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\ Closer Look
Patriot Act opens door to USA Gestapo
. October 26, 2001
resident Bushsigned
into law a new anti
terrorist bill dubbed the “USA
Patriot Act.” This new set of
laws greatly expands federal
law enforcement’s surveillance
and intelligence gathering ca
pabilities. Among the easing of
restrictions on wiretapping, e
mail reading, and individual
privacy invasions, federal au
thorities nowcan hold aperson
for seven days without charg
ingthem. Thislawisan overre
action to our threat condition;
it literally erases the bill of
rights, and it goes too far in
empowering the federal
government’s law enforcement
agencies. To see the potential
for abuse all one has to do is
takeashort strolldown memory
lane and recall the civil rights
abuses underJ. Edgar Hoover.
Under Hoover’sadministration
ofthe Federal Bureau of Inves
tigatiun literally thousands of
Americans had their civil liber
ties abused for no other reason
than they were perceived as a
“threat” to America by Hoover.
Richard Nixon abused his power
as president by having Army
intelligence, the CIA, FBI, and
IRSinvestigate his political en
emies. His abuses led to the
lawsthat now prohibit military
personnel from collectingintel
ligence on American citizens.
These protections have now
beenstrippedaway in thename
of “patriotism” and their per
ceived obstructions to federal
investigators. The first collat
eral victim of the September
11" attacksisour Bill of Rights.
It was only a matter of time
before the federal authorities
started blaming their lack of
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The £
l=piniong;,.
By Brad Owens {
warningandintelligence about
the attacks on the very consti
tution that we supposedly are
fighting this war to protect.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft lobbied hard to get
the USA Patriot Act passed
and caid after it was signed by
the president that “federal
agents would immediately be
gin exercising their new capa
bilities.” He also stated that
they were going to go after not
only terrorists but also those
who “harbor and support them
and their views.” That is a
really scary position for him to
take. How can you ascertain a
person’sloyalties or know what
their views or intentions are?
Dothe words “thought police”
mean anything to you? I am
sure that Ashcroft would con
sider many of my views as bad.
He is a far right, ultra conser-
Rescue consumers, rescue America
From page 8A
ing the brunt of the slow
down.
And then, boost the pur
chasing power of working
people — who as consumers
are the key to a thriving
economy — by providing a
vative and he makes no bones
about how he views the world.
He would force his religious
based political views on every
citizen if he could and now he
Just might be able to. Lets hope
that Ashcroft canbereinedinas
easily as he has been let out.
Remember, absolute power cor
rupts absolutely. That state
mentisoneoftruthandit should
be noted that throughout the
history of the world it has been
proven over and over again.
Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Kim Il
Sung, Pinochet, and Saddam
Hussein arejust a few examples
that come to mind when one
talks about absolute power and
abuse. These fellows allhad one
thing in common; they were in
complete control of the coun
tries where they ruled and they
abused their people. We must
not let this happen here.
lam a patriot and want every
Americantodotheir part towin
the war on terrorism. However,
Idonotsupport thetakingaway
of American civil liberties un
necessarily by our government
in the name of fighting terror.
We can win this war and main
tain our dignity as a free people
tax rebate to low wage work
ers, and, to lower their debt
burden, by allowing them to
deduct the interest on their
credit card bills from their
incometaxes, just as they used
to be able to do.
We should remember that
consumers fueled the economic
"
Dr. Cal Brice
~ Chiropractor
by standing together and not
allowing anyone to change our
way of life. Many people have
said that America has changed
forevcr after the attacks and
that we must give up some of
our freedoms; I say that is a
load of horse dung. After we
beat these terrorist bums our
country will be back to normal
in no time. Americans have al
ways bounced back to prewar
levels of self-indulgence and
comfort after victory over our
enemies has been achieved. Af
ter all isn’t that what we are
really fighting for? We want
our apple pie, free trips back to
the salad bar, cable TV with a
hundredchannels, and the abil
ity to have everything we eat
super-sized. If weallow the ter
rorist tofundamentally change
our way of life and give up our
freedoms then they have won
with their first round of at
tacks. Now more than ever we
must trust the government to
protect us but we also must be
vigilant so that the same gov
ernment doesn’t destroy the
American way of life while try
ing to protect it.
brad.owens@lycos.zom
recovery in the 19905. With
an economic stimulus pack
age aimed right at them,
they can come to the
economy’s rescue once
again.
Hugh B. Price is presi
dent of the National Urban
League.
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PUNCH 85
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COMMITTEE TO RE-ELECT HENRY BRIGHAM - ALVIN FORREST, CHAIRMAN
AUGUSTA FOCUS
SupportforDr. Larke
nrecent days, much hasbeen
written and discussed about
the Richmond County Board
of Education’s decision to
turn off the televisions on Sep
temberll,2ool. Some members
of the media would have the
public believe that this decision
was a censorship, an intrusion
on the constitutional rights of
our children, when in fact it was
ajustified protection of our chil
dren to terribly frightening
eventsthat rocked even themost
hardened adults of our society.
Often times, we forget how
fragile our children are and how
emotionally and psychologically
unprepared they are to handle
such events. Some schoolchil
dren are afraid to go outside,
fearful a plane will crash down
onthem. Othersareafraidto go
to school, afraid their building
will be the next target of these
terrorists.
We as adults often forget that
in a world of technology and
information, of unnecessarily
violent video games and movies,
our children are still children:
They must be protected and
shielded from horrificeventsthat
are not part of a video game or a
movie, but of real life.
So at 11:17 a.m. on Tuesday,
September 11, Dr. Larke made
the decision to protect the chil
dren in our schools. He in
structed teachers, via e-mail, to
turn off the television sets.
Teachers and children were
not forbidden to discuss the
events. They were simply in
structed to prevent the children
from seeing the gruesome im
agesofliveslost. Notjust scenes
of planes smashing into build
ings, but on some television sta
tions, scenes of people leaping to
NOVEMBER 1, 2001
their death from the windows
and rooftops of the burning
World Trade Centers.
Dr. Steven Marans, of Yale
University’s National Center
of Children Exposed to Vio
lence, told CNN that children
should have been censored
from the tragedy.
“I would agree that children
should not be exposed to unre
mittingcoverageoftheevents,”
Dr. Marans told CNN. “There
are, for example, younger chil
dren under age eight and per
hapsabit older where the expo
sureismoreoverwhelmingthan
informative.
“When children are watch
ing, of whatever age, it is most
beneficial when parents can
watch the news with them,”
Dr. Marans said.
And Dr. Larke was not alone
inmakingthedecision toturn
off the televisions; hundreds
of superintendents across the
nation, includingthosein New
York, California and here in
Georgia, made thesamechoice.
At a September 20 meeting
of the Board of Education,
board membersexpressedover
whelming support of the
superintendent’sdecision.
School Board Trustee Bar
bara Padgett called Dr. Larke’s
decision “the best decision for
our children including her five
grandchildren, who all attend
Richmond County schools.
“If you watched anything
this past week, all of the pro
fessionals are telling us that
we need to sit down with our
childrenand discuss what hap
pened,” Mrs. Padgett said.
By Jusiin T. Martin
RCOPS Dir. of Pub. Info.
9A