23 September, 2008
In Case You Weren't Quite Sure
We live in a fascist police state. (Article quoted text in italics.)
The Bush administration has overturned a 22-year-old policy and now allows customs agents to seize, read and copy documents from travelers at airports and borders without suspicion of wrongdoing, civil rights lawyers in San Francisco said Tuesday in releasing records obtained in a lawsuit.
Oh hang on, it gets BETTER:
"The records also indicate that the government gives customs agents unlimited authority to question travelers about their religious beliefs and political opinions," according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Asian Law Caucus.
So don't even think of coming into the United States and expecting your civil liberties to come through customs unscathed if you look anything OTHER than a White Christian or if you've traveled to a country full of ZOMG!!!1!@!! Brown Heathens!
These sweet little fascist policies were first enacted by (big surprise!) the Reagan administration in 1986 after US citizens complained of being subjected to search and seizure when they returned from Nicaragua. Yet even the original Reagan-era policies (and the revised version from the Clinton administration in 2000) required customs agents to have reasonable grounds for suspicion before seizing and reviewing documents.
For more than 20 years, the government implicitly recognized that reading and copying the letters, diaries, and personal papers of travelers without reason would chill Americans' right to free speech and free expression," (Asian Law Caucus Attorney Shirin) Sinnar said. "But now customs officials can probe into the thoughts and lives of ordinary travelers without any suspicion at all.
You know, I like to try to be helpful whenever I can. So if US Customs (and, by extension, the Bush regime) didn't get the earlier memo (or it got misfiled) and they really want to probe MY thoughts, this one's for them:
Labels: in the news, ITMFA, JesusBloodyChrist, politics
~~ victoria on 8:24 PM ~~ 0 comments
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