> From: Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > From: "The Fool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > 1984 doesn't just spring fully formed from the head of president bush. > > It comes in gradually, boiling the frog one degree at a time. This is > > just one step of many. > > Why use fiction, when we have reality? There are plenty of examples of real > police states. The former East Germany, Cuba, North Korea, etc. Why don't > you examine how they were formed, what was required for their success, etc? > If you have, I'd be interested in seeing why you think that the US is > closer to East Germany now than, say, in 1960. Slippery slope arguments > don't really impress me.
This 'TIPS' plan is a complete 100% abridgment of the fourth amendment. U.S. agents, defacto, or non-defacto (mailmen etc.) will be performing searches on behalf of the government. There is no search warrant. There is no probable cause. There is no presumption of innocence. This empowers people to report other people that they may not like, because of race, religion, whatever. The government will keep track of this data indefinitely. How will somebody even know if they are being reported? How will they be able to petition the government for redress of grievances that they don't even know about? Some could be blacklisted for the rest of their life, and they may never learn about it. It all leads to a system where you always have to act like you are being watched, even if you aren't being watched, because the government (or perhaps the corporations the government relies on) could be watching you. An aside: 1984 is about capitalism and not communism. Animal Farm was about communism. > Again, that doesn't mean that I don't think that Ashcroft's ideas are all > good. I'm just impressed by how little we tampered with liberty in the > wake of September 11th. There were people across the political spectrum > that have helped ensure that the ...???
