Two Quick Ones Before the Weekend: Patriot Act Explained and Iran, Well, Iran’s Fucked
1st, in case you were wondering exactly why you should give a fuck about the Patriot Act I vilified below, here’s why:
This is probably a good time to remind people what Section 215 gives the government the power to do:
* Order any person or entity to turn over “any tangible things,” so long as the FBI specifies that the order is part of an authorized terrorism or intelligence investigation.
* Obtain personal data, including medical records, without any specific facts connecting those records to a foreign terrorist.
* Prohibit doctors and insurance companies from disclosing to their patients that their medical records have been seized by the government.
* Obtain library and book store records, including lists of books checked out, without any specific facts connecting the records to a foreign agent or terrorist.
* Obtain private financial records without a court order, and without notification to the person involved.
* Conduct intelligence investigations of both United States citizens and permanent residents without probable cause, or even reasonable grounds to believe that they are engaged in criminal activity or are agents of a foreign power.
* Investigate U.S. citizens based in part on their exercise of their First Amendment rights, and non-citizens based solely on their exercise of those rights. (Naturally, decisions about what constitutes “in part” are left to a secret court, meeting secretly.)
ed. Oops. Delete! Delete!
* Those served with Section 215 orders are prohibited from disclosing that fact to anyone — even their attorney. (This provision was struck down by a U.S. district court last year.)
Section 213 of PATRIOT, meanwhile, allows federal agents to:* Conduct secret “sneak and peek” searches of your home.
* Enter your home or office and seize items for an indefinite period of time, without informing you that a warrant has been issued.
And Section 216 lets the feds:
* Seize records that could show the subject lines of your e-mails and the details pf your Web surfing habits.
Keep in mind that the majority of activities listed here no longer need a court order or even probable cause.
Now, this just in:
The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing–that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack–but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.
As the original poster points out, we’ve no idea of the veracity of this, but, in the poster’s words, shouldn’t we, oh, I don’t know, find out whether or not we plan on nuking Iran any time soon?
Two posts in one day. I shouldda saved this for tomorrow, but, well, screw it; I’m pissed off today.
