Hatred is big business. Good essay.
You're crazy, though, Emile to think this is just a Judeo-Christian threat. This threatens every American citizen.
- Neil Young is a surprisingly weak-minded artist. If you listen to his songs it kind of makes sense he'd run for cover hoping to be protected by a trustworthy all-powerful government, now that he's rich and in his 50's. He writes great, wistful tunes, most approporate for the top of a mountain smoking a doobie with your girlfriend when you're 20 years old and no job.
- Non-citizens subject to deportation upon evidence of malfeasance - fine.
- Alleging terrorism for "appearance of intention" to influence policy by intimidation or coercion - that's over the top. To do so against non-citizens is bad enough. There's plenty of loopholes to snag citizens.
- The FBI can search citizen homes and businesses without a warrant and jail you if you talk about it: that's martial law.
- Trial and execution without judicial process is martial law. Doing so without evidence, or when 1/3 of the officers disagree, is bad law, martial or not. Martial law belongs on foreign battlefields, not on US soil. It belongs in a declared war, not by executive fiat.
- Prosecuting any hacker in the world for breaking any law: internet control is starting - just define specific foreign websites as illegal, and arrest the network admins and owners.
Any countries who don't extradite are eventually "brought to justice" ("uh oh, we heard there were some TERRORISTS right next to your sever farm, what a coincidence, we'll have to have a little incursion!"). Totalitarianism worldwide begins with control of the internet.
- "The Republicans, who rammed through the Patriot bill without even giving the House of Representatives a chance to read it first" - that's the only way something like this could have been passed.
All of the above wacky laws might be more benign if we could trust the government to be just, fair, open, and with full disclosure.
Anyone who believes we have a government like that better give up their doobies and listen to someone besides Neil Young. |
