Town cites Patriot Act in response to homeless man's suit

[align=left]Town cites Patriot Act in response to homeless man's suit[/align]

[align=left]Associated Press | June 29 2005[/align]

Comment: Believe the lie, the Patriot Act is only being used against terrorists.

Related: Patriot Act vs. US Citizens

NEWARK â?? The USA Patriot Act allows the government to find out which books and Internet sites a person has seen. It also lets investigators secretly search someone's home and monitor people's phone calls and e-mail, all in the name of fighting terrorism.

Now, a New Jersey town being sued for kicking homeless people out of a train station claims the Patriot Act allows it to do that as well.

In an answer to a federal lawsuit brought by a homeless man, Richard Kreimer, who objected to being told to leave the Summit train station, the city says its conduct is protected by the Patriot Act and the lawsuit should be barred. The city cited a section of the law regarding "attacks and other violence against mass transportation systems."

"Unless they've been smoking those funny cigarettes, I can't see how my civil lawsuit has anything to do with the Patriot Act," said Kreimer, 55, who is acting as his own lawyer. "I can't figure that one out."

Edward Barocas, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said, "Nothing in the Patriot Act lets them kick homeless people out of train stations."

"We have always maintained that NJ Transit and police have the right to address conduct," he said. "They do not have the right to treat an individual differently because he is disheveled."

Kreimer is seeking at least $5 million in damages against NJ Transit, the city of Summit, nine police officers and several other defendants, claiming he and other homeless people have been unlawfully thrown out of train stations since August. He also wants a federal judge to decide whether transit stations are public or private property, and whether people who are not ticketed passengers have the right to be at them.

Since the suit was filed in March, NJ Transit has announced its intentions to create "ticket-only" zones that would limit areas of train and bus stations to passengers holding tickets.

The Patriot Act defense was one of 15 made by Harry Yospin, a lawyer representing Summit and its officials named in the suit. He and City Administrator Christopher Cotter did not immediately return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

In legal papers filed in response to the suit, Yospin termed Kreimer's suit "frivolous," and said police officers were exercising lawful discretion in their dealings with Kreimer.

Similar defenses were made by the state Attorney General's Office on behalf of NJ Transit. The state termed the lawsuit "frivolous" and "a sham," but did not cite the Patriot Act.

[align=left]Trashing the Constitution in the name of "terrorism"
[/align]
[align=left]Meria Heller | June 29 2005
[/align]
As Americans we all suffered through the tragedies of September 11, 2001. The official story of 9â??11 has pretty much been disproved by many experts, including former members of George Bush's staff. I suggest reading David Ray Griffins "911 Commission Report, Omissions and Distortions."

To date, not a one terrorist has been arrested for this heinous act, nor has anyone been fired or reprimanded for "falling asleep on the job" that fateful day when our entire response mechanism failed, or was ordered to "stand down."

September 11 happened, and all Americans were found guilty. What do I mean by that?

In any criminal act one needs to look at who benefited. Surely it wasn't we the people. We have pretty much lost our entire Bill of Rights and the Constitution, under a regime that plays on fear with the catch-all phrase "terrorism."

Last week the Supreme Court passed a law that says municipalities can take any person's private property for economic gain. The Fifth Amendment died last week.

The misnamed USA PATRIOT Act has taken away our right to privacy, court ordered warrants, and any American can be arrested without cause and held indefinitely without an attorney simply under the name of "terrorism." The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by Congress without being read out of the "fear" created by September 11. Now the FBI can enter your home illegally, take or leave whatever they want, and not have to tell you they were there. All your personal data, mail, emails can also be read without your consent.

Hidden inside the recently passed military budget was the "Real ID" act, which will require all of us in three years to have uniform drivers licenses, which will contain our biometric and personal data. You will need three proofs of identity to renew or get a license.

Without our consent, our children are being listed in a huge military database for eventual military service or a draft.

Our Social Security, retirement funds and more are being stolen right before our very eyes.

The recently leaked "Downing Street Papers," prove that Bush was planning in 2002 to cook (fix in Britspeak( intelligence to conjure up reasons to go into Iraq. We as a nation were lied to about a war for profit and conquest. We have lost over 1,700 of our children fighting a corporate war. Halliburton who still sends checks to Richard Cheney, is stealing our hard earned tax dollars with no-bid contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Without any proof of who was behind 9/11, Bush went into Afghanistan and Iraq on behalf of the central bank and to "save" the U.S. dollar from countries who wanted to trade their oil in euros and not the dollar. Our dollar is dropping like a rock due to an administration out of control, and out of touch with reality and the rest of the world. It has already been proved that seven of the 19 alleged "hijackers" are alive and well.

As you and I struggle to meet our bills, rising energy costs, education cuts, social services cuts, the big corporations that have taken over our democracy are laughing all the way to the bank. As our jobs go overseas, our populace suffers without health insurance or care (43 million Americans without health insurance), Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, Bechtel, all the oil companies and the entire military industrial complex are bleeding us for their profits. The World Trade Organization supersedes our highest courts. The Federal Reserve, a private bank, prints our money and sells it to the Treasury at a huge profit. We need to nationalize the Federal Reserve, while we still can save our dollar. Our votes have been cleverly stolen by the Supreme Court and computer voting machines. The list is endless.

These are not partisan issues. They are American issues. They affect every one of us, except the millionaire Congress and the millionaire administrators. It is time for Americans to raise their voices, get educated and demand representation from their government before it's too late. We must demand answers to September 11, the war on "terror" (never-ending war at our expense), an end to an illegal immoral war, and punishment for those who have lied to the people they have sworn to protect.

By the way, reading or talking too much about the Constitution is considered a sign of a terrorist. Is this the America you want to live in? I truly believe that given the truth, Americans will rise up and take back their country from the Corporatocracy that has piratized it.