Mandatory Snitch Law in the House

[JackieO]

New legislation currently making its way through the House of Representatives poses a grave threat.

If passed, H.R. 1528 will force Americans to inform on their friends, family members, or neighbors within 24 hours of acquiring any knowledge about their involvement in drug-related activity, including marijuana.

Please visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to stop this bill in its tracks.

As is often the case with new federal violations of civil liberties, this bill is constructed to appear as though it is designed to protect children from drugs, but its implications are far more sinister:

* Observe one student passing a joint to another, and you could fall under this law. You would be required to report the incident to authorities within 24 hours or risk prosecution and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.

* If a neighbor under 21 mentions buying some marijuana for a party, you would be required to report him or her to the government or risk jail time yourself.

* If your brothers or sisters have children and mention to you that they and their spouses sometimes smoke marijuana in their bedroom after their kids are asleep, you would be required to immediately inform on them or face prison time.

You can see what a threatening new environment this proposed legislation would create for everyone. It would erect barriers of paranoia between friends, family members, and neighbors and is rife with potential for police abuse, extortion, and the creation of false informants.

DownsizeDC.org is mounting a campaign to defeat this bill. Visit
http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to learn more and then take action by sending a message to Congress telling them what you think of this bill. Please send a message now, while we can still stop this terrible legislation.

Thank you.

P.S. H.R. 1528 is supposedly designed to protect children -- but the bill is actually anti-family. It expands mandatory minimum sentencing and increases the ways those minimum sentences could kick in. It's absolutely draconian.

Passage of this bill would be a setback. It's almost always harder to repeal a bad law than it is to stop it from passing in the first place. Please visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to act now.

[punpirate]

1. Yep, kinda makes you wonder...

... what Sensenbrenner's been smokin' lately....

[shraby]

2. He must be reading the history

of Germany, WWII. Children were supposed to rat out their parents and neighbors then.

[SoCalDem]

3. Anne Frank just turned in her grave

as did everyone who was reported to the Stasi and all the other "secret police" of the world.

[firefox]

4. Thanks for spreading the word

It is also the subject of this DU thread- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3772220

[JackieO]

8. no problem

missed that other thread... thanks!

[B3Nut]

5. Kicked and done.

What in the HELL has Senselessbrenner been smoking? I hope the rep from my district (Tammy Baldwin, D-WI) gives him a smackdown on the house floor.

This is insanity. I am at a loss for words.

TP

[Mythsaje]

6. I'd really like to see this thread

go to the greatest page. People really need to know about this kind of Nazi crap. "Inform on your neighbor! Or go to jail!"

These people are deranged. I'm so sick of this War on (Some) Drugs crap. All they've managed to do in thirty years is to make even WORSE drugs than pot more readily available. Let's have a war on the (relatively) harmless drug and incidentally promote the sale, distribution, and use of drugs that permanently screw people up (meth, anyone?)... Damn, that WOSD is doing a GREAT job! The money is so good how can any low-life resist the temptation?


I'm not sure if they're just stupid or criminally insane. They should just legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis...use it to help fund universal healthcare (along with cigs and alcohol)...and spend the law enforcement dollars getting the REAL bad guys off the street.

Progressive Talking Point... The War on Drugs, as it's currently being fought, IS soft on REAL crime. Because of the over-burdened court system and prison over-population, they're letting violent criminals go to make room for NON-VIOLENT drug offenders. How stupid is that?

Stop wasting our time, money, and energy pursuing people who aren't hurting anyone but (perhaps) themselves. MAKE money from them rather than spending it on them.

Is this a no-brainer or what?

[burrowowl]

16. Worst!

Inform on your child instead of getting the child help.

[sweetheart]

7. good hearted... dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3772220&mesg_id=3772220&page=

It seems recurring phenomena that we re-discuss this same
silly senseless inert law over and over on this website.

God willing, the rest of the country will see likewise and it will
die stillborn.

[whistle]

9. Sounds like Hitler's Youth movement that made it an offense...

...against the Nazi State to not inform on family and friends. No surprises here! BushCo has used the Third Reich as their model of the new American State.

[Kire]

10. I'm not recommending this for the greatest page...

...someone might snitch on me.

[Flying Dream Blues]

11. Kick! Everyone please go to the website...just takes a minute! n/t

[Flying Dream Blues]

12. Dupe...sorry! n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Signed and forwarded. n/t

[KnaveRupe]

14. Prediction:

The GOP will institute a new policy to fill the ranks of the Armed forces - military service in lieu of prison time for non-violent drug offenders.

Shores up the recruiting shortfalls without the stigma of a general draft. Lets us keep on PNAC-ing our way around the globe, while also elegantly combining the war on drugs with the war on terror.

[dejaboutique]

17. I think you are on to something

that sounds like a very feasible prediction.

[elehhhhna]

18. Can't wait to see Noelle Bush leading a platoon.

[burrowowl]

15. Signed

petition.
Are we supposed to say Seig Heil to Bu$h as well!?!