New Terror Laws Used Vs. Common Criminals

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=716&e=8&u=/ap/20030914/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anti_terror_laws

PHILADELPHIA - In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes.

The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers.

Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car.

A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture of chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months.

more

[Guaranteed]

1. The article quotes a spokesman...

...for the National Association for Criminal Defense Attorneys as saying that less than six months after the Patriot Act was passed, the Justice Department was conducting SEMINARS on how to use the new powers (such as wiretapping) for people other than alleged terrorists.
It also says someone has been charged with "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" when a pipe bomb blew up in his lap, and someone else was "making chemical weapons" in manufacturing methamphetamine.
Irresponsible charges like those seem to make light of these terror laws, somehow.

[ixion]

2. this is precisely the type of thing

that those of us who oppose the unPATRIOTic Act said would happen, and were assured would not.

Yet another shinging example of this deceit of this administration. :grr:

[conservdem]

9. Who assured you that it would not be used this way?

Did the DOJ issue a written statement saying that?

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Just about anything illegal could be morphed into

"terraism" to suit somebody's agenda. The actions of law and order/ right wing people are easy to predict. Everything is done for a self serving simple minded you vs me purpose.

[hang a left]

4. like dissent

[Ivory_Tower]

5. A pipe bomb is a WMD?

Hmmm...if they keep defining "WMD" down like that:

(1) it'll make it easier to find "WMD"s in Iraq, and

(2) eventually a handgun or rifle will be a WMD. I wonder if the NRA is keeping an eye on this so-called Patriot Act? (act, n., charade; pretense)

Another thing about the pipe bomb -- it exploded in the man's lap and the man was injured. Not killed. What exactly does "Mass Destruction" mean these days?

Sheesh, at some point a Taco Bell burrito will be labelled a "chemical weapon"...

[chasqui]

7. No kidding

I might go ahead and become an NRA member for this reason alone.
There you have it, card carrying member of both the ACLU and the NRA. Cool.

[ninkasi]

6. In other words...

they use it when they feel like it. The way they are abusing the law...already inviting abuse...is exactly what they assured us wouldn't happen. Is it just impossible for them to tell the truth about ANYTHING?

Meanwhile, Ken Lay is enjoying his millions. Some sense of priorities they have, isn't it? Would someone please explain to me how Whistle Ass doesn't have negative approval numbers?

[havocmom]

8. Lots and lots of inmates

in privitized prisions make $$ for the Global Feudalists. They get tax monies to run the prisions and they get to lease out prision labor so other Global Fuedalists can have cheap labor for production and call center operations. Ideally, they will want to lock us all up. the takeover will be complete then. There will be the ruling class, the sycophant managers, the secruity troops (formerly US Military) and us, the inmates.

[Caution]

10. Four words

We Told You So!

Oh it'll only be applied to terrorists...blah blah blah.

[saigon68]

11. DON'T BECOME INVOLVED WITH A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

This is one area that Ashcrap and his friends are looking at.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. Yeah, right

More likely that abortion will be declared an act of terrorism against the fetus/embryo.

I wish I was 100% sure the above sentence is a joke.

[TahitiNut]

13. Propagandistic Headline

These fascist laws aren't being used against 'criminals' -- they're being used against presumably innocent people who're accused of common crimes! When we lose sight of this, we're lost. "Due process" is (supposedly) guaranteed by the Constitution, and it's a indispensible element of civil liberties.