[Imc] Stuff To Keep In Mind

[Mike Lehman]

I found this on The Progressive Review's Undernews today. The first
covers PROPOSED legislation, but it may very well come to pass.
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POST-CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA 

[Key points of legislation now being considered on Capitol Hill] 

1. An entire 501C3 organization or other organization, including its
members, can have their assets seized for supporting "bodily acts" or
international causes that the U.S. Secretary of State may deem terrorist
activity. Political activities that were legal prior to S.1510 may
retroactively be deemed terrorist activity by the government.
Participants and supporters may be charged with terrorist and other
offenses, under this bill as now drafted. [This is a bill of attainder
specifically outlawed by the Constitution] 

(2). S1510 retroactively abolishes the "statue of limitations" for many
past offenses in which no one was injured. After passage of S.1510, any
past offense that can be broadly alleged to have put someone "at risk"
may be used by federal and state prosecutors to charge a citizen with a
terrorist act - even 30 years after the statute of limitations period
had already passed. Government will have no difficulty manufacturing
evidence to prosecute citizens once constitutional safeguards against
passing retroactive laws are abolished. 

(3) No "innocent owner defense" will be allowed against asset
forfeiture. After passage of S1510, government agencies will be able to
seize assets of citizens and organizations without ever disclosing the
evidence. Government need only allege that disclosing such evidence may
compromise national security and/or an ongoing investigation. S1510
provides for paying "unnamed informants" huge rewards resulting from
arrests and forfeited assets.

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This second one (below) has aready come to pass and effectively means
that it may not even matter if the above is enacted. Your rights may
have already gone up in smoke.
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RE: [THE LIST Number of persons arrested and being held in secret
without due process by the Bush administration in connection with the
September 11 attacks.... 614] 

*** JIM SEXTON: Is there something you don't understand about the
president's declaration of a "National Emergency" and what it means?
Basically, once a national emergency is declared, military law
supercedes civil law. Even the Constitution and Bill of Rights is no
longer in effect. Therefore due process is also negated. The president
is totally in charge. Neither Congress or the Supreme Court can do much
about it. The national emergency aspect is something that has been
totally ignored in all of the media. Yes, they initially reported the
fact, but not one of them explained what it means to the American
citizens who have been deprived of their rights. I've been waiting
patiently for someone to report on it, but to no avail. Also, just in
case you missed it: the NATO activation of Article 5 also means that
these same restrictions on American civil liberties also exist in the
NATO nations. As of now all Western nations are legally under
dictatorships. Benign dictatorships as of now, but we shall see what
happens later on. 
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I'm sending these just so that people are aware of the situation.
Generally, I don't believe that we should constrain our actions based on
fear of the unknown. In fact, I believe it is important to continue to
ACT as if we still have our rights. It is important, however, to keep
this kind of craziness in mind and to proceed cautiously where there may
be issues, such as being careful about the use of inflammatory language.
Generally, ideas can be conveyed just as well with non-inflammatory
language as it can be with language that is questionable.

The language specifically targeting 501c3's is particularly troublesome,
along with the unconstitutional bills of attainder aspect. We already
know we have enemies, whatever our faith that we have not violated any
laws. Law has suddenly become a highly flexible concept, with might
making right.

Mike Lehman