Do you realize what they're trying to do with the Patriot Act?

[napi21]

Here's the first paragraph of the section:

Sec. 3056A. Powers, authorities, and duties of United States Secret Service Uniformed Division

`(a) There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the `United States Secret Service Uniformed Division'. Subject to the supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security, the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division shall perform such duties as the Director, United States Secret Service, may prescribe in connection with the protection of the following:

(snip)

`(B) make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp109&sid=cp109lxkwK&refer=&r_n=hr333.109&item=&sel=TOC_208072&

A PERMANENT US Secret Service Uniformed Division????? They will be able to decide if you're in the wrong place and arrest you!

Bernie Ward read this on his radio show last night, and Lynn Cullen discussed it today!

Bernie's words were "We're 30 days away from a Police State!!!!!

[Slit Skirt]

1. maybe we can get an uprising to this similar in volume to Alito

cause this stuff just has to stop

[Seedersandleechers]

4. Let me guess, they'll all be outfitted with brown shirts.

[napi21]

9. Maybe! It only says "they will have uniforms".

Personally, I was thinking BLACK!

[napi21]

15. I HOPE so! This one really scares the bejjsus out of me!

Right now, we're talking about holding hearings to see if Shrubs data mining and taping were legal. If this crap passes, there won't be any hearings, BECUASE it will all be LEGAL!!!!!

[Initech]

2. So basically, there's a secret secret service that can arrest you at any

time? :wtf:

[napi21]

6. Every time I've heard this discussed, they said they will have the

right to arrest you for carrying "an unauthorized sign" anywhere, even at political rallys!

You can legally be arrested for wearing an anti-Shrub t-shirt!

And the biggest problem I see with it, is that it's this very Secret Service Uniformed Division that would have the right to determing if you were doing the wrong thing! NO guidelines! Just "any place determined by the "new police!

I live on the east coast and Bernie only comes on at 1AM. I was freaking!!!!!

[Initech]

8. This is nuts!

I bet that if a Dem had tried something like this, they'd have them tarred, feathered, and hung out to dry at "Club Gitmo".

[Rainscents]

3. Did the new Patriot Act passed?

I been away from the computer for few weeks as I was moving. I know, they were working on it.

[napi21]

7. NO! Old one was extended another 30 days.

Apparently at least some Senators don't like what they see! They demanded an extention to do more review!

[Rainscents]

11. Thanks!

[Jara sang]

5. Federal nationwide police force, that's what they want.

[FreedomAngel82]

10. Yep

And all Bush has to do is do like the republicans have been saying about anti-war protestors and people who tell the truth like John Murtha, Kerry, Kucinich etc. So could they be considered offensive?

[napi21]

13. I know this is MY thread, but we really CAN'T let this subject fall

through the cracks!

I have to admit, I've VERY worried about the disastrous results of something like this if it passes!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. The same thing the "Enabling Act" did for Hitler.

[Jujiman]

14. Now It Is 1984...

DEAD KENNEDYS LYRICS

"California Uber Alles"

I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president

Carter power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face

Close your eyes, can't happen here
Big Bro' on white horse is near
The hippies won't come back you say
Mellow out or you will pay

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Now it is 1984
Knock knock at your front door
It's the suede/denim secret police
They have come for your uncool neice

Come quitely to the camp
You'd look nice as a drawstring lamp
Don't you worry, it's only a shower
For your clothes here's a pretty flower

Die on organic poison gas
Serpent's egg's already hatched
You will crack, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deadkennedys/californiauberalles.html

Seems like the d.k's ALMOST got it right
excepting that it's not Jerry Brown doing it.

:evilgrin:

[JohnnyRingo]

16. There seems to be a right wing movement to replace the word...

"probable" with "reasonable" as in: "probable cause".
This careful rewording of the 4th ammendment will result in much broader search and arrest powers by the admin.

A sad era in American history indeed.
My only hope at this point is that a future president can right the wrongs of this administration and Buxh's legacy appears as an ugly stain on an otherwise proud and exemplary record of national progress.

[napi21]

17. But FIRST, we HAVE to STOP this from passing!!!!

A "future President" is 3 years away! Do you realize what all could happen in THREE YEARS?

[ekelly]

53. What if Bush* never leaves?

My only hope at this point is that a future president can right the wrongs of this administration


That assumes there will be a different president in the future.

[LizW]

18. Here's where this is going

They'll create a uniformed Secret Service with the powers set out in the OP. They also plan to make it a felony to enter a "restricted area" at a "national security event" (which is whatever they decide) and the uniformed SS can arrest anyone who they claim has committed a "felony" whether they saw it happen or not.

Every Bush or Cheney event will have a secret, invisible restricted area around it. And they probably will argue that these areas need to be "movable" in order to best protect the rulers. All the SS has to do is say, "I have reason to believe you have entered a restriced security area. You are being charged with a felony. Come with me."

What a chilling effect that will have on protests, eh? It's one thing to go to an event and undergo a planned arrest, get processed and released. It's quite another to get charged with a freaking felony. Lots of jobs will fire you outright for having a felony charge.

Oh, and you know what happens in 13 states if you're found guilty or plead guilty to a felony? You permanently lose the right to vote.

What a plan. These people never sleep.

[napi21]

24. You're ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!! I really am very afraid of THIS!!!

Not scared like in "oh let me hide!" Scared of what this could do to America!

I heard this whole thing was added to the Patriot Ace by Arlan Spector! I know there's a link, because I found it earlier today, but I'll have to go back and look.

Arlan is saying he doesn't understand what the big deal is here! He was just trying to clarify some things that were lacking in the old bill! Yeeeoooowww!!!!

[smartvoter]

49. K&R nt

[shanti]

51. yes! you are spot on

and they are letting us know that the detention camps are in place now too.

[babylonsister]

19. Just great; and I suppose they'll be manning the detention

centers now being built.
:( :argh:

[Marr]

20. Is it Hitler yet?

It's just one power grab after another. One assault on rights after another. The fascists keep demanding more and the cowards keep on handing it to them.

[BrklynLiberal]

23. Perhaps not, but it sure is Mussolini!!!

[shanti]

52. time is of the essence to them

some of us have caught on, they have to stop us NOW.

[dchill]

21. "without warrant...

...for any offense against the United States." As differentiated from "any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States." What will constitute an offense? Something like wearing a shirt emblazoned with a count of Iraq War Dead, I'm predicting.

In other words, taking into account the newly renamed "terrorist surveillance program", it's anything the Bushies say it is. Gonzales will "testify" that it's legal. And Roberts, Alito et al will be there to back it up.

Presidential powers - backed up by armed National Polizei.

[BrklynLiberal]

22. KICK KICK KICK!!!!

[H2O Man]

25. Interesting post ....

I would suggest DUers consider reading Anthony Romero's recent letter to members of the ACLU. Romero, the executive director, speaks to the growing dangers that the administration poses to our civil rights.

www.aclu.org

[kath]

54. Do you have a specific link to Romero's recent letter?

I looked around the ACLU site a bit, and a search found multiple things by Romero.
Thanks much!

[druidity33]

26. K&R

!!!

[MellowOne]

27. Hitler was finally stopped

But what will it take to stop BushCO?

[FiveGoodMen]

28. Hitler was stopped by the Allied Forces. Who's going to save US?!

[ekelly]

55. Just another part of the plan

Piss off the rest of the world so no one will come to our aid.

[Surya Gayatri]

29. K & R n/t

[dogday]

30. I watched them come for my neighbor and did nothing..

then next they came for me.....

[ClayZ]

31. ARGH!

[AbbyR]

32. OK, what next?

Think we can get another push as we did against Alito to let people know about this one?

I'm scared to read the news any more - I may need to pull out my tin foil hat or something but this mess just terrifies me.

[fooj]

33. I've become quite fond of my tinfoil hat.

It has worked well...especially in the last 4-5 years!

Peace.:tinfoilhat:

[jasmeel]

34. Can we start a DU action thread about this? Call your senators

multiple times and ask them to not sign the Patriot Act.

[Syncronaut Seven]

35. Just a formalization of the power law enforcement granted itself

years ago. The signs have always been there. I've had rational, well educated people tell me that my views are distorted and I'm paranoid. See you in Auschwitz you stupid fuckers, dont expect me to share my asprin.

[earth mom]

36. This is why what happened to Cindy Sheehan is so very ominous.

What next? :scared:

[samhsarah]

37. K&R nt

[readmoreoften]

38. kick & concern

i hope DUers come to my rescue because, as a gay female in a visible position in an escalating labor strike with a major corporation with cultural ties to just about every neo-con and neo-liberal on the planet, I bet I'll be in the first wave of arrests.

[Joe Fields]

39. I have never been afraid to live in the U.S. until now.

I have never lived in fear. I have never owned a gun. To date, I have been fortunate enough to never have been victimized by criminals.

But today I live in fear. I have never seen one family , and most assuredly will NEVER SEE one family with the power to control every facet of our government, as the Bush family.

I have lost count and honestly cannot keep track of all the scandals that this administration has committed. Not only committed, but has so far managed to cover-up. Not to mention the investigations that lead nowhere.

Now this frightening proposed change to the "Patriot Act"?

Like the French resistance in WWII, I can envision millions of us going underground.

I have an eighteen year old son. I cry for him.

I cry for the whole country, even the misguided citizens who still follow Bush.

[FogerRox]

40. There was a similar thread a week or so ago

IIRC it doesnt create the SS uniforms-- it expands them-- saerch about 1-2 weeks ago

[dusty64]

41. Kick

:kick:

[Clara T]

42. Section 602

Section 602 states that Americans can be arrested for interfering with “National Special Security Events”. You can even be arrested for conspiring to interfere with an “NSSE”. In other words, an American citizen can be arrested for calling some friends and scheduling an unauthorized meeting with a CongressCritter.

Our Congress critters have proposed the creation of a Ministry of Fatherland Defense federal police force. Under H.R. 3199 (the so-called “USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005?)—created to “extend and modify authorities needed to combat terrorism, and for other purposes,”

Here's the whole thing:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp109:FLD010:@1(hr333)

[LibertyorDeath]

44. "and for other purposes,"

The gloves will come off soon.

[dchill]

43. Kick!

[rumpel]

45. attention to the word "reasonable", it is replacing many sections which

formerly called for "probable cause".

[dchill]

46. Yes. Just like the idea that there is such a thing...

as a vaguely defined "offense against the United States" which would "warrant" arrest without a warrant. This in addition to "any cognizable felony..."

Reasonable = Legal and Republican. Unreasonable = Illegal and Democrat. We are soon to be redefined and reclassified as irrational criminals. Damn me if I don't already sort of feel like one.

[upi402]

47. OMFG!!! It's really *THAT* bad!

I need to get clear of this shit. Unreal. I can't see how our elected officials trust these crooks with this power.

[savemefromdumbya]

48. The SS - I wonder will they wear black?

[shanti]

50. this is chilling...

thank you for bringing this up! i read that it got an extension, but not the details. this is yet another brick in the wall. we cannot let this slide! contact your congresspeople, NOW!