A very good post by The Devil in his Kitchen yesterday is, as Brian Micklethwait at Samizdata puts it, "a must-read" — and so it is. Especially for Libertarian readers here, I do recommend it regarding some truly frightening consequences of New Labour's corruption of the parliamentary law-making system in this country.
Oh, and unusually for Devil's Kitchen, the language is entirely family-friendly too!
What he is discussing are what he correctly terms Enabling Laws, that instead of being specific laws are effectively open-ended licences for a Government Minister to introduce, without passing it through Parliament. If one thinks about this, this is the closest move to total control by the Executive that we have yet seen. The fact that — as the Devil himself tells us — Labour have introduced "a large number" of such laws demonstrates beyond any remain doubt that it was Labour's intention all along to turn Britain into a totalitarian State.
Oh, they and their mouthpieces will have all the excuses as to why it was "necessary", "desirable" or "more efficient use of parliamentary time" or suchlike; but it doesn't wash as a moment's thought will reveal. Besides anything else, it completely undermines the democratic processes of this country and is treacherous in the least case, and seems almost certain to be intended to enable future (imminent?) actions that would probably be classed by most people as treasonous.
We already know that Labour's Civil Contingencies Act is intended to allow suspension of elections and parliament indefinitely, and we are aware of the moves already being put in place to deal with any public uprisings. I have covered some of these before, such as identifying soldiers who would be prepared to open fire upon British citizens. The wider distribution of tasers within the police that was recently rvealed is part of the same preparations.
Labour are still trying to avoid holding a General Election and staying in office until they have absolute power over us — their goal all along, right back to before they were first elected in 1997. It was always part of the plan, it seems.
I suspect that the timing of Tony Blair's departure from Downing Street (and his staying outside our country for so much of the time since) was in fact dictated by how and when certain mileposts had been reached along this path, ready fro Gordon Brown's "clunking fist" (see, we were warned in advance, in a way) could take over for all the heavy-duty stuff. Blair silkily got all the laws and powers in place, then handed over to his nastier henchman to do the really dirty work.
That's where we are now; and there might be very little we can do about it, especially if the EU has put together a way to use their armed forces and other militia to help quell any uprisings and the inevitable riots that would result. Oh yes: that is undoubtedly one of the reasons for creating suh a large pan-European force upon whih to be able to call. The jigsaw puzzle is now almost complete, and surely everyone can now see what the final picture is going to be.
The Devil has competition for the worst place to be thereafter — his Hell or our Britain.
The words ‘politics’ and ‘police’ have the same root, but they have drifted too far from the root and too close to each other. Polis meant a body of citizens or a city state, police protect them and politics represents them.
Now politics has moved away from that body of citizens, as have the police. I have previously made plain my disdain for the idea of hate crime. I don’t think motive should be important unless it mitigates the crime (for example self-defence). Setting apart certain groups as more important victims is not blind justice. Allowing the police and prosecutors to judge motive means they are automatically politicised.
In front of me is a case in point, in a copy of the Operational Directory for Sussex Police. Several parts of the ‘Hate Crimes’ section are politically controversial or likely to encourage misinterpretation.
On racism
“In its more subtle form it is as damaging as in its overt form”
What more subtle form? How does the officer know if he is seeing subtle racism or just inconsiderate and unthinking behaviour? Is an officer going to look to find subtle racism reading that advice? How about if he sees subtle racism when someone reports a crime by a non-white, so the police ignore the crime and go after the victim or witness? I would not have considered that 12 years ago, now it is easy to believe.
“The term ‘racist incident’ must be understood to include both crimes and non-crimes in policing terms. Both must be reported, recorded and investigated with equal commitment”
Why should a non-crime “in police terms” be investigated by police at all? Why should they be investigated when there are not enough resources to investigate all crimes? If they are investigated at all why should they receive equal commitment?
“Incidents where visiting international students are the victims of crime will normally be recorded as racist incidents”
Why? This only goes to show that the way police define hate crime has no rational basis.
So the official guidance from Sussex Police advises that police see the bogeyman of racism and hate wherever possible, and to investigate even if there was no crime. This is advice to harass people for their thoughts and opinions. This is, quite literally, Orwellian. Reporting, recording and investigation of opinion as if we have no freedom of conscience is making political issues an offence.
Update: I spoke to a friend with police connections. One of the main reasons for identifying crimes against foreign students as racist is so that the files are easy to find from a large number of police reports. Remember that next time you see hate-crime statistics. Many of those are for convenience of categorisation, they are not hate crimes at all.
Funny how I don’t see this as reducing the relevance of my post.
(Violation of 4th Amendment: Illegal search and seizure)
During either type of declared emergency, a local public health authority... may exercise authority... to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises; to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any building or facility; to destroy any material; to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons;
(Violation of 14th Amendment; illegal arrest without a warrant)
...an officer authorized to serve criminal process may arrest without a warrant any person whom the officer has probable cause to believe has violated an order given to effectuate the purposes of this subsection and shall use reasonable diligence to enforce such order. [Gunpoint]
(Government price controls)
The attorney general, in consultation with the office of consumer affairs and business regulation, and upon the declaration by the governor that a supply emergency exists, shall take appropriate action to ensure that no person shall sell a product or service that is at a price that unreasonably exceeds the price charged before the emergency.
"Involuntary Transportation" (also known as kidnapping)
Law enforcement authorities, upon order of the commissioner or his agent or at the request of a local public health authority pursuant to such order, shall assist emergency medical technicians or other appropriate medical personnel in the involuntary transportation of such person to the tuberculosis treatment center.
$1,000 / day in fines
Any person who knowingly violates an order, as to which noncompliance poses a serious danger to public health as determined by the commissioner or the local public health authority, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 30 days or a fine of not more than one thousand dollars per day that the violation continues, or both.
Forced vaccinations
Furthermore, when the commissioner or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction determines that either or both of the following measures are necessary to prevent a serious danger to the public health the commissioner or local public health authority may exercise the following authority: (1) to vaccinate or provide precautionary prophylaxis to individuals as protection against communicable disease...
Forced quarantine for those who refuse (illegal imprisonment without charge)
An individual who is unable or unwilling to submit to vaccination or treatment shall not be required to submit to such procedures but may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health, as determined by the commissioner, or a local public health authority operating within its jurisdiction.
Arrest for refusal to be "decontaminated"
If an individual is unable or unwilling to submit to decontamination or procedures necessary for diagnosis, the decontamination or diagnosis procedures may proceed only pursuant to an order of the superior court... During the time necessary to obtain such court order, such individual may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal to submit to decontamination or diagnosis procedures poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health.
Interrogation
When the commissioner or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction reasonably believes that a person may have been exposed to a disease or condition that poses a threat to the public health, in addition to their authority under section 96 of chapter 111, the commissioner or the local public health authority may detain the person for as long as may be reasonably necessary for the commissioner or the local public health authority, to convey information to the person regarding the disease or condition and to obtain contact information... If a person detained under subsection (1) refuses to provide the information requested, the person may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal poses a serious danger to public health...
Forced isolation and quarantine
An order for isolation or quarantine may include any individual who is unwilling or unable to undergo vaccination, precautionary prophylaxis, medical treatment, decontamination, medical examinations, tests, or specimen collection and whose refusal of one or more of these measures poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health.
Forced entry into any home or building...
There's a lot more in this bill, including language that allows Mass. police to enter any home or building without a search warrant, to destroy any object or building they suspect may pose a threat to public safety, to order the closing and / or decontamination of any facility using highly toxic chemical decontamination agents, and to arrest, detain and interrogate anyone who gets in their way.
Meanwhile, all state law enforcement and medical personnel are granted complete immunity from prosecution for their part in violating your Constitutional rights. So if they violate your right to due process, or they accidentally destroy your home, or they kill your family dog because they suspect it might be infected, you have absolutely zero recourse.
Under this bill, Massachusetts becomes a medical police state. There is no debating it. It's all written, clear as day, in this law: The citizens of Massachusetts will have no rights, period. The Constitution is ancient history. You are now the property of the State.
