New York City Passes resolution to Ban Patriot Act.

www.washingtonpost.com...

"The Patriot Act is really unpatriotic, it undermines our civil rights and civil liberties," said council member Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), the bill's sponsor. "We never give up our rights that's what makes us Americans."

The resolution criticized the Patriot Act for allowing infringements on privacy rights. Among other provisions, the Patriot Act allows investigators to see citizens' library records and eases requirements for search warrants. The council requested that Congress deliver periodic reports accounting for the information and records on New Yorkers the federal government has culled under the Patriot Act, but the measure has no means to enforce that request.

I find it interesting that New York City, The hardest hit from 9/11, passed this resolution. However, the resolution is really alot of bark with no way to bite.

Funny that this should come up because just the other day I saw on the news that NYC was trying to pass a law where alcohol would not be able to be served after 1 am. Being the paranoid that I am, I instantly thought that this might be a ploy to have less people on the streets after dark.

This is just another ridiculus idea. Remember the ban on smoking in resturants? Well I for one will not go to an expensive resturant when I can't relax with a drink and a cigarette.

My complete lack of Law knowledge shows it self here; can NYC even do that? I mean undermind federal law? Don't take it the wrong way, i'm agianst the patriot act, I was just wondering. The only thing I know about laws is to try and not break em. I thought the smoking is restaurants ban was dumb too. There goes alotta business. And no alchol after 1AM? They need to getta grip.

Originally posted by Jonna


This is just another ridiculus idea. Remember the ban on smoking in resturants? Well I for one will not go to an expensive resturant when I can't relax with a drink and a cigarette.

They passed the bill in Canada where you can't smoke in restaurants... That is the best thing that ever happened... No smoker can bestow any chemicals in my body, however since i've moved to the states, i've encountered many a times where i've had to move to another seat because I can't stand the smell of it.

I used to be a smoker, and I don't know what the hell I was thinking. It's dirty, it stinks, and I understand now why people get pissed off. NObody should be passing their discusting habits onto another human being.
Tim Horton's put up a glass area so that smoker's can sit in their own filth and kill themselves. And the other half of tim horton's was for no smokers. The smoker's don't care because they can sit and smoke inside still.


In canada, you have to have a smoking area with proper ventilation if people are to smoke inside.

******* It's not that bad as you think *********




[Edited on 9-2-2004 by TrueLies]

Originally posted by TrueLies
In canada, you have to have a smoking area with proper ventilation if people are to smoke inside.

See now that is a fine idea. My point though is that they always say that it will not/has not hurt business which is a complete lie.

[Edited on 9-2-2004 by Jonna]

Hey truelies, I respect your opinion, but the post was about NYC passing a resolution to ban the Patriot Act. Not what you think about smoking. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not attacking you or anything.

I'm pretty sure that states and citites can pass their own laws in contrast to federal law. In California, proposition 215 allows for the safe growth and distribution of cannabis for patients who have been diagnosed by a doctor with an illness that requires a perscription.

The federal government DOES NOT hold title to the land and in this way the federal government will have the sole responsibility of prosecuting you under their laws. The Patriot Act is a little more serious than Prop. 215, most people who break the federal law do not get prosecuted for anything, their products are merely confiscated (negatively affecting sick and dying patients, might I add). I'm pretty sure that since the feds do not hold title to the land, their juresdiction can be disputed and overturned. Unless they pick you up and take you to Guantanamo, in which case its "later buddy, have a good life."

where did my post go? testing..


Dammit, I just posted a nice reply for you all, and the freekin thing told me the page couldn't be viewed. I clicked the back button and my message was erased...


In a nut shell to reply to you all I was basically saying that this is bull$hit
and people can only be pushed around so much before they start pushing back.

[Edited on 9-2-2004 by TrueLies]

Originally posted by TrueLies
In a nut shell to reply to you all I was basically saying that this is bull$hit
and people can only be pushed around so much before they start pushing back.

You know what? I don't feel Patriotic, all it took for the Haitians to go crazy was an election disaster like the one we had in 2000. Except they riot and loot and pillage and form their own militias while we sit back and let the country go to # under a false president. What the hell is going on? Haitians are acting more American than Americans are acting like true Americans.

ahh I see Insite thanks. truelies i understand whatyou were saying. it's cool

The resolution is not a law, but a recommendation. It is a public declaration by the people of New York, saying "We think the Patriot Act is a danger to our rights as protected by the Constitution, and we will never give up our rights that's what makes us Americans." The FBI and Federal Government cannot force the police or citizens to do their work for them. While the the federal law technically trumps a local ordinance, the people within the county or state don't have to cooperate with the feds, they are just not allowed to hinder their investigations.

The most important aspect of New York's resolution though, is the fact that they were the one's who suffered most from the attacks, yet they are standing up and telling the government to back off!! Don't use our name to infringe on people's rights!! With 3 states and 246 municipalities and counties that have passed the same type of resolution, it is going to be more and more difficult for Congress and the President to ignore the voices of the people. It is also virtually impossible to intimidate that many people into submission, so unless they want to use military power to force recognition of their authority, they can't really do anything about it.

According to Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, the enumerated rights of the Congress are limited to,

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

and this is enforced by,

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Hopefully New York's action on this will inspire more and more cities and states to follow suit. The only way we, as a country, are going to retain our freedom, is if we start standing up for ourselves and show the government that we are not asleep anymore and we won't let them take advantage of us.