Fwd. News Gathering Is Illegal Under New Patriot Act ll

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Sat, 20 Nov 2004 17:06:27 -0500

News Gathering Is Illegal Under New Patriot Act ll

 

 

http://www.rense.com/general59/newsgatheringisillegal.htm

 

News Gathering Is Illegal

Under New Patriot Act ll

By Alex Jones

InfoWars.com

11-20-4

 

 

SECTION 102 of the new Patriot Act ll states clearly that any

information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities

are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence

activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal.

 

 

A Brief Analysis of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003

- Also Known as USA Patriot Act II

 

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member

of Congress was allowed to read the first Patriot Act that was passed

by the House on October 27, 2001. The first Patriot Act was

universally decried by civil libertarians and Constitutional scholars

from across the political spectrum. William Safire, while writing for

the New York Times, described the first Patriot Act's powers by saying

that President Bush was " seizing dictatorial control. " On February 7,

2003 the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan public interest

think-tank in DC, revealed the full text of the Domestic Security

Enhancement Act of 2003. The classified document had been leaked to

them by an unnamed source inside the Federal government. The document

consisted of a 33 page section by section analysis of the accompanying

87 page bill.

 

The bill itself is stamped " Confidential - Not for Distribution. " Upon

reading the analysis and bill, I was stunned by the scientifically

crafted tyranny contained in the legislation. The Justice Department

Office of Legislative Affairs admits that they had indeed covertly

transmitted a copy of the legislation to Speaker of the House Dennis

Hastert, (R-Il) and the Vice President of the United States, Dick

Cheney as well as the executive heads of federal law enforcement agencies.

 

It is important to note that no member of Congress was allowed to see

the first Patriot Act before its passage, and that no debate was

tolerate by the House and Senate leadership. The intentions of the

White House and Speaker Hastert concerning Patriot Act II appear to be

a carbon copy replay of the events that led to the unprecedented

passage of the first Patriot Act.

 

There are two glaring areas that need to be looked at concerning this

new legislation:

 

1. The secretive tactics being used by the White House and Speaker

Hastert to keep even the existence of this legislation secret would be

more at home in Communist China than in the United States. The fact

that Dick Cheney publicly managed the steamroller passage of the first

Patriot Act, ensuring that no one was allowed to read it and publicly

threatening members of Congress that if they didn't vote in favor of

it that they would be blamed for the next terrorist attack, is by the

White House's own definition terrorism. The move to clandestinely

craft and then bully passage of any legislation by the Executive

Branch is clearly an impeachable offense.

 

2. The second Patriot Act is a mirror image of powers that Julius

Caesar and Adolf Hitler gave themselves. Whereas the First Patriot Act

only gutted the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and

seriously damaged the Seventh and the Tenth, the Second Patriot Act

reorganizes the entire Federal government as well as many areas of

state government under the dictatorial control of the Justice

Department, the Office of Homeland Security and the FEMA NORTHCOM

military command. The Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, also

known as the Second Patriot Act is by its very structure the

definition of dictatorship.

 

I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act and to compare

it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of

Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with

terrorism and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles

reaching into every facet of our society. It strips American citizens

of all of their rights and grants the government and its private

agents total immunity. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some

of the draconian measures encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation:

 

SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush

administration's " enemy combatant " definition to all American citizens

who " may " have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first

Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism,

and the definition is " any action that endangers human life that is a

violation of any Federal or State law. " ) Section 501 of the second

Patriot Act directly connects to Section 125 of the same act. The

Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802

of the First USA Patriot Act isn't broad enough and that a new,

unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.

 

Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be

grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again.

The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person

" had inferred from conduct " that they were not a US citizen. Remember

Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of

Federal or State law can result in the " enemy combatant " terrorist

designation.

 

SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any

member of the government or any citizen to release any information

concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also

states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who

they have arrested and they never have to release the names.

 

SECTION 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database) set up a

national database of " suspected terrorists " and radically expand the

database to include anyone associated with suspected terrorist groups

and anyone involved in crimes or having supported any group designated

as " terrorist. " These sections also set up a national DNA database for

anyone on probation or who has been on probation for any crime, and

orders State governments to collect the DNA for the Federal government.

 

SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying

operations against the American people and would place substantial

restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil

rights across the board.

 

SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign powers and

again strip them of all rights under the " enemy combatant " designation.

 

SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless

of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to

be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes

news gathering illegal.

 

SECTION 103 allows the Federal government to use wartime martial law

powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring

that a state of war exists.

 

SECTION 106 is bone-chilling in its straightforwardness. It states

that broad general warrants by the secret FSIA court (a panel of

secret judges set up in a star chamber system that convenes in an

undisclosed location) granted under the first Patriot Act are not good

enough. It states that government agents must be given immunity for

carrying out searches with no prior court approval. This section

throws out the entire Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches

and seizures.

 

SECTION 109 allows secret star chamber courts to issue contempt

charges against any individual or corporation who refuses to

incriminate themselves or others. This sections annihilate the last

vestiges of the Fifth Amendment.

 

SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in the first

Patriot Act were not sunsetted and removes the five year sunset clause

from other subsections of the first Patriot Act. After all, the media

has told us: " This is the New America. Get used to it. This is forever. "

 

SECTION 111 expands the definition of the " enemy combatant " designation.

 

SECTION 122 restates the government's newly announced power of

" surveillance without a court order. "

 

SECTION 123 restates that the government no longer needs warrants and

that the investigations can be a giant dragnet-style sweep described

in press reports about the Total Information Awareness Network. One

passage reads, " thus the focus of domestic surveillance may be less

precise than that directed against more conventional types of crime. "

 

*Note: Over and over again, in subsection after subsection, the second

Patriot Act states that its new Soviet-type powers will be used to

fight international terrorism, domestic terrorism and other types of

crimes. Of course the government has already announced in Section 802

of the first USA Patriot act that any crime is considered domestic

terrorism.

 

SECTION 126 grants the government the right to mine the entire

spectrum of public and private sector information from bank records to

educational and medical records. This is the enacting law to allow

ECHELON and the Total Information Awareness Network to break down any

and all walls of privacy. The government states that they must look at

everything to " determine " if individuals or groups might have a

connection to terrorist groups. As you can now see, you are guilty

until proven innocent.

 

SECTION 127 allows the government to takeover coroners' and medical

examiners' operations whenever they see fit. See how this is like Bill

Clinton's special medical examiner he had in Arkansas that ruled that

people had committed suicide when their arms and legs had been cut off.

 

SECTION 128 allows the Federal government to place gag orders on

Federal and State Grand Juries and to take over the proceedings. It

also disallows individuals or organizations to even try to quash a

Federal subpoena. So now defending yourself will be a terrorist action.

 

SECTION 129 destroys any remaining whistle blower protection for

Federal agents.

 

SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their activities with

toxic biological, chemical or radiological materials.

 

SECTION 205 allows top Federal officials to keep all their financial

dealings secret, and anyone investigating them can be considered a

terrorist. This should be very useful for Dick Cheney to stop anyone

investigating Haliburton.

 

SECTION 303 sets up national DNA database of suspected terrorists. The

database will also be used to " stop other unlawful activities. " It

will share the information with state, local and foreign agencies for

the same purposes.

 

SECTION 311 federalizes your local police department in the area of

information sharing.

 

SECTION 313 provides liability protection for businesses, especially

big businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security,

violating their privacy agreements. It goes on to say that these are

all preventative measures - has anyone seen Minority Report? This is

the access hub for the Total Information Awareness Network.

 

SECTION 321 authorizes foreign governments to spy on the American

people and to share information with foreign governments.

 

SECTION 322 removes Congress from the extradition process and allows

officers of the Homeland Security complex to extradite American

citizens anywhere they wish. It also allows Homeland Security to

secretly take individuals out of foreign countries.

 

SECTION 402 is titled " Providing Material Support to Terrorism. " The

section reads that there is no requirement to show that the individual

even had the intent to aid terrorists.

 

SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass destruction to

include any activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce.

 

SECTION 404 makes it a crime for a terrorist or " other criminals " to

use encryption in the commission of a crime.

 

SECTION 408 creates " lifetime parole " (basically, slavery) for a whole

host of crimes.

 

SECTION 410 creates no statute of limitations for anyone that engages

in terrorist actions or supports terrorists. Remember: any crime is

now considered terrorism under the first Patriot Act.

 

SECTION 411 expands crimes that are punishable by death. Again, they

point to Section 802 of the first Patriot Act and state that any

terrorist act or support of terrorist act can result in the death penalty.

 

SECTION 421 increases penalties for terrorist financing. This section

states that any type of financial activity connected to terrorism will

result to time in prison and $10-50,000 fines per violation.

 

SECTION 427 sets up asset forfeiture provisions for anyone engaging in

terrorist activities. There are many other sections that I did not

cover in the interest of time. The American people were shocked by the

despotic nature of the first Patriot Act. The second Patriot Act

dwarfs all police state legislation in modern world history.

 

There are many other sections that I did not cover in the interest of

time. The American people were shocked by the despotic nature of the

first Patriot Act. The second Patriot Act dwarfs all police state

legislation in modern world history.

 

Usually, corrupt governments allow their citizens lots of wonderful

rights on paper, while carrying out their jackbooted oppression

covertly. From snatch and grab operations to warantless searches,

Patriot Act II is an Adolf Hitler wish list.

 

You can understand why President Bush/Dick Cheney & Dennis Hastert

want to keep this legislation secret not just from Congress, but the

American people as well. Bill Allison, Managing Editor of the Center

for Public Integrity, the group that broke this story, stated on my

radio show that it was obvious that they were just waiting for another

terrorist attack to opportunistically get this new bill through. He

then shocked me with an insightful comment about how the Federal

government was crafting this so that they could go after the American

people in general. He also agreed that the FBI has been quietly

demonizing patriots and Christians and those who carry around pocket

Constitutions.

 

I have produced two documentary films and written a book about what

really happened on September 11th. The bottom line is this: the

military-industrial complex carried the attacks out as a pretext for

control. Anyone who doubts this just hasn?t looked at the mountains of

hard evidence.

 

Of course, the current group of white collar criminals in the White

House might not care that were finding out the details of their next

phase. Because, after all, when smallpox gets released, or more

buildings start blowing up, the President can stand up there at his

lectern suppressing a smirk, squeeze out a tear or two, and tell us

that See I was right. I had to take away your rights to keep you safe.

And now it's your fault that all of these children are dead. From that

point on, if anyone criticizes tyranny they will be shouted down by

the paid talking head government mouthpieces in the mainstream media.

 

You have to admit, its a beautiful script. Unfortunately, it's being

played out in the real world. If we don't get the word out that

government is using terror to control our lives while doing nothing to

stop the terrorists, we will deserve what we get - tyranny. But our

children won't deserve it.

 

HOW THE PATRIOT ACT COMPARES TO

HITLERS ERMÄCHTIGUNGSGESETZ (ENABLING ACT):

 

At http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/actpat.htm

you can read the following 4 Articles:

 

1) How Patriot Act Compares to Hitler's Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act)

2) A 21st Century Comparison of The Enabling Act and The Patriot Act

3) Ten Key Dangers of The Patriot Act that Every American Should Know

4) Bill Moyers' NOW Comments on the Patriot Act

 

~~Please tell your congress and senators to repeal the Patriot Act and

to throw out current legislation advocating a second act.

 

Thank You, for your support!

 

Source:

http://www.rickieleejones.com/political/patriotact.htm

 

additional resources:

 

Citizens for Legitimate Government

http://legitgov.org

 

American Civil Liberties Union

http://aclu.org

 

Electronic Frontiers Foundation

http://eff.org

 

National Lawyers Guild

http://nlg.org

 

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303979.shtml