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A Police State in USA,think it can't happen?
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Activists Protest Justice Department's Operation TIPS
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
July 29, 2002
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - More than two-dozen students and other "social justice" activists gathered outside the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice Monday to protest the DOJ's plans to continue developing a program that allows private citizens to report suspicious activity.
Operation TIPS, which is an acronym for "Terrorism Information and Prevention System," is described as "a national system for reporting suspicious, and potentially terrorist-related activity," according to the federal government's "Citizen Corps" website.
But Steven Weiss, organizer of the protest against Operation TIPS, said the plan would be better described as a "citizen-spy" program.
"It pits citizens against citizens, ratting each other out," he said. "If you look at history you can see other regimes that have done that. The Gestapo did it. Cuba still does it. It's McCarthyism all over again."
In a statement issued by the Justice Department, Public Affairs Director Barbara Comstock said the program merely creates an organized information gathering system for tips from workers whose jobs put them in public places and whose routines will help them spot anything out of the ordinary.
"Operation TIPS is simply a reporting system," Comstock said. "which enable American workers to report unusual and non-emergency issues that they observe in the normal course of their work."
But Adam Eidinger, who also participated in the protest, said he fears activities such as his political involvement with the "DC Statehood Green Party" may put him on a TIPS reporting list.
"I can only imagine a situation where private individuals, who are citizens of this country, who think they are doing something patriotic, are actually giving bad information about political activities to the FBI, to the Justice Department, to whoever," he said. "This program is a violation of our rights. It's a violation of the Fourth Amendment."
Alex Billet of the "International Socialist Organization" also participated in the demonstration. He said he believes government officials like Attorney General John Ashcroft will use Operation Tips to send citizen spies into areas that law enforcement can not obtain warrants to search or put under surveillance.
"This is a man who we cannot trust with our civil liberties, with our civil rights," Billet said. "When it comes to our civil liberties, I assure you 'Big Brother' is watching."
Comstock rejected such claims.
"None of the Operation TIPS materials published on the web or elsewhere have made reference to entry or access to the homes of individuals; nor has it ever been the intention of the Department of Justice, or any other agency, to set up such a program, she said.
"Our interest in establishing the Operation TIPS program is to allow American workers to share information they receive in the regular course of their jobs in public places and areas," Comstock added. "Once they report the information, they can rest assured that law enforcement officials will be taking any appropriate next steps."
But even those limited activities are seemingly not acceptable to Congress. In the "Homeland Security Act of 2002" passed by the House last week, a one-sentence chapter relating to Operation TIPS was added to the legislation.
Title VII, Subtitle G, Chapter 97, Section 770 of the Act states:
"Any and all activities of the Federal Government to implement the proposed component program of the Citizen Corps known as Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) are hereby prohibited."
Weiss says that's not stopping the Justice Department.
"We know that they're going to still try to pursue this under another name," he argued, "or under the same name and just blatantly ignore Congress and destroy civil rights within this country."
Literature handed out by the group claims that Operation TIPS would:
Violate the Fourth Amendment;
Foster an atmosphere of fear and distrust;
Make false arrests easier to justify, using information of dubious reliability, gathered by untrained laymen; and
Give Americans a false sense of security by creating a program with an "elite sounding" name for an activity any American can already engage in: calling authorities when they see something suspicious.
After spending approximately half an hour chanting and listening to speeches, the protesters, led by Weiss, went to the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to the Justice Department's headquarters building to ask that the department promise to abide by the congressional prohibition on Operation TIPS.
More than 20 uniformed and plainclothes officers from several federal law enforcement agencies blocked the protesters' access to the building, even closing one of two large iron barricade doors to keep them from entering. After brief negotiations between Weiss and the ranking officer, a DOJ spokesman emerged and talked briefly with the demonstrators.
"The statement stands. The program is still under development," said Mark Corallo, deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs. "There have been a lot of misconceptions about the program, and we will clarify those in the coming days. That's all we have to say."
The protesters remained outside the building for another 15 to 20 minutes before leaving voluntarily. One demonstrator vowed to return to the Justice Department every day until the agency agrees to halt the program. She carried a sign hand-lettered with the text of the Fourth Amendment.http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200207\NAT20020729a.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Edited by - Josey1 on 07/31/2002 06:16:22
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
July 29, 2002
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - More than two-dozen students and other "social justice" activists gathered outside the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice Monday to protest the DOJ's plans to continue developing a program that allows private citizens to report suspicious activity.
Operation TIPS, which is an acronym for "Terrorism Information and Prevention System," is described as "a national system for reporting suspicious, and potentially terrorist-related activity," according to the federal government's "Citizen Corps" website.
But Steven Weiss, organizer of the protest against Operation TIPS, said the plan would be better described as a "citizen-spy" program.
"It pits citizens against citizens, ratting each other out," he said. "If you look at history you can see other regimes that have done that. The Gestapo did it. Cuba still does it. It's McCarthyism all over again."
In a statement issued by the Justice Department, Public Affairs Director Barbara Comstock said the program merely creates an organized information gathering system for tips from workers whose jobs put them in public places and whose routines will help them spot anything out of the ordinary.
"Operation TIPS is simply a reporting system," Comstock said. "which enable American workers to report unusual and non-emergency issues that they observe in the normal course of their work."
But Adam Eidinger, who also participated in the protest, said he fears activities such as his political involvement with the "DC Statehood Green Party" may put him on a TIPS reporting list.
"I can only imagine a situation where private individuals, who are citizens of this country, who think they are doing something patriotic, are actually giving bad information about political activities to the FBI, to the Justice Department, to whoever," he said. "This program is a violation of our rights. It's a violation of the Fourth Amendment."
Alex Billet of the "International Socialist Organization" also participated in the demonstration. He said he believes government officials like Attorney General John Ashcroft will use Operation Tips to send citizen spies into areas that law enforcement can not obtain warrants to search or put under surveillance.
"This is a man who we cannot trust with our civil liberties, with our civil rights," Billet said. "When it comes to our civil liberties, I assure you 'Big Brother' is watching."
Comstock rejected such claims.
"None of the Operation TIPS materials published on the web or elsewhere have made reference to entry or access to the homes of individuals; nor has it ever been the intention of the Department of Justice, or any other agency, to set up such a program, she said.
"Our interest in establishing the Operation TIPS program is to allow American workers to share information they receive in the regular course of their jobs in public places and areas," Comstock added. "Once they report the information, they can rest assured that law enforcement officials will be taking any appropriate next steps."
But even those limited activities are seemingly not acceptable to Congress. In the "Homeland Security Act of 2002" passed by the House last week, a one-sentence chapter relating to Operation TIPS was added to the legislation.
Title VII, Subtitle G, Chapter 97, Section 770 of the Act states:
"Any and all activities of the Federal Government to implement the proposed component program of the Citizen Corps known as Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) are hereby prohibited."
Weiss says that's not stopping the Justice Department.
"We know that they're going to still try to pursue this under another name," he argued, "or under the same name and just blatantly ignore Congress and destroy civil rights within this country."
Literature handed out by the group claims that Operation TIPS would:
Violate the Fourth Amendment;
Foster an atmosphere of fear and distrust;
Make false arrests easier to justify, using information of dubious reliability, gathered by untrained laymen; and
Give Americans a false sense of security by creating a program with an "elite sounding" name for an activity any American can already engage in: calling authorities when they see something suspicious.
After spending approximately half an hour chanting and listening to speeches, the protesters, led by Weiss, went to the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to the Justice Department's headquarters building to ask that the department promise to abide by the congressional prohibition on Operation TIPS.
More than 20 uniformed and plainclothes officers from several federal law enforcement agencies blocked the protesters' access to the building, even closing one of two large iron barricade doors to keep them from entering. After brief negotiations between Weiss and the ranking officer, a DOJ spokesman emerged and talked briefly with the demonstrators.
"The statement stands. The program is still under development," said Mark Corallo, deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs. "There have been a lot of misconceptions about the program, and we will clarify those in the coming days. That's all we have to say."
The protesters remained outside the building for another 15 to 20 minutes before leaving voluntarily. One demonstrator vowed to return to the Justice Department every day until the agency agrees to halt the program. She carried a sign hand-lettered with the text of the Fourth Amendment.http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200207\NAT20020729a.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Edited by - Josey1 on 07/31/2002 06:16:22
Comments
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Washington "will do everything conceivable, everything humanly and technologically possible, to preserve our way of life and our citizens," says Tom Ridge, director of the Office of Homeland Security.
Unfortunately, the administration seems ready to threaten our way of life in the name of protecting us. First, President George W. Bush wants a new Department of Homeland Security to consolidate everything from border control to emergency relief to agricultural inspections. Second, the Justice Department is preparing Operation TIPS, Terrorism Information and Prevention System. This is a curiously liberal approach -- create an intrusive new bureaucracy -- for a supposedly conservative president. Yet there is no reason to believe that another department will make America safer.
Obviously, inter-agency cooperation and coordination are desirable, but consolidation won't necessarily deliver either. The experience of the Transportation Security Administration gives little cause for optimism. The TSA was supposed to improve airport-employee quality, but instead retained most incumbents. The administration has already run through most of its more-than $2 billion budget, yet is likely to miss the statutory deadline for installing bomb-screening machines.
TIPS is an even worse idea. Obviously, citizens should be alert and report potentially dangerous activities. Most important, they should maintain security at their own homes and businesses, and offer the last line of defense against would-be airline hijackers. But orchestrating a massive spying operation by Americans on Americans is quite different. Snitches are unreliable: A decade ago, Harvard University's Project on Justice warned that informers routinely exaggerate and even fabricate. Many criminal convictions have been set aside after informants were exposed as liars.
Government spying during the Vietnam War era was directed more at suppressing dissent than protecting national security; the FBI's infamous Cointelpro program targeted Martin Luther King Jr., among others. During the Cold War, Washington directed much of its energy at people who, while moral idiots for backing the Soviet Union, never actually threatened America's survival.
In the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR, federal surveillance efforts seem to have accelerated. Charlotte Twight, author of "Dependent on DC" (Palgrave Press), warns that "largely linked through an individual's Social Security number, these [official] databases now empower the federal government to obtain an astonishingly detailed portrait of any person: the checks he writes, the types of causes he supports, what he says 'privately' to his doctor."
Washington demonstrated its readiness to misuse access to personal information when the IRS released the names of individuals using disputed tax shelters. Private snitches would be no better. World War I was notable for the demagogic abuse heaped upon so-called hyphenated Americans. More than a few "patriotic" citizens spied on their neighbors. That was better than in World War II, when Washington rounded up Japanese-Americans and confined them in camps. But it still wasn't much of an example for a constitutional republic based upon individual liberty.
The administration would eventually enlist 11 million people, particularly those with access to not only the public square, but private homes: postal employees, truck drivers, utility workers. These informants would report anything suspicious to the Justice Department.
Tom Ridge says that, "The last thing we want is Americans spying on Americans." But that's precisely what TIPS would encourage, as well as offer a back-door means of avoiding constitutional limits on arrests and searches. Government could make it easier for people to report obviously suspicious behavior: Middle Eastern men seeking to learn how to fly, but not land, commercial airliners comes to mind. That invitation, however, should be made to every American, backed by a toll-free number staffed by personnel with some ability to separate wheat from chaff.
Unfortunately, deputizing meter readers and mail carriers to be federal agents will encourage them to look for things to report, without helping them develop critical judgment about what is and isn't significant. The result will be an avalanche of worthless tips. At best, federal computer drives would be filled with information on middle-aged males who own many guns, dark-complexioned men, who criticize U.S. Mideast policy, and women who dress in head scarves. At worst, the TIPS database would list the trivial actions and opinions of millions of Americans, such as the Stasi's files in former East Germany.
Homeland security is the federal government's most important duty. Washington should reconsider its high-profile meddling abroad, such as stationing thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia. The United States should also focus on securing air and sea space at home rather than defending prosperous allies and patrolling irrelevant civil wars abroad.
But Uncle Sam shouldn't suborn citizens to become meddlesome busybodies and official gossips, encouraged to see a terrorist behind every eccentric neighbor. We must never forget that we are defending a free society, not just a particular plot of land located in North America.
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/bandow.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
by Russell Madden
Please, don't say it!
Puh-puh-puh-pleeeeeeease, just don't say it. Simply let us continue doing what we're doing, and everything will be all right. But if you say it, well, then, we can't be held responsible for what might happen. To you....
Those who do not want you to interfere with their grandiose plans for your insignificant (to them) life fear "Naming" with the dread of ritualistic primitives. As long as they can skulk in the shadows and indulge their vile practices, they are happy. If you dare to name that duck, however, that is plainly walking and quacking for all to see, they will descend upon you with spit slavering from their distorted lips as they denounce your evil soul.
It matters not a whit to them what the true nature of their sick acts are as long as they can pretend to you - and to themselves - that their behaviors are "benevolent" and "caring" and "fair." Rather than face the just and righteous consequences of their transgressions against the human spirit, they will most decidedly punish you for your temerity to proclaim that the emperor has forgotten his clothes. As comedian Lenny Bruce discovered to his hurt, the Namer is the one to be feared and subdued, the one upon whose skull the full weight of the State must fall. Bewildered, Lenny said, in regard to his "crime" of "obscenity," "I just said it. I didn't do it."
Yes. The question of the day, the week, the new century, the new millennium. Okay. Hold on while I gird my loins, grit my teeth, and steel my nerves. Here it comes. Any second now. Wait for it...
The United States of America is a fascistic police state.
Oh, wow! Whew. That wasn't so bad, after all. Was it. My hands are trembling a bit, though. I'll be fine. Give me a minute. Let me catch my breath.
Huh. No one's breaking down my door. Those ten words I set into print are available for millions of people to read. They haven't been deleted from cyberspace. I haven't been arrested. My house, my car, my books, my computer haven't been confiscated. I haven't been shot.
Yet.
Gee. Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe I'm not.
Even some people who defend freedom endlessly wring their hands, wondering and debating in futile discourse whether or not our country is becoming a police state. They are more concerned with an imaginary and hazy demarcation that separates us from what they stubbornly maintain is an essentially free nation from the horrors of a police state existence. Such worriers, too, suffer from contemplating the "Naming." Somehow, they tell themselves, as long as they don't pronounce that final judgment, things aren't so bad. We'll get by. After all, people have free will. There is no Marxian "historical imperative." People are not helpless pawns, tossed and led by vast social forces beyond their ken or control.
Right? Of course.
In 1964, Alvin Toffler - author of Future Shock - interviewed Ayn Rand for Playboy. In that interview, he asked her the following question:
"What is the dividing line, by your definition, between a mixed economy and a dictatorship?"
Rand offered four characteristics that were essential to dictatorships: "...one-party rule, executions without trial for political offenses, expropriation or nationalization of private property, and censorship."
While a dictatorship and a police state are not precisely equivalent, sufficient commonalities exist to make the analysis helpful to us.
"One-party rule."
Oh, gosh. We have all kinds of parties, don't we? Republicans and Democrats and Socialists and Greens and Reformers and Libertarians and who knows how many smaller parties? Yet 98% of voters reject any party that is not aligned with or a clone of the two major players. But there are real differences between Dems and Repubs, right? Yeah, sure. Perhaps someone can refresh my memory as to which of those two parties supports - and which does not - national health care? Gun control laws? Social Security? State-run education? Increases in government spending? A more centralized federal government? Individual and business welfare? Preemptive regulations and laws? Taxes?
Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee. Yes. Miles apart. Distinctly different.
"Executions without trial for political offenses."
Surely not, I hear a shocked bystander proclaim. Tell me again, though: How many men, women, and children died at Waco for supposed paperwork violations of an unjust federal law? At Ruby Ridge? How many innocent people have died because they defied immoral and unconstitutional drug laws? Or as the result of daring to resist soldiers, er, police storming into their homes, unannounced and without visible warrants? How many terminal patients have been sentenced to death by a State that refuses to acknowledge the validity of "medical marijuana" laws that were designed to help these sick people combat the effects of their diseases? How many people have been condemned to an early grave because they are refused access to drugs that are not State approved? How many examples of "collateral damage" can we tally in the non-wars we have waged in Europe and elsewhere against people who dared to disagree with official American doctrine?
"Expropriation or nationalization of private property."
What a no-brainer. Asset forfeiture laws, anyone? Stealing money and other property from hapless victims never charged with a crime, let alone convicted. Rolling bums and drug addicts for spare bills in the name of "forfeiture." Yet drugs are only a beginning. How many homes and neighborhoods have been ravished by that scabrous indecency, "eminent domain," destroying houses and seizing land to hand to other private individuals or State urban planners? Precisely what percentage of the United States has been nationalized in the name of "wilderness areas," "national parks," "national monuments," and "wetlands"? Let us also not forget that the average American has over fifty-percent of his annual income - more than he spends on food, clothing, and shelter - wrenched from him before it even reaches his bank account. (Ah, the joys of "withholding...") What bit of property do you "own" that is not now or potentially subject to the whims and dictates of a bureaucrat or politician?
"Censorship."
For Rand, that was the big one. As long as people are free to talk and write, we have a chance to change the inertia driving us towards a dictatorship. I am writing this essay, after all. You are reading it. Yay! We're saved by the hair of our chinny-chin-chins...
Still...
How many websites have had information deleted that was deemed of interest to "terrorists"? What can happen to you if you publish a book or a website that contains information on making a bomb? Or drugs? On carrying out a hit? If you make available facts or pictures that some busybody declares is "pornographic"? If you create an image of a nonexistent child for such purposes? What if you want to browse certain websites or check out disfavored books in the library? The State declares it has the right to obtain and keep such records to ensure "national security" and to prevent "the children" from viewing "objectionable" material. And how long will the Freedom of Information Act survive our "War on Terrorism"?
The timid will cling to the thread that one-party rule is not here, in name, and that dissenters can still run for office to "change things." That we don't have "show trials" and routine executions for political reasons. That the State doesn't seize all our money and property. That censorship is still spotty and unpopular.
Sigh
Such claims remind me of someone who would deny that an acorn that has sprouted is not an "oak tree" since it is only three-inches high. But a tree is a tree, regardless of its height. A human is a human, regardless of whether ninety-minutes or ninety-years old. Yes, there are differences between a newly sprouted oak tree, fragile and weak, and such a tree a hundred feet tall that sinks its roots deep and spreads its branches to shadow the ground beneath it. So, too, there are real and significant differences between a newborn and a centenarian. Yes, we need to be cognizant of those distinctions and adjust our behavior accordingly.
That does not mean we abandon the evidence before us or repress and evade what is plain to see in order to avoid naming a baby "human."
Police states come in a variety of flavors. History never repeats itself in exact detail. The Soviet police state was different from the Chinese which was different from the Nazis which was different from that of the Prussians. The American police state, too, has its unique qualities. That fact doesn't alter in the least the reality we confront here.
We don't have storm troopers roaming the streets. Yet.
But we do have National Guard troops cruising our airports. And President Bush has called for the elimination of the Posse Comitatus Act (see my essay, "Calling Out the Posse") so military personnel may be used for civilian law enforcement. Already we have had troops "guarding" our borders against illegal immigrants, troops who murdered an American teenager yet never faced prosecution.
We don't have internal passports. Yet.
But we do have a de facto national identification number, our Social Security number, and plans for "uniform" drivers licenses that will eventually morph into full-blown national ID (NID) cards. Without this "no, it's not a"-national ID number, you cannot live a normal existence. Indeed, try telling a cop who demands it that you have no ID with you... And President Bush has finally dropped his pretense of opposing such NID cards and endorsed them as a means of "fighting" terrorism.
We don't have secret police. Yet.
But we do have secret "intelligence" agencies whose activities are hidden from public scrutiny...or accountability. And President Bush has called for a national network of civilian spies - his TIPS or Terrorism Information and Prevention System - a "corps" whose members will not worry about such petty inconveniences as probable cause or search warrants as they poke and * into the private lives of their neighbors. (And, of course, we believe GWB when he tells us such an informant network will report only on "publicly" observable activities.)
We don't have a Gestapo. Yet.
But we do have an informal Department of Homeland Security. And Bush wants to give this would-be behemoth cabinet-level status with enforcement capabilities as it absorbs the offices and powers of its federal rivals.
We don't have concentration camps for "undesirables." Yet.
But we do have a camp in Cuba (savor the irony...) holding unknown "combatants" in an undeclared war without benefit of legal representation or due process or other Constitutional protections. (And, no, Constitutional protections are not just for American citizens; those guarantees are against the State, to protect natural rights inherent in any individual.) And Bush has sanctioned the holding without due process of American citizens, gutting habeas corpus, while applauding military tribunals beholden to no civilian oversight.
The PATRIOT Act passed in such haste by Congress and signed by Bush lays the legal groundwork for these and many more abuses...a situation similar to that in Germany when Hitler - legally - came to power. Such threats to our rights will merely grow in number and intensity as time passes and this inane "war" draws out over the coming years.
Despite the dark rumblings of storms looming close over the horizon and the misshapen beasts prowling the figurative and literal landscapes of our society, some people will not accept that...
... the United States of America is a fascistic police state ...
...unless and until they are physically dragged from their beds and chained by the neck in jail. Echoing the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller, by the time the American police state has swollen to that extent and the visionless fools awaken to their fatal error, there will be no one left to speak up. These Pollyannish ostriches forget that Antebellum slaves often had free movement as they performed their work. Many such slaves were also permitted to earn and keep money for their work. Few clanked around in leg irons.
Yet, like a dog let loose to frolic by its owner, if the massah snapped his fingers, that slave better come a runnin' or in chains or worse he soon would be.
Our chains are (mostly) invisible and slackly held. The noose, however, is no less dangling around our throats.
The frog is in the water, and we ignore that faint bubbling and hissing sound below us at our own peril. So far, only a few "troublemakers" have been plopped into the water. When you become important enough or annoying enough or loud enough in your objections, you will join the other frogs soon enough.
If those who committed the myriad of anti-freedom acts detailed in such books as The State vs the People by Claire Wolfe and Aaron Zelman or in James Bovard's many books, if those criminals were publicly and forcefully punished for their misdeeds - fired, fined, and jailed - then I would not see the necessity or value in penning these words. But these foes of liberty not only go unchecked in their actions, they are as often as not promoted, rewarded, and honored for their immoral proclivities. Laws sanctioning greater police state powers flow from state and federal legislatures. Few, if any, such unconstitutional acts are reversed.
And the populace blithefully and blindly nourishes what should be torn savagely out by the roots.
In 1972, the musical group Chicago performed a song, "Dialogue (Part I & II)." The lyrics are uncomfortably relevant thirty years later:
Terry: Are you optimistic 'bout the way that things are going?
Pete: No, I never ever think of it at all.
Terry: Don't you ever worry when you see what's going down?
Pete: Well, I try to mind my business, that is, no business at all.
Terry: When it's time to function as a feeling human being, will your Bachelor of Arts help you get by?
Pete: I hope to study further, a few more years or so. I also hope to keep a steady high.
Terry: Will you try to change things, use the power that you have, The power of a million new ideas?
Pete: What is this power you speak of and the need for things to change? I always thought that ev'rything was fine, ev'rything is fine.
Terry: Don't you feel repression just closing in around?
Pete: No, the campus here is very very free.
Terry: Don't it make you angry the way war is dragging on?
Pete: Well I hope the President knows what he's into, I don't know. Oooh, I just don't know.
If you discovered you had cancerous cells growing within you, would you worry about precisely when they appeared or would you just be concerned to discover them there, at all?
If you learned you had cancer, would you refuse to call it cancer until it had metastasized into a huge, life-threatening, inoperable tumor bulging through your skin?
If you found out you had out-of-control cells spreading through your system, would you ignore that fact and hope the cancer would spontaneously disappear? Or would you seek surgery, chemotherapy, and whatever else it took to eradicate the cancer?
The United States of America is a fascistic police state.
It is time to cure our nation - now - and to restore our country to healthy freedom before the relatively small cancer that is the modern American police state greedily consumes us all.
See Russ Madden's articles, short stories, novel excerpts, and items of interest to Objectivists, libertarians, and sci-fi fans at http://home.earthlink.net/~rdmadden/webdocs/.
-30-
from The Laissez Faire Electronic Times, Vol 1, No 24, July 29, 2002
Editor: Emile Zola Publisher: Digital Monetary Trust http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/police_state_america.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Sarah Womack - Social Affairs
Nearly 50 million babies worldwide go unregistered every year, meaning in legal terms that they do not exist, says a report today.
Tony Blair and other world leaders were urged to lead a campaign for universal registration to stop child trafficking and illegal adoption rings, and restore the rights of "invisible" children across the globe.
Research by the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that 41 per cent of births in the world go unregistered, undermining a child's right to an identity, name and nationality.
"These children have no birth certificate, the 'membership card' for society that should open the door to education and health care," says the report.
"They are invisible when important policy and budget decisions are made."
It said special efforts must be made to reach children who may have lost parents or been born to those affected by HIV/Aids.
In later life, the unregistered child may be unable to apply for a passport, formal job or get a marriage licence.
Unregistered children are also a more attractive commodity to a child trafficker, illegal adoption rings and others who seek to take advantage of their non-status.
Countries where significant numbers of children go unregistered include Cambodia, where registration records were destroyed under the Pol Pot regime, and China.
It is estimated that the number of unregistered children in China may be as high as six million.
The U.N. - Where Happily Ever After is Just a Dream
Help Get The U.S. Out Of The U.N. NOW!!
http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=3422
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878