Send no flowers,avoid police state, be a patriot

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Nitroaddict

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This is my Weekly ranting and raving Thread. This time on the So-Called Patriot Act, and the sad state of Mr. Kussay

An Iraqi-born computer engineer legally enters this country, works, pays taxes and follows the rules only to find he's persona non grata for having sent flowers back in 1997 to a then-estranged wife. He now faces deportation in our new world disorder, where anyone of Arab descent rightly fears getting branded a terrorist.

Kussay "Gus" Al-Sabunchi pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of sending flowers in violation of a court order in which he should have stayed away from his now ex-wife. Yes, Al-Sabunchi goofed by sending the flowers, but he certainly didn't harm anyone other than himself. As he points out, he sent flowers -- not weapons of mass destruction.

When applying for permanent U.S. residency, the naturalized Canadian citizen, who's now married to another woman, didn't note the 1997 arrest. After all, it was a misdemeanor involving a divorce case in which he got custody of a son.

But if you're looking for some common sense from prosecutors, forget it. The U.S. government wants Al-Sabunchi to be kicked out of the country simply because he didn't include the 1997 arrest on his application for U.S. residency. The government is treating Al-Sabunchi as if he's an illegal alien or worse, a terrorist, when he is neither.

And just to make sure it gets its way, the federal government is pursuing Al-Sabunchi in both federal court and immigration court. Orlando federal Judge G. Kendall Sharp calls Al-Sabunchi's misdemeanor offense "nothing more than a misplaced effort to save a troubled marriage." On June 2, the conservative judge, who's not known for being soft on criminals, cleared Al-Sabunchi, noting that the incident was "inconsequential" to any charges of making a false statement. Yet the government won't let up.

Al-Sabunchi is only the latest case of overzealous prosecution in this post-Sept. 11 environment in which government has whittled away people's rights in the name of fighting terrorism. We all want to be safer, but how much longer can we allow the government to attack basic First and Fourth Amendment rights and strip our civil liberties away without any oversight from either a judge or a congressional committee?

The Patriot Act was signed into law by President Bush within 45 days of 9-11. This was The Law of Unintended Consequences. America had been attacked. Bush sought extraordinary powers, and Congress handed those to him but wisely insisted that there be a sunset on the most controversial assaults on our civil liberties and that there be congressional oversight along the way.

Now Bush is at it again, asking for ever-greater powers. This time, even many Republicans who backed the Patriot Act the first time are questioning the wisdom of handing the executive branch more police authority. After all, Attorney General John Ashcroft has blocked virtually every attempt by Congress to check on the ramifications of the Patriot Act. Just asking for a simple accounting of the number of times that searches have been conducted under the new law brought an Ashcroft power play.

The House sent Bush a message in July when it voted to halt any federal funding for the section of the Patriot Act that allows the government to delay notifying people about so-called sneak-and-peek searches. Librarians are in a huff about the potential for government abuse in searching Web sites used by patrons. And innocent people are at risk of being shipped out of the country on knee-jerk technicalities that have nothing to do with national security and dangerously converge on jingoistic nationalism.

Ashcroft's doing his mystery tour around America, trying to shore up support for the Patriot Act with a simplistic "trust us," but many Americans aren't buying it. How can we when we don't even know what's being sold?
 
Bleed for us Libby.. Bleed!! Just as long as they dont get crazy and outlaw abortion or make kids pray or anything real bad like that.. :)
 
Sounds like Al-whateverhisname is should have disclosed all of his past. I’m one of the ones collecting the data. Stop by my office and apply, I’ll be happy to photocopy your driver’s license.:D
 
NA,
You should just stick to posting pics of half naked women. They are alot less boring. :jade:
 
Welcome to general chaos! If you find the reading here to be boring, then just move to another thread, or better yet, move to another country and see first hand why these people and families migrate here!
 
I wanted to add a sincere comment.. not meant in a combative way or any type of flame toward NA... While NA isnt my favorite person in the world I do respect his right to his opinions.. But in all fairness.. what can we do? no plan or law is perfect.. there will always be a victim.. Thats the IMPERFECT world we live in.. Look at our Interstate system, hundreds of people die driving on them every year? do the interstates suck? do we get rid of them? Ofcourse not! A few people die in auto racing accidents every year, do we get rid of auto racing? does it suck? Ofcourse not! Nothing is perfect and with out some kinda victim.. What has the Patriot Act taken away from you? what can't you do now? Honestly! I can't think of a single freedom it cost me.. Just for fun.. What freedoms has anyone here lost because of the Patriot Act??? anyway.. No offense NA, honestly.. Just my opinion as well.. Peace!!
 
Originally posted by StrechM
Sounds like Al-whateverhisname is should have disclosed all of his past. I’m one of the ones collecting the data. Stop by my office and apply, I’ll be happy to photocopy your driver’s license.:D
That's aboutthe way I see it. INS really could care less whether an applicant was accused or convicted of a misdemeanor however they do care greatly when they find and applicant did not disclose this fact. If they ommitted this small fact who's saying they didn't ommit a larger one that we have not found yet. The bottom line when dealing with the INS is full disclosure. Even if you'd rather not admit that you were convicted of a misdemeanor they want full honesty.

Regardless of the person's racial or ethnic background the INS really does not target specific races. All imigrants are now subject to stiffer laws and more paperwork to enter the US or to remain here on a permenent visa. I am helping my gf with the immigration paperwork right now and it's a ton more than when I helped my ex wife with her paperwork 5 years ago (wife at the time).
 
Originally posted by indyjohnny
I wanted to add a sincere comment.. not meant in a combative way or any type of flame toward NA... While NA isnt my favorite person in the world I do respect his right to his opinions.. But in all fairness.. what can we do? no plan or law is perfect.. there will always be a victim.. Thats the IMPERFECT world we live in.. Look at our Interstate system, hundreds of people die driving on them every year? do the interstates suck? do we get rid of them? Ofcourse not! A few people die in auto racing accidents every year, do we get rid of auto racing? does it suck? Ofcourse not! Nothing is perfect and with out some kinda victim.. What has the Patriot Act taken away from you? what can't you do now? Honestly! I can't think of a single freedom it cost me.. Just for fun.. What freedoms has anyone here lost because of the Patriot Act??? anyway.. No offense NA, honestly.. Just my opinion as well.. Peace!!

Props to you johnny - that was a well written argument against my post, and i wish more people who disagreed with others here would do what u just did instead of typing childish things.

To counter the point - you are absolutely correct. Nothing is perfect, not the highways either. But it is our job, to see the flaws as they come up, and do our best to correct them.
 
We have the right to have an opinon as you do. Our feelings and statements are no more childish that yours. Be a patriot? You’ve got to be kidding! It’s mostly the bleeding hearts that have allowed the lax-a-daisy attitudes that allow the freedom of movement through our country by people that do not belong here (now we will be giving some of them a drivers license without permission to enter this country legally). Al-Sabunchi should have disclosed all of his past. Have you ever applied for anything that requires special permission or licensing through a State or Federal government? I have and I hold them. You better believe it would be denied if you do not disclose all of the facts. This is not a police state. I'm just as against any intrusion into my private life as the next man but what I am even more against is allowing exceptions to the rules that will open the door for lax security in light of the world that we face in this day and age. I was not kidding when I made the statement about being one of the ones that collect the data that gets reported to the Federal Government. Please feel free to look it up, Section 326 of the USA Patriot Act. The same basic rules have always applied in one form or another. I gladly collect it and forward it with all required documentation. If people want to enter this country for whatever reason they need to abide by our laws, we have to.
 
stretch - there are 3 things that bothered me about this whole thing. First, regarding the immigration issue. We have millions of illegal aliens in CA that are getting a free education and healthcare without a problem. They rob, steal, and attribute a higher percentage to the crime rate in southern CA tha does the legal population, yet polititians cater to them and try to get more laws passed to benifit these scum. Mr. Al did everything right, with the exception of failing to admit a small arrest many many years ago. And he gets deported. The only reason he is getting the shaft is that his name starts with AL rather than being spanish.
Second and thirdly, the problems with the 'patriot act' are many, but the largest significant issue is that it removes the 'checks and balances' our government has instated in this country. One example of this is a search/seizure order. Normally this must be granted by a judge, but now, under the patriot act, can be granted by a justice dept official. This eliminates the third party verification, which in turns, promotes corruption.

Indyjohhny - to answer your question, asking if anyone here has been directly affected by the Patriot Act. Yes. My entire staff. 3 times. On three seperate occasions, usually after writing a commentary of ill words towards the local and state officials, we have been raided with assult weapon armed, hooded MBI officials. They have confiscated out computers, files, and all records. To date in the year 2003 - the MBI in conjunction with the FBI has spent 390,000 dollars investigating the Orlando Weekly. There have been no charges filed, and no arrests.
 
Originally posted by Nitroaddict
stretch - there are 3 things that bothered me about this whole thing. First, regarding the immigration issue. We have millions of illegal aliens in CA that are getting a free education and healthcare without a problem. They rob, steal, and attribute a higher percentage to the crime rate in southern CA tha does the legal population, yet polititians cater to them and try to get more laws passed to benifit these scum. Mr. Al did everything right, with the exception of failing to admit a small arrest many many years ago. And he gets deported. The only reason he is getting the shaft is that his name starts with AL rather than being spanish.
Second and thirdly, the problems with the 'patriot act' are many, but the largest significant issue is that it removes the 'checks and balances' our government has instated in this country. One example of this is a search/seizure order. Normally this must be granted by a judge, but now, under the patriot act, can be granted by a justice dept official. This eliminates the third party verification, which in turns, promotes corruption.

Like I said I'm not totally for the Patriot Act "I'm just as against any intrusion into my private life as the next man" but it does hold prvisions that we need at this time. Corruption is another issue. Let's hope that the search and seizer sections do not get abused. I'm not sold on the idea that AL- is deported because his name started with AL-. About 30% of California's population is Hespanic and a few a my good friends are too, what a mess. We kick all of them out of the country and there will be no one to pick the fruit and vegies. That would send California's economy into futher red ink. I'm sure that you see some of the same in Florida. This statement does not mean that I'm agreeing with an illegal getting a drivers lic. or anything to do with free passage throuh our country without permission, we are d'd if we do and d'd when we don't. Because of my polictical affiliations I get the standard "hey come and help us out or what do you think of this sort of thing quite often. My resonse to the last solicitation from our local congressman was " there has got to be a better way that to give up some more of our civil liberties is fighting terrorism". Even though I read you and I as being at different ends of dead center I do respect you posts. Anything but boring!
 
I suppose a kitten is about to bite it.. but what is the MBI??? :)
 
sorry Indyjohnny - Not something you would know - Orlando thing. Stands for Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. They are kinda like the gestapo of Orlando Vice.
 
Orlando Vice?!?!?! For some weird reason I just picture Mickey and Mini packing side-arms and having hot passionate...... Nevermind!
 
Chris - that is exactly the way most of us feel. This isnt NYC. We dont have a crime syndicate. lol. Just another big brother scare tactic. MBI is horrible too. can't convict anyone, cause they always get brought up on civil right violations
 
naw - they are just a bunch of crooked cops.
 
Mickeys got a gun.....

Mickeys got a gun....

Goofies on the run....

Mickeys got a gun...
 
best part? the MBI busted in on one of our writers, stole his bong, and he took a picture of them holding it in his apartment. Next week after it happened, we put that photo on the frint page of the paper. they didnt like that. raided us a week later
 
lol - What idiots....

They were just mad because you know right well they were off blazing in the blue holes.....
 
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