Librarian refuses to let FBI seize records withou a warrant

[dysfunction]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... computers/

I'm so proud this happened in my state. My city (Northampton, Massachusetts) has instructed our police not to comply with the PATRIOT Act as much as possible. I'm proud to live in such a liberal state, even though our governor (Mitt Romney) is quite conservative, the State Supreme Court and Congress seem pretty liberal, especially since it was MASSACHUSETTS, not California, that first legalized gay marriage, and when some tried to get an amendment to ban gay marriage passed, it was voted down, and every legislator who voted against the ban was re-elected.

[threefingeredguy]

Hooray, the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and given the opportunity, I would resist complying.

[Arcane WIzard]

Good to see some people aren't taken into throwing away their rights under the excuse of the great terrorist threat.

[kalan_vod]

Yeah that is great that they did that, but I wonder if they came back with a warrent?

[Patori]

Hmmm... I think I heard about this on Court TV or something...

[dysfunction]

Yes, they did come back with a warrant. In another discussion about this issue, someone was saying, 'Well, stupid liberals, people could have died because they held up the investigation for nine hours, what if their had really been a bomb?" But that's ridiculous, because if they think there is going to be a bomb, they just evacuate the building. The seizure of computers is only useful in catching the terrorist; and yes the terrorist could travel far in nine hours. But we cannot sacrifice the liberties of everyone just to catch a few criminals.

[DigiTan]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... computers/

I'm so proud this happened in my state. My city (Northampton, Massachusetts) has instructed our police not to comply with the PATRIOT Act as much as possible. I'm proud to live in such a liberal state, even though our governor (Mitt Romney) is quite conservative, the State Supreme Court and Congress seem pretty liberal, especially since it was MASSACHUSETTS, not California, that first legalized gay marriage, and when some tried to get an amendment to ban gay marriage passed, it was voted down, and every legislator who voted against the ban was re-elected.

Right on. But to the conservatives' credit, the outrage against the PA has gone bipartisian since 9/11. I was actually hoping this story would stir up a legal battle get the act pushed to the Supreme Court (it's had a good track record of getting shot down in District Court, and I don't think the Supreme Court will be any more forgiving). Plus, it's already been abused to cover crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism, and the government has admitted this unapologetically.

[tr1p1ea]

It would take some brass to stand up to the FBI i imagine. I guess that holding up the investigation might seem counter-productive to some ... but at the expense of privacy, its definately a tough one.

[Leumas]

That is a great thing to hear. The idea of a person who stands up for rights. Most of the time i have to listen to people ask "what do you have to hide" (both sides have used that in my experience) but I say, Its none of your business. The FBI are still police and need warrents!
Actually the part I liked, was from dysfunction

The seizure of computers is only useful in catching the terrorist; and yes the terrorist could travel far in nine hours. But we cannot sacrifice the liberties of everyone just to catch a few criminals.

You are right. This system was designed to let a guilty man go free rather than condem a inocent man.

sadly the Supreme court is an oligarchy and no matter what we do, or how important the case, they will do what they want. Thanks to some wonderful ideas, the Supreme Court has the right to pick which cases it wants to hear, and there is no "oversight" commities to check them on it. In fact the only check against the supreme court would be declared unconsitutional (even though it wouldn't be) and that would be for congress to pass a law forcing the supreme court to work under normal office hours (rather than this 3 month off period)

Ahh, if only more people would stand up for their rights, than again... we wouldn't have social security or welfare if that was the case. *indentured servetude*

[dysfunction]

I'm not quite sure how social security or welfare are indentured servitude... I think both need massive reforms (for instance, the rich should pay massive amounts of taxes to support such programs). Bush's whole "personal account" idea makes absolutely no sense at all. Imagine that you have two people who each start one of these. A poor person who starts a personal account will never be able to put nearly as much money away as a middle-class person; but if the time comes when they need to pay medical bills or lose their job or something, they will need to pay just as much for food or bills as a person who was able to save much more in their personal account. Government tax-based programs, on the other hand, make more sense, because you pay out a percentage of your earnings, so poor people have to pay less into it, but everyone receives the same amount of help when they need it.

[DigiTan]

Saw this one on Fark today:

Specter introduces amendment to Patriot Act criminalizing political protest at "special events of national significance." Emilio Largo, Ernst Stavro Blofeld wring hands and cackle evilly

[kalan_vod]

Interesting article also.

[necro]

the gop is the ultimate hypocrite: "government shouldn't controll people...oh, unless they are a minority or dissenters in which case we should be nazistic, rule with an iron fist, and crush them under foot...but companies can be as horrible, unsafe, unregulated and oppresive as they want to be"

Republican is a party that favors restricting citicens from freedom but alowing occurances like enron

[Kerey]

I paid over $3500 in taxes today. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[tr1p1ea]

Holy what the??! How much do you earn a year? (Or were you fined or something?).