Two Moran Forums on 'Patriot Act' Slated This Month

http://www.fcnp.com ^ | 9/8/03 | Falls Church News Press

[chambley1]

Two forums in Northern Virginia in September will focus on the USA Patriot Act and its dangerous implications for civil liberties.

• On Sunday, Sept. 14, Rep. Jim Moran will lead a list of spokespersons in a discussion of the act and its consequences at the Arlington County Library, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

The Arlington chapter of Amnesty International will host the forum. In addition to Moran, other spokespersons will be Kit Gage from the National Coalition Against Repressive Legislation, Sherifah Rafiq of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Jeanne Herrick-Stare from the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union. The event is free and refreshments will be served.

• On Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the City Council chambers in the City of Falls Church City Hall, 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, the Falls Church chapter of the League of Women Voters will host a forum on the topic at 7:30 p.m., entitled, "The Patriot Act: Protective or Destructive?"

The panel on that date will include Robert Weinberg, a law professor who teaches Criminal Procedure at the University of Virginia Law School and the George Washington University Law School. He also teaches a course on the Bill of Rights at the Arlington Institute in Retirement. He will be joined by Jim McGee, an investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner, formerly of the Washington Post and Miami Herald. He currently works for the Congressional Quarterly Homeland Security publication. The third panelist will be Leonard Bailey, senior counsel of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and past legal counsel for the Criminal Division's Terrorism and Violent Crime Unit.

The program is open to the public and a question-and-answer period will follow the panel discussion.

[jmc813]

Is the FReep in opposition or support of the PATRIOT Act?

[FiscalConserv]

I would assume opposition to at least some of the more unconstitutional sections.

[dirtboy]

Two Moran Forums on 'Patriot Act' Slated This Month [DC CHAPTER FREEP TIME!]

Are y'all aware of this one?

[Modernman]

The Patriot Act isn't really a big deal. All it does, at the end of the day, is give law-enforcement agencies the right to use the same tools (roving wire-taps, delayed-notification searches etc.) against terrorist subjects that law-enforcement has been using against organized crime for decades.

[sauropod]

Opposed.

[sauropod]

I can do the 23 Sept. one. Cannot do the Sunday 15 Sept. one.

[Ben Ficklin]

Were you elected to be the Free Republic's spokeman on this issue?

[dirtboy]

Were you elected to be the Free Republic's spokeman on this issue?

The poster initially called for a DC Chapter Freep. The DC Chapter has a core group of dedicated members who have earned the right to decide what the DC Chapter is going to support. Sauropod is one of those members. How many rallies and protests have YOU gone to?

[Ben Ficklin]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but the problem you run into is that all freepers may not support that. Once again, I ask, who decides what FR supports or doesn't support?

Personally, I agree with Judge Bork

[dirtboy]

Once again, I ask, who decides what FR supports or doesn't support?

The DC Chapter is its own entity. And any member of FR can go out and protest on their own.

[jpl]

Hopefully Moran can refrain from punching any little kids in the face.

[sauropod]

Were you?

[sauropod]

Precisely.

I guess we should be okey dokey with things like secret trials, evidence you never get to see, etc. etc....

/eyeroll

[sauropod]

I do NOT agree with those that want to accept the Patriot Act as a good thing!

Gubbermint has a propensity to grasp more and more control in our lives.

Just look at what they're doing at airports. Harassing Grandma, making her take off her shoes, and not daring to ethnically profile folks of middle eastern extraction.

[Ben Ficklin]

I never claimed to be the FR spokesman.

In your reply #6 you mention that you are opposed, and in reply # 7 you mention that you will be FR's spokesman on the 23rd.

[sauropod]

I never claimed to be the FR spokesman in post No. 7. (although maybe I should be). I stated my availability to attend the events and perhaps speak.

I have the right to speak about what I believe is right whether i have the official FR imprimatur or not.

BTW, you haven't answered dirtboy's question.

[Ben Ficklin]

No one is saying that you are not entitled to your opinions, but are your opinions the same as FR on the whole.

A similar situation would be Judge Bork saying that he speaks for the Federalist Society. Even though he is a very influential member of that org, he does not claim to be their spokesman.

[AppyPappy]

I don't think any of those things will come to pass against rank and file citizens. But we need the ability to go after foreign terrorists.

I'm of the opinion that anything Moran is fer, Im agin. But protesting Moran is like picking on the retarded kid. Too easy.

[AppyPappy]

The DC Chapter is a separate entity