And read inside the text of Congressman Ron Paul who voices his opposition to these anti-terrorism measures - he states it has more to do with a war on financial privacy than it does combating terrorism. He calls HR 3004 a "laundry list of dangerous, unconstitutional power grabs". Read more inside ...

It looks like we're creating a new American Gestapo ... the Reagan regime used the "War on Drugs" to set the foundation of the disasterous assault on civil liberties with forfeiture laws and increases federal and local search/seizure powers; now Bush is using the "War on Terrorism" to enact a new Orwellian world where all of your financial, medical, recreational, and educational activities are to be monitored 24x7 by Big Brother and his cadre of electronic agents.

Wake the fuck up, people. Turn off Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or West Wing, or whatever drivel that's playing on the giggle box. Write your elected representatives now. Oh, I forgot, most mail rooms are closed now because of the recent anthrax scares. You can email them but the deluge of electronic mail is typically ignored (Bob Stump doesn't even have an email address - he thinks he's doing taxpayers a favor by saving costs). Well, I suppose we're out of luck unless we have the money of Time Warner, Enron, GE, or any other corporate behemoth or industry funded right wing think tank organization (like CATO, Heritage Foundation) to buy influence ...

Here is Congressman Paul's statement:

Mr. Chairman, the so-called Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 (HR 3004) has more to do with the ongoing war against financial privacy than with the war against international terrorism. Of course, the federal government should take all necessary and constitutional actions to enhance the ability of law enforcement to locate and seize funds flowing to known terrorists and their front groups. For example, America should consider signing more mutual legal assistance treaties with its allies so we can more easily locate the assets of terrorists and other criminals.

Unfortunately, instead of focusing on reasonable measures aimed at enhancing the ability to reach assets used to support terrorism, HR 3004 is a laundry list of dangerous, unconstitutional power grabs. Many of these proposals have already been rejected by the American people when presented as necessary to "fight he war on drugs" or "crackdown on white-collar crime." Even a ban on Internet gambling has somehow made it into this "anti-terrorism" bill!

Among the most obnoxious provisions of this bill are: expanding the war on cash by creating a new federal crime of taking over $10,000 cash into or out of the United States; codifying the unconstitutional authority of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCeN) to snoop into the private financial dealings of American citizens; and expanding the "suspicious activity reports" mandate to broker-dealers, even though history has shown that these reports fail to significantly aid in apprehending criminals. These measures will actually distract from the battle against terrorism by encouraging law enforcement authorities to waste time snooping through the financial records of innocent Americans who simply happen to demonstrate an "unusual" pattern in their financial dealings.

HR 3004 also attacks the Fourth Amendment by authorizing warrantless searches of all mail coming into or leaving the country. Allowing government officials to read mail going out of or coming into the country at whim is characteristic of totalitarian regimes, not free societies.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to reject this package of unconstitutional expansions of the financial police state, most of which will prove ultimately ineffective in the war against terrorism. Instead, I hope this Committee will work to fashion a measure aimed at giving the government a greater ability to locate and seize the assets of terrorists while respecting the constitutional rights of American citizens.