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DSieve
10-06-2008, 08:05 AM
A warning about the direction the country is headed:

Naomi Wolf interview on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI)

Is she a nutjob? Time will tell, but the building blocks are being put in place:

Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. There are significant flaws in the Patriot Act, flaws that threaten your fundamental freedoms by giving the government the power to access to your medical records, tax records, information about the books you buy or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break into your home and conduct secret searches without telling you for weeks, months, or indefinitely.
Patriot Act (http://www.aclu.org/safefree/resources/17343res20031114.html)

With the Domestic Security Enhancement Act the Administration would seek ""to take the Patriot Act's antiterror powers several steps further.""[1] Dubbed ""Patriot Act 2,"" the legislation would grant additional sweeping powers to the government, eliminating or weakening remaining limits on government surveillance, wiretapping, detention and prosecution.

I. Patriot Act 2: An Overview

""An American citizen suspected of being part of a terrorist conspiracy could be held by investigators without anyone being notified. He could simply disappear."" - New York Times Magazine, February 23, 2003
The government would no longer be required to disclose the identity of anyone, even an American citizen, detained in connection with a terror investigation - until criminal charges are filed, no matter how long that takes (sec 201). Current court limits on local police spying on religious and political activity would be repealed (sec. 312). The government would be allowed to obtain credit records and library records without a warrant (secs. 126, 128, 129). Wiretaps without any court order for up to 15 days after terror attack would be permissible. (sec. 103). Release of information about health/safety hazards posed by chemical and other plants would be restricted (sec. 202). The reach of an already overbroad definition of terrorism would be expanded - individuals engaged in civil disobedience could risk losing their citizenship (sec. 501); their organization could be subject to wiretapping (secs. 120, 121) and asset seizure (secs. 428, 428 ). Americans could be extradited, searched and wiretapped at the behest of foreign nations, whether or not treaties allow it (sec. 321, 322). Lawful immigrants would be stripped of the right to a fair deportation hearing and federal courts would not be allowed to review immigration rulings (secs. 503, 504).
Patriot Act II (http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17383leg20030328.html)

In the final hours before adjourning in 2006, Congress passed and the president signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA). In doing so, they cast aside the Constitution and the principle of habeas corpus, which protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. They also gave the president absolute power to designate enemy combatants, and to set his own definitions for torture.
Military Commissions Act (http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/commissions.html)

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), born after the Watergate scandal, establishes how the government can secretly eavesdrop on Americans in their own country in intelligence investigations. It was originally passed to allow the government to collect foreign intelligence information involving communications with "agents of foreign powers."

On July 10, 2008, President Bush signed the unconstitutional FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA), supposedly aimed at “updating” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Unfortunately, the law meant to “update” FISA instead gutted the original law by eviscerating the role of the judicial oversight in government surveillance. The law also gave sweeping immunity to the telecommunications companies that aided the Bush administration’s unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program by handing over access to our communications without a warrant.
FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/fisa.html)

Pending: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (http://www.dsieve.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12)

Homeland Security Checkpoints (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7BC956C2E15751BE) - getting closer to "papers, please".

m42
10-06-2008, 12:21 PM
Is she a nutjob? Time will tell, but the building blocks are being put in place:



If your definition of nutjob covers the belief that it's possible to be possessed by the spirit of a thirteen year old boy and see Jesus, then yes, I'd say she's definitely certifiable. ;)

DSieve
10-06-2008, 02:22 PM
Any comments on the substance of the issue presented?

DSieve
10-08-2008, 02:03 PM
Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 holla!

The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.

Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan revealed at a legislative hearing that the surveillance operation, which targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, was far more extensive than was known when its existence was disclosed in July.
...
"I can't imagine getting a letter that says, 'You've been classified as a terrorist; come in and we'll tell about it,'" said Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel). Two senators noted that they had been arrested years ago for civil disobedience. Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Montgomery) asked Sheridan, "Do you have any legislators on your list?" The answer was no.

Md. Police Put Activists' Names On Terror Lists (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100703245.html)

John Scott
10-10-2008, 07:45 AM
If your definition of nutjob covers the belief that it's possible to be possessed by the spirit of a thirteen year old boy and see Jesus, then yes, I'd say she's definitely certifiable. ;)

Seriously? She said that?

m42
10-10-2008, 10:35 AM
That does appear to be the case.

"I actually had this vision of Jesus, and I'm sure it was Jesus, " said Wolf. "But it wasn't this crazy theological thing; it was just this figure who was the most perfected human being that there could be - full of light and full of love."

More bizarrely, she experienced this as a teenage boy. "I was a 13-year-old boy sitting next to him and feeling feelings I'd never felt in my lifetime, " said Wolf. "[Feelings] of a boy being with an older male who he really loves and admires and loves to be in the presence of. It was probably the most profound experience of my life. I haven't talked about it publicly."

- Naomi Wolf to the Sunday Herald Jan 22, 2006

John Scott
10-10-2008, 04:54 PM
Interesting. Watching her in the video she reminds me of a relative who was somewhat crazy. Very high tension.

m42
10-13-2008, 10:03 PM
Naomi Wolf, bestselling author of The Beauty Myth, lover of earth tones, and speaker of truth to power, was recently found crumpled on the floor in Newark airport between a T.G.I. Friday's and a World's Best Yogurt, sobbing into her cell phone. How do I know about this embarrassing episode? Private detectives? Security camera footage? Nope. Wolf tells me, and anyone else who cares to know, all about it in the first section of her new book.

"I am not ashamed of this abasement," she writes, "because I was actually heartsick."

http://www.reason.com/news/show/129431.html