So the Patriot Act is going back to both houses and it's restricting lots of our right but did you know they're now going after our right to peaceably assemble and redress our government for grievences? Yep... that's what they're doing alright. A hat tip to Lindsay for this one. She pulled a spot from the Washington Post. It seems the Secret Service requires some provision to help keep things running smoothly at certain "nationally important" functions.

The Secret Service is authorized to charge suspects with breaching security or disruptive behavior at National Special Security Events, but only if the president or another person under the protection of the service is in attendance, according to a legislative summary.

The bill adds language prohibiting people from "willfully and knowingly" entering a restricted area "where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting." The measure also applies to security breaches "in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance," according to the bill.

Penalties for such violations would increase from six months to a year in prison.

To the ACLU, the changes would open the door to even tighter security restrictions at major events and would subject protesters to harassment from federal law enforcement officers. The Bush administration has come under sharp criticism from liberal and civil-liberties groups for disputed arrests and security measures at presidential events.

"It's cementing the trend of the Secret Service basically acting to arrest or harass or control dissenters, and now not just at presidential events but at other events," said Timothy H. Edgar, the ACLU's national security counsel.

This portion is new and introduced by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), known for being one of the more moderate Republicans out there. The ACLU is trying to stop this provision but they need all the help they can get. The dissappointing part is that I know Kentucky's delegation to Washington will pretty much vote it into place. I know McConnell and Bunning will and I knwo the Republican Congressmen will fall in line. That leaves Ben Chandler. I hope he has the guts to vote against this but I tend to doubt it.

This all comes to one basic notion: The government exists to remove our rights PERIOD. Unfortunately, every government exists to take away rights. I believe in the social contract theory more or less. I believe we voluntarily give up certain rights to exist in a civil society. Unfortunately, our rights are now being taken very quickly The interesting thing about all this is that while our country is busy stripping away our rights in classic fascist fashion, the People's Republic of China is having real problems keeping their people from taking their rights.

While China does hammer their journalists, farmers and factory workers alike are losing benefits and lots of other things as the nation privatizes. The people are demanding more of their government and the Communist Party doesn't quite know how to deal. Ah the irony.

posted by Stithmeister @ 7:52 PM
 
0 Comments:


Post a Comment

<< Home