Washblog || The Stealth Thought Police Bill

The Stealth Thought Police Bill

By Karen Backman
Mon Dec 03, 2007 at 08:40:08 AM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Democrats

And the role of Washington State Democrats in its inception and passage.

Back in April 19 of this year Congresswoman Jane Harman, 36th congressional district of California, introduced H.R. 1955, Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. Norm Dicks, Democrat, 6th CD, and Dave Reichert, Republican, 8th CD, co-sponsored this bill.

"Not since the "Patriot Act" of 2001 has any bill so threatened our constitutionally guaranteed rights.

"The historian Henry Steele Commager, denouncing President John Adams' suppression of free speech in the 1790s, argued that the Bill of Rights was not written to protect government from dissenters but to provide a legal means for citizens to oppose a government they didn't trust. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence not only proclaimed the right to dissent but declared it a people's duty, under certain conditions, to alter or abolish their government.

"In that vein, diverse groups vigorously oppose Ms. Harman's effort to stifle dissent. Unfortunately, the mainstream press and leading presidential candidates remain silent...." -- Ralph E. Shaffer, professor emeritus of history at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and R. William Robinson, an elected director of a Southern California water district, wrote this article for the History News Service which appeared in the Baltimore Sun:

Here Come the Thought Police

Harman's bill was passed by the House on October 23, 2007, 404-6.

Inslee, 1st CD, Aye
Larsen, 2nd CD, Aye
Baird, 3rd CD, Aye
Hastings, 4th CD, Aye
McMorris Rodgers, 5th CD, Aye
Dicks, 6th CD, Aye
!!McDermott!!, 7th CD, Aye
Reichert, 8th CD, Aye
Smith, 9th CD, Aye

Unanimously.

Infamous!

What were THEY thinking?

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The Stealth Thought Police Bill | 3 comments (3 topical)

Wow -- I wonder...

why the Democrats voted for this.

Perhaps someone will write his or her Rep. (mine is Reichert) and get some insight.

by noemie maxwell on Mon Dec 03, 2007 at 10:49:56 AM PST

* 1 none 0 *

Obedient Little Lemmings by Karen Backman, 12/04/2007 08:18:28 AM PST (none / 0)

Double-edged swords

This is a very interesting bill. I agree that it could easily be misused, but that is true of any double-edged sword.

Consider the wording in Sec 899C(b)(1) where it mentions "...individual or `lone wolf' violent radicalization..." The term "lone wolf" is a code-word that is frequently used by extreme right-wing Neo-Nazi or Aryan Nations-type groups when the leaders are encouraging individual action by members in a way that gives the organization deniability. After all, they can't be held responsible for the actions of an individual, can they? Especially when there is no evidence that the organization specifically directed the action. This strikes directly at such groups.

Bear in mind that prior to 9/11 the biggest single act of terrorism in the US was the bombing of the Murrah Federal Bldg by the members of just such a group. There are tens of thousands of members of these groups, they are armed, and their express desire is the overthrow of the US government. It seems like this would certainly qualify as "ideologically based violence."

This same law might also be applied against those who advocate the killing of doctors who perform abortions, or post inflammatory messages on Web sites along with the addresses of the doctors, photographs of them and their families, etc.

And in my wildest fantasies, it might also be applied against Ann Coulter when she advocates the assassination of Supreme Court Justices. But it would never really be taken that far.

by Gordon Glasgow on Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 07:07:22 PM PST

* 3 none 0 *

The Stealth Thought Police Bill | 3 comments (3 topical)

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