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Justice Department Proud of Patriot Act Slippery Slope

Posted by michael on from the first-they-came-for-the-people-different-from-me dept.

frank_adrian314159 writes "Yahoo News is reporting that the DoJ has been using its increased powers under the US PATRIOT Act to pursue common criminals. DoJ Officials have been holding seminars on how to use increased wiretap powers against (non-terrorist) money launderers and drug dealers. One example in the article is the guy running a meth lab who's now up for a life sentence for 'manufacturing chemical weapons' instead of the much shorter sentence he would have been facing under the current drug laws. Wonderful, huh? Who didn't see this coming? Of course, you're a law-abiding citizen, so you have nothing to worry about, right?" Patriot Act II will allow any Federal agent to demand records from anyone who interacts with you, with no judicial oversight whatsoever.

5 of 1,108 comments (clear)

  1. Didja see this? by mrpuffypants · · Score: 5, Informative

    Crowd plays the "Imperial March" from Star Wars as Ashcroft enters building: story

    And while I can't find it there was also, at a Patriot Act "whoo-ha!" rally, a protestor that directly addressed Ashcroft and said "You're fired" and told him that what he was doing was wrong. You didn't see any of that in the liberal media, however...

  2. Great, now we can go after the *real* criminals! by ian+stevens · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the article:

    Prosecutor Jerry Wilson says he isn't abusing the law, which defines chemical weapons of mass destruction as "any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury" and contains toxic chemicals.

    This legislation allows us to go after the real criminals, namely the tobacco companies, and their weapons of mass destruction. It would be easy to argue that cigarettes fall under this loose definition. If a successful case were built against the tobacco companies, their executives would serve time in prison. Even if there wasn't a conviction, the case would bring to light the vague definitions proponents of the Patriot Act use to abuse its power. Tobacco companies may think twice about financing a president which pushes for legislation which could be used to convict them of serious offences against the state.

    --
    ian
  3. Re:Print the article... by darkwiz · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...and take it into the voting booth in November, 2004.

    Agreed. And remember, Congress voted 357-66 in the house, and 98-1 in the senate. Which means, despite the rhetoric of Democratic presidential candidates - at least 69% of Democratic representatives (and 96% of Democratic senators) voted for it as well. So be sure to print off this sheet as well (pre-emptive google cache: here)

    Give all these assholes the boot: vote against the incumbent!

  4. Re:Name change... by Frymaster · · Score: 4, Informative
    call it the Ministry of Love?

    you've already got one, m'lad. they're called the project for a new american century - the think tank that came up with the whole notion of making u.s. foreign and domestic policy more "pc" (patriotically correct). it's all on record here:

    official pnac site:
    http://www.newamericancentury.org/

    analysis site 1:
    http://www.pnac.info/

    analysis site 2:
    http://pnacrevealed.com/

    read 'em and vote.

    --

    2 1337 4 u!

  5. Re:I, for one, welcome our... by Hellfire99X · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think what he was actually saying, was that when the events of September 11th happened, the world was kind of shocked. They dropped most of their hatred for the U.S. and actually felt sympathy.

    Then, Dubya decided to do everything that you've listed above and fscked all of that up.

    Please read the entire post before responding.