Understanding Your Liberty 101, Part II

We'll continue our examination of the Bill of Rights.

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Third Amendment is pretty much self-explanatory. In colonial days, soldiers were quarted in colonists homes without compensation. Now, Congress has to pass a law to make that legal.

Which brings us to the Fourth Amendment.

Take careful note: Your Right to be secure in your person, house, papers and effects agains unreasonable search and seizure SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED. What gives here? You have the right to demand that a Warrant to search your house be produced when the cops appear at your door.

When The Patriot Act was passed, actually, I believe it was the War on Drugs, the Fourth Amendment was set aside. In the name of "safety" or "national security", or some other blather, Citizens no longer have the protections of the Fourth Amendment from the State. Any police organization can now conduct searches and seizures of anyone's domicile or business, without having to show probable cause or the accompanying warrant.

Any law passed such as The Patriot Act is repugnant to the Constitution. It is totalitarian. I've read that The Patriot Act is remarkably similar to Nazi Germany's, Enabling Act of 1933.

Read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933
Article 1, § 9, clause 2, The Constitution for the united States:
"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

The Writ of Habeas Corpus has historically been an important instrument for safeguarding individual liberties against arbitrary state action. Essentially, Habeas Corpus was based upon the idea of, "producing the body." It was used to prevent the state from detaining a citizen without justification. A good example is this: in a country like Communist China, the state can throw you in jail without a warrant or conviction indefinitely and the citizen has no Writ of Habeas Corpus to protect him.

Along with the Fourth Amendment, the Writ of Habeas Corpus was suspended. I don't recall that we got any of that information from the "Free Press." But then; it isn't the media's job to keep us informed about what Congress, The Executive Branch and The Judicial Branch is up to. No, contrary to some opinions, it's Your job to keep them in line!!

While the pundits and talking heads are babbling like Chicken Little and wringing their hands at the the mere thought of terrorist crime being perpetrated upon us, I don't see any Rebellion or Invasion on the horizon. Terrorists are criminals not combatants. We have good laws to prosecute them. Why aren't we hunting these men down like dogs and prosecuting them? Is our intelligence operation that bad?

Think about it...