Two disturbing pieces of Legislation came to my attention yesterday

Now I don't know how many people saw these yesterday. One was posted in GD and one was posted in LBN. There were very few responsive posts on both of these threads, so I'm not sure.

Are we living at a time when there is no turning back? Is the 9-11 Commission going to make recommendations that would create more of the below. Was 1984 and Orwell just about 20 years off?

I'm freaked out. I have been that way for about a year after following leads and researching topics from DUers. There are things going on in this country that make no damn sense other than we are leading to Orwell country.

Anyway, I felt that the following ought to be brought to everyone's attention.

ACLU Calls on White House to Resist Creation of Secret Police


April 13, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON - In rare agreement, the American Civil Liberties Union today joined with Justice Department officials and FBI directors from both the Clinton and Bush administrations in urging the White House to resist the creation of a domestic intelligence agency, which could easily employ the same kind of dirty tricks the CIA uses overseas here in the United States against American citizens.

"Even during the most frigid days of the Cold War, we never saw the need to create a secret police force that would work outside of the constraints of the Constitution," said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director.

"As the 9/11 commission has already shown, much of the government’s failure before 9/11 was related to a lack of skilled analysts, the enormous amount of threat intelligence that had to be analyzed and a culture of only telling people about things on a need-to-know basis," Romero added.

At issue are reports that the president might endorse a series of recommendations that call for the transfer of the FBI’s traditional counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism functions, generally run by agents trained to protect essential constitutional civil liberties, to a more secretive domestic intelligence agency that would gather, analyze and disseminate information about Americans without any sort of law enforcement role.

(More)
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15462&c=206



In two weeks, the U.S. Senate will be considering yet another proposal to amend the Constitution. This time, some Senators are taking aim at the criminal justice system, proposing an amendment that would jeopardize the principle that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, and that everyone in this country has the right to a fair trial.

The proposed amendment seeks to enshrine “victims rights” in the Constitution and would give presumed victims significant influence over the criminal justice process. This influence would hinder law enforcement, impede prosecution and interfere the ability of the accused to get a fair trial.

In addition, every state has either a state constitutional provision or law protecting victims' rights, making this constitutional amendment unnecessary. Furthermore, numerous victims' rights groups oppose the amendment because they are concerned that battered women -- who are often arrested and charged with assaulting their batterers -- would lose the right to a fair trial and presumed innocence.

Take action! Tell Congress that this constitutional amendment is unnecessary and dangerous.

Click here for more information and to send a free fax to your Members of Congress:

http://www.aclu.org/CriminalJustice/CriminalJustice.cfm?ID=9955&c=249

then are they starting to like us now?

We need to get Ashcroft out of there.

The man is a fascist to the core.

But I'm still trying to find this:

proposing an amendment that would jeopardize the principle that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, and that everyone in this country has the right to a fair trial.

in this:

`SECTION 1. The rights of victims of violent crime, being capable of protection without denying the constitutional rights of those accused of victimizing them, are hereby established and shall not be denied by any State or the United States and may be restricted only as provided in this article.

`SECTION 2. A victim of violent crime shall have the right to reasonable and timely notice of any public proceeding involving the crime and of any release or escape of the accused; the rights not to be excluded from such public proceeding and reasonably to be heard at public release, plea, sentencing, reprieve, and pardon proceedings; and the right to adjudicative decisions that duly consider the victim's safety, interest in avoiding unreasonable delay, and just and timely claims to restitution from the offender. These rights shall not be restricted except when and to the degree dictated by a substantial interest in public safety or the administration of criminal justice, or by compelling necessity.

`SECTION 3. Nothing in this article shall be construed to provide grounds for a new trial or to authorize any claim for damages. Only the victim or the victim's lawful representative may assert the rights established by this article, and no person accused of the crime may obtain any form of relief hereunder.

`SECTION 4. Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article. Nothing in this article shall affect the President's authority to grant reprieves or pardons.

`SECTION 5. This article shall be inoperative unless it has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within 7 years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress. This article shall take effect on the 180th day after the date of its ratification.'.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.J.RES.48:

Maybe my legalese needs a bit of updating, but this does not seem to say what the ACLU are saying it says.