Think. Would you enjoy living in country where the House Un-American Activities Committee not just reformed but made a nationwide tour? Would you like to witness crackdowns of public dissent that include kangaroo trials, convictions, and even death sentences all occuring in places like New York or even Topeka Kansas?
What if you just thought of getting rid of this government and asked some friends to join you about protesting, possibly publishing your dissent and you are thrown in prison for you thoughts?
Give a big loud welcome to the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" passed in the House 404-6, which is now in Lieberman's Homeland Security Committee and awaiting swift passage by the Senate.
Wake the Hell up people! This bill if for you, whether you are a sweet little old lady working for Code Pink, or a working stiff who is thinking about forming a union. Yes, just thinking about it lands you in trouble with the law.Ralph Shaffer of the Baltimore Sun has his take:
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."
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Lets use the Thanksgiving table to inform those we love what is at stake.