House Passes Thought Crime Prevention Bill

[Twist_U_Up]

http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=4682

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955 titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This bill is one of the most blatant attacks against the Constitution yet and actually defines thought crimes as homegrown terrorism. If passed into law, it will also establish a commission and a Center of Excellence to study and defeat so called thought criminals. Unlike previous anti-terror legislation, this bill specifically targets the civilian population of the United States and uses vague language to define homegrown terrorism. Amazingly, 404 of our elected representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties voted in favor of this bill. There is little doubt that this bill is specifically targeting the growing patriot community that is demanding the restoration of the Constitution.

First let’s take a look at the definitions of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism as defined in Section 899A of the bill.

<snip>
It states in the first subsection that in general the efforts to defeat thought crime shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights and civil liberties of the United States citizens and lawful permanent residents. How does this protect constitutional rights if they use vague language such as in general that prefaces the statement? This means that the Department of Homeland Security does not have to abide by the Constitution in their attempts to prevent so called homegrown terrorism.

This bill is completely insane. It literally allows the government to define any and all crimes including thought crime as violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. Obviously, this legislation is unconstitutional on a number of levels and it is clear that all 404 representatives who voted in favor of this bill are traitors and should be removed from office immediately. The treason spans both political parties and it shows us all that there is no difference between them. The bill will go on to the Senate and will likely be passed and signed into the law by George W. Bush. Considering that draconian legislation like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act have already been passed, there seems little question that this one will get passed as well. This is more proof that our country has been completely sold out by a group of traitors at all levels of government.

[tjwash]

1. Jane Harman [D-CA] The democrat traitor that sponsored the bill.

I'm ready to move to Canada because of this. No amount of protesting, marching, or screaming will do anything now. The corps have us all by the collective balls, and this bill just proves it.

At least we know why the Dems were "keeping their powder dry". They needed it to fire a preemptive strike against our constitution. Can one of the Reid/Pelosi Democrat apologists spin that one for me?

[HereSince1628]

2. Niene Elfin, rather than 9-11 changed everything.

Since the 2000 presidential appointment those nasty little elves over at SCOTUS have let the Cheney Administration destroy the traditional meanings of the Constitution.

At this time, the Constitution is ineffective except perhaps to regulate Baseball Antitrust cases. Without a credible arbiter over the Dicktatorial powers of the Office of the Vice President, all news on loss of Constitutionality remains unactionable.

The haughty 'heuchlers'--those elected DC-dems who play the part of a political opposition know that the thinking of the Niene Elfin over at SCOTUS has the proverbial deck stacked against them.

Consequently, they have fallen into the role of 'eine gut zusammengerollte Gruppe gute Amerikaner,' faking resistance to the spreading Dicktatorial powers of the Second Consul over in the Offiece of the Vice President of the United States, thus empowering Cheney to bite the head off of any chicken of his choosing.

Threats to Constitutional Rights? Computer says "No'oohhhhhhhh".....Kaaa!"

[robinlynne]

3. I think this bill is terrible, but so is the writer analyizng it. Hopefully a better

writer will analyze it soon. When the author said "Even worse is that Congress states in their findings that they should look at draconian police states like Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom as models to defeat homegrown terrorists."
they lost my respect. Canada as a draconian police state? on what planet?

I do not disagree with the central thesis; I simply hope there will be better articles coming soon.

[annabanana]

4. (not what it appears to be)

from papau
(http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2147518&mesg_id=2147582)

SEC. 899F. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.

`(a) In General- The Department of Homeland Security's efforts to prevent ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents.

`(b) Commitment to Racial Neutrality- The Secretary shall ensure that the activities and operations of the entities created by this subtitle are in compliance with the Department of Homeland Security's commitment to racial neutrality.

`(c) Auditing Mechanism- The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer of the Department of Homeland Security shall develop and implement an auditing mechanism to ensure that compliance with this subtitle does not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of any racial, ethnic, or religious group, and shall include the results of audits under such mechanism in its annual report to Congress required under section 705.'.


NOW DOES THE ABOVE SOUND LIKE A THOUGHT CRIME BILL? AND NOTE THAT THE CIVIL RIGHTS LIMITATIONS ABOVE ARE LIMITATIONS ON ALL HOMELAND SECURITY ACTIVITIES THAT DEAL SOLELY WITH AMERICANS.

As to the body of the bill:

SEC. 899C. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE PREVENTION OF VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE.

`(a) Establishment- There is established within the legislative branch of the Government the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism.

`(b) Purpose- The purposes of the Commission are the following:

`(1) Examine and report upon the facts and causes of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States, including United States connections to non-United States persons and networks, violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in prison, individual or `lone wolf' violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence, and other faces of the phenomena of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence that the Commission considers important.

`(2) Build upon and bring together the work of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication, by reviewing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of--

`(A) the Center of Excellence established or designated under section 899D, and other academic work, as appropriate;

`(B) Federal, State, local, or tribal studies of, reviews of, and experiences with violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence; and

`(C) foreign government studies of, reviews of, and experiences with violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence.


NOW THE ABOVE WILL HAVE MEMBERS AND STAFFING, A BUDGET, TRAVEL EXPENSE, AND WILL GET COOPERATION FROM OTHER AGENCIES AND WILL HOLD MEETINGS SO AS TO PRODUCE A REPORT IN 18 MONTHS PER THE REST OF THE SECTION, WITH INTERIM REPORTS IN 6 MONTHS THAT WILL SUGGEST LEGISLATION AND FURTHER GRANTS FOR RESEARCH IF NEEDED, WITH A PUBLIC VERSION OF THE REPORT REQUIRED.


`SEC. 899D. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR THE STUDY OF VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM IN THE UNITED STATES.

`(a) Establishment- The Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish or designate a university-based Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States (hereinafter referred to as `Center') following the merit-review processes and procedures and other limitations that have been previously established for selecting and supporting University Programs Centers of Excellence. The Center shall assist Federal, State, local and tribal homeland security officials through training, education, and research in preventing violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in the United States. In carrying out this section, the Secretary may choose to either create a new Center designed exclusively for the purpose stated herein or identify and expand an existing Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence so that a working group is exclusively designated within the existing Center of Excellence to achieve the purpose set forth in subsection (b).

`(b) Purpose- It shall be the purpose of the Center to study the social, criminal, political, psychological, and economic roots of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in the United States and methods that can be utilized by Federal, State, local, and tribal homeland security officials to mitigate violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism.

`(c) Activities- In carrying out this section, the Center shall--

`(1) contribute to the establishment of training, written materials, information, analytical assistance and professional resources to aid in combating violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism;

`(2) utilize theories, methods and data from the social and behavioral sciences to better understand the origins, dynamics, and social and psychological aspects of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism;

`(3) conduct research on the motivational factors that lead to violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism; and

`(4) coordinate with other academic institutions studying the effects of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism where appropriate.

`SEC. 899E. PREVENTING VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE EFFORTS.

`(a) International Effort- The Secretary shall, in cooperation with the Department of State, the Attorney General, and other Federal Government entities, as appropriate, conduct a survey of methodologies implemented by foreign nations to prevent violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in their respective nations.

`(b) Implementation- To the extent that methodologies are permissible under the Constitution, the Secretary shall use the results of the survey as an aid in developing, in consultation with the Attorney General, a national policy in the United States on addressing radicalization and homegrown terrorism.

`(c) Reports to Congress- The Secretary shall submit a report to Congress that provides--

`(1) a brief description of the foreign partners participating in the survey; and

`(2) a description of lessons learned from the results of the survey and recommendations implemented through this international outreach.