Patriot Act Shmatriot act ... Hitler's Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling
Act)
I was doing a search about Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals and the Patriot
Act that stops law suits against this Pharmaceutical company for any
damages in their use of mercury in vaccinations when I found this
"nice" comparison of the Patriot Act to Hitler's Ermächtigungsgesetz
(Enabling Act).
anyway here is a "nice" look at the Patriot Act:
Everthing you need to know about how the USA Patriot Act...
This page contains the followign articles on The USA Patriot Act:
1) How the Patriot Act Compares to the Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act)
2) A 21st Century Comparison of The Enabling Act and The Patriot Act
3) Ten Key Dangers of the Patriot Act
4) Bill Moyer's NOW Comments on the Patriot Act
5) The USA Patriot Act, A Legal Analysis by Charles Doyle (link to PDA
document)
Also: Read Alex Jones' breakdown of the USA Patriot Act
http://infowars.com on the Rickie Lee Jones website CLICK HERE
1) How the Patriot Act Compares to Hitler's Ermächtigungsgesetz
(Enabling Act)
On March 23, 1933, the newly elected members of the Reichstag met in
the Kroll Opera House in Berlin to consider passing Hitler's
"Ermächtigungsgesetz". The "Enabling Act" was officially called the
'Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich.'
Opponents to the bill argued that if it was passed, it would end
democracy in Germany and establish a legal dictatorship of Adolf
Hitler. To soften resistance to the passing of the Enabling Act, the
Nazis secretly caused confusion in order to create an atmosphere in
which the law seem necessary to restore order.
On February 27, 1933, Nazis burned the Reichstag building, and a seat
of the German government, causing frenzy and outrage. They
successfully blamed the fire on the Communists, and claimed it marked
the beginning of a widespread terrorism and unrest threatening the
safety of the German "Homeland." On the day of the vote, Nazi storm
troopers gathered around the opera house chanting, "Full powers - or
else! We want the bill - or fire and murder!"
The Nazis used the opportunity to arrest 4,000 communists. Not only
did the Nazis use the incident as a propaganda against communists but
they also arrested additional 40,000 members of the opposition.
Consequently, the Nazis had achieved their objective of eliminating
democracy and ensuring their majority in the parliament.
After the fire on February 28, 1933, president Hindenburg and Hitler
invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which permitted the
suspension of civil liberties during national emergencies. Some
examples of this Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of
the People and State abrogated the following constitutional
protections: Freedom of the press, free expression of opinion,
individual property rights, right of assembly and association, right
to privacy of postal and electronic communications, states´ rights of
self-government, and protection against unlawful searches and seizures.
Before the vote, Hitler made a speech to the Reichstag in which he
pledged to use restraint. He also promised to end unemployment and
promote multilateral peace with France, Great Britain and the Soviet
Union.
In order to accomplish all this, Hitler said, he first needed the
Enabling Act. Since this act would alter the German constitution, a
two-thirds majority was necessary. Hitler needed 31 non-Nazi votes to
pass it. The Center Party provided these votes after Hitler made a
false promise to them. Four hundred and forty votes were registered
for the Enabling Act, while a mere 84 votes were opposed – the social
Democrats. In glory the Nazi Party stood to their feet and sang the
Nazi anthem, the Hörst Wessel song. The German Democratic party had
finally been eliminated, and Hitler's dream for Nazi command became
closer to reality.
The Enabling Act granted Hitler the power he craved and could use
without objection from the Reichstag. Shortly after the passing of The
Enabling Act all other political parties were dissolved. Trade unions
were liquidated and opposition clergy were arrested. The Nazi party
had, as Hitler said, become the state. By August 1934, Hitler became
commander-in-chief of the armed forces. This was in addition to being
President and Führer of the German Reich, to whom every individual in
the armed forces pledged unconditional obedience. The Reichstag was no
longer a place for debate, but rather a cheering squad in favor of
whatever Hitler might say.
2) A 21st Century Comparison of The Enabling Act and The Patriot Act
Last September, German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin pointed
out that George Bush is using Iraq to distract the American public
from his failed domestic policies. She capped her statement by
reminding her audience: "That's a popular method. Even Hitler did
that." What was lost in the reactions to Ms. Daeubler-Gmelin's
comments was that she wasn't comparing Bush to the Hitler of the late
1930s and early 1940s; but to the Hitler of the late 1920s and early
1930s.
Most Americans have forgotten that Hitler came to power legally. He
and the Nazi Party were elected democratically in a time of great
national turmoil and crisis. They themselves had done much to cause
the turmoil, of course, but that's what makes the Bush comparison so
compelling.
Similar to the Bush administration, the Nazis were funded and
ultimately ushered into power by wealthy industrialists looking for
government favors in the form of tax breaks, big subsidies, and laws
to weaken the rights of workers. When the Reichstag (Germany's
Parliament building) was set ablaze in 1933 (probably by Nazis), the
Nazis framed their political rivals for it. In the general panic that
followed, the German Parliament was purged of all left-wing
representatives who might be soft on communists and foreigners, and
the few who remained then VOTED to grant Chancellor Hitler dictatorial
powers. A long, hideous nightmare had begun.
History teaches us that it is shockingly easy to separate reasonable
and intelligent people from their rights. A legally elected leader and
party can easily manipulate national events to whip up fear, crucify
scapegoats, gag dissenters, and convince the masses that their
liberties must be suspended (temporarily, of course) in the name of
restoring order. Consider the following two statements, and see if you
can identify the authors.
Statement Number One: "The people can always be brought to the bidding
of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are
being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Statement Number Two: "To those who scare peace-loving people with
phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid
terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve."
The first statement is a quote from Hitler's right hand man, Hermann
Goering, explaining at his war crimes trial how easily he and his
fellow Nazis hijacked Germany's democratic government. The second
statement is a quote from Bush's right hand man, John Ashcroft,
defending the Patriot Act and explaining why dissent will no longer be
tolerated in the age of terrorism. If that doesn't send chills down
your spine, nothing will.
When the shooting started at Lexington Green in 1775, those calling
themselves patriots were the men and women who refused to yield their
rights to an increasingly oppressive government. Today, according to
John Ashcroft and his Patriot Act of 2001, a patriot is someone who
kneels down in fear, and hands over his or her rights to the
government in the name of fighting terrorism. Isn't the hypocrisy of
this all too obvious? The Bush administration wants us to fight in
Afghanistan, to fight in Iraq, and to fight wherever terrorists may be
hiding. And what, pray tell, are we fighting for? Well, according to
the White House, we're fighting for freedom. Yet freedom is exactly
what the White House is demanding that we now SURRENDER in the name of
fighting terrorism.
So what's really going on? Well, it's all a lie, of course. The Bush
administration isn't any more interested in protecting our freedom
from terrorists than Hitler was in protecting Germans from communists,
Jews, and all the other groups he scapegoated. The Bush administration
is fighting only to protect itself and its corporate sponsors. It
hides behind a veil of national security and behind non-stop war
headlines of its own creation. And behind that smokescreen, Bush, Inc.
is pursuing Hitler's old agenda from the 1920s and 1930s: serving the
interests of the corporate industrialists who brought it to power.
There is a name for governments that serve the interests of Big
Business at the expense of their own citizens: fascist. Here's a short
list of the rights we've already surrendered since the September 11
attacks. Most of these abuses are from a single piece of legislation
called the Patriot Act of 2001, which was rushed through Congress with
no debate in the aftermath of the attacks. Many of the Congressmen who
voted for it later admitted that they hadn't even read it at the time.
3) Ten Key Dangers of The Patriot Act
That Every American Should Know
No. 1: The government can conduct "sneak and peek" searches in which
agents enter your home or business and search your belongings without
informing you until long after.
No. 2: Government agents can force libraries and bookstores to hand
over the titles of books that you1ve purchased or borrowed and can
demand the identity of anyone who has purchased or borrowed certain
books. The government can also prosecute libraries and bookstores for
informing you that the search occurred or even for informing you that
an inquiry was made. According to ACLU staff attorney Jameel Jaffer,
such "searches could extend to doctors offices, banks and other
institutions which, like libraries, were previously off-limits under
the law." Chris Finan, President of the American Booksellers group
adds: "The refusal of the Justice Department to tell Congress how many
times it has used its powers is even more unsettling because it
naturally leads to the suspicion that it is using them a lot."
No. 3: Federal agents are authorized to use hidden devices to trace
the telephone calls or emails of people who are not even suspected of
a crime. The FBI is also permitted to use its Magic Lantern technology
to monitor everything you do on your computer--recording not just the
websites you visit but EVERY SINGLE KEYSTROKE as well.
No. 4: Government agents are permitted to arrest and detain
individuals "suspected" of terrorist activities and to hold them
INDEFINITELY, WITHOUTCHARGE, and WITHOUT an ATTORNEY. (That could be
you or me for sending or receiving this Email, by the way)
No. 5: Federal agents are permitted to conduct full investigations of
American citizens and permanent legal residents simply because they
have participated in activities protected by the First Amendment, such
as writing a letter to the editor or attending a peaceful rally.
No. 6: Law enforcement agents are permitted to listen in on
discussions between prisoners and their attorneys, thus denying them
their Constitutional right to confidential legal counsel.
No. 7: Terrorism suspects may be tried in secret military tribunals
where defendants have no right to a public trial, no right to trial by
jury, no right to confront the evidence, and no right to appeal to an
independent court. In short, the Constitution does not apply.
No. 8: The CIA is granted authority to spy on American citizens, a
power that has previously been denied to this international espionage
organization.
No. 9: In addition to the Patriot Act, the Bush administration has
given us Operations TIPS, a government program that encourages
citizens to spy on each other and to report their neighbors activities
to the authorities. It's EXACLTY the kind of thing for which we used
to fault East Germany and the Soviet Union, and for which we currently
fault Red China and North Korea. Fortunately, Operation TIPS (or
AmeriSnitch, as it's known to its many detractors) seems to have been
recalled to the factory--at least for now. (Incidentally, in a clever
variation of "two-can-play-at-that-game", Brad Templeton has set up a
website at http://www.all-the-other-names-were-taken.com/tipstips.html
where you can report people you suspect of being informants for
Operation TIPS. It's an interesting and amusing site, well worth a look.)
No. 10: In the wake of Operation TIPS came something even worse: Total
Information Awareness. TIA is a program of the Defense Department that
when fully operational will link commercial and government databases
so that the DOD can immediately put its finger on any piece of
information about you that it wants. New York Times columnist William
Safire writes: "Every purchase you make with a credit card, every
magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every
Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic
grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book
and every event you attend all these transactions and communications
will go into what the Defense Department describes as a virtual,
centralized grand database." And that's not all. Who did our president
appoint to head the TIA? Who gets to be Big Brother himself? Why it's
none other than John Poindexter, a man convicted in 1990 on five
counts of lying to Congress, destroying official documents, and
obstructing congressional inquiries into the Iran-contra affair.
Another Hermann Goering, if there ever was one.
4) BILL MOYERS' NOW COMMENTS On THE PATRIOT ACT
At the same time the Bush administration is probing into your private
life, it is shielding itself from all public scrutiny. It has shredded
the Freedom of Information Act; it has locked away presidential
records not only of the current administration but of administrations
going all the way back to Reagan as well; and it has even locked up
George W. Bush's gubernatorial records so that the people of Texas
can't see what he did to them while serving as their governor.
Not surprisingly, the Bush administration is also using anti-terror
legislation and executive orders to protect its corporate sponsors
from scrutiny and from prosecution. The drug company Eli Lilly, for
instance, was recently granted immunity from all cases brought against
it-–even those initiated long before the war on terrorism--related to
a vaccine it manufactured that turned out to cause autism in many
children. (Eli Lilly contributed over $3 million in the last two
election campaigns.) The Bush administration also protected the Bayer
Corporation1s patent on the antibiotic Cipro throughout the anthrax
scare, whereas other countries, such as Canada, broke that patent so
that other companies could make cheaper versions of the drug in case
of emergency.
It is interesting to note that during WWII Bayer was part of the I.G.
Farben conglomerate, the top financial contributor to the Nazi Party.
I.G. Farben produced petrol and rubber for the Nazi war machine and it
manufactured the Zyklon B gas that was used to exterminate millions of
Jews and other "enemies of the state." In exchange for these services,
the Nazis provided Farben (and Bayer) with lucrative government
contracts and with slave labor from concentration camps.
Under George W. Bush's kinder, gentler fascism, U.S. corporations are
now allowed to do business with the Homeland Security Department even
if they cheat the government out of vast amounts of tax revenues by
setting up offshore business fronts in the Caribbean Islands. It used
to be that tax-evaders were tracked down and punished. Now they're
rewarded with fat government contracts. Could the slave labor be far
behind?
If only this were the extent of the Bush administration's ramble down
the road to fascism. Way back in November of 2001, William Safire
accused the Bush administration of "seizing dictatorial power." Well,
Mr. Safire, you ain't seen nothing yet. Just when you thought it
couldn't get any worse, just when you thought we can't lose any more
of our liberties and still call ourselves a "free society," we learn
that the Bush administration wants to take away even more of our
rights. A secret document was just leaked out of John Ashcroft's
Justice Department and turned over to the Center for Public Integrity.
Titled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, this document
turns out to be a draft of new anti-terrorism legislation, a vastly
more muscular sequel to Patriot Act. If passed, it would grant the
executive branch sweeping new powers of domestic surveillance, and it
would eliminate most of the few remaining checks and balances that
protect us from tyranny.
It's the Patriot Act on steroids. Charles Lewis of the Center for
Public Integrity shared this document with Bill Moyers, who examined
it on NOW, his weekly PBS program. That episode aired Friday, February
7, yet even now no mainstream news broadcaster has picked up this
incredible story. Read the NOW transcript and see the document itself
online at http://www.pbs.org/now/. You can also read the Center for
Public Integrity's analysis of the document at
http://www.publicintegrity.org/.
Dr. David Cole, a Law professor at Georgetown University and author of
Terrorism and the Constitution assessed the document, saying, "I think
this is a quite radical proposal. It authorizes secret arrests. It
would give the Attorney General essentially unchecked authority to
deport anyone who he thought was a danger to our economic interests.
It would strip citizenship from people for lawful political associations."
"Secret arrests"? Did we hear that right? It seems that the Homeland
Security Department (HSD) is about to become the KGB. The first
Patriot Act already allows for people to be locked up indefinitely
without a lawyer and without being charged with a crime. If Patriot
Act II passes, then arrests would also be secret. That means that
dissenters (or anyone else, for that matter) could disappear without a
trace, just as they did in Nazi Germany, in Stalinist Russia, and in
Pinochet's Chile.
Patriot Act II would also grant even more immunity to Big Business. A
corporation could pour toxins into your local river, for instance, and
you wouldn't know about it until all the fish died and your neighbor's
kids were born with missing limbs. And then when you went to court and
demanded to know what
the company was dumping in your river, the company could deny you that
information on the grounds that it's a national security secret.
JimHightower put it this way: "All a company has to do to shield
anything it wants to keep from the public eye--say, an embarrassing
chemical spill--is give the documents to the Homeland Security
Department and call them "critical infrastructure information."
Ah, but there's even more to be concerned about here. The document was
created back in early January, but so far it appears that the only
members of Congress who even know of its existence are House Speaker
Dennis Hastert and Vice-president Dick Cheney. (The Vice-president
presides over the Senate, which makes him a member of the legislative
branch as well as the executive branch.) This raises a troubling
question: Why has the White House been sitting on this bill for a
month? If the CEOs down at Bush, Inc. really believe that they need
these broad new powers to protect us from terrorists, why not roll out
that bill and start the debate? The answer is all too plain. In all
likelihood, the Bush administration was planning to avoid debate
entirely by springing this bill on the American people in the midst of
a perceived national crisis. Perhaps during the war with Iraq, for
instance. Or perhaps in the aftermath of the next terrorist attack. Or
perhaps right after the Reichstag fire.
Had some courageous soul not leaked this document out of the Justice
Department, the White House might easily have succeeded in passing it
through Congress without debate in the midst of our next perceived
national crisis, much as it did with the first Patriot Act in the
aftermath of the September 11 attacks. A thorough debate of this bill
right now, under fairly stable circumstances, would defuse it and
prevent its passage even under more frightening circumstances later
on. There's just one problem. The debate can't begin until more
Americans know about this bill, but so far the Washington Post is the
only major news outlet to even MENTION this story since Bill Moyers
broke it on Friday night.
Here's what you can do to help
First, forward this email to everyone you know. Second, send an email
to the Center for Public Integrity and to the producers of NOW
thanking them for breaking this story. Here's a sample message that
you can use or modify:
I am writing to express my heartfelt thanks and admiration to the
Center for Public Integrity, to Bill Moyers, to the producers of NOW,
and especially to the brave unnamed patriot who valued the Bill of
Rights over his or her own personal well-being and, at great personal
risk, leaked a draft of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003
out of the Justice Department.
Sincerely,(Your name, city, and state.)
Center for Public Integity: mailto:feedback@publicintegrity.org
http://www.publicintegrity.org
NOW with Bill Moyers: mailto:now@thirteen.org
http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/actpat.htm
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