Cary G Dean.
By
But the end of all things is at hand:
be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer.
~ I Peter 4:7
Watch Unto Prayer
But the end of all things is at hand:
be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer.
~ I Peter 4:7
The response of the United States Government to a frightened and enraged U.S. citizenry over the September 11th attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center has been eerily reminiscent of Hitler's strategy following the burning of the Reichstag.
(See Pt 1)
As well, the rapidity and recklessness with which the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress have abrogated the Bill of Rights places the U.S. Government squarely in the same camp with the "enemies of freedom" they purport to oppose.
(See Pt 1)
As well, the rapidity and recklessness with which the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress have abrogated the Bill of Rights places the U.S. Government squarely in the same camp with the "enemies of freedom" they purport to oppose.
The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001
The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee steamrolled through the Congress a bill which would dramatically increase the power of U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Attorney General John Ashcroft insisted that the FBI needed additional surveillance and enforcement powers immediately and the Department of Justice demanded the bill be enacted by September 28th.
The House Judiciary committee was scheduled to vote on the Bush administration's bill on the morning of September 25th, however, in response to an outcry the vote was rescheduled to take place only two days after the catastrophic attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Senate voted for anti-terrorist legislation which increased Internet surveillance after senators were given just 30 minutes to read the measure.
According to
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Attorney General John Ashcroft insisted that the FBI needed additional surveillance and enforcement powers immediately and the Department of Justice demanded the bill be enacted by September 28th.
The House Judiciary committee was scheduled to vote on the Bush administration's bill on the morning of September 25th, however, in response to an outcry the vote was rescheduled to take place only two days after the catastrophic attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Senate voted for anti-terrorist legislation which increased Internet surveillance after senators were given just 30 minutes to read the measure.
According to
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
"The DoJ has sat on this bill, a 'wish list', for some time, waiting to take advantage of a tragedy like the World Trade Center attack to ram it through Congress with little debate or objection."
The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 would eliminate the legal requirement for government agents to obtain permission from a judge before being allowed to search homes and download computer files.
Under the proposed law, the information gathered could be used in court, a legal change which presently violates constitutional protections against search and seizure.
The proposed bill would also eliminate the requirement for a judge to sign a warrant in order for government agents to obtain billing records from hotels, phone companies, and other businesses, replacing judicial review with an administrative subpoena.
Essentially, agencies would be able to sign their own search warrants and conduct searches in routine secrecy, without having to notify the subject of the search.
Under the proposed law, the information gathered could be used in court, a legal change which presently violates constitutional protections against search and seizure.
The proposed bill would also eliminate the requirement for a judge to sign a warrant in order for government agents to obtain billing records from hotels, phone companies, and other businesses, replacing judicial review with an administrative subpoena.
Essentially, agencies would be able to sign their own search warrants and conduct searches in routine secrecy, without having to notify the subject of the search.
Additionally, this law gives broad surveillance powers to the federal government, and authorizes the issuance of wiretaps by a secret seven-judge court in Washington, D.C.
The DOJ bill proposes a host of Wiretap Act expansions which are not limited to terrorism investigations, and which vastly increase the power of the federal government to conduct surveillance of the reading habits and correspondence of the American people.
The DOJ bill would expand the power of the police to record the phone numbers of incoming and outgoing phone calls on a phone line to include surveillance of Internet surfing and e-mail.
The DOJ bill proposes a host of Wiretap Act expansions which are not limited to terrorism investigations, and which vastly increase the power of the federal government to conduct surveillance of the reading habits and correspondence of the American people.
The DOJ bill would expand the power of the police to record the phone numbers of incoming and outgoing phone calls on a phone line to include surveillance of Internet surfing and e-mail.
Coverage on Monday, September 24th, of the Anti-Terrorism Act was limited to Attorney General John Ashcroft's testimony urging hasty passage of the sweeping new police powers sought by the Bush administration.
Although Ashcroft’s testimony was open to television cameras, the committee's Republican staff ordered camera crews to leave when civil liberties and free-speech advocates were called to testify.
This happened in violation of House rules which state,
"Whenever a hearing or meeting conducted by a committee or subcommittee is open to the public, those proceedings shall be open to coverage by audio and visual means."
The Office of Homeland Security
"On the evening of September 20th, President Bush allied himself with the worst enemies of freedom.
He made a seemingly innocuous -- even a comforting-sounding -- announcement.
He said he had created the cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security, with Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as its head.
"Most people were utterly unaware of the significance of Bush's new bureaucracy.
But for anyone watching the advance of police-state policies in America, absolutely nothing could have been more ominous.
"The Homeland Defense Agency is not a new idea".
Conceived by a bi-partisan commission headed by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, this Clinton-era conception,
'The Phase III Report Of The U.S. Commission On National Security/21st Century,' is nothing less than the framework for a permanent military-bureaucratic American police state.
"The new Homeland Defense Agency is the lynchpin of a plan that extensively reorganizes both the executive and legislative functions of the U.S. government.
Among other things, the plan makes the National Guard a national police force.
It extensively federalizes both the study and the work of science, mathematics, and engineering.
It creates numerous new sub-bureaucracies.
The plan calls for the new agency to oversee activities of the Department of Defense, as well as to assume a variety of duties now held by agencies from the Department of Commerce to the FBI.
Although Ashcroft’s testimony was open to television cameras, the committee's Republican staff ordered camera crews to leave when civil liberties and free-speech advocates were called to testify.
This happened in violation of House rules which state,
"Whenever a hearing or meeting conducted by a committee or subcommittee is open to the public, those proceedings shall be open to coverage by audio and visual means."
The Office of Homeland Security
"On the evening of September 20th, President Bush allied himself with the worst enemies of freedom.
He made a seemingly innocuous -- even a comforting-sounding -- announcement.
He said he had created the cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security, with Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as its head.
"Most people were utterly unaware of the significance of Bush's new bureaucracy.
But for anyone watching the advance of police-state policies in America, absolutely nothing could have been more ominous.
"The Homeland Defense Agency is not a new idea".
Conceived by a bi-partisan commission headed by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, this Clinton-era conception,
'The Phase III Report Of The U.S. Commission On National Security/21st Century,' is nothing less than the framework for a permanent military-bureaucratic American police state.
"The new Homeland Defense Agency is the lynchpin of a plan that extensively reorganizes both the executive and legislative functions of the U.S. government.
Among other things, the plan makes the National Guard a national police force.
It extensively federalizes both the study and the work of science, mathematics, and engineering.
It creates numerous new sub-bureaucracies.
The Homeland Security agency itself is to be built upon the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the three organizations currently on the front line of border security - the Coast Guard, the Customs Service, and the Border Patrol - transferred to it.
The plan calls for the new agency to oversee activities of the Department of Defense, as well as to assume a variety of duties now held by agencies from the Department of Commerce to the FBI.
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