From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Fri Nov 29 2002 - 23:14:05 MST
Greg Burch wrote:
> Amara:
>
> Another unfortunately very quick note, but I thought I would write one
> -- even if on the fly -- because I respect your opinions. I agree that
> some of the things you mention in your post are unfortunate, but I
> wonder if your point of view as an expatriate may have some bearing on
> your feelings. Remember, the press in general reports on extraordinary
> things, not ordinary things. It's just not newsworthy that tens of
> thousands of criminal cases have been processed in the last year in
> exactly the way such cases have been handled for decades.
>
> I see the workings of the justice system in the US every day from the
> inside and I haven't seen any sort of massive erosion of civil rights in
> the U.S. The tone of your post hints that you may think such a thing is
> happening. If there's an erosion, so far it is only at the extreme
> margins. Protecting liberty at the margins is, of course, very
> important, and the actions of the government in response to the
> terrorist actions of last year certainly bear watching. But rest
> assured that in 99.99999% of the cases, the normal workings of the
> criminal justice system grind on in their clanky, relatively inefficient
> way unchanged.
Do you consider the implementation of the "War on Drugs" to be
uncoercive of civil rights? Is giving the government the right
to come into my home without notice and without a warrant and
without post act notification not a violation of civil rights?
Not to reopen that old can of worms but do you consider the gun
laws in this country not a violation of 2nd ammendment rights?
Is the governments ability to search me and my property at any
time and to seize any such property as it wishes without
charging me or convicting me of any crime consistent with any
reasonable notion of civil rights? The normal criminal justice
system in this country is a mockery when we have more people in
jail per capita than in any other country and with most jurors
are nearly ordered to rubber stamp whatever the judge wishes. I
cannot believe that you consider even the normal situation in
this country, much less what is now allowed after 9/11 and the
Patriot Act to be a reasonable implementation of civil rights.
I don't see how you can see some of the clauses of the Patriot
Act as anything but a potentially large erosions of civil rights
- at least an erosion of guarantees of those rights.
>
> And please don't get the idea that some kind of "neighborhood committee"
> system has somehow been instituted in the U.S. It hasn't.
>
Now, it has simply been floated and pushed until sufficient push
back arose. I am sure we haven't seen the last of it.
> Finally, there's no question in my mind that the mainstream press in
> much of Europe is anti-American in a subtle way that pervades editorial
> policy and reporting. You may well be seeing a skewed depiction of life
> here.
>
I think this is a cheap shot that ignores much of the real mess
in our own backyard.
- samantha
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