Keeshin

Zwick
Patriot Act Speech Outline

I. Introduction
a. Quote: Benjamin Franklin – “Those who would give up essential liberty,
to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty or Safety.”
b. Attention Grabber: You probably don’t know what the Patriot Act is. That
puts you in the majority of the people who are governed by a law that they
know very little to nothing about.
c. Thesis: The Patriot Act is a brutal violation of our civil rights as
Americans because it breaches our rights to privacy and allows Congress
many Orwellian privileges they do not deserve.
d. Preview:
i. What is the Patriot Act?
ii. What is wrong with it/abuse
iii. Constitutional violations
iv. What can you do to fix it
II. What is the Patriot Act?
a. Formally the USA PATRIOT act, fully: Uniting & Strengthening of
America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and
Obstruct Terrorism. Good acronym Congress. Maybe you should have
spent time writing the law instead of making a clever acronym.
b. A law to allow further measures to be taken to stop further terrorist attacks
following 9/11.
i. Wire taps
ii. Secret searches
iii. Internet surveillance
iv. Access to records (medical, financial, mental health, student
records)
v. Phone Monitoring
vi. Jailing on suspicion (ACLU)
c. Why did it get passed?
i. 9/11
ii. Security increase to prevent another one
iii. Senate 10/24, House 10/25, Pres/Law 10/26
1. 342 pages
2. Written overnight
3. Rushed
4. No debate, discussion
5. Few read it fully
6. Treasonous if you reject it (Surveillance)
iv. Russ Feingold D-WI, only to reject in Senate, 1 abstain, 1 absent
1. “Preserving our freedom is the reason that we are now
engaged in this new war on terrorism. We will lose that war
without firing a shot if we sacrifice the liberties of the
American people.”
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v. Extension pending 5 weeks ends Feb 3. Senate approved 6 month
but that was not fully approved
III. What’s wrong with it
a. Quotes from government officials worth contradicting
i. Cheney on NSA surveillance- “(NSA surveillance) is fully
consistent with the constitutional responsibilities and legal
authority of the president and with the civil liberties of the
American people.” (Riechman)
Reorganize? ii. Cheney on protection the Patriot Act provides-“Obviously no one
can guarantee that we won’t be hit again…but neither should
anyone say that the relative safety of the last four years came as an
accident. America has been protected not by luck, but by sensible
policy decision, by decisive action at home and abroad and by
round-the-clock efforts on the part of people in law enforcement,
intelligence, the military and homeland security.” (Riechman)
iii. Bush on NSA- “The authorization I gave the National Security
Agency after Sept. 11helped address that problem in a way that is
fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and
authorities.
b. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, court to get things
certified
c. NSA, spying program: Bush: "Nothing has changed, by the way. When
we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a
court order before we do so." Democrats have seized on the remark, made
more than two years after Mr. Bush authorized the N.S.A. to conduct
wiretaps without warrants, in charging that the president had misled the
public. (Bumiller)
d. Immigrant clauses
e. The Patriot act gives law enforcement officials to keep any person
suspected of posing a threat to national security in detention for up to
seven times, and more often times, indefinitely.
f. No probable cause!
g. While they are taking a time to stop the terrorists, they put in provisions to
stop the computer hackers and the immigrants. I think that’s a violation of
our rights.
h. Allows FBI to seize business and personal records without court approval
i. “All tangible things” – that means anything. If they didn’t
specifically say it, they can still do it because of this part of Section
215.
i. Orwellian, 1984
j. Violation of presidential power
IV. Constitutional Violations
a. 1st Amendment
i. No law may prohibit free speech, Violates the First Amendment's
guarantee of free speech by prohibiting the recipients of search
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orders from telling others about those orders, even where there is
no real need for secrecy.
b. 4th Amendment
i. Which protects against unreasonable searches
c. 5th Amendment
i. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand
Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the
Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor
shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property
be taken for public use, without just compensation.
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d. 6 Amendment
i. Right to a speedy trial by jury
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e. 14 Amendment
i. Which states that no person can be deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law, equal protection under the
law
V. What you can do?
a. Talk to your Congressman
i. Mark Kirk who is our local Congressman’s information
1. Washington, DC Office
1717 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: 202-225-4835
Fax: 202-225-0837
2. Northbrook Office
707 Skokie Boulevard, Suite 350
Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: 847-940-0202
Fax: 847-940-7143
3. Waukegan Office
20 South Martin Luther King Dr.
Waukegan, IL 60085
Phone: 847-662-0101
Fax: 847-662-7519
b. THESIS
c. So what will you do….