WP - Intel Bill Holds Nasty Surprises - Are You A "Lone Wolf"?

Here's what this Bill does, folks: If you howl too loud, now they can detain you indefinitely, share your files with the Pakistani secret police, and tap your communications, even if they can't show you have any real connection with foreign terrorists or a foreign power.

Think I'll start wearing that collar with the dog license again. No more howling at the moon at night. . . I mean barking at the neighbor's cat. Paintball is definitely out. Wonder if this message is now sufficient for purposes of obtaining a FISA warrant?

Arf!

- Mark


washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53452-2004Dec9?language=printer

Measure Expands Police Powers
Intelligence Bill Includes Disputed Anti-Terror Moves
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, December 10, 2004; Page A01
The intelligence package that Congress approved this week includes a series of little-noticed measures that would broaden the government's power to conduct terrorism investigations, including provisions to loosen standards for FBI surveillance warrants and allow the Justice Department to more easily detain suspects without bail.

Other law-enforcement-related measures in the bill -- expected to be signed by President Bush next week -- include an expansion of the criteria that constitute "material support" to terrorist groups and the ability to share U.S. grand jury information with foreign governments in urgent terrorism cases.

These and other changes designed to strengthen federal counterterrorism programs have long been sought by the Bush administration and the Justice Department but have languished in Congress, in part because of opposition from civil liberties advocates.

>snip<


Critics also say the proposed changes were overshadowed by the debate over other aspects of the bill, which puts in place many intelligence agency reforms proposed by the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some Democrats say they reluctantly approved the package because they favored the broader intelligence changes.

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) said that while he voted for the bill because of its intelligence reforms, he opposed much of the expansion of law enforcement power. Most of it was not part of the Sept. 11 panel's recommendations.

"I am troubled by some provisions that were added in conference that have nothing to do with reforming our intelligence network," Feingold said. He later added: "This Justice Department has a record of abusing its detention powers post-9/11 and of making terrorism allegations that turn out to have no merit."

>snip<

Some of the changes were originally part of a legislative draft drawn up by Justice prosecutors in 2002 as a proposed expansion of the USA Patriot Act, administration and congressional officials said. The draft, leaked to the media and dubbed "Patriot II" by critics, was never introduced as a bill in its entirety. But portions were introduced as stand-alone legislation.

As with parts of the original Patriot Act, some of the new powers would expire at the end of 2005 or 2006 unless Congress renewed them.
One key change is a provision in the new intelligence package that targets "lone wolf" terrorists not linked with established terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. In language similar to earlier Senate legislation, the bill would allow the FBI to obtain secret surveillance and search warrants of individuals without having to show a connection between the target of the warrant and a foreign government or terrorist group.

> snip<

Other provisions in the bill include:
• Suspects in major terrorism crimes automatically would be denied bail unless they show they are not a danger or a flight risk. Advocates say the provision is modeled on similar rules for certain drug crimes, but Mitchell said it would increase the possibility of indefinite detention in alleged terrorism cases.
• Penalties would be increased for such crimes as harboring illegal immigrants, perpetrating a terrorist hoax, and possessing smallpox, anti-aircraft missile systems and radiological "dirty" bombs. The measure also is more explicit than current statutes in making it illegal to attend military-style training camps run by terrorist groups.
• Federal prosecutors would be allowed to share secret information obtained by grand juries with states or foreign governments to protect against terrorist attacks. German authorities, among others, have complained about difficulties obtaining information from the FBI and other U.S. agencies about foreign terrorist suspects.

###

Werewolves of Washington? :D Guess we better watch our music now. Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" is definitely out. I used to perform that one live...good thing the band broke up... :P

Todd the annoying musician

make sure your family and friends make as loud a noise as they can about it. have them talk to any press that will listen and pray you'll see the light of day again if/when this insanity is fixed.

associates of a terrorist. If they speak out they might find themselves accused.

they probably will anyway.

Among the many items of business on the Nazi agenda was
the passage of a series of laws designed (a) to clarify
the requirements of citizenship in the Third Reich, (b) to
assure the purity of German blood and German honor and (b)
to clarify the position of Jews in the Reich. These three
laws, passed on September 15,
1935...

www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/nurmberg.html

Contained in this bill are the dreaded Patriot Act II and
provisions for a National ID card through the state
driver's license. (but we just can't get this "count the votes"
thing going)

The government can claim that we are all their slaves.

But claiming and making it so are two different things.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/constitution_butchered.htm

I am sick and tired of the milque toast, gee I had to do it answers.

Are they saying this because they really would rather have total dominance or are they truly just the most incredbibly cowardly wimps.

:shrug: :argh: :grr: :mad:

gee, I didn't approve of it but I voted for it anyway, because ... because ... :shrug:
WHAT IS IT WITH THESE #%(*& COWARDS, anyway??

excuse me for shouting but I've had it up to here with this (*&#%.

White supremacy groups and anti-abortion groups will, of course, be excluded, because we all know that Tim McVeigh would have slipped through these Patriot Act ropes as if they never existed.

DEFINITIONS of "military-style" and "training camp" and "terrorist".

Their definitions are soooooo loose & broad, that a weekend trip camping with the Boy Scouts can be classed a "military-style training camp of terrorists".

And THAT is why Republicans AND Democrats AND Indies AND US States AND US cities OPPOSE PA and PA II.

3000 boy scouts and their leaders (many of whom are of Eagle rank) were detained on the BSA Philmont training camp at Cimmaron N.M. ...

I seem to remember a couple of guys getting convicted for terrorism related activity because it Turned out they had participated in Paint ball games.

Ah, here it is:

"Three American Muslims accused of training for holy war against the United States by waging paint ball battles in the Virginia woods have been convicted of conspiring to support terrorism.

Prosecutors today said the three were part of a "Virginia jihad network" that used paint ball games in 2000 and 2001 to train for holy war around the globe.

After the September 11 attacks, the group allegedly focused efforts on defending the Taliban.

Two of the defendants were accused of travelling to Pakistan to train with a terrorist group.

Today's convictions will likely result in some of the longest prison terms the government has obtained in its war on terrorism. "



http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/05/1078378960411.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true

But should I quit playing RTC Wolfenstein online every night?

I am reminded of the green diamond fiasco. A guy found out that by exposing diamonds to radiation, he could make more rare green diamonds out of them. He filled out the required report to the AEC, but made one error, instead of 12 pico curies he reported that he had 12 micro curies, a million times more. FBI agents shadowed him and his friends for quiet a while.

modified crop Art Exhibit in Mass because he sent the $9.99 Amazon purchased GM crop kit that contains a tiny bit of radiation material to the art exhibit in Mass.

Last I looked, Amazon still sold it and was shipping it - along with watches that glow in the dark! - and still the FBI and other U.S. agencies have not arrested anyone at Amazon!

I wonder why mainstream media does not find the Art exhibit story interesting?

That would be SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists).

And why Amazon is immune-

SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret
their
activities with toxic biological, chemical or
radiological materials.

And don't even be talkin' about it-

SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it
a
criminal act for any member of the government or
any
citizen to release any information concerning
the
incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It
also
states that law enforcement does not even have to
tell
the press who they have arrested and they never
have
to release the names.

SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in
the first Patriot Act were not sunsetted and removes
the five year sunset clause from other subsections of
the first Patriot Act. After all, the media has told
us: this is the New America. Get used to it. This is
forever.

:-(

And Mainstream Media is afraid to discuss the civil rights lost.

Sad , Amazing and sad.

:-(

:scared:

Even lawful, good-willed "whistle-blowers" could be thrown in the slammer!!!

:scared:

An evolving fascism for sure!!!!

I say again, let us not believe that we understand what has been included in this conference report. It is, in effect, a new bill that is very different from anything the Senate has considered to date. Common sense suggests that the Congress ought to hold hearings on the contents of this new bill, so that we may be informed by experts about its benefits and defects.
...
The conference agreement creates senior intelligence positions, but exempts many of them from confirmation by the Senate. It eliminates the privacy and civil rights officers included in the Senate-passed bill, and it strips 18 pages of legislative text that would have created an Inspector General and Ombudsman to oversee the Intelligence Director's office. That language has been replaced with one paragraph, authorizing the Intelligence Director, at his discretion, to create or not to create an Inspector General, and provides the Director with the power to decide which, if any investigative powers, to grant the Inspector General.

That means the new Intelligence Director could exempt his office from Inspector General audits and investigations, and that the Congress would not receive reports from an objective internal auditor. The Congress is limiting its own access to vital information within this new Intelligence Office, and it will have, thereby, compromised an essential mechanism for identifying potential abuses within the new Intelligence Program.

Given the dark history of abuses of civil liberties and privacy rights by our intelligence community, I had hoped that the Congress would exercise more caution, but it has not done so in this legislation.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1208-37.htm

snip>
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., was the only House member to vote "no" in either the Washington or Oregon delegations.

His spokesman, Mike DeCesare, said McDermott was concerned the bill would lead to further erosion of civil liberties.

"Jim's view is that if we had debated this four months ago, things like this could have been worked out," DeCesare said. "Instead this was rushed through at the last minute so a Republican president could claim a victory at the last moment of this Congress. And the security of Americans' freedoms has been watered down tonight."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Congress%20Intelligence%20Gorton&dpfrom=th

Only a handful voted against it and we will live to regret it.

cause we were fighting then, fighting now, and we'll
be fighting in the future.

This is being done to attack Us.

The problem for the suits in DC is that we're
hidden in the population.

You think they're havin' problems tellin' friend
from foe in Iraq?

they know what you buy and where. They know which books you read at the library. And I'm very sure that they know everybody on this board. I already regret that I have told as much about me here as I have...

Dont forget the mental screening. Half of you will be forced to take medication. And the other half... well, it shall be a crime to even let anybody know where you are.

Get out.

Ah, and does anybody know what Amnesty International has to say to that? Their voice is being listend to all over the world - well, at least by human rights groups *sigh*

you still have the problem of accessing the Universe,
plus now you have to go thru a hard drive!

WalMart (ex) wants you to believe they have
control. But they're far from being at the "Sauron"
level.

with all of the money they throw at things like this, a massive database of everything about u.s. citizens would be easily searchable and only take seconds to find out what you last spent money on.

worried about the contents of the "intelligence bill" and any implications to our civil liberties...

:grr:

eom

It is a war against the people of the United States; it is a war againsnt our democracy.

It is straight out of Orwell.

How could any Democrat have voted for this?

At least Rep. Jim McDermott did not. There are so few with integrity any longer.

b_b

euro countries don't want us.
not that i blame them... if you have any suggestions i would welcome them.

and paid with their blood.

I will only relinquish my rights feet first.

good congressmen who seem to have lost the ability to settle down and read in full any bill: The intelligence package that Congress approved this week includes a series of little-noticed measures that would broaden the government's power to conduct terrorism investigations,...

I do not believe they did not notice. If they did, then they need to stop collecting a salary from us. They are a sloppy, careless disgrace to their office.

innocuous bill.

Civil Rights groups dismissed.

Thank you, Ms. Pelosi, for your leadership.

regimes is the ability to control the subject population by terrorizing them through the actions of a centralized "secret police" agency.

From now on, any individual in the US that dissents against the government, no matter how passively, can legally be suspected of being a "terrorist", can be placed under surveillance by the secret police, have their homes and persons searched without reasonable cause, and can possibly be imprisoned indefinitely without recourse to due process.

From the posted article:

One key change is a provision in the new intelligence package that targets "lone wolf" terrorists not linked with established terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. In language similar to earlier Senate legislation, the bill would allow the FBI to obtain secret surveillance and search warrants of individuals without having to show a connection between the target of the warrant and a foreign government or terrorist group.

1934: Hermann Goering, from his book "Germany Reborn" -

I became commissioner of the Interior in Prussia and at the same time Minister of the Reich. I had taken on a heavy responsibility and a vast field of work lay before me. It was clear that I should be able to make a little use of the administrative system as it then was. I should have to make great changes. To begin with, it seemed to me of the first importance to get the weapon of the criminal and political police firmly into my own hands. Here it was that I made the first sweeping changes of personnel. Out of 32 police chiefs I removed 22. New men were brought in, and in every case these men came from the great reservoir of the Storm Troops.

I gave strict orders and demanded that the police should devote all their energies to the ruthless extermination of subversive elements. In one of my first big meetings in Dortmund I declared that for the future there would be only one man who would bear the responsibility in Prussia, and that one man was myself. Every bullet fired from the barrel of a police pistol was my bullet. If you call that murder, then I am the murderer.
---------------
God help us.

I can only shake my head in wonder.

Time for a new party, time to get rid of the Democratic party and start a party that actually knows the meaning of the word "OPPOSITION"

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Ben Franklin:mad:

a crime to harbor illegal immigrants if Bush** wants to allow illegal immigrants to work here legally despite their illegal status ?

,...while simultaneously blackmailing liberty from the American people in order to CONTROL the masses.

It's hard, hard work!!!!