"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
.. .
On 15 Nov 2003 20:34:24 -0800, (Doug)
wrote in Message-Id: :
All part of the George Bush Airport Police State, using the SS to do
it, in this case. 1000 arrested in the USA after 9/11, most held and
never charged, 600 interned in Guantanamo Bay (15 fewer than a month
ago (gee I wonder where those 15 went? slit?)). Hey, I want America
safe, but I also want it FREE. Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft, no American
Freedom safe from their police powers. Sorry to be political, if the
Dems were doing it I'd be hollering just as loud. Wake up America!
And how would you propose that the American people and we pilots
regain our freedom? What action should be taken against government
officials who violate constitutional guarantees?
On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 23:06:34 GMT, "Tom Hyslip"
wrote in Message-Id: :
I would like to know what constitutional guarantees of yours have been
violated?
So your point is, that if I haven't PERSONALLY experienced a lack of
due process, it hasn't happened?
Talk to Craig Prouse (a regular contributor to this newsgroup).
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...3D%26hl %3Den
From: "Craig Prouse"
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.piloting
Subject: Pakistani? Pilot? No soup for you.
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 13:09:25 -0700
Message-ID:
A friend from college has been beside himself for the last few
days. His 65-year-old father, a naturalized American citizen of
Pakistani origin, and holder of a private pilot certificate, has
been secretly detained.
http://reason.com/sullum/061402.shtml
But by locking him up indefinitely without bringing charges, the
government is setting a precedent for preventive detention of any
U.S. citizen whom the president decides to put on the country's
enemy list.
This maneuver makes due process disappear through misdirection and
circular reasoning: If you're a terrorist, you're an "enemy
combatant." Therefore, the government does not have to prove
you're a terrorist.
http://www.heraldonline.com/local/st...-2670334c.html
The backlash has been building steadily since the passage of the
Patriot Act in October 2001. Among the provisions opponents find
most troubling:
• The FBI has broader authority to seek information on citizens'
reading habits at libraries and bookstores, as well as financial
information and medical records without having "probable cause."
Instead, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, a secret
body that oversees investigations against terrorism suspects, must
deem information being sought as relevant in a criminal probe.
• Some search warrants can be kept secret for 90 days, allowing
the government to go into someone's home or business without the
target knowing it.
• In some cases, people can be jailed for providing aid to groups
the government links to terrorism..
The secrecy extends beyond the Patriot Act, particularly when it
comes to air travel. Some people trying to board airplanes have
been detained without explanation, many apparently because their
names are similar to those on secret government watch lists.
Yet details of how someone ends up on such a list -- or how many
people are on it -- remain secret.
How much freedom to give up?
Some are asking whether they're being forced to give up too many
personal freedoms.
"Does this sound like the United States, or does this sound like
1950s Russia?" asked Tim Armstrong, a 56-year-old Vietnam War
veteran and ad salesman for a radio station in Juneau, Alaska,
where citizens are banding together against the federal
government's new efforts.
It's a question being asked by liberals and conservatives.
"This whole thing scares me," said Robert Corbin, a former
president of the National Rifle Association. "I believe very
strongly in the Bill of Rights, and I don't want anybody to screw
around with it."
Corbin noted his group, widely viewed as conservative, has found
common ground with the ACLU over the Patriot Act.
"I'm just afraid that the Patriot Act is like the war on drugs,
where people are willing to give up their freedoms for security,"
he said. "And I'm not."
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the
citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a
double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows
the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the
blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no
need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry,
infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of
their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is
what I have done. And I am Caesar." -- Julius Caesar