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I think it should be all exports. The U.S. is on very shaky moral ground when it comes to Myanmar and it's well past time the U.S. stood up and said "we aren't supporting the regime in any way now and we can prove it". Otherwise, when the day of reckoning comes, all the U.S. will have to show is this: http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/corporate_accountability/corporateArticle.asp?ObjID=lrRSFKnmmm&Content=45 and some pretty lies. America is far from alone in having Burmese skeletons in their closet so, please don't think I'm singling out the U.S. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL0189406220071001

Until the DoJ tries to claim that your freedom of speech is a danger to national security. Then your lawsuit (usually) disappears.

When some possessions of mine (which I had insured)were damaged in shipping, I had a difficult time getting compensation. I called a lawyer, but could not have afforded services much beyond a threatening letter. So, although I had insurance and the law on my side, I would have been unable to have it enforced because I could not afford litigation (and in fact, it probably would have just been cheaper to replace the stuff anyway). Strangely, no lawyers rushed to my aid, even though, as you claim, there is no shortage of free legal counsel around for a 22 year old college student (which I was at the time).

It is absurd to think that there are lawyers lining up to take on complicated, time consuming cases pro bono (although it is true that most law offices do pro bono work).

The inability of the underprivileged to get proper legal counsel is, I believe, on of the great faults and tragedies of our system. To suggest that there is such an abundance of legal resources that anyone who wanted to could engage in a trademark battle with a wealthy company does a terrible disservice to people who have actually dedicated themselves to providing legal aid to the needy.

And if you honestly believe that there is this great abundance of legal counsel, I implore you to volunteer with an agency dedicated to providing legal aid to the poor, or with some agency in which you routinely interact with people who cannot afford the resources to navigate the legal system. Then feel free to talk to me and all the other sheep who haven't accepted an inaccurate meme as a fact.

Center for Constitutional Rights
http://www.ccr-ny.org/

Southern Poverty Law Center (civil rights oriented)
http://www.splcenter.org/

Eric

The cases of MoG and Jayson Blair are fundamentally different from events surrounding Rather's resignation or the retraction of the claims in the Newsweek article. Rather and Newsweek ran stories about events that were based on fact- that is they actually happened in the real world- while MoG and Blair just MADE STUFF UP. MoG carried it a step further and engaged in ad-hominem attacks on the subject of her reporting- behavior that is totally unprofessional, uncalled-for, and possibly actionable.

As the Gannon/Guckert insanity shows, it's OK to make stuff up and pass it off as fact, as long as it's an echo chamber for whatever Rove told McClellan to say. MoG's strategic failure isn't that she's reporting lies as fact, it's that she doesn't have a bunch of religious whack-jobs employed by ClearChannel to repeat her lies as if they're the truth. She does have a network of MS apologists and astroturfers who copy/paste her specious claims, and Dvorak is one of those guys.

The media has 3 audiences, and are held accountable to two masters: the audiences are (1) sheep who believe what they're told, (2) people who are willing to read past the headline and actually question the news being presented to them, and (3) the people who made the news happen and want to see it reported a certain way so (1) and (2) can know how cool/important/rich/dangerous (3) is living. The masters are (A) the corporate entities who sign the paychecks, and (B) to a much lesser extent, the news-reading public composed of (1) and (2) who vote with their eyes and dollars.

The problem with news in this country today is that group (3) and group (A) are increasingly the same people, using the news media to influence the opinions of groups (1) and (2). We have a name for this kind of media communication- it's called advertizing.

Or marketing. And when you see an ad, the important questions to ask are: "who is paying for this?" "What are they selling?" and "how much did this ad cost?" So those are the questions I (and I think many other folks who have had opportunity to appreciate what PJ is doing with Groklaw) would like to ask MoG, preferably after a subpoena and under oath.

Um. No. Lots, possibly hundreds, of people were arrested/detained, many for more than a month, and the Justice Department refused to release their names. The exact number of people so detained isn't known, because the Justic Department refuses to report that too.

One of the U.S. citizens being held indefinitely without trial is named Jose Padilla. He was arrested in Chicago at the airport, not on a foreign battlefield! The other one is named Yaser Hamdi, and he might have been trying to kill American soldiers, but we don't really know, since he wasn't captured by U.S. forces. He was handed over to them by an Afghan warlord working with the U.S. No U.S. soldiers saw him captured and they had to take the Afghan's word for what he was doing.

I could find links to wiretap changes, but I'm feeling lazy. In any case you seem to have had a few misunderstandings of your own--ones that can easily be corrected with 5 minutes of Googling.

Ok, goatse6677...

Perhaps after you read this nice pdf, then you'll understand which of the rights have been taken away from even a good person like yourself (google HTMLized here. Take a look... maybe you'll recognize and mourn some lost rights.

Yeah, I know, IHBT and all...

Start
here and
here.

Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act creates a federal crime of "domestic terrorism" that broadly extends to "acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws" if they "appear to be intended...to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion," and if they "occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States." How much more vague can you possibly get? This is going to end up being carte blanche.

Any political activist that chains himself to the doors of the local courthouse can be deemed a domestic terrorist. There goes Political Speech. This is the modern Alien and Sedition Acts.

Section 411 of the Act also poses an ideological test for entry into the United States that takes into consideration core political speech.

Section 213 of the Act authorizes federal agents to conduct "sneak and peek searches," or covert searches of a person's home or office that are conducted without notifying the person of the execution of the search warrant until after the search has been completed. Section 213 also authorizes the delay of notice of the execution of a warrant to conduct a seizure of items where the court finds a "reasonable necessity" for the seizure. Normal search warrants have to be conducted under the supervision of an appointee of the one being searched and anything seized must be inventoried and the inventory given.

Under Section 215, the Director of the FBI or a designee as low in rank as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge may apply for a court order requiring the production of "any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)" upon his written statement that these items are being sought for an investigation "to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." A judge presented with an application under Section 215 is required to enter an order if he "finds that the application meets the requirements of this section." Normally, an affidavit of probable cause by a 3rd party with first hand knowledge of the facts is required. No longer. As a result, Section 218 allows law enforcement agencies conducting a criminal investigation to circumvent the Fourth Amendment whenever they are able to claim that the gathering of foreign intelligence constitutes "a significant purpose." In doing so, Section 218 gives the FBI a green light to resume domestic spying on government "enemies"-a program that reached an ugly apex under J. Edgar Hoover's directorship.

Under Section 216 of the Act, courts are required to order the installation of a pen register and a trap and trace device31 to track both telephone and Internet "dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information" anywhere within the United States when a government attorney has certified that the information to be obtained is "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation." No affidavit of probable cause is required. Once installed on an Internet Service Provider (ISP), Carnivore devours all of the communications flowing through the ISP's network-not just those of the target of surveillance but those of all users-and not just tracking information but content as well.

Section 203 of the USA PATRIOT Act authorizes the disclosure, without judicial supervision, of certain criminal and foreign intelligence information to officials of the FBI, CIA, and INS, as well as other federal agencies, where receipt of the information will "assist the official... in the performance of his official duties." So now, when the people cannot be spied upon by domestic agencies, they will acquire information from FORIEGN intelligence agencies that are spying on us. We reciprocate by sharing with them intelligence about their citizens, upon whom they are barred from spying.

Section 412 vastly inflates the Attorney General's power to detain immigrants who are suspected of falling into a class of persons engaged in terrorism. Upon no more than the Attorney General's unreviewed certification that he has "reasonable grounds to believe" that a non-citizen is engaged in terrorist activities or other activities that threaten the national security. The A.G. can effectively detain an immigrant forever.

Not expressly stated in the Act, but already in use by the federales is the labelling of a citizen as an "enemy combatant," scooping him up without a warrant, no affidavit of probable cause, no counsel, no charges, no bail, commit him to a FISA military tribunal, try him without counsel, refuse him an opportunity to introduce evidence that can impeach adverse witnesses, find him guilty, sentence him to death and execute him.

Those of us who remember the mistakes of history are doomed to be subjected to idiots who alow them to be repeated.

In summary:

• Silencing Political Dissent

  Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act creates a federal crime of "domestic terrorism" that broadly extends to "acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws" if they "appear to be intended...to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion," and if they "occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States."

  Read: Politicial protestors who block traffic are terrorists.

• Enhanced Surveillance Powers

  By and large, Congress granted the Administration its longstanding wish list of enhanced surveillance tools, coupled with the ability to use these tools with only minimal judicial and Congressional oversight. In its rush to pass an anti-terrorism bill, Congress failed to exact in exchange a showing that these highly intrusive new tools are actually needed to combat terrorism and that the Administration can be trusted not to abuse them.

  Read: Now we can spy on our citizens with minimal accountability.

• Sneak and Peek Searches

  Section 213 of the Act authorizes federal agents to conduct "sneak and peek searches," or covert searches of a person's home or office that are conducted without notifying the person of the execution [within a "reasonable period", ie 90 days] of the search warrant until after the search has been completed.

  Read: Oh, by the way, we searched your apartment a few months ago while you and your family were at work/school. We were just checking to see if you were terrorists, but you werent! Just thought you would wanted to know. By the way those tapes of you and your wife were very kinky.

• Access to Records in International Investigations

  Under Section 215, the Director of the FBI or a designee as low in rank as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge may apply for a court order requiring the production of "any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)" upon his written statement that these items are being sought for an investigation "to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."

  Read: Sorry we had to take all of your computer equipment; we just wanted to see if you were a terrorist. After scanning everything, we've decided that you're not. But don't worry... you'll get all of it back after all the red tape clears, in about 12-18 months.

• Tracking Internet Usage

  Under Section 216 of the Act, courts are required to order the installation of a pen register and a trap and trace device31 to track both telephone and Internet "dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information"32 anywhere within the United States when a government attorney has certified that the information to be obtained is "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation."

  Read: Oh, we found out that one of your neighbors is smoking pot, so we had to spy on everyone in the apartment complex for a few years to make sure nobody else was working in connection with this "terrorist".

• Allowing Law Enforcement Agencies to Evade the Fourth Amendment's Probable Cause Requirement

  Perhaps the most radical provision of the USA PATRIOT Act is Section 218, which amends FISA's wiretap and physical search provisions. Under FISA, court orders permitting the executive to conduct surreptitious foreign intelligence wiretaps and physical searches may be obtained without the showing of probable cause required for wiretaps and physical searches in criminal investigations.

  Read: We don't need the 4th amendment anymore.

• Sharing of Sensitive Criminal and Foreign Intelligence Information

  While some additional sharing of information between agencies is undoubtedly appropriate given the nature of the terrorist threats we face, the Act fails to protect us from the dangers posed to our political freedoms and our privacy when sensitive personal information is widely shared without court supervision.

  Read: Political dissidents (now called "benign domestic terrorists" by the media) have no rights to privacy.

• Stripping Immigrants of Constitutional Protections

  The USA PATRIOT Act deprives immigrants of their due process and First Amendment rights through two mechanisms that operate in tandem. First, Section 411 vastly expands the class of immigrants who are subject to removal on terrorism grounds through its broad definitions of the terms "terrorist activity," "engage in terrorist activity," and "terrorist organization." Second, Section 412 vastly expands the authority of the Attorney General to place immigrants he suspects are engaged in terrorist activities in detention while their removal proceedings are pending.

  Read: If you've ever even send medical supplies or a care package to an innocent citizen in a middle eastern country while islamic extremists were in power, you and your family will be immediately jailed without explanation upon trying to immigrate to the USA.

So basically, if you don't particularly want the rights given to you by the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution, then the Patriot Act is a Good Thing(TM)(R)(C)