No pause in Patriot Act pounding

By ROBYN E. BLUMNER, Times Perspective Columnist

Published October 26, 2003

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When pressed over whether Lakers star Kobe Bryant should continue playing basketball while the issue of his alleged sexual assault is under consideration by the courts, NBA Commissioner David Stern told the Los Angeles Times: "Absolutely. We don't have a Patriot Act in the NBA."

It appears the repressive nature of the USA Patriot Act, which is 2 years old today, has penetrated the American consciousness to such an extent that it now stands as shorthand parlance for any type of unfairness. Despite Attorney General John Ashcroft's barnstorming tour of the country, selling the act to friendly audiences of law enforcement, nearly 200 communities, including three states, have passed resolutions objecting to its excesses.

You would think this general unease would cause President Bush to pause before proposing additional entrenchments. But no, it seems to only have spurred him on. In a speech given on the eve of the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, our tin-eared president decided the time was ripe to propose Patriot Act expansions.

The proposed changes, which the president called the closing of "loopholes," may seem technical, but within those details lie our character as a nation. Are we a model of liberty, even in the face of threats to our national security? Or has al-Qaida's ragtag band impelled us to unravel a 200-year commitment to due process? Which is what Bush and Ashcroft are pushing.

Bush wants three additional powers from Congress.

First, he wants to give the Justice Department the authority to confiscate records and compel testimony without review by a court or grand jury.

The Patriot Act had substantially changed the law in this area by removing the requirement that federal agents tie the records they are seeking - be they library, medical, financial, educational or other records - to an investigation of a foreign agent or terrorist. Now, all the government has to do is certify to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - a court that operates in secret and is only open to government lawyers - that the records are "sought for" an investigation into terrorism or espionage.

Where once the FBI could only demand that bookstores turn over records on a particular customer who was under suspicion, now the FBI can seize the entire customer database as long as it somehow figures in an ongoing investigation. The Patriot Act made the courts little more than a rubber stamp for the FBI.

But even this is apparently too much of a paean to the separation of powers for Bush. He wants passage of the "Antiterrorism Tools Enhancement Act of 2003" that would give the FBI "administrative subpoena" authority to confiscate any records and compel any testimony on its say-so alone. The bill would eliminate entirely court oversight, or as Bush would call it "interference."

Second, Bush wants to chip away at the right to bail. Current law allows a judge to deny bond for anyone shown to be dangerous or a flight risk. And, for anyone accused of international terrorism, there is a presumption against granting bond.

Not good enough, according to the president. He wants passage of the "Pretrial Detention and Lifetime Supervision of Terrorists Act of 2003," a bill that would keep people accused of a whole range of new crimes behind bars pending trial by making those crimes presumptively "no bond" offenses.

This is an attempt to lock people up first and investigate later. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, more than 750 immigrants were jailed for months while the Justice Department looked into potential ties to terrorism. In the end not, one was charged. Now Bush wants the power to do the same thing to Americans and immigrants here legally.

And third, Bush wants to expand the reach of the federal death penalty by making it applicable to "domestic terrorism."

Under the Patriot Act, the crime of "domestic terrorism" couldn't be more broadly written. Any criminal act intended to influence the government through "intimidation or coercion" involving "dangerous acts" qualifies. Aggressive protesters of all stripes from Greenpeace activists to abortion foes could easily fall within this definition, opening the door for politically motivated executions.

Bush also wants the death penalty for those convicted of providing "material support for terrorism," a law that can be violated even when people think they are giving money to a charity and don't know the group is a designated terrorist organization.

While Bush is working to undo more of our liberty, there are bipartisan efforts in Congress pushing back. Perhaps the most promising is the "Safety and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act" that would rollback some of the worst excesses of the Patriot Act. If even NBA commissioners know the Patriot Act is a bad thing, what is Congress waiting for?

© Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved

The Patriot Act.

Toothless.

Much ado about nothing.

Too bad that isn't true. The Patriot act extends law enforcement authority into violation of the Constitution.

Minimally it violates the 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments.

It is, unchecked, an unwarranted expansion of Secret Police Powers. It is a threat to Liberty as, now over 100, Cities, Towns, and Counties have publicly made clear by passing acts prohibiting it's enforcement in their area.

BBC Journalist Greg Palast interviewed by Eric Bosse.

ChoicePoint, Inc." They're the big contractor in Total Information Awareness. They've got the big DNA database they're keeping for the new vampiric agency. ChoicePoint owns the companies that are going to do the airport profiling, the immigration intake profiling, and, most importantly, these are the guys that have the database of over 20 billion records on Americans. Now, when I say 20 billion, that was like a year ago. It's got to be way up there now. They had it at 20 billion and growing phenomenally. Until now, for 200 years, you could not go into private records without a search warrant. Under the USA Patriot Act -- and I mean the one in force, we don't have to wait for the second shoe to drop -- for the first time in American history the feds will be able to go through private records, the private database. They call it "data mining." They're going to be hunting through our records without a search warrant, on a massive data-crunching basis. And so, ChoicePoint is going to ring the cash register big time.

ChoicePoint,Look at their board. It looks like a Republican country club meeting. You've got Ken Langone, the investor who was also the treasurer for the Rudy Giuliani for Senate campaign. You've got Bernard Marcus, the founder of Home Depot, a big Republican sugar daddy. You've got Vin Weber, the ultra-right ex-congressman who is their Washington lobbyist. You've got Howard Safir, the New York Police Chief of Repression. They've got all these Republican politicos like George Bruder out of Florida, who was deeply involved in their operations for getting rid of "the dark vote." So, look, it's a Republican firm.

AL MARTIN: AMERICAN EMPIRE THE USA PATRIOT ACT AND THE TWILIGHT OF THE REPUBLIC.

The USA PATRIOT Act is neither American nor is it patriotic. It is, however, a sign that the United States has out-sovieted the former Soviet Union.

The American people have allowed it to happen. Public opinion polls claim that 80% of the American people are prepared to give up their civil liberties, or “whatever it takes” in the fight against “terrorism” because it’s the “patriotic” thing to do. Why? Because George Bush said so.

Then Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Gauleiter of the Beltway, has spoken about the new limitation on citizens invoking their Fifth Amendment privilege. Under this bill, the citizen’s right to invoke his privilege against self-incrimination is substantially narrowed.

If the government states that the alleged commission of a crime should prove injurious to State Security, then the citizen cannot invoke Fifth Amendment privilege to remain mute. He can be compelled by “whatever means necessary,” (Ashcroft’s own words) to divulge what he may know. Furthermore, under the new national security seal, the government doesn’t even have to tell the suspect, or his counsel, or the court, what he’s being charged with.

In addition, even Ashcroft has admitted that this USA PATRIOT Act has watered down (and effectively gutted) the Fourth Amendment privilege against unwarranted search and seizure. This refers to the vastly expanded power the government now has in seizing an American’s assets. For the first time, the government has the power to seize a citizen’s assets even before the citizen has been charged with a crime. That is completely unprecedented.

Thus the citizen has no judicial recourse to go into court to try to get his assets back – because he hasn’t been charged with a crime yet. Then when he’s actually charged with a crime, if that crime has anything to do with “State Security” (and “State Security” is whatever the State says it is), then the State doesn’t have to tell the suspect what he’s being charged with. And the court cannot order the release -- or force the government to give the assets back.

Meanwhile the Mainstream Media has said nothing. In order to remain “Pro-Government” and “Patriotic,” the Media have told the people nothing. Therefore, a news vacuum was left open, which the White House was able to exploit because the Media wasn’t informing the people. Thus the further expansion of State power continues.

There has also been a weakening of the persona non grata statutes. The government now has the power to expel even an American citizen who was born here. They can do it now even without judicial review. If law enforcement, for example, feels that a person is acting in a capacity contrary to “State Security,” he or she can be deported and stripped of citizenship without judicial review.

The government has also begun mixing the word “terrorist” with the word “detainee,” “suspect” and “citizen.” It’s not all “terrorist “ anymore. That’s done on purpose. They want to do it gradually, so the people don’t understand, all of a sudden, or overnight how much of their rights they’ve given up.

As long as it’s a gradual process couched as “Patriotism” and “State Security,” a year from now, everyone’s going to be happy – with their new National Identity Cards.

Meanwhile the administration has quietly given the go-ahead to the Oracle Corporation to compile a database of American citizens. As publicly reported before, Oracle has offered to do this for free – as a “public service” -- as long as they’re given exclusive marketing rights for what will be the most valuable database in America.

Looking at the bigger picture, the American government’s unrestrained spending fits in with the new anti-terrorism act, which transfers more of the American people’s rights back to the government -- more than has ever been done before in the history of the republic.

This massive increase in spending, which will benefit the top three percent of the population is just another transfer of power and wealth. All of this spending (eventually the American people will have to pay for it) lessens the people’s economic power. And it increases the power of those who rule, who govern, who control, and who constitute the backbone of the Republican Party.

First, there is a massive loss of people’s rights, which have been transferred back to the government. Second, in this unrestrained spending, a huge amount of the people’s money is being transferred back to government, and therefore back to the businesses and industries, which represent the top three per cent of the nation’s wealthiest people, federal contractors and so on, who in turn are the most ardent supporters of the Republican Party. This, then, is a transfer of both control and money.

With this so-called anti-terrorist legislation euphemistically named the USA PATRIOT Act, George Bush has been given the power of Caesar. The implication is that anyone who disagrees with it is “unpatriotic.” The American people have, in one fell’n swoop, given George Bush the power of Caesar – and the control of the public purse beyond the proverbial dreams of avarice.

When you consider the existing power of the President, and then you add the powers of the 1995 Anti-Terrorism Act, and the further extension of those powers by the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, George Bush and all his successors have been given dictatorial powers.

Bush has also signed a bill, wherein the United States no longer has to provide a civilian trial for anyone who should stand accused of committing a terrorist act against the United States. Instead the government will now try said individuals in a “special closed military court.” In this trial, the defendants will not even be allowed to present any exculpatory evidence that the adjudicating military body should deem “contrary to the security of the State or the domestic tranquility of the people.”

In fact, this executive order establishes military tribunals or kangaroo courts, which directly violate due process of law. It is, as of now, probably the most unconstitutional of all the unconstitutional laws that have been passed and incorporated into this new USA PATRIOT Act of 2001.

The language doesn’t even mention the word “terrorism.” The pro-government media uses the word to maintain ratings from a naпve flag-waving population. The way it is written, the bill can be interpreted that the government has the ability to prosecute any individual who disagrees with State policy. Or anyone who represents a threat to the naпvete of the American people. Anyone, then, could essentially be prosecuted under this bill.

This military court, or tribunal, is not a defacto star chamber. It is the absolute raw and naked abuse of power by government. A star chamber, simply put, is any extra-legal and/or extra-constitutional body formed by government to pass judgment on the actions of private individuals.

This law then could be interpreted, so that the prosecutorial power of the government could be extended essentially to anyone who disagreed with State policy.

In other words, this latest authority bill constitutes another nail in the coffin of the US Constitution and further strengthens the argument that, as of now, the people of the United States have allowed their government to be a democracy in name only. The people of the United States have not only abdicated any authority over the power of their own government, but they have also abdicated their personal liberties and freedoms.

With the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, we have effectively militarized law enforcement in the United States. Thus the ensuing and inevitable economic downturn and its consequences, such as an increase in civil strife and political tension that will result from this legislation, can be more easily handled by law enforcement.

The stationing of National Guard internally abrogates the Posse Comitatus Act, which was enacted to prevent the use of military forces on American soil. It is being ignored and the Posse Comitatus is just a hollow shell.

After the Bush Administration has passed all the legislation it wants, it will consolidate its newly found power and then the hype will begin to cool down. The first sign that the Bush Administration has absolute dictatorial authority will be when they no longer hype the situation – because they don’t have to.

What the Administration is doing, in concert with pro-government media, is creating a new class of American people. This new class of American citizen does not exist on racial or religious or national origin or creed or even sexual orientation. A new class of “unpatriotic” citizen is being created in the minds of the people.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless... the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is [now] while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war, we shall be going downhill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion."

As in the last days of the Roman Empire, there is a growing fire at the Imperial Palace, i.e., the White House. But this time, it is not Nero who’s fiddling; it is the American people.

AL MARTIN FOR PRAVDA.RU

AL MARTIN is America’s foremost whistle-blower on government fraud and corruption. A retired US Navy Lt. Commander and former officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence, he has testified before Congress (the Kerry Committee and the Alexander Committee) regarding Iran-Contra. Al Martin is the author of “The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider” (2001, National Liberty Press, $19.95; order line: 1-866-317-1390) He lives at an undisclosed location, since the criminals named in his book have been returned to national power and prominence. His column “Behind the Scenes in the Beltway” is published regularly on Al Martin Raw: Criminal Govt. Conspiracy (http://www.almartinraw.com)