Slashdot Mirror
State of Ohio Establishes "Pre-Crime" Registry
I*Love*Green*Olives writes to tell us the Toledo Blade is reporting that State officials have rubber-stamped a "civil-registry" that would allow accused sex offenders to be tracked with the sex offender registry even if they have never been convicted of a crime. From the article: "A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit. The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law."
" I am a woman on the board of directors of an internation men's rights organization specialising in fathers' rights,"
Excuse me while I genuflect in your direction and do the entire "we're not worthy" chant.
You are a hero.
--
BMO
Do they have oil?
Yes, but not enough.
Weapons of mass destruction?
Yes.
Are they trying to advance their knowledge of nuclear weapons?
Yes.
Do they have large chemical weapon stockpiles?
Yes.
Do they frequently piss off the U.N.?
Yes. And they tell the U.N. to "piss off" as well.
Can we allege they have a "School Of The [Whatever Region]" terrorist training camp?
No. (Unless you count Vacation Bible School.)
Can we accuse them of trying to destabilize entire regions?
Yes. They destabilize their entire government every 2 years, in fact.
Do they "kidnap" citizens of other nations, holding them for torture and interrogation rather than uphold international law and conventions?
Yes.
Unfortunately, the place is already overrun with Americans.
I'm not saying this brain-dead law is good or just or wise but I think it is very far-fetched to think that it could be used to help keep a corrupt and illegal government in power whereas the warrantless wiretapping could well be doing this right now and there is no way for us to find out. Warrantless wiretapping completely sidesteps the system of checks and balances that our system of government was founded on. With it, the executive branch took for itself the powers of the other two branches of government: the legislative and the judicial.
This Ohio law is obviously stupid and abusive. As such, it will probably be stricken down (or thrown out by the courts) once the politicians get their thumbs out of their hats long enough to figure out its full ramifications. But if the warrantless wiretapping is allowed to continue uncheck and the criminals who are authorizing it are allowed to stay in power then it represents a possibly permanent shift in our form of government away from the rule of law and back to a system where one person is "king" and that person gets to decide what all the rules are.
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
Done deal:
i cle_7779.shtml
"GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."
"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
I've heard from two White House sources who claim they heard from others present in the meeting that the President of the United States called the Constitution "a goddamned piece of paper."
The record shows the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that "goddamned piece of paper" used to guarantee.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the "Constitution is an outdated document."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/art
Anymore questions you'd like answered?
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
Having the poor judgement of actually living in the state of Ohio should qualify you to be watched by the government anyway. You live in Ohio. Eventually you're going to do something. But hey, at least you don't live in Mississippi...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?