Terror Laws Used Vs. Common Crimes

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/14/national/main573155.shtml

In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al Qaeda cells but on people charged with common crimes.

The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers.

Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car.

A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture of chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months.

[unblock]

1. gee, never thought THIS would happen!

who coulda seen this one coming?

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Better clean out the 'fridge!

Or I'll be looking at a decade's vacay in Gitmo.

I might be looking at it anyway.

--bkl

[Occulus]

3. And do you have a bugout kit?

[rusk2003]

4. This is certainly concerning but I don't think anyone is shocked

Perhaps the Democrats can use this to point out that the Republicans are more concerned with abuse of power and going after crooks instead of terrorist talk about soft on national security. Well you know if you give people a inch they take a mile this is especially true with Right Wing Politicans.

Just another reason why America needs to revise the Patriot Act so the Governmnet can only use it to go after terrorists. I would favor abolishing the Patriot Act since the Bush Administration sees no reason to use it on terrorists anymore.