The Darker Side
Of HR 1955
By Ted Twietmeyer
Much has been said about this Bill. It doesn’t lay the foundation not for a new temporary McCarthy-type era of a form of witch-hunting, but rather an era of permanent silence of all dissident thoughts and actions. Like all laws, sooner or later the Constitutional validity of this law (if it makes it into law which appears likely) will be tried in a courtroom.
But before that day comes when someone comes along with deep pockets to do this, there will be countless others who won’t be able to challenge it. OJ Simpson proved that despite the most damning evidence, with deep enough pockets you can buy your way out of a capital crime.
And with even deeper pockets to pay the high per-minute cost of a lawyer authorized to argue in front of the Supreme Court, anyone can challenge a new law. But before any law can be argued in front of the US Supreme Court, it must pass through all the lower courts first which also costs some serious money. It will take many years to make it through that due process. And in that time, countless numbers of people without deep pockets will be punished for breaking the law.
More than four years ago, everyone seemed to rejoice when we had a Republican-controlled Congress. At least that’s how the media portrayed the “victory” on Capitol Hill. I was in the car driving to work at the time I heard the news of the Democratic victory, and damn near hit a bus broad-side because I was laughing so hard.
That victory turned out to be a false hope as more civil rights than ever before were taken away or threatened. Under the “new freedom” no civil rights are guaranteed to anyone, and they were more likely to be before 2001. The only hope people had left was for the usually-liberally minded democrats to help protect the people. In other words, tell the fox he’s been re-hired to guard to henhouse.
Finally the democrats started to take control of Capitol hill. Was that a good thing? I’ll leave you to be the judge of that. First, let’s look at the list of just who sponsored HR 1955, according to Uncle’s website:
Rep. Jane Harman [D-CA]
Cosponsors of HR 1955
Rep. Christopher Carney [D-PA]
Del. Donna Christensen [D-VI]
Rep. Yvette Clarke [D-NY]
Rep. Charles Dent [R-PA]
Rep. Norman Dicks [D-WA]
Rep. Al Green [D-TX]
Rep. James Langevin [D-RI]
Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA]
Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY]
Rep. Daniel Lungren [R-CA]
Rep. Ed Perlmutter [D-CO]
Rep. Ted Poe [R-TX]
Rep. Dave Reichert [R-WA]
Rep. Bennie Thompson [D-MS]
If we tally up who’s in what party here, we can see from the government’s website [1] that 11 Democrats and just 3 Republicans sponsored HR 1955. That’s a ratio of almost 4:1! No one seems to be talking about this aspect of the Bill. Yet is does speak volumes how this handful of mostly democrats accomplished a staggering landslide vote as described here:
Oct 23, 2007: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote. The vote was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass the bill, needing a two-thirds majority. The totals were 404 Ayes, 6 Nays, 22 Present/Not Voting. [1]
The statement above “The vote was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass the bill” speaks volumes about the railroad job performed to pass this one. Cut debate short? How about no real debate at all! Another one of those “all decided beforehand behind closed doors” tricks. This is a clearly a violation of due process. We must remember it’s OK for Capitol Hill to break the law - but not you and me. “Who said life was fair?” we heard growing up. No, it’s more like “Who said the law applies to everyone?”
This Bill has far-reaching implications, perhaps even more so than the infamous Patriot Act. It’s important to remember that ALL “Acts” are labeled for WHAT or WHO they are targeted at. The Riot Act was against people rioting, RICO Act was against racketeering and crime, and the Patriot Act was clearly written to nail patriots. Now we have HR 1955 with the official title of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
THIS BILL CHARGES THE FOX WITH GUARDING THE HENHOUSE
As with any Bill it’s all in the details. So I’ve presented a few here a few of them to show the threat to free speech it represents, with almost no real safeguards. First, let’s look at the supposed safeguards in the Bill:
SEC. 899F PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.
(a) In General- The Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to prevent ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents.
(b) Commitment to Racial Neutrality- The Secretary shall ensure that the activities and operations of the entities created by this subtitle are in compliance with the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to racial neutrality.
(c) Auditing Mechanism- The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer of the Department of Homeland Security shall develop and implement an auditing mechanism to ensure that compliance with this subtitle does not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of any racial, ethnic, or religious group, and shall include the results of audits under such mechanism in its annual report to Congress required under section 705.’
Looking at each of these three “protections” causes alarm bells sound inside anyone’s head unless they are dead.
In section (a) we see the fox that guards the henhouse being charged with insuring the fox won’t violate anyone’s civil rights. We can always trust the fox to guard the fox?
In section (b) we are given the promise of racial neutrality. Perhaps this only applies to illegal aliens coming across the Mexican border in droves, every day of the week. They must be exempt of course.
In section (c) we see there will be an auditing mechanism. Again, the fox is charged with protecting the chickens (you and me) from harm.
In all fairness, I must acknowledge that SOMETHING must be done. After all, since we were given that “new freedom” by the self-appointed Decider some 6 years ago, nothing has been the same. He told the media in a December 2000 press conference when asked how hard it would be as president which I quote verbatim here: “This job would be a heck of a lot easier, if this were a dictatorship… [chuckling] just so long as I’m the dictator.” Apparently he was more serious than anyone thought.
Yes, something must be done. We’ve had so many “home-grown terrorist attacks” since 2001 (I’ll spare you that dog-eared-date for the moment) that we’ve all lost count. It’s been just terrible. Restaurants blowing up, pungi-stick traps dug in ChinaMart parking lots during the night, water supplies poisoned and big box stores being stormed every day by radical right-wing extremists and television and radio stations being taken over by terrorists every week. Every day something more terrible happens in the news. And the worst attack of all? America’s freedom attacked loud-mouth-threatening Bill-O of FIX NEWS. (Most likely one day someone will shut up Bill-O permanently, perhaps with a lawsuit.) What - you didn’t see or hear any of this happen? But we still need HR 1955.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL
We’ll look at a few of the wonderful benefits this blindly-voted-on-Bill gives to the American people. Benefits for which all should be on bended knee bowing in gratitude and be grateful for. Uncle only wants the best for us. Today, ask not what you can do for your country - but what your country can do TO you.
We should remember all this and show our gratitude to Uncle for the misery, unemployment, jumping gas prices and other wonderful blessings. Now I’ll show my gratitude and share with you more of the glories of HR 1955. According to Sec. 2 of the Bill, this is to be amended to Title VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, 6 USC 361.
Strangely enough, this government website has a blue link to a website about 6 USC 361. Although it comes up as “Page not Found” the link is to a Cornell law website at
Why would the government include a link to a Cornell website? Perhaps they are the REAL authors of HR1955.
What else does this Bill provide? Here’s more of it:
Sec. 899b (1-8) rambles on about ideological and “home-grown” based terrorism, as though this sort of thing is happening all the time. When was the last time you heard about any “home-grown terrorism” in the news? More nonsense.
Sec 899b - (9) Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit from lessons learned by those nations.
Does the above section suggest a video camera on every corner? There is little doubt that the UK must be the largest customer of CCTV cameras on the planet. Maybe the USA can start putting up these idiotic harassment devices everywhere, driving the price down for the good of all. Or, perhaps we can have a new breed of storm-troopers modeled after the SAS in the UK. (The “SAS” stands for Special Air Service, not “Shoot All Suspects” as some might imagine.) In intelligence circles in the USA, CIA stands for “Can’t Infiltrate Anyone.”
The majority of the Bill specifies who and what members of what committees will serve as the oversight. In other words, watching the fox who watches the fox, who in-turn guards the hen-house. Just what the government needs is to form yet another committee.
A TEST THAT PROVED BIG BROTHER DOESN’T CARE REAL THREATS
When big brother (oops “Homeland Security”) ran an ad back in 2001 for anyone to alert the government to possible terrorist targets, I answered the call. My curiosity wanted to see just what H.S. would do about a real possible prime location for a terrorist attack. Being the pessimist about Uncle that I am, I told my wife at the time “watch and see- they will do absolutely nothing.” She was worried about the men in black with machine guns and battering rams would show up, “knocking” on the door.
While they have sloppily entered my home several times while we were out by picking the lock and poking through my computers, they haven’t used a battering ram. Even the CIA agent recruiter played by Robert DeNiro in the film “The Good Shepherd” would be ashamed. Years ago, I left a letter in my computer just for these covert (overt) visitors to read. In case they haven’t found it yet, it’s a file named “NSA.TXT.” I used a generic text file format to be sure they could open it OK.
Anyway, I told HS about a city named _________ (name withheld here lest I be blamed for something) where water travels underground for some 30 miles from a fresh water lake, through four aqueducts under hundreds of acres of woods and farms to a medium-size city. So what’s the big threat here? The VENT PIPES are in an uninhabited wooded area. These pipes let fresh air into the aqueduct to help water flow.
Here are the questions:
* Are there new fences erected around the area, or were there any in 2001? No.
* Are the vent pipes tall too tall for anyone to reach? No- they are all at waist height. I have stood beside one and you can HEAR the water rushing by deep underground.
* Did the government ever get back to me about this? No, in spite of the highly detailed information I provided.
What a joke H.S. was and still is. Seriously, this water supply is a real security issue. But here we are SIX YEARS LATER and nothing has been done.
So now Bills like HR1955 are being promoted. And most likely in the same way as the original, infamous civil-rights-stealing Patriot Act. If you are a WMD (Washington Money Droid) don’t read it but vote for it. I for one am thoroughly ashamed. Traitors everywhere you look. Benedict Arnold would be proud to be among these politicians who claim to be “good citizens.”
And all in the name of two tall buildings that were demolished, simply for the insurance profit of one man. After all, if you were Silverstein buy the WTC complex wouldn’t YOU want to know if your multi-billion dollar investment was full of asbestos that would cost more to remove than the buildings were worth? Sure you would. And you can bet he knew about it, too. I think that WTC really stands for “Wow Tremendous Cash.”
It was the most efficient bang-for-the-buck ever pulled off in history:
* Silverstein walks away with the full policy payment thanks to his lawsuits
* Two big asbestos headaches are gone, with taxpayers flipping the tab to remove all the debris and ship it to China.
* New Draconian-style laws enacted to further the goals and megalomania of the “American Empire.”
The 2001 date is dragged out time after time and another veiled threat issued by the Decider whenever anyone on Capitol Hill even starts to question a new draconian law or any appointment of a bosom-buddy to any office. And then the Decider gets his way yet again. You can be sure that we’ll hear about 2001 several times on 1/28/08, when the Decider is supposed to decide to give his State of the Union speech. Yet another waste of air time, for it will say nothing. He’s intent on destroying the Union purposely, but you can bet he won’t talk about that on January 28th.
Think things will be better in 2009? Don’t count on it. If the Decider has his way there won’t be an election in November 2008. Elections will be suspended because the Decider and his cronies will make sure all hell breaks loose just before November. And $375 million dollars worth of Haliburton POW camps will finally be open for business. I wonder if the first prisoners in each camp will get a bottle of champaign to share, just before the torture sessions begin? Perhaps the silent knights who work in the Pentagon will finally have had their fill of this clown. Or are they already trembling in fear of the Decider?
I have to go now. There are some men outside in black uniforms holding machine guns and wielding a battering ram. They are knocking on the door quite loudly using their toy. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to camp I go
f history has taught us nothing else through the centuries it should have taught us that the best forecasters of the future are the events which transpired in the past. Sometimes the past does not have to be that far removed from the present to give us an accurate glimpse of the future. Sometimes what happened yesterday, or last year will give us an inkling what’s going to happen tomorrow, next week or next year. And, sometimes we have to look back to the birth of our nation to more clearly see its demise. In 1797 Federalist John Adams, America’s second president, pushed his super-majority Federalist Congress to enact a series of very repressive and very unconstitutional laws. Two of the laws targeted America’s ally in the Revoluttionary War. The first law was The Aliens and Sedition Act which made it a crime for resident aliens to ridicule the President. When the law was debated, its proponents, advocates of a stronger central government that did not answer to the States, declared the law was specifically and singularly crafted to protect the Executive and Legislative Branch from alien meddlers in American politics.
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