The true test of freedom, and what the US is supposed to stand for is Freedom of Speech. This is freedom of thought, freedom of ideas, and the freedom to oppose others. As much as one might not agree with someone else’s ideas, the true test of freedom is not protecting the speech, ideas and rights of the people you like, but protecting the people you don’t.
Justice has also suggested the 93 U.S. attorneys around the country hold town hall meetings to reach out to people in their jurisdictions, to try to reassure them there is no threat to law abiding people in the Patriot Act.
Except if you contribute money to a political organization which is then “linked” to terrorism (and the definition of a “terrorist” is becoming more and more non-specific). Then you are a terrorist and you have lots to worry about.
A bill has also been introduced in the House to exclude bookstore and library records from those that could be subpoenaed by law enforcement without prior notification of the person whose records were being seized.
The saying goes “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” is applying more and more to our rights in this country. Here come the thought police.
Provisions in the Victory draft would: (See: ABCNEWS.com : Draft Bill Seeks Broad Power in ‘Narco-Terror’ Fight)
- Raise the threshold for rejecting illegal wiretaps. The draft reads: “A court may not grant a motion to suppress the contents of a wire or oral communication, or evidence derived therefrom, unless the court finds that the violation of this chapter involved bad faith by law enforcement.”
- Extend subpoena powers by giving giving law enforcement the authority to issue non-judicial subpoenas which require a person suspected of involvement in money laundering to turn over financial records and appear in a prosecutor’s office to answer questions.
- Extend the power of the attorney general to issue so-called administrative “sneak-and-peek” subpoenas to drug cases. These subpoenas allow law enforcement to gather evidence from wire communication, financial records or other sources before the subject of the search is notified.
- Allow law enforcement to seek a court order to require the “provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service” or a financial institution to delay notifying a customer that their records had been subpoenaed.
What’s next? We have to have “papers” to move from state to state? If you are thinking that would never happen, you really need to take a good long look at what is happening and what the natural gradual evolution of those actions will be.