[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: [usgp-dx] Land of the Free [cont.]

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>
>
>Hi:  One more instance of how the Bush Administration is fostering
>democracy in the United States.  Too bad Germany in the 30's didn't have
>this technology.
>     This appeared in Friday's edition of The Progressive Review.  Peace.
>Richard Walton, RI.
>
>FASCIST TOY OF THE WEEK
>http://64.207.156.228/
>
>DEFENSE TECH - There's a new Homeland Security Department push underway,
>to require immigrants in eight cities to wear Sopranos-style electronic
>ankle bracelets. "But the government's pilot project is putting monitors
>on aliens who have never been accused of a crime," NPR reports.
>
>So far, the Department of Homeland Security has put electronic monitors on
>more than 1,700 immigrants. Victor Cerda, director of Detention and
>Removal Operations at Homeland Security, says the anklets will help
>prevent tens of thousands of immigrants who are ordered to leave the
>country each year from "absconding" - going into hiding to avoid
>deportation.
>
>But critics say Cerda and other Homeland Security officials have
>exaggerated the extent of the problem. They point to a Justice Department
>study that put part of the blame on immigration officials, saying they'd
>failed to keep adequate records to track aliens.
>
>Despite the uncertain rationale, NPR notes, if the program is deemed a
>success, "Homeland Security might require every non-citizen who's applying
>to stay here to wear a [ankle] montior, at least for a while -- unless
>they're waiting in jail."
>
>"It's not just immigrants," the Washington Monthly observes, pointing to
>an article from a couple of weeks back in the Sacramento Bee:
>
>"Educators in a small Sutter County school district gathered electronic
>tracking devices from hundreds of elementary and junior high school
>children Wednesday morning, ending the controversial pilot program that
>raised concerns over Big Brother-type privacy violations. At a special
>meeting the night before, officials from locally based Incom Corp.
>announced that they were pulling out of an agreement with the Brittan
>School District near Yuba City that allowed them to test the devices on
>the students. The company markets the badges, which have a radio-frequency
>antenna that is scanned when students pass through specially outfitted
>doorways, as a tool for taking attendance and monitoring students'
>locations.
>
>
>	"The only way out of our crisis (terrorism) is to reduce the 
>anger of the
>most rational, thus also reducing the constituency of the least rational."
>Sam Smith.
>
>	"When they come for the innocent without crossing over
>your body, cursed be your religion and your life."  Anon.  But often
>quoted by Dorothy Day.
>--
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>"Richard Walton" <richard at soup.org>
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>Natlcomaffairs mailing list
>To send a message to the list, write to:
>Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org
>To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to:
>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs
>
>You must know your password to do this.
>
>If you can't figure out how to
>unsubscribe, as a last resort only,
>send a message OFF LIST to
>steveh at wagreens.us
>
>If your state delegation changes, please see:
>http://gp.org/committees/cc/documents/delegate_change.html
>
>For other information about the Coordinating Committee, see:
>http://gp.org/committees/cc/


-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand