I'm sure most of you have seen this story by now. It attracted my attention on several levels.
In nostalgic but now seemingly irrecoverable years these fifteen column inches would probably be filled by more innocuous ditties such as "Tornado touches down in Nowhereville" but in these days of patriotic terrorist-hunting a story like this one is decidedly a more definite circulation booster.
A federal judge sentenced a man to a year in prison Monday for creating an anarchist Web site with links to sites on how to build bombs.
Presumably, the sites that contain information on how to actually build a bomb are immune to this prosecution. However, the story also contained another equally enigmatic fact.
Austin, 20, pleaded guilty in February to distributing information related to explosives.
Whoa! What is that? A cursory Google resulted in little help. Must be a federal statute since the man's conviction was handed down by a federal judge. Hmm. Although rich pure&simple isn't against catching terrorists, per se, this law now begins to take on a curiously familiar Machiavellian stench.
On November 25, 2002, President Bush signed new legislation that restricted the availability of explosives, strengthened licensing and permitting requirements, and aided in the fight against terrorism.
In case you're unfamiliar with these new laws, they're the same ones that brought into jeopardy the hobbies of many amateur rocketeers. (Hobbyists are somewhat exempt these days) but I think this set of laws and the one in question may be related (just a guess - go to the ATF website at your own risk*).
What is interesting though is that this law is so blatantly non-specific. If one observes a speed limit of 60 miles per hours, then clearly driving 61 is illegal. But what about this law?
Actor I: "Do you know when the July 4th fireworks show starts?"
Actor II: "Yeah, it's at 8:00 pm."
Is actor II a felon? It seems so. This law, as written, is ambiguous allowing its arbitrary application. Such is the case, it seems with an increasing number of this administration's decrees. These laws when used in combination could make for a very Orwellian landscape. I can be thrown into jail, without any rights, for any amount of time, for simply being labeled an enemy combatant of the U.S..
My attention was immediately focused on one guy, very close to me, who had a link on his website, "How to build an A-Bomb".
A smart guy once told me, "The truth doesn't matter. It's the perception of the truth that's important."
And yet another wise man once told me, "It's virtuous to fight for your beliefs. Only, pick your individual battles with care."
Both wise advice. And well observed. Still I can't help feeling like #6, Patrick McGoohan.
Be seeing you.
*The author does not link to .gov websites. There are simply too many bots and spiders out there right now in the given atmosphere as it were.
6:05:49 PM 
|
Welcome To The Club
