SELECTED VIDEO ]
SELECTED AUDIO ]
From The Salt Lake Tribune September 15:
WASHINGTON -- When Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch says he will do everything in his power to grant President Bush's latest request to expand federal police authority beyond the Patriot Act, it dismays one of the nation's leading conservative strategists.Libertythink has exclusively published leaked draft copies of the VICTORY Act.
"That's like somebody saying they'll raise taxes indefinitely," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a board member of the National Rifle Association and American Conservative Union. "Why would he want to give the federal government indefinite power?"
[...]
Conservative commentators in Washington say the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee should stop handing the keys to constitutional protections to a Justice Department that wants as much power as possible to stop suspected terrorists yet won't divulge specifics on how that broad authority is being used to monitor law-abiding citizens.
"These federal prosecutors are like teenage boys on prom night who have one thing on their mind and they want more of it," said Norquist, who worked on the staff of the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Party Platform committees.
[...]
Hatch staffers [argue] the draft Victory Act [is] narrowly focused on combating "narco-terrorism," the financing of terrorists through illegal drug dealing.
[...]
But conservatives question why more drug laws and enforcement powers are needed.
[...]
"We are concerned not about Ashcroft, but about a possible subsequent attorney general, named by President Hillary Rodham Clinton, who might define as terrorists those of us who peacefully oppose government polices," Free Congress Foundation Chairman Paul Weyrich wrote last week after he and Lilienthal met with top officials of the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security about the act.
[...]
"I don't know whether Hatch is slower to see this than other Republicans, but the Butch Otter vote was a statement to the administration that Congress is not going to stand there like potted plants and accept everything they send over," Norquist said. "It's been two years since 9-11, and for the administration to still answer the public's questions about how these powers are being used with 'Just trust us' is insulting."
Send
| |The Antiterrorism Tools Enhancement Act of 2003 was introduced in the House on September 9, a day before President Bush, in a bit of Orwellian theater called for tools to fight terror and named administrative subpoenas as one of these powers. The "Antiterrorism Tools" bill would grant this power. Although it goes about amending the US Code in a different way, this is the same provision as Section 303 of the latest draft of the VICTORY Act exclusively published by Libertythink.
The other police-state measure in this realtively short bill provides for judge-shopping for "terrorism" search warrants. The VICTORY Act featured judge-shopping for wiretaps.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Tom Feeny (R-Fla.), who was Jeb Bush's running mate in his first race for governor in 1994 and became the Florida State House Speaker in the middle of the 2000 election saga.
Send
| |hits fevered pitch on 9/11 eve
Apparently, Ashcroft's pitiful PATRIOT PR blitz hasn't been enough, what with protestors surrounding every closed event and one even interrupting the Attorney General's fascist harangue asking when he and Cheney's terrorists would strike next.So President George W. Bush went to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia to deliver an address demanding that Congress pass into law police-state provisions such as those contained in the VICTORY Act. Bush hailed the USA PATRIOT Act and called for the executive branch to be able to use "administrative subpoenas" such as those called in the VICTORY Act. LibertyThink has exclusively published two drafts of the VICTORY Act.
Bush also yesterday called for the death penalty in terrorism crimes and the suspension of bail for terror suspects. Please recall how loose the definition of a 'terrorist' already is, and that plans exist to render it even broader, as per the leaked "PATRIOT II" aka Domestic Security Enhancement Act which leaked out in January and the VICTORY Act, which redefines most drug offenses as 'narco-terrorism' offenses.
Bush laced his call for greater police-state powers with allusions to ay-rabs who wanna kill us all! He inculcated young law enforcement recruits with a militaristic mentality, telling them they were serving in a war.
Then, just on cue, the Bush family's old business partner, or a computer-generated simulacrum of same, Osama bin Laden, appeared on Al-Jazeera and domestic cablenews television. (You may recall the last time this happened with audio, Sec. of State Powell accidentally testified before Congress as to this fact a number of hours before Al-Jazeera broadcast the tape.) Purportedly appearing on video for the first time in more than a year, nearly two, 'OBL' said scary terror stuff, threatening to bury Americans, blah blah blah.
Are you scared? Aren't you glad Herr Bush has told us what is necessary? Are you forgetting the protests at Ashcroft's totally staged PATRIOT road show?
Booga booga.
Send
| |Both drafts of the Victory Act obtained by LibertyThink list Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) as the author. When ABC News asked Hatch's office about the VICTORY Act, "Hatch spokeswoman Margarita Tapia declined to comment directly on the draft."
Why don't any Utahns reading this call their Senator's office and ask them about the VICTORY Act? And for that matter, why don't folks call the offices of these Senators listed as cosponsors?
- Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama)
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- South Carolina)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
- Sen. John Kyl (R-Arizona)
Just a thought.
Send
| |Police-State Bugaloo
LibertyThink has obtained
another draft of the planned police state legislation known as The VICTORY Act. LibertyThink had the scoop with an earlier draft of the of the Orwellian-titled monstrosity and we're here to do it again. This is the draft the Washington Post reported on but refused to share with the hoi polloi.A survey of contents and differences of this draft, dated July 30, as compared to the June 27 draft:
* TITLE I remains unchanged. This is the part that creates the new category of crime called "narco-terrorism," which contains such gems as such as enhanced sentences, up to life imprisonment, for all kinds of drug statute violations outside of simple possession for anyone "knowing or intending that such activity, directly or indirectly, aids or provides support, resources" to not only "foreign" terrorist organizations (i.e., the CIA's rivals in the hemispheric drug trade such as FARC) but any individual defined as a terrorist as per the PATRIOT Act.
*TITLE II: This grab-bag of assett forfeiture and other poilce state provisions has a number of differences.
SUBTITLE A; SECTION 201 - same. "Anti-Hawala" provision; very vague - convictions can be obtained based on whether a monetary transaction "is part of a set of parallel or dependent transactions, any one of which involves the proceeds of specified unlawful activity."
SEC. 202 - Same "traveling-with-cash" provision; basically provides for forfeiture and conviction if you're carrying too much cash. Virtually non-existent burden of proof on fedgov consists of "willful blindness" that defendant had towards source of money. Ties into "reverse money-laundering" as defined below.
SEC. 203 - unchanged. Allows DoJ to freeze all accounts of anyone charged with money-laundering.
SEC. 204 - new. Allows DoJ to freeze other property of anyone charged with money-laundering.
SEC. 205 - was 204. Administrative subpoenas (like a search warrant, but no judge involved) in money-laundering investigations.
SEC. 206 - was 205. Blank checks carried across borders considered to be worth full value of account.
SEC. 207 - was 206. Any account through which "tainted" money passes permanently subject to forfeiture.
SEC. 208 - was 207. Defines "reverse money-laundering" - i.e., carrying too much cash.
SEC. 209 - same. "Commingled funds" provision. Creates trap for honest people who take "dirty" money in otherwise legal transaction. No intent required.
SEC. 210 - same. "Course of conduct" provision for linking differnt money-laundering charges in same indictment.
SEC. 211 - same. Any foreign offense can be money-laundering predicate.
SEC. 212 - same. "Illegal money transmitting business." Extremely borad definiton, would encompass more than hawala.
SEC. 213 - was 214. Expands money-laundering predicates to such things as violations of Clean Air Act and other environmental laws (!!).
SUBTITLE B SEC. 221 - same. Expands forfeiture into "conspiracy" cases.
SEC. 222 - same. Gives fedgov two years to commence civil forfeiture proceedings instead of one.
SEC. 223, 225, 226. - same. Concerns restraint & forfeiture of "foreign crime" proceeds & extraterritorial jurisdiction.
SEC. 224 - same. Forfeiture of "third party" assets. Charges interest!
SEC. 227- same. Makes it harder to challenge forfeiture, requires foreign assets that "may be seized" to be transfered to US & fedfs before challenge can be made.
SEC. 228 - was 229. If you don't tell the IRS about $10,000+ transaction, the money can be seized.
SEC. 230 - was 231. More wiretap authority for feds re: "money-transmitting businesses."
SEC. 231 - was 232. Ignorance no excuse.
SEC. 232 - was 234. Sharing seized property with foreign governments.
SEC. 233 - was 237. Expands definition of "financial institutions" to include bail bondsmen.
SEC. 235 - was 241. More power for "magistrates' as opposed to full-fledged judges.
SEC. 237 - was 245. Expanded power for collection of asset forfeiture -- threat of additional incarceration, significant interest and financial penalties, and additional criminal charges.
SEC. 238 - was 248. Gives forfeiture powers to Homeland Secretary.
SEC. 251, 252 - same. Forfeiture of "facilitating property" and "intrumentalities" in narco-terrorism, terrorism, and fraud cases.
TITLE III - was TITLE V.
SEC. 301 "Narco-Terrorism" as predicate crime for wiretaps and bugs.
SEC. 302 Illegal wiretap evidence allowed when fegov claims it's "in good faith."
SEC. 303, 304 - Administrative subpoenas in "terrorism" and "fugitive" investigations. Provisions for making such subpoenas secret, removal of liability for firms that turn over consumer data in breach of privacy policy.
SEC. 305 - "Judge-shopping" for wiretaps, including magistrates.
And there you go. Removed from the earlier draft are Title II sections making it easier for prosecutors to seize tax records and attorney fees and other provisions regarding criminal and civil asset forfeiture, as well as the original Title III and Title IV regarding greater sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.
Send
| |From ABC News:
. . . ABCNEWS.com has obtained a draft of the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003, or VICTORY Act, which could be introduced to Congress this fall, and which appears to have been prepared by the office of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.LibertyThink was the first to post the draft of the VICTORY Act to the Internet.
The measure would give law enforcement increased subpoena powers and more leeway over wire-tap evidence and on classifying some drug offenses as terrorism.
[...]
Hatch spokeswoman Margarita Tapia declined to comment directly on the draft, which begins "Mr. Hatch … introduced the following bill," and is dated for the first session of the 108th Congress beginning next month. Tapia noted, "We are examining legislative options but we have not submitted anything for consideration."
Other members of the Senate judicial committee also declined to comment on the draft.
And a spokesman for the Justice Department, which came under fire from several members of Congress when drafts of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act — "Patriot II" — appeared earlier this year, said the agency was not involved in the Victory Act.
"It's not ours," a Justice Department official said. . .
Send
| |-------------------------
Draft text of VICTORY Act
Libertythink has obtained from Washington contacts a
draft copy of the "Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003," also known by the Orwellian sobriquet "VICTORY Act." Attorney General John Ashcroft is currently putting on a little road show to garner support for the bill, as well as for the USA PATRIOT Act, which had two of its more Draconian provisions targeted for defunding by the House of Representatives in late July.
(Though it does contain similar provisions, the VICTORY Act is not the same bill as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, popularly known as PATRIOT II, which was leaked in January.)
The draft obtained by Libertythink is dated June 27, and word in the Beltway is that the VICTORY Act is still being retooled over the August recess before it is introduced in the Senate. Although this may not be the final form of the act, Libertythink encourages its readers to study the bill and hit Ashcroft with hard questions when and if he comes to your town.
Measures in the 89-page draft include:
- Creation of a new category of crime called "Narco-terrorism."
- Radical expansion of asset forfeiture powers for the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
- Expansion of the definition of money-laundering to several kinds of transactions, including offshore banking as a means of tax evasion.
- Creation of a ludicrous new "crime" of "reverse money-laundering."
- Longer jail terms for a number of nonviolent drug and nondrug offenses.
- Expanded opportunities for judge-shopping in wiretap cases.
- Expansion of nonjudicial "administrative subpoenas" for "terrorism" investigations as broadly defined in the USA PATRIOT Act.
. . . and that's just a partial listing.
Send
| |FRONT PAGE
-- G.W. Bush
"The process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" (2000)
-- Project for a New American Century
"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order."
-- David Rockefeller
"Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death."
-- Adolf Hitler
