US to Monitor All Travel, Detain at Will (WaPo)

this story in tomorrow's wapo gives me the shivers.

If you recall, in the name of "national security" we got the patriot act, something that gave the government unprecedented powers to spy on and detain citizens of the united states.  Meanwhile, nothing was actually done as far as improving security at our nuke plants, chemical plants, cargo terminals, railways, etc., and the feds won't reveal what information they have gathered even in statistical aggregate, even to the Congress which is supposed to provide oversight.

Now, the government, in the name of "fighting epidemics" wants to track the comings and goings of every single US citizen traveling....  more below the break.

Now, the government, in the name of "fighting epidemics" wants to track the comings and goings of every single US citizen traveling (remember they tried this after 9/11 and the backlash was so great), so now they're using the bird flu scare.  Of course, they also want to track the health of everyone who is coming and going.  Oh, and the authorities have broad power to detain anyone and quarantine anyone if there is any question that they may be carrying any sort of disease or are the victim of a bioterror attack.

There is, of course, ample opportunities for appeal if you are detained.  Of course, it would be too simple for someone to be grabbed off a plane for exhibiting symptoms of a disease, taken to a "government quarantine center" for "treatment" where they then died mysteriously from this "bioterror attack" and the body had to be cremated to kill the pathogen.  

And to think that this can be passed as a government regulation without any approval from congress (not that they would have trouble getting it).

What is the freeest country in the world?  Is there any place where you can practice your religion in peace, where men and women are treated as equals, where gays have rights, where every citizen has health care, and where the tax rates are reasonable so that people who work hard can accumulate wealth (I have no problem with wealth accumulation so long as the working poor have health coverage, food, medicine, and a place to live so that they aren't so poor).  Say a 50% tax rate maybe?

-Fred

•  Tips? Am I nuts?

  This sounds just like the travel system that Poindexter wanted to put in place, but now they are using "bioterror" and "bird flu epidemic" as the excuse instead of "national security" and "9/11."  This government just wants to know everything its citizens are doing.  Why?  We are getting closer and closer to 1984.

  Could the government get away with this stuff in Canada?  Finland?  Where on this planet are people truly free?

  -Fred
  

  by FredFred on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:01:31 PM PDT

  •  no you are not nuts

    I have no idea where you can be free anymore.

    by hiley on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:38:32 PM PDT

  •  Not nuts at all, when Negroponte is in charge

    When John Negroponte was made the Intelligence Czar, you just knew this kind of stuff was coming down the pike.

    I'm thinking of taking my software skills to Canada. Or somewhere with warm surf, south of California. This is just the beginning, they will keep putting things out bit by bit, until the spider's web is there and most people never even saw it coming.

    by bewert on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 09:12:45 PM PDT

•  Cripes

  I saw this too and it sent up red flags all over the place. Thanks for the diary.

  by Pompatus on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:11:55 PM PDT

•  Seal the border ...

  If they are so worried about the Avian flu, why don't they just seal the border? Why don't they stop allowing flights into the country from infected areas? Why don't they stop allowing people from potentially infected areas from entering the country? Let everyone in the United States know that if they travel to Southeast Asia, they run the risk of later being quarantined. This would seem more reasonable than tracking every single American who decides to travel.

  by politizine2 on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:41:11 PM PDT

  •  Let me leave first

    I'll be going to Mexico on Thursday, so if you're in favor of sealing the border, let me get the hell out of this fascist hellhole piece of shit country first.

    by theboz on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 08:09:33 PM PDT

•  And these measures

  are in response to a disease that does not yet exist. There have not been any cases to date of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza.

  by fern on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:44:32 PM PDT

•  blood tests?

  The tests necessary to prove or disprove a health condition, would also show any illegal drugs in your system.  What then?  Scary stuff.

  by spiceagony on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:46:09 PM PDT

•  The agency will accept public comment for 60 days

  From the article

  "The agency will accept public comment for 60 days before issuing a final regulation."

  We had start sending comments.

  by hiley on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:49:25 PM PDT

  •   left out a word please excuse

    "better"

    by hiley on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 07:51:47 PM PDT

•  So If I Have a Cold--

  I get thrown in the tank with people with flu and TB.

  No worries--you can appeal your death to God.
  

  by Gooserock on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 08:17:17 PM PDT

•  Curious.... what happened to the Katrina

  refugees put into those rather remote camps in places like Arkansas and Oklahoma?

  There were diaries on this a while back but nothing since?

  A conspicuous silence on dead and missing - as well as the very real crimes that were first sensationalized and then dismissed as fabrications.....

  We're well into 1984

  by xrepub on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 08:19:43 PM PDT

  •  The Diaries Are Still Coming...

    ...but scroll off pretty quickly.  It's been a whole three months now, right?  < /snark>

    For some excellent diaries, you might want to check out:

    DianeL's series "The Missing and The Dead," which is a compliation of many people's posts (Full Disclosure: including mine).

    blksista is also posting a steady series of diaries about NO.  Some really scary and in-depth stuff.  Definitly worth a read.

    by redtravelmaster on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 09:03:16 PM PDT

•  Scary as shit!

  When we take over the House this law will have to be re-visited with a lot more common sense this time.

  Let's start at ports and nuclear facilities instead of leaving them as an afterthought.

  by CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 08:43:50 PM PDT

  •  Depends on whether it Exec or Congress

    If it's an Executive Order, the House and Senate don't really have a say.

    It's just one more thing in a long line of actions by BushCo bringing as much power into the Executive Branch of our government as they possibly can. The Judicial and the Legislative get short shrift.

    by bewert on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 09:19:08 PM PDT

    •  Nothing new, though

      Arthur Schlesinger Jr's 1973 "The Imperial Presidency" details how the US Chief Executive had become somewhat of an elected emperor, even back THEN.

      Presidents have been amassing this power for a very long time, and the power structure has become increasingly imbalanced.

      Executive power is now so completely secured that the players behind this president have begun to use it brazenly, madly... with no appreciable "checks"!
      

      by Prognosticator on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 10:07:59 PM PDT

      •  Exactly

        And they are succeeding with the help of their Judicial appointments and at times the Legislative (i.e. laws such as the Patriot Act)

        by bewert on Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 08:16:44 AM PDT

•  the question I've got is

  do these regulations only take effect on declaration of a national emergency based on a pandemic or do they apply to anyone all the time?

  Since there's a woman up on Federal charges for refusing to show ID to a rent-a-cop on a bus without the slightest pretense of probable cause, questions are in order.

  by alizard on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 11:14:10 PM PDT