H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007

WOW. What exactly IS "violent radicalization"? The title of this entry is a link to the full text of this proposed Bill, which is currently sitting in the Senate awaiting some sneaky roll-call vote or other underhanded tactic. As the site www.govtrack.us points out:

The bill passed the House of Representatives by a 'roll call vote' conducted on October 23, 2007 under a 'rules suspension' subsequently noted by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) in a Speech to Congress on December 5, 2007

The bill itself tries to define "violent radicalization" with this paragraph:

(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

Lovely. Mind you, I don't want to see any violence of any kind, but could the wording here be more vague? "the process of adopting OR promoting an extremist belief system" it says... hmmmm.
Well, as you can see the sentence goes on to say "for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence..." Ok... How does one KNOW if a belief system is one of these "radical" ones that is leading up to violence? More importantly, WHO decides who is a "violent radical" and who is a good citizen?

This is truly scary stuff. We have laws to protect us in this country. They will suffice. We do NOT need an ongoing ever-lasting gob stopper of a witch hunt! This is nothing short of the Gestapo!

And yes I read the whole thing and saw that it said things like "shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents", but why in the name of Thomas Jefferson would I trust these lines to hold true when the Patriot Act has already been passed and IT takes care of that part of the deal pretty well. Pretty much eliminates any worries of that little snag getting in the way.

Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell yourself! There will be no rehearsal dance.

Oh and while you're at it, check out this adorable little story...

Department of Pre-Crime