Dennis recently answered questions regarding his vote, and you can read all about it on indypendent.org.
"If you understand what his bill does, it really sets the stage for further criminalization of protest," Kucinich said. "This is the way our democracy little, by little, by little, is being stripped away from us. This bill, I believe, is a clear violation of the first amendment."Kucinich referred to the bill as the "thought crime bill," when he explained in a joking fashion that, "We have freedom of speech. Thoughts, sometimes, proceed speech. There is usually a unity in thought, word and deed."
The bill would create a National Commission, who would be charged with the task making legislative recommendations on how to prevent, disrupt and mitigate violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. Many activists, scholars and civil liberties experts are worried that in order to prevent an act of "homegrown terrorism," people who have radical or "extreme belief systems" would have to be monitored before a criminal act might occur. This, they surmise, would amount to unlawful surveillance of individuals who are critical to the Bush administration and those who hold power in the current economic and political system...Read More...
Amy Goodman spoke about this Bill on DemocracyNow.org, Part one is below, part two is here on youtube. Amy interviews Jessica Lee who wrote this column about the Bill for indypendent.org.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. The way to "disrupt a radical movement in the United States" is to throw the neocons out of our goverment - one way or another.
Captain Negative at 4:40PM on Dec 3rd 2007
2. CN... Us 'Neo-Cons' are considerably less radical than your new age liberals. As a matter of fact, the idea of throwing a certain group out of our government is a very radical idea. Before you describe to us your wet dreams take a second to realize how hypocritical that makes you.
Regardless, this does seem like the first step to us winding up like the people of Oceania, no rights, no freedom. Ignorance isn't strength.
Parker at 4:56PM on Dec 3rd 2007
3.
No, Parker. The "neocons" aren't really that many in number. They are
a small faction of the "conservative" side of the political spectrum.
There orignins date back to the 40's and 50's. Over the foliowing
decades, they took their places in government. They are the
Rumsfelds, Wolfowitz's, and Cheney's, to name a few. Their greatest success has been convincing real conservatives to follow them. The "neocons" are the people Dwight Eisenhower tried to warn us about.
You can read their offical manifesto. Google "PNAC"
Captain Negative at 5:18PM on Dec 3rd 2007
4. H R 1955, is the most incredibly huge bill do come through, Congress slammed it through, PIGS, 6 voted NAY, Congressman Kucinich of course, 2 more Dems, 3 Republicans. 22 NV, WTF 404 YEAS. The scum suspended the rules and passed as amended. In Senate twice, referred to Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
If you live in California in District 36, thank that b@@ch, Jane Harman, she was the original sponsor. Just as I will thank Patrick Murphy, PA[8],
for once again being a spineless parrot of Mdm. Speaker. To tell him I not only will never vote for him again, I will move out of his district, out of this country, and his district and the IRS can kiss my $$$$ byeee. WTF, Subcommittee on Courts, THE INTERNET and INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?
I am so ou of here, after I make sure the criminally insane that run this country are IMPEACHED and charged with HIGH CRIMES and MISDEMEANORS.
Thanks to Naomi Wolf for writing her newest novel. Finally proof of the 'List' many of us are on, since she was on it, people will stop thinking we are paranoid.
If everyone does not stop this insanity NOW, watch out for the ones with BROWN shirts, they will be able to kidnap your American ass, put you in a Black Cell and leave you there for 3 years.
You all better learn about The Posse Comitatus Act and how and what happens when suspended. Musharraf was a dry run, kiddies, Au Revoir.....Fascism who'd a thunk it?
oh well at 5:18PM on Dec 3rd 2007
5. This administration is a disgrace to the values of America. They brainwash the naive that they love America when in reality they loathe the freedoms that America allows all. They believe that only they should have rights while they trample and destroy ours. We must remove this monster from power as soon as possible. Bush and Cheney are criminals and should be punished as such.
Joh Petrowski at 7:02PM on Dec 3rd 2007
6. Then how would we "ALTER OR ABOLISH" as is in the Preamble to The Constitution?
How would we carry out "THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE" as is in Article 2 of The Bill of RIGHTS?
How would The People maintain a government of by and for THE PEOPLE?
When they become destructive to those ends required to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, how would we go about regaining our RIGHTS?
By force, of course.
Lon Horiuchi V at 7:55PM on Dec 3rd 2007
7. Dave, that incident with the golfer's plane was YEARS prior to 9-11. On the morning of 9-11, Big Dick Cheney was in the "situation room"
overseeing a NORAAD exercise dealing with a hijacking scenario. That scenario involved hijacked aircraft with the towers as a potential target.
Look to the testimony of Transportation Secretary, Minetta. Google 9-11 Minetta testimony.
I've seen your "argument" so many time. It is, "Big Dich & Bush would NEVER never be involved in anything sinister!" Your "side" is entirely lacking in the critical thinking department. Not an insult, simply a fact.
I've been an investigator for over a quarter of a century. I was as naive as you are until a peer challenged me to look at 9-11 as any competent investigator looks at a crime.
Of course, if YOU have evidence that 9-11 happened the way Dick & Bush say it did, you owe it to your country to get your evidence to the F.B.I. They don't seem to have any.
“The FBI has no hard evidence connecting Usama Bin Laden to
9/11.”
Rex Tomb
FBI spokesman
Chief of Investigative Publicity
June 5, 2006
Captain Negative at 8:33PM on Dec 3rd 2007
8. Sorry, wrong blog. Hey, it's flooding here.
Captain Negative at 8:41PM on Dec 3rd 2007
9. Captain Bullshit-you have told many a high story but the latest of you being an investigator for 25+ yrs.and and making yourself to be a James Bond of the USA, to be mentioned in the same breath with the FBI, this BS is one of your best.
If part of your investigation of 9/11 concludes a that explosives were used to bring down the Twin Towers in a Bush 9/11 plot,try looking at the Purdue Univ. study on 9/11. Purdue Univ did a Scientific Study and creatd a scientifically based animation of 9/11 attack, should be easy for you to follow, that proves scientifically that 2 planes caused the Twin Towers to come down, not looney land idea it was explosives.Study dated 6/12/07
Oh and what did the FBI say to you when you presented to them, as a good citizen should, the facts from your investigation of 9/11?
And you did not answer my last question. What are the Democrats afraid of that they do not want to debate and vote on a resolution to Impeach Cheney?
It took House Liberal Democrats and Republicans vote to keep that resolution from being tabled and open to debate and vote. So why did the House Democrat leadership send the Impeach Cheney resolution to committee to die?
ROBERT OKANE at 11:47PM on Dec 3rd 2007
10. Captain Bullshit-In your #1 comment, throw the neocons out of office, one way or the other. Do you mean "or the other" as to wanting to overthrow the government of the United States if the neocons are not voted out of office? Are you suggesting the possible violent overthrow of US Govt?
ROBERT OKANE at 11:51PM on Dec 3rd 2007
11. This bill reminds me of Hitler's rise to power, a little here a little there and the next thing you know you have a dictatorship. Whether George W. Bush, Rudolf Giuliani or Hillary Clinton were to seize absolute power would make little difference these days, since all but a few exceptions in both Houses of Congress support the same basic agenda as them, that being "PROFIT OVER PEOPLE" as the world's most quoted living author, the corporate media censored professor from MIT, Noam Chomsky has aptly named one of his scores of books.
It would be foolish to think they've written this bill for fun and that it passed the Democratic dominated House with flying colors though they've no desire to begin apprehending sensible people who oppose their unnecessary harm to the American people as well as innocent people elsewhere. If this bill wasn't made to attack the innocent it wouldn't have been needed now would it have? Please think about that, while remembering Hitler's admission, "What luck for the rulers that men do not think." Of course today we can include both men and women in granting the rulers their luck whilst taking it away from ourselves and our loved ones all to satisfy the gluttony and profound selfishness of a proportionate few.
Here's a link that portrays what's at stake here (see, http://www.newstarget.com/022308.html).
It seems to me the people had better elect someone sensible this time around who has a reasonable platform and has shown his or her commitment to fighting injustice, someone like the corporate media censored Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Gravel who as a former US Senator was the one with the courage to release The Pentagon Papers in the early 1970's and whose platform can be examined by going to http://gravel2008.us.
Videos of Mike Gravel are also available at http://majormediabypass.com, where excerpts of Mike's alternate debates were recorded in both Philadelphia and Las Vegas in close proximity to the MSNBC and CNN censored "Democratic" debates. Remember, the Democratic Party did not pull Mike Gravel from the aforementioned televised debates, people from big business who were not elected to public office did that. Of course the "Democratic Party" didn't have a word to say in opposition to the media blocking a candidate and his positions from the American people. Isn't that something?
Dr. Kenneth J. Hildebrandt -
http://majormediabypass.com
Dr. Kenneth J. Hildebrandt at 12:05AM on Dec 4th 2007
12. For once I think i'd have to agree with the nutcase from Oh!!!!!!! But him and all the other bleeding heart liberals always talk about our " rights ", but they are the first ones who want to take away our 2nd Amendment rights, which is the ultimate way we the people protect ourselves from " big brother "!!!!!!!!!!!!! The way to a revolution in this country is through the ballot box!!!!!! Vote every single incumbent, national, state, local, out of office and then maybe these assholes will finally get back in touch with the American people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
truckindude68 at 12:12AM on Dec 4th 2007
13. RE: "Here's a link that portrays what's at stake here (see, http://www.newstarget.com/022308.html)," as posted above, there is at least one mistake. The author claims Ron Paul is our way out of this mess. That's a common misunderstanding amongst Internet bloggers these days. Ron Paul voted for Bush's tax cuts half of which went to the top one percent of income earners. How come these same people don't say the same thing about Democrat Mike Gravel, since there's far more justification in stating same about the former US Senator from Alaska?
As I seem to repeat often, the world's most quoted living author the media censored professor from MIT has stated, we live in a society that's so highly indoctrinated that "....elementary truths are easily buried." Why is that statement still true at the height of the Information Age? Is there any excuse? Nearly anyone can find out easily enough if what I've stated about former Senator Gravel is correct or not, as they can easily check out his platform. Of course they should then compare his platform with his leading opposition, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
"The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed," stated Steve Biko who was murdered while in custody under the Apartheid regime. Why would anyone give her or his very mind to proven liars and withholders of truth within the corporate media?
Dr. Kenneth J. Hildebrandt -
http://majormediabypass.com
Dr. Kenneth J. Hildebrandt at 12:37AM on Dec 4th 2007
14. On the one hand, the bill is not my cup of tea. But on the other, the U.S. is facing a threat unlike any other.
In the past, the threats to U.S. security have come from foreign governements, such as Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union. Any threatening people inside the U.S. were either foreign nationals working as agents, i.e., spies, or U.S. citizens who became traitors, such as Aldrich Ames.
Now, we have foreign nationals from all over the world, and not just the Middle East or predominantly Muslim countries, who are here, either denouncing the U.S. or preaching a form of Islam that has no problem with killing non-Muslims, or even Muslims as collateral damage.
Look at Jose Padilla. He is of Hispanic descent and was raised Roman Catholic, yet he converted to a radical branch of Islam and was willing to harm Americans in the name of religion.
I once listened to a leader from a mosque give at talk at my church about Islam. Even though he had been a bridge designer for the state department of transportation for more than 20 years, he still felt that Americans should get rid of separation of church and state, and that part of the role of government is to enforce the tenants for the dominant religion.
He also felt that Israel was a terrorist state, and that the U.S. was wrong for giving aid to Israel. Never mind the fact that the U.S. has supported democracies and people wanting to establish democratic governments.
The problem with radical Islam is that it teaches followers to put their loyalty to the religion far ahead of any loyalty to their countries.
Now, what is exactly is a neo-con? I heard that a neo-con is a liberal who later on became a conservative. That describes Ronald Reagan. It also describes a number of my college friends who, because of the amount of taxes they paid as they got farther in their careers, decided that liberalism was hurting their ability to save for their children's college and their retirements.
Now, I would say there are religious conservatives, such as Pat Robertson and Sam Brownback, and there are philosophical conservatives, such as Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater, and Alan Greenspan.
Ronald Reagan started out as a philosophical conservative who was well received by religious conservatives.
But you certainly can't put Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney into the religious conservative wing of the GOP. Hell, they worked for Gerald Ford, a moderate.
Let's face it. Desparate times call for desparate measures. We aren't fighting a war where someone will wave a white flag and offer surrender terms.
Remember that FDR interned Americans of Japanese descent, because of the fear of espianoge and sabotage.
Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and had civilians tried by the military. Booth's co-conspirators were tried and sentanced to death by a military tribunal.
Kent at 11:32AM on Dec 21st 2007
15. Neocons are not about government. Neocons are about control. It is just the American version of fascism. This bill is an excellent example. A lot of thought went into creating this legislation. Neocons are well financed, connected to corporations and rich people with police state mentalities. This is about maximizing profits and reducing risks of violence to financial institutions, not the protection of the Republic or its citizens. It's time for the Republican Party to reign in its crypto-fascist wing (and for Democrats to control its crypto-communist wing) before they destroy the Constitutional basis of this country. Let's start by making sure this "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" is killed in committee, where it deserves to die a quick, painless death.
ironschultz
Chris Schultz at 2:21AM on Dec 4th 2007