will the Gulag be in Wyoming,

or Guantanamo?

honestly, i realize this is happening, and i am reading the words,

but i cannot comprehend this anymore, too f'n bizarre. it has gone beyond the scope of what this country is/was.

anyone out there feel like this?

[Dhalgren]

9. Yeah. I think we all feel that way on some level.

It is becoming so Orwellian that it actually numbs you to think on it... Just watch for the government buying up large rural tracks of land. Hey, at least the internment camps will create jobs, right?

[ragin_acadian]

12. the thing that shocks me:

nothing in the news. no one cares. poptarts, 2 for 1 sales, switch to verizon, creepy plastic-head burger king guy, road work continues as usual.

is this what Solzhenitsyn witnessed?

internment camps, christ. not even andrew jackson would have gone for this shit.

[arcane1]

17. The Gammadion Seed

The Devil's Circus came to town
We watched the freaks arrive en masse
When they paraded through our streets
we turned a blind eye as they passed

Safe in the comfort of our homes
we all forget the need to fear
This is the "New Jerusalem"
so nothing bad can happen here!

...

Five years pass by, un-noticed change
Their glamour has us in its grasp
But now the walls have eyes and ears
Questions too dangerous to ask

New state-controlled t.v. and press
for reasons suddenly unclear
this is the "American Dream"
so it could never happen here!

...

Behind the painted greasepaint smiles
hide faces rarely known to grin
Men who will feed you to the lions
for having different thoughts or skin

And when we realize that we've made
a State to last a thousand years
our pleas for help will not be heard
because there's no one left to hear!

Draw the curtains, live in fear
Watch your neighbors disappear
If you're too slow to realize
the Gammadion will rise

Skyclad- 'Gammadion Seed'

[ragin_acadian]

19. wow.

not familiar with that, educate me?

very prescient.

[arcane1]

20. just a very prescient tune from a 1990's folk metal band

they have a lot of songs like that :) :headbang:

[Marie26]

13. Yeah, it's a weird feeling

Like we've gone through the looking glass here. And yet no one seems to notice.

[ragin_acadian]

18. it is just getting worse as they go along.

like raygun, all over again - nothing can touch these fuckers. what the hell?

i'm not despairing: if we can just keep alito off the bench, then no one can rubber stamp this crap for future generations.

HOPE!

[w13rd0]

8. This seems more spurious...

...than the Alien&Sedition acts.

[dgauss]

10. Another example of a technique this administration is fond of:

Use terms that have great latitude of interpretation to describe opponents. Who's an evil-doer, or unpatriotic, or disruptive? Well just about anyone could fit those descriptions, given the right spin. And just about any one will, if the need arises. That's where control of the media comes in.

[Marie26]

11. Sedition Act redux. nt

[Hardrada]

16. I thought they failed to pass this.

Did I miss something?

[oasis]

21. Dems had better stand steady against the Patriot Act.