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Secret Laws

Discussion in 'Alley of Lingering Sighs' started by Ragusa, Nov 17, 2004.

  1. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    All right then, let's begin:

    Americans, at least those who value Liberty over ideology and party politics, should already be concerned with the implications of such a lack of oversight on the part of congress.

    It is the job of congress to consider fully the laws that they pass. Otherwise, why are they there?

    Section 215 is one of the most blatant parts of the Un-Patriotic Act regarding the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is the guarantee that protects indiviuals against the awesome power of a centralized government, especially one which is as pervasive as ours.

    What about the "due process of law?"

    Many are fighting back to protect their Constitutional rights.

    Here are some links:
    http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/
    http://www.readerprivacy.com/?mod[type]=home
    http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12126&c=207
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A64173-2003Apr20&notFound=true
     
  2. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    chevalier, it's difficult to talk about an act such as the Patriot Act being a complete failure on the grounds you discuss since most of it does nothing to inconvenience the citizenry. You just go on and keep setting up that strawman so you can knock it over; I'll just stand over here in bemusement.

    Chandos, your words point out three sections (210, 213 and 215) out of the myriad sections that exist in the act. So, were your words meant to reinforce my statement that the bulk of the act has nothing to do with infringing on privacy and rights? Because that's what you did.
     
  3. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    You are missing the point. The idea is that it will create an artificial division between the citizens and the government agents, making the government the close, tangible threat, while moving the terrorists into the realm of abstraction if not downright vain propaganda. As such, it won't serve protection from terrorists.
     
  4. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    No, no, I understand your point and agree with it.

    All I'm saying is that since the bulk of the act does not apply to what you're talking about, it's difficult to talk about it being a complete failure by considering what you are talking about.

    For example, there are several sections that deal with increased funding for security organizations. Do they infringe on people's rights and freedoms? Are they complete failures?
     
  5. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    BTA - I was doing neither. I wanted to point out that your somewhat bizarre statement, while true in the sense that "the bulk" of the Unpatriot Act has not created a constitutional firestorm, the sections that do are viewed by many as an attack on the Bill of Rights. I'm not sure what you hoped to accomplish by this:

    Let's say that there are 215 sections and only ten of those sections violate the Bill of Rights. Well, that's the entire 10 Bill of Rights drafted by James Madison with the help of Thomas Jefferson. You could still argue that the bulk of the act does not violate the Bill of Rights, even though all ten have been violated. I'm sure you are aware by now that you are really reaching hard with this strange "argument" that you have crafted on this topic.

    But I'm not sure if you are serious, or if you are even arguing here that the act is really benign in regards to its impact on the Constitution. Or if you believe that the bulk of the act is really meaningless in itself.

    Did you get John Kerry to help you with that line? It seems you need some help "explaining your explaination." Chev is only pointing out that if the citizens see that the act is more of an attack on them, rather than the terrorists, then the act is a failure. It makes sense to me. But as someone who sees this as an attack on the Constitution, which is what it is intended to do, then it is really a success for the Bushies, since they probably view the Bill of Rights as a roadblock to their schemes anyway.
     
  6. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I would say more like viewed by few. If it was viewed as such by many, there would be quicker reviews and rulings against those sections by the judiciary. There are certainly reviews and rulings taking place, but nobody is up in arms over it because though you are technically correct in your objections, these objectionable things in the act don't affect the average citizen in any way on a day-to-day basis.

    I understand chev's argument, but you've got to be kidding that most of the US citizens look at the act as an attack on them, so it is utterly ridiculous to talk about the act as a failure in those terms; the last Gallup poll I saw showed that US citizens overwhelmingly support it. That is what I've been trying to say, and nobody has refuted that least of all you. All you've pointed out is how outraged you personally, and groups of librarians and booksellers are by it, but you hardly represent the majority opinion whether you like it or not.

    I'm sorry, but that is complete nonsense. To begin with every section doesn't have to violate a different right. Second, chev's point was the perception of the public that the act is an attack on them rather than terrorists could make it a failure, but what I have been saying all along is that is not the perception with this act, because most of it has nothing to do with infringing on rights, and the average citizen doesn't view it thusly, so there is no point in talking about it in those terms.

    So, it is pointless to talk about the complete failure of the Patriot Act if you are going to talk about failures due to people's perception that it is an attack on them when that is not the people's perception. How am I reaching with this argument?

    The act in the main is benign in its impact. There are those few sections that may be a problem, and they are being reviewed and ruled on. How does that make the entire act a complete failure? It doesn't, because there are many things in the act that are good for security.

    [ November 23, 2004, 17:03: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]
     
  7. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    BTA - Thank you for misrepresenting my views on the topic. I never said "a majority" of the citizens were outraged over the attacks on the Constitution, even though I believe they should be. And it does not bother me to be in the minority of those who believe that the Constitution is worth defending.

    I suppose that it was the "blood on the snow" at Valley Forge that makes me feel that our rights were paid for at a high price. But I still believe that the minority of us who believe in the power of the Constitution, and the system that the Founders crafted, will eventually win out over the puny men who populate the prez's favorite golf course.
     
  8. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Chandos, your belief that parts of the Patriot Act are an attack on the Constitution is legitimate in some sense, and as you say you're not alone in that belief. I'm not so extreme in my view of it, though I agree that the way some of the sections are worded can lend themselves to abuses.

    I don't have a problem with this. The problem I am having is that this is a separate issue with respect to the chain of posts that started with my first post in this thread.

    The premise was that the Patriot Act was a complete failure with respect to improving anti-terrorism policework. Not "will be", not even "is", but "was" a complete failure in this respect.

    I found that an odd thing to say given no terrorist attacks in the US have occurred since then.

    Chev came in with a valid but separate argument that if legislation is seen as an attack on the citizenry instead of the terrorists, it is bound to fail.

    I pointed out that though I agree with this, I see it as a completely separate argument to the one I was making for several reasons: First, because the Patriot Act as a whole does not infringe on privacy or rights, it would be difficult to view it as a "complete failure" in that respect. Second, the statement was that the Patriot Act was already a failure, not that it would be in the future sometime when and if the citizenry feel embattled by it. Third, that the citizenry do not currently view the Patriot Act as an attack on them instead of the terrorists.

    You then came in and made another separate argument that the Patriot Act is an attack on the Constitution. Since you directed your argument towards a statement I made, I naturally assumed you were trying to point out with your statements how the Patriot Act is a complete failure with respect to improving anti-terrorism policework, and it seemed you were trying to do so by supporting Chev's argument. It now seems you weren't really trying to refute my argument (though you called my statements "bizarre" and stated that I was really reaching with it), but rather took the opportunity to show your disdain for the Patriot Act.

    Which is fine, but just a little incongruous since you were directing your statements toward me as if my argument lacked merit.
     
  9. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    Well, yes and no. I was pointing out that parts of the Unpatriot Act were an attack on the Constitution. I was not attacking your point in relation to the other posts.

    But I thought that Chev's point was also well taken because it really identifies a problem with the act in a much broader sense than any of the other arguments on the topic. The only problem I really have with the act is that parts of it are not Constitutional. Our government officials, including the prez, take an oath of office, which includes their pledges to defend and uphold the Constitution.

    Sorry, if there has been misunderstanding but I was not even trying to get into whether the act was a success or not. I took your "bizarre" argument to mean that it was fine that the act violated some parts of the Constitution as long as the bulk of it was working. Although you really did not say that directly, the underpinnings were that the act was a success regardless.

    But I don't believe there is a "war on terror" to win. It is a fantasy, invented by the adminstration and the media. Sorry, that's just my feeling. I heard an intersting comment made recently: "If Bush won the election because church-going Christians were fearful that their religious values were under attack here in America, how do Muslims feel about constant meddling by Americans who wish to replace Isalmic institutions with Americanized ones in their homelands?

    The good news for Americans in this debate is that we have elections, and we don't have to blow people up to get the results we seek. Nevertheless, the problem is one of policy, not more government control over our lives; nor is it "more guns and ammo." It is that strange mixture of politics and religion that makes this such an irksome problem.
     
  10. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    I think you're right on target Chandos. By accident the Pentagon can tell you more on that, as they just have released a report on what they dubbed "strategic communication". The study arues that the gap between Washington's rhetoric and its actions in the region, as perceived by Muslims, has contributed to a virtually total loss of credibility.
    Evil people who hate our freedom, huh?
    That one for the folks ( :wave: Black Beard :wave: Darkwolf? :wave: ) who think it was treason to publish footage of that GI shooting the Iraqi - credibility is not a product of secrecy and PR savvy but rather like that: Like virginity you can loose credibility only once, and for the current US administration that happened a while ago.

    And going back to topic - in the 1970s Red Army Fraction terrorist hype in Germany we introduced emergency laws and special laws on how to deal with terrorists - to counter a gang of some 30 active madmen and some 1000 sympathisers throughout Germany.
    The US hysteria, just take the utterly ridiculous colour coded "threat levels", very much reminds me of that in Germany then - because prior to 911 terrorism was something that used to happen in the wild wide world beyond America's borders, and mockingly I'd say, outside their perception. Just like America today, Germany's "Deutscher Herbst" of 1977 suddenly featured heavily armed police and omnipresent roadblocks and general suspicion.

    The practical effect of these laws was marginal (very illuminating to read criminology literature on that), but German security agencies and police merrily invaded privacy of a few million citizens. Once caught, the terrorists were kept in strong isolation under conditions that reportedly amounted to sensory deprivation, and very limited access of the lawyers to the evidence for reasons of secrecy.
    Ironically, rather than minimising the threat, these conditions only mobilised a second wave of sympathisers to become terrorists, too, and to 'retaliate' against the state; lacking the intellectual and ideological capacity of the first wave they compensated for that with greater brutality and ruthlessness.
    Harsh british anti-terror laws and prison practices worked in a similar way - and greatly helped the IRA to collect funds in America's Irish community.

    You don't need to be a Nostradamus to predict that the US efforts, and let's just single out their treatment of "suspected enemy combattants", will only give credibility to the message of islamist propagandists and fundraisers.

    Think about the ability of the government to indefinitely detain people they label as enemy combattants without any processual rights or contact to counsel or appeal. In this respect Gitmo is only the most prominent example.

    As an example it simply undermines the US claim to respect the rule of law as they contradict the spirit of the constitutional freedoms. Their attemps to spin that away, Mr. Gonzales' screes especially, can't change the disastrous effects this has on US credibility as a whole ... because spin works best at home. As a lawyer I can just turn away in disgust from Gonzales' sophistry.

    And we haven't even yet talked about the intrusion into the privacy of US citizens. Police shouldn't be allowed to search your home in your absence, secretly, without your ability to explain or defend yourself or having legal counsel.
    I still wait for the case of someone coming home early and shooting a federal agent he mistakes for a burglar (killing a federal officer iirc is a federal crime), or worse, a federal agent shooting a suspect who detects him on a secret search - and dares to be as angry as someone would expect him to get when whe finds a foreigner in his home. It is only a question of time until that happens.
    It also isn't the gvt's business to know what you read or which books you buy. And so on, and so on.

    The question always is if the leeway harsher legislation gives to the executive branch is really worth the price. I am unpersuaded, very much so.

    [ November 29, 2004, 09:21: Message edited by: Ragusa ]
     
  11. Llandon Gems: 13/31
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    "That one for the folks ( Llandon Darkwolf? ) who think it was treason to publish footage of that GI shooting the Iraqi - credibility is not a product of secrecy and PR savvy but rather like that: Like virginity you can loose credibility only once, and for the current US administration that happened a while ago."

    Please tell me when I said, or even implied that it was "treason" to publish that footage? Talk about bad information. I really don't appreciate being named and accused of something I didn't come close to doing.
     
  12. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] This is going completely off topic, please sort it out with Ragusa in PM - he can edit his post if he misquoted you.
     
  13. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    [​IMG] Well, my apologies Llandon. I checked the quote from the Murderer Marine thread. I was being rash and actually mixed you up with Black Beard.

    Sorry, my pun.
     
  14. Cúchulainn Gems: 28/31
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    I was actually thinking about this and a few thoughts came accross my mind - What will happen to the multitude of Americans that willingly funded terrorist groups in N.Ireland such as the IRA? Are they going to be detained without right to legal representation? Have 'charities' such as NORAID been shut down and had their funds frozen? Does anyone care?
     
  15. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    But the IRA and those are nice little terrorist a large part of the American population can/could sympathise with. It is not the same thing you know! Completely different case, Americans would never ever systematically support any kind of terrorism. Nope, no sir eeh!
     
  16. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    Well, the US administration stand here is adamant. Try this article: Government lawyer: Detainees have no 'constitutional rights', and let me quote:
    Any questions?
    That I'd like to see: Britain snatching enemy combattants in Hell's Kitchen, Chicago and Boston ... :shake: ... the inevitable US uproar would go along the line "violation of sovereignty".

    Like Orwell said: Some are more equal than others.
     
  17. Cúchulainn Gems: 28/31
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    Yes I was forgetting that the IRA are a band of cuddly leprachauns that cause mild mischief like blowing up shopping malls, churches, housing estates and also targeting British soldiers abroad. :doh:
     
  18. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Military panels for judging civilians. Civilians of foreign citizenship, at that. Brilliant. What next? El Presidente strolling around in a uniform and White House laden with marines?

    Oh my... what if the spammers who have my e-mail address have a connection with Al Quaeda? Does that not preclude detention, as well? :lol:

    Well, constitutional rights are constitutional rights, but there are also basic human rights in the order of natural law and independent from any system of of positive law.

    Somehow, Saddam was bad for being a military dictator. Or Fidel. So why the hell isn't that wrong for El Presidente Bush & Federales?
     
  19. Cúchulainn Gems: 28/31
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    Personally I rank George Bush in league with Saddam and Pinochet - only I think he has the potential to be far more dangerous.
     
  20. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    One more thing is that there's no democracy, nor a lawful state, without presumption of innocence.

    Presumption of innocence clearly has stopped applying to detainees, who are now treated equally with convicts. This essentially means guilty until proven innocent.

    That's why I dare say that Bush's peculiar statecraft is as close to dictature as it can be in a modern democracy.

    As for the government lawyer whom Ragusa quotes, I can only wish on him the same fate as detainees go through without a court sentence, or often without any charge at all. Let's begin with sleep deprivation and cavity search. What say ye?
     
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