[Vision2020] Patriot Act used vs. common crime

[Ted Moffett]

Dale et. al.

A very simple principle regarding the powers that should be accorded to 
government, which libertarians should like, is that any power extended to 
government will be abused, so the authority of the government over people 
should be as limited as possible.  This principle is the main argument I 
think against the death penalty, a power extended to the government that 
must rank as one of the most egregious when it is misused, which of course 
it is.  How people who rail against big government can approve of the death 
penalty amazes me.  But I'm off the subject a bit.

It seems the application of this principle to the Patriot Act, and Patriot 
Act II, would suggest too much power is being given to government.

That it is being abused is exactly what to expect.  No surprise.

Ted




>From: "Dale Courtney" <dmcourtn@moscow.com>
>To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Patriot Act used vs. common crime
>Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:12:24 -0700
>
>Patriot Act used vs. common crime
>By David B. Caruso
>THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>PHILADELPHIA - In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh
>powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and 
>prosecutors
>have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells 
>but
>on people charged with common crimes.
>
>The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA
>Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden
>overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers.
>
>Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism
>using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe
>bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car.
>
>A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a
>methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture 
>of
>chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to
>life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months.
>
>Prosecutor Jerry Wilson says he isn't abusing the law, which defines
>chemical weapons of mass destruction as "any substance that is designed or
>has the capability to cause death or serious injury" and contains toxic
>chemicals.
>
>Civil liberties and legal defense groups are bothered by the string of 
>cases
>and say the government soon will be routinely using harsh anti-terrorism
>laws against run-of-the-mill lawbreakers.
>
>"Within six months of passing the Patriot Act, the Justice Department was
>conducting seminars on how to stretch the new wiretapping provisions to
>extend them beyond terror cases," said Dan Dodson, a spokesman for the
>National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. "They say they want the
>Patriot Act to fight terrorism. Then, within six months, they are teaching
>their people how to use it on ordinary citizens."
>
>Prosecutors aren't apologizing.
>
>Attorney General John Ashcroft completed a 16-city tour last week defending
>the Patriot Act as key to preventing a second catastrophic terrorist 
>attack.
>Federal prosecutors have brought more than 250 criminal charges under the
>law, with more than 130 convictions or guilty pleas.
>
>The law, passed two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, erased
>many restrictions that had barred the government from spying on its
>citizens, granting agents new powers to use wiretaps, conduct electronic 
>and
>computer eavesdropping and access private financial data.
>
>Stefan Cassella, deputy chief for legal policy for the Justice Department's
>asset forfeiture and money laundering section, said that while the Patriot
>Act's primary focus was on terrorism, lawmakers were aware it contained
>provisions that had been on prosecutors' wish lists for years and would be
>used in a wide variety of cases.
>
>In one case prosecuted this year, investigators used a provision of the
>Patriot Act to recover $4.5 million from a group of telemarketers accused 
>of
>tricking elderly U.S. citizens into thinking they had won the Canadian
>lottery.
>
>Before the anti-terrorism act, U.S. officials would have had to use
>international treaties and appeal for help from foreign governments to
>retrieve the cash, deposited in banks in Jordan and Israel. Now, they 
>simply
>seized it from assets held by those banks in the United States.
>   _____
>
>Best,
>Dale
>----------
>Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
>realize it was your money to start with.

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