Unfathomed Dangers in PATRIOT Act Reauthorization

By Paul Craig Roberts

A provision in the “PATRIOT Act??? creates a new federal police force with the power to violate the Bill of Rights. You might think that this cannot be true, as you have not read about it in newspapers or heard it discussed by talking heads on TV.

Go to House Report 109-333 USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and check it out for yourself. Sec. 605 reads:

“There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the ‘United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.’???

This new federal police force is “subject to the supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security.???

The new police are empowered to “make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony.???

Here’s a mantra for you….

Pay Attention
ask questions
Speak Up
From – Question It Now

Here’s one from old TJ you probably have’nt heard before….

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government??? – Thomas Jefferson.

Quote of the week….

“Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.???

- Wendell Berry

By Karlfried Graf von Durckheim

“Only to the extent that man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him. In this lies the dignity of daring. Thus the aim of (spiritual) practice (meditation, prayer) is not to develop an attitude, which allows a man to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherein nothing can ever trouble him. On the contrary, practice should teach him to let himself be assaulted, perturbed, moved, insulted, broken and battered – that is to say it should enable him to dare to let go his futile hankering after harmony, surcease from pain and a comfortable life in order that he may discover in doing battle with the forces that oppose him that which rewards him beyond the world of opposites. The first necessity is that we should have the courage to face life, and to encounter all that is most perilous in the world. When this is possible, meditation itself becomes the means by which we accept and welcome the demons which arise from the unconsciousness- a process very different from the practice of concentration on some object as a protection against such forces. Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annihilation can our contact with Divine Being which is beyond annihilation become firm and stable.???

This first part is an excerpt from: “How To Be a Poet??? by Wendell Berry from Given: New Poems. © The second part is from moi!

“There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.???

I love this thought.
I want to live this thought.
I want to be this thought.
Indeed, I am that, but
Like most, I too easily forget.
When I forget, I may too easily desecrate
that which is sacred.
Then I will require forgiveness.
Which is the sacred thing to do.

I know it’s nine days since the New Year but I’ve been reading others posts about their New Years resolutions and I recall someone asking me if I had any of my own this year. After a brief reflection I said, no….I’ve decided to deliberately not make any specific resolutions for the new year. Instead, I said that rather than state specific goals which tend to go by the wayside all too quickly, I prefer to set my intention (heart) on moving toward the best I can imagine for life…as a way of living on a daily basis.To have before me, not a goal, but a way of seeing, a way of being in the world and knowing that as a result, whatever happens, it will be good.
Lest you think that a little too pollyana-ish, know that I am quite aware of the problem of evil in the world and that, yes, bad things do happen. But I also know that good and evil are two sides of the same coin in our dualistic universe. (We don’t know light apart from the dark, or good without bad and so on with all the seeming opposites in this worlds normal apparent reality.)
The deal is I can’t avoid the evil should it come my way and thus must face what is with equanimity and peace since the alternative is to create stress and other unwanted side-effects. (You can run {stress} but you cannot hide). I find it easier to ‘be with’ the pain, or whatever, in full awareness and acceptance and then go and take some ibuprofen. Facing the reality of what is does not mean taking no appropriate action when necessary.
Yes, I know. I get side-tracked easily. Try ’setting your heart’ (intentionality) toward the best you can imagine for your life this year and let’s see what happens!
Happy New Year