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Justice Department Proud of Patriot Act Slippery Slope
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.
Hello Folks, Please check out my Journal for some breaking information until 3:20 PST Sept 14th.
"Any sitting member of Congress who voted for PATRIOT and now says it was a mistake is either lying or incompetent."
Nonsense. They could have simply changed their minds. Ever think of that?
War is necrophilia.
Compared to many other countries, the USA is a utopia. You refer to the 'ghettos.' Have you ever been outside of the US? Do you really know what people live through in other countries? Do you know what it means to be poor in South American countries? Do you know what it is like to be at civil war for more than 10 years? I have been to other countries and witnissed what people go through there. Our 'ghettos' are like resorts compared to those places. Our 'poor' minorities have more opportunity and wealth than many poor South Americans combined. And if our 'poor' minorities don't like their current condition, then they can invest and work and be creative and have as much wealth as they would like. The American Dream really can be realized.
Just because theres people who have it worse does not change the fact that bad is bad.
You must be reffering to reparations for slavery. How can you so blatently misconstrue my statement to think that? I believe in extending the hand of mercy, so far as it does not rob justice. Rebuilding Iraq and Afgahnistan is just and merciful. Conversely, using taxpayer money to pay off the descendants of those who suffered does not serve either. Hey, if former slaves want to sue and prosecute their persecutors, I'm all for it! They have a proper claim for reparations. But I cannot support paying off what amounts to a bunch of winers with damaged pride. Hey! I'm Jewish and a Mormon. Should I sue Germany and the US states of Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri? Of course not! They did nothing to me. Yes, they murdered, robbed, and you name it to my ancestors; but that doesn't give me, personally, any claim whatsoever.
Reparations for segregation not slavery. I dont think the issue should be slavery, however if minorities ask for reparations for segregation then they'd have a point considering segregation was just ended about 20 years ago or so, before that things were seperate but unequal.
Either you are very uninformed or you do not live in the USA. If you care to read the 2004 fiscal budget, you'll see that 136 billion of 149 billion (see page 5 of Summary Tables) is to be used in programs that benefit Americans directly. That is 91.3% of the entire budget. This does not include defense funds.
Bullshit, most of the budget is used on the military and armed forces, not social programs. Read the budget properly, 400 billion is used on the military. We should be spending 100 billion at least on schools but we arent even spending 30 billion on schools. 50% of all highschool students in the Chicago drop out and this is the state of our public school system because we are too cheap to spend our money on ourselves.
Yes, but the Iraqis weren't and aren't. If we can afford to help them with a few drops from the bucket that represents our budget, shouldn't we do so?
If we cant afford to rebuild ghettos in the USA, why can we afford to rebuild ghettos in Iraq?
Do you think I give a damn about Iraq? Take a trip through compton and if you manage to not get shot in a drive by or caught up in a gang cival war, well then you'll have the right to say that our ghettos are resorts.
I can tell you never saw a Ghetto, most people living there are living in terror because the criminals run their communities. Whats your solution?
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