Thursday November 22, 2007, 5:59 am



HERE COME THE THOUGHT POLICE

By Ralph E. Shaffer and R. William Robinson
November 19, 2007


With overwhelming bipartisan support, Rep. Jane Harman's "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act" passed the House 404-6 late last month and now rests in Sen. Joe Lieberman's Homeland Security Committee. Swift Senate passage appears certain.

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.

Ms. Harman, a California Democrat, thinks it likely that the United States will face a native brand of terrorism in the immediate future and offers a plan to deal with ideologically based violence.

But her plan is a greater danger to us than the threats she fears. Her bill tramples constitutional rights by creating a commission with sweeping investigative power and a mandate to propose laws prohibiting whatever the commission labels "homegrown terrorism."

The proposed commission is a menace through its power to hold hearings, take testimony and administer oaths, an authority granted to even individual members of the commission - little Joe McCarthys - who will tour the country to hold their own private hearings. An aura of authority will automatically accompany this congressionally authorized mandate to expose native terrorism.

Ms. Harman's proposal includes an absurd attack on the Internet, criticizing it for providing Americans with "access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda," and legalizes an insidious infiltration of targeted organizations. The misnamed "Center of Excellence," which would function after the commission is disbanded in 18 months, gives the semblance of intellectual research to what is otherwise the suppression of dissent.

While its purpose is to prevent terrorism, the bill doesn't criminalize any specific conduct or contain penalties. But the commission's findings will be cited by those who see a terrorist under every bed and who will demand enactment of criminal penalties that further restrict free speech and other civil liberties. Action contrary to the commission's findings will be interpreted as a sign of treason at worst or a lack of patriotism at the least.

While Ms. Harman denies that her proposal creates "thought police," it defines "homegrown terrorism" as "planned" or "threatened" use of force to coerce the government or the people in the promotion of "political or social objectives." That means that no force need actually have occurred as long as the government charges that the individual or group thought about doing it.

Any social or economic reform is fair game. Have a march of 100 or 100,000 people to demand a reform - amnesty for illegal immigrants or overturning Roe v. Wade - and someone can perceive that to be a use of force to intimidate the people, courts or government.

The bill defines "violent radicalization" as promoting an "extremist belief system." But American governments, state and national, have a long history of interpreting radical "belief systems" as inevitably leading to violence to facilitate change.

Examples of the resulting crackdowns on such protests include the conviction and execution of anarchists tied to Chicago's 1886 Haymarket Riot. Hearings conducted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for several decades during the Cold War and the solo hearings by a member of that committee's Senate counterpart, Joseph McCarthy, demonstrate the dangers inherent in Ms. Harman's legislation.

Ms. Harman denies that her bill is a threat to the First Amendment. It clearly states that no measure to prevent homegrown terrorism should violate "constitutional rights, civil rights or civil liberties."

But the present administration has demonstrated, in its response to criticism regarding torture, that it can't be trusted to honor those rights.

_______________________________________


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.

Thursday November 22, 2007, 6:02 am



WE MUST IMPEACHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



HERE AGAIN ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP BRING ABOUT IMPEACHMENT:



Please remind Congress to uphold it's Constitutional obligation to open an investigation against anyone (and everyone) who has truly committed crimes against their country, as the BushCON mobsters and monsters have done.

For more specific information on the Articles of Impeachment of President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, please visit:


http://www.bushisover.org/

http://www.impeachforpeace.org/

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

http://www.impeachforchange.org/

http://www.votetoimpeach.org/


These sites can help you to find your Congress member's contact information.

Please also sign both of the following "impeachment-seeking missile" petitions :0) as well:


You can sign the MoveOn (.org) petition at:

http://pol.moveon.org/subpoena/


You can also sign the ImpeachCheney (.org) petition at:

http://impeachcheney.org/petition.php


Criminals stand trial for their crimes. Period. (At least that is the case with most accused criminals, and should be the case with the Bush-Mobster/Monsters as well.)

Impeachment proceedings were begun against Richard Nixon two years after a landslide election victory—and he resigned to avoid being impeached and removed from office—for crimes far less incriminating, and in far fewer number (say a half dozen for Nixon, and probably over 1,000 for Bush), than the Bush Administration. In 1973, 50,000 telegrams to Congress forced them to begin impeachment hearings.

Please visit the foregoing sites to learn more specifically about the cases against them and how you can help make sure they don't dodge Justice. This is our country, and we can force the House to Impeach them with your help. It's time to re-learn what this country's ideals are based upon, take them back, and exercise them to the fullest extent of Constitutional law.

Send a request yourself:


Nancy Pelosi's fax #: 202-225-8259

John Conyer's fax #: 202-225-0072


Impeachment in 2007 - Our Constitutional Duty.


Thank you!



HERE ARE SOME ADDITIONAL ACTION STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO GET BUSH AND COMPANY IMPEACHED:


1. Go to your local Impeach For Peace meeting.

2. IMPEACH BUSH DIRECTLY. That's right, this is no online petition. It's actually a legal document demanding impeachment through a previously used, and little known procedure. Learn about it, then Impeach Bush yourself, and stop waiting for your legislatures.

3. Learn about actions steps and events a week before they occur.

4. Help us with daily expenses (printing, banners, web hosting, protest expenses, marketing, etc.). We are not-for-profit. 100% of funds go directly to efforts to Impeach Bush!

5. Sign "The Fifth Branch" Impeachment Pledge!

6. Convince those congress people of like mind to impeach/Censure.

a. Write/call/email U.S. congress people. Place them on your speed dial.

b. Contact House Judiciary to pressure them (http://judiciary.house.gov/Contact.aspx)

c. Sign petition to impeach bush (http://www.johnconyers.com/)

7. Urge your state legislatures to submit impeachable charges directly to the U.S. House of Representatives under Section 603 of the Manual of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. Learn more here: impeachbush.tv/impeach/statehow.html

8. Contact Bush (http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/)

9. The more people who conduct these activities, the more the likelihood we'll succeed. In an effort to motivate people towards these activities, we can:

a. Write/call/email friends

b. Call radio shows (MN show times/numbers)

c. Talk to everyone you meet about Bush

d. Contact other officials to ask for them to come out in support of Impeachment (MN Congress)

e. Contact famous people to ask for them to speak out for support of Impeachment.

f. Contact sympathetic student groups to do on campus work.(UofM)

g. Give a speech to your church

h. Attend organization's meetings and bring up Impeaching Bush as a partial solution to their issue (Homeless, Gay rights, feminist issues, Mental Illness support, Education, etc.)

i. Sit at a coffee shop with a sign on the back of your laptop that reads, "Impeach for Peace, Ask me how!"

j. Sing anti-establishment/anti-war songs at coffee shops, and in-between songs, push for impeachment

k. Signs on bridges

l. Signs at coffee shops

m. Signs on campuses

n. Signs on light poles

o. Leaflets on cars

p. Put impeachment posters in your windows/lawns (http://www.impeachbush.tv/downloads/impeach_poster_1.pdf)

q. Door hangers/Door-to-Door signatures on an initiative

r. Steer people to website where they can buy impeach bush bumper stickers/t-shirts (http://www.cafepress.com/impeachbush_tv) or (Impeach For Peace Stuff)

s. Make songs/animation/funny images/poems and put in on radio stations/websites/tv

t. Buy radio/billboard/newspaper/tv spots

u. Write your newspaper (Minneapolis Star Tribune, letter to editor)

v. Protests

w. Sit-ins

x. Hold impeachment parties.

y. Make funny drama skit for protests

z. Dress up like dead Iraqis & U.S. Soldiers and drape ourselves over the federal building (inform the media prior)


"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." -- Bush, June 18, 2002


"War is Peace" -- Big Brother in George Orwell's book, "1984"


DROP BUSH, NOT BOMBS!!!!!


Thank you again!



FREEDOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!