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Subject: Re: Attn JMS: What about now? Date: 11 Dec 2002 05:26:10 GMT From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated >Do you think the conditions are currently right for martial law? I >realize that something similar has been discussed to death already on >this group, but it's not quite the same question, so I hope you'll >indulge me. Well, let's see...American citizens (low-lifes, yes, but citizens nonetheless) detained without questioning or formal charges, military tribunals reviewing cases in secret without the right of appeal, a proposed system of gathering everyone's private information for use by the government, tracking checkouts at public libraries, going through purchases to determine who's taken various kinds of lessons (including, most recently, suba diving lessons), asking high schools to turn over addresses for students eligible for military service, signing an overall action for overseas "hits" on possible targets that does not specifically exclude American citizens as targets and thus generically includes them, all but reversing the Freedom of Information Act, a declaration of wartime emergency that has no clearly defined end-point, moves to weaken or eliminate the Posse Comitatas act which prohibits the use of military in domestic situations, the detainment at airports -- under the new terrorist provisions -- of pepole whose only offense was to take part in protest marches in Seattle and San Francisco, the loosening of search and seizure laws.... No, not at all, why do you ask? jms (jmsatb5@aol.com) (all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd., permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine and don't send me story ideas)