What abuses have happened due to the Patriot Act?

[shance]

This is an unbelievably insulting Washington Post Article posted for Wednesday. I think all these Senators have drunk from Marie Antoinette's fountain of total disregard.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61591-2003Oct21.html

Patriot Act Misunderstood, Senators Say

In the article, Dianne Feinstein states,

"I have never had a single abuse of the Patriot Act reported to me," she said.

and of course Biden,

<< Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), called criticism of the Patriot Act "ill-informed and overblown" and commended prosecutors' work in some terrorism cases. >>

Those of you who have either had personal experience or knowledge and evidence of wrongdoing, please cite it here, so we can fax and email, and contact Senator Roberty Byrd, Teddy Kennedy, Moveon, True Majority, Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Amy Goodman, and whoever else, that there INDEED is a reason for being concerned.

Why all of a sudden NON-CONCERN from these Senators? That is a very good question.

So, Feinstein said she has not had ONE citing of problems with the Patriot Act. Is she supporting John Ashcroft over Americans at large? Please state any evidence of wrongdoing you know that has happened under the Patriot Act. Of course, much of the abuse is not even known or realized,because it is done via computer, and other electronic devices that reveal no evidence of being illegally monitored. However, there is plenty of other blatant acts that are occurring all too frequently.

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. I think the effect on non-Muslims has been minimal

And there is no reason to suppose that that will change, even after internment gets underway, unless the decision is made to include those suspected of Muslim sympathies, but that will affect only a very small number of people.

edit to note that while persons with a "Middle Eastern appearance" may, and probably will, included in the "protective shelter" phase, this will involve a population that will be overwhelmingly low-income members of ethnic minorities, and any unintended consequences that might impact the service industries that tend to employ this population can be offset by innovative strategies based on currently in-place inmate employment programs such as those that have been used in rural Alabama and Mississippi for decades.

[shance]

2. Did I hear what you are saying...."after internment gets underway?"

I just printed this one off for record.

Thanks.

edit. I did hear what you are saying.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Do you mean to say you have missed the advance work?

It began long before the 911 events.

What do you think Guantanamo is a prototype for?

[7th_Sephiroth]

4. do you think, after re-selection

(unless diebold makes it moot, or the supremes dont select, they have taken a stance against bush in thier decisions) that you will see the partiot act be used on everybody, with dubya' need to kiss up to people gone?

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. I don't think he is kissing up now

and neither do the newly unemployed.

[7th_Sephiroth]

6. he's kissing up

to the republican party so they dont boot his ass

[DuctapeFatwa]

14. oh, to the corporate oligarchy, sure

You, on the other hand, are to be empowered to adjust your wages to a globally competitive rate.

[shance]

7. I am seeing some real racist stuff here.

Is this something you desire?

That Muslims are incarcerated at Guantanamo?

[truth2power]

12. I don't think Ducttape was saying that at all.

I think he was speaking ironically. From the point of view of the BFEE - this is their plan.

[DuctapeFatwa]

15. yes, the plan seems pretty clear to me

and I imagine it seems even clearer to all the various disappeared individuals and their families.

[DuctapeFatwa]

13. I desire to see the entire PNAC Crusade Krewe incarcerated in the Hague

I regret to inform you that neither the bush regime nor the corporate oligarchy proper consider my desires, although it is my hope that they will allow me the courtesy of an all cotton jumpsuit, as I am not fond of polyester.

[westerby]

8. Do we have to prove abuses in order to condemn the PA?

I have never had a single abuse of the Patriot Act reported to me” (Feinstein). May be. But that does not mean that the Patriot Act is a good thing , even if Mrs. Feinstein seems to suggest that.
Even if no abuses had been reported, this would not impact the observation that the Patriot Act is an unprecedented and brutal curtailing of basic civil rights!
It is really outrageous that Feinstein and Biden try to impy that the Patriot Act is not that bad only because government authorities up to now have not fully exploited the extreme possibilities that the Patriot Act offers to them.

And what does “abuse” mean??? If a given action of authorities is legal according to P.A., this is, formally spoken, no abuse. But it can very well be an abuse of the spirit of the Constitution and the idea of civil rights. If you give the authorities unrestricted freedom, there will be not abuses, in a technical sense. But again, this does not make Patriot Act a good idea for the American people!

[hippywife]

9. The potential is huge

The USAPA dessimates whole sections of federal code with regard to the seperation of foreign and domestic intelligence and investigations that have existed since 1947. It includes provisions for domestic terrorism and very vague definitions of such that will allow your local Barney Fife to decide what is and isn't domestic terrorism.

There are concerned citizens around this country working to have their city councils resolve to not uphold these provisions.

Go here and find these groups in your local area and get involved:

www.bordc.org

These people are citizen activists like you or I.

[Some Moran]

10. Repuke > Repuke Lite

Just ask Truman. :(

[Midwest_Doc]

11. Not to be repitious, but ....

In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't
speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they
came for me--and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Martin Niemöller 1892-1984