Liberty Maven

If you’ve ever wondered where our country is heading, just look at the UK.  They always seem to be a step or two ahead of us in the idiocy department.

According to the UK’s  Human Genetics Commission, a government advisory commission, police are routinely arresting people to add their DNA to the national database.

According to the commission,  over a million people who have not been convicted of any crime have been added to the database.

Read the full story here.

Three provisions of the PATRIOT ACT are due to expire at the end of this month. These provisions are . . .

1. Business Records: allows searches on your personal data without your knowledge if the FBI convinces a judge it is “relevant” to a terrorism investigation. The data could be computer-related, financial, medical, or even your library check-out history
2. Lone Wolf: allows the federal government to spy on a foreign person with no known ties to a foreign government or terrorist group — a power that’s never been used
3. Roving Wiretap: allows federal agents to intercept phone conversations without having to specify the person being investigated or which phone is being used

The House and Senate can’t seem to agree on reforming the Patriot Act. They might, however, agree on another temporary renewal of these provisions for 2-6 months.

We have a better idea. Use DownsizeDC.org’s “I am not afraid” campaign to tell Congress to just let these provisions expire.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .   Read More »

While conservatives like Glenn Beck bemoan the progressive “killing me softly” approach to transforming America into a socialist-fascist city state there are at least two other phenomena that are working toward that same end. Both of them come from the Right side of the aisle. All three together create  a blueprint for the demise of America as our Founders knew it.

The evil triumvirate killing machine aimed at America is made up of:

1. The progressive agenda.
2. Bipartisanship.
3. The so-called “war on terror”.

Ever since Obama’s inauguration we’ve all become hyper-aware of the progressive agenda thanks to commentators like Glenn Beck. The progressives don’t even want the Constitution to be a “god-damned piece of paper“. That would mean it actually exists to them. They’d much rather it never have existed. Sure, Obama is a “constitutional scholar”, but all the evidence suggests he only studied the constitution in order to figure out methods to betray it.

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

* The good news: 46 states were not in compliance with REAL ID by December 31, forcing DHS Secretary Napolitano to extend the deadline to May, 2011 – and there’s no sign the states have any intention of complying with it by then
* The bad news: the Senate could pass REAL ID’s equally-bad replacement, the PASS Act, this month

Please tell Congress to oppose the PASS Act and instead repeal the REAL ID Act with NO replacement.

You may copy or borrow from the following letter . . .   Read More »

Obama has now made some comments regarding the thwarted terrorist that hid a bomb in his underwear. Naturally, he’s rather misguided with his choice of words.

He said the following (from CNN):

“A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Obama said, adding that the breakdown was “a mix of human and systemic failure.”

What he’s describing are the symptoms of a disease called government.

Rather than look down upon the “systemic failure” why not consider what did work? Once again, individuals on the plane were successful in thwarting the attack. This has happened many times in the years following September 11th, private citizens acting in their own self-interest working together to fight terrorism.

When it comes to these terrorist attack attempts, for every government failure there is an individual (or group of individuals) success. The fact that these successes occur in an era when the government promises us protection, gives us a false sense of security, and then disarms our ability to defend/protect ourselves should be all the evidence we need. The best path to security is more individual freedom, not less.

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Let’s tell Congress to pass the House version, or pass nothing at all and let these provisions expire using our “I am not afraid” campaign. https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/77

Here are my personal comments which you may copy or borrow from . . .

Specifically, please allow the following provisions of the Patriot Act to sunset on December 31:

* The Records Provision
* The Roving Wiretaps Provision
* The Lone Wolf Provision

The evidence indicates that these provisions don’t even serve their supposed purpose:

* As Cato Research Fellow Julian Sanchez says, “the successful investigations since 9/11 — only a few of which actually involved ‘plots’ for attacks in the U.S. — appear to have depended a lot more on good human intelligence and informants in the community than broad new surveillance powers.” http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10705

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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Please tell Congress to repeal REAL ID and reject the PASS ID.

This is what I wrote in my letter . . .

REAL ID has proved to be unworkable and unwanted.

• 36 states will not be in compliance with REAL ID by the January 1 deadline
• Fifteen states have passed statutes prohibiting it, and another ten have passed resolutions denouncing it. http://realnightmare.org/news/105/

If REAL ID is not repealed,  Read More »

With the USA Patriot Act set to expire at the end of this year, and Congress mulling around even more nefarious replacements for it, it’s time to keep in mind the major items in it that make it evil (as compiled by the ACLU):

1. Search your home and not even tell you… by conducting secret “sneak and peek” searches of your home or office, without informing you that a warrant was issued.  (SECTION 213)
2. Collect information about what books you read, what you study, your purchases, your medical history and your personal finances … without probable cause.  (SECTION 215)
3. Label you a “terrorist” if you belong to an activist group … and the USA PATRIOT Act broadly expands the official definition of terrorism, so many domestic groups that engage in certain types of civil disobedience could very well find themselves labeled as terrorists.  (SECTIONS 411, 802)
4. Monitor your e-mails and watch what internet sites you visit … by monitoring Internet traffic and e-mail communications
   on any Internet service provider — *without* probable cause. (SECTION 216)
5. Take away your properly without even a notice or a hearing if the government merely says a person or organization has engaged in or is planning an act of “domestic terrorism.” The government could thus effectively bankrupt an organization with which it disagrees.  (SECTION 806)
6. Spy on innocent Americans by allowing a vast array of information on U.S. citizens to be collected and shared with the CIA (and other non-law enforcement officials) without proper judicial oversight or other safeguards.   (SECTIONS 203 AND 901)
7. Put immigrants in jail indefinitely.  The USA PATRIOT Act permits indefinite incarceration of immigrants and other non-citizens without the government having to show that they are, in fact, terrorists.  (SECTION 412)
8. Wiretap you under a warrant that doesn’t even have your name on it. Judges are required to approve a wiretap without even knowing who is to be wiretapped or where the wiretap is to be placed.  (SECTION 216)

Read more here and here.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Please send Congress a letter objecting to any further funding for REAL ID.

You can copy what I said in my letter to Congress . . .

I’m upset that Congress just appropriated $60 million for the REAL ID national identification scheme. I’ve asked you repeatedly to repeal REAL ID, and replace it with nothing. I’m repeating my request today.

I do not want a centralized national ID system. It lays the foundation for a police state, and will do little or nothing to improve security. Instead, it will subject me to increased risk of identity theft, and eventually entangle me in new Congressional schemes to do things like control my health care decisions.

I also object because the REAL ID Act was passed under false pretenses. It was rejected three times by the U.S. Senate, and was only enacted because it was added to a larger bill containing funding for disaster relief and Iraq. REAL ID never could have passed on its own merits, but now that we have it, we can’t seem to get rid of it. But you, as my representative, can do something about this . . .

Please introduce legislation to repeal REAL ID and replace it with nothing. I’m paying close attention to how you represent me.

END OF SAMPLE LETTER

You can send your letter to Congress here.

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