I'm printing
this letter to the editor from Dianne Feinstein not to give space to Dianne
Feinstein, but because we all need to know the enemy — and what she is
trying to do.
— editor
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Dear Mr. Milam:
Thank
you so much for writing me about terrorism in the United States.
I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with me regarding
this important issue now so prominently, and tragically, in the news.
As
the cowardly and reprehensible bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City, in addition to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,
made all too evident, our nation is clearly vulnerable to terrorist attack.
I am pleased to report that the Senate took a major step in the effort
to protect Americans from the threat of terrorism when it passed the "Comprehensive
Terrorism Prevention Act of 1995" (S. 735) on June 7, 1995 by a bipartisan
vote of 91-8. I joined with a majority of my colleagues in supporting
this legislation because I strongly believe that it will go a long way
toward reducing the risk of terrorist attacks on our citizens and national
landmarks.
In
the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton called for
"swift, certain, and severe" punishment for the perpetrators of that vicious
crime. This five-year, $2.1 billion plan to combat terrorist acts
will help to achieve that goal. More specifically, this legislation
would:
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hire
additional new law enforcement personnel to investigate, deter and prosecute
terrorist activity; |
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create
a new "terrorism court" made up of federal judges to help ensure that the
United States can expeditiously deport alien terrorists without disclosing
vital national security secrets; |
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amend
federal law to allow military experts to help civilian authorities investigate
crimes involving weapons of mass destruction, including biological and
chemical weapons, as they currently may do for cases involving nuclear
weapons; |
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allow
the FBI to gather more information about potential domestic terrorists
through better surveillance techniques and access to credit reports and
telephone records in terrorism cases pursuant to court order; and |
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increase
the penalty to a mandatory minimum of 10 years for transferring a firearm
or explosive knowing it will be used in drug trafficking or a violent crime. |
I
am pleased to report that S. 735 also includes two "common sense" amendments
I offered to help combat terrorism. The first would give the Treasury
Department the authority to require companies producing explosive materials
to include microscopic pieces of colored plastic, called "taggants," which
can make it easier for law enforcement officials to trace the source of
bombs used for violent or criminal purposes.
My
second amendment would prohibit the teaching or distribution of printed
materials about bomb-making techniques by any person who knows the information
will be used for criminal purposes. I am confident that these initiatives
will help reduce the risk of terrorism in this nation.
I
also strongly supported the inclusion of comprehensive habeas corpus reform
as part of the counterterrorism bill. Under the current appeals process,
convicted criminals are able to delay the imposition of their sentences
for years, and sometimes even decades. In fact, since the death penalty
was reinstated in California in 1978, more prisoners on death row have
died of natural causes than have been executed.
I
believe the habeas corpus provisions included in S. 735 strike an appropriate
balance between the need to ensure due process to those convicted of both
capital and non-capital crimes and the need of any rational judicial system
to bring cases to closure.
Please
be assured that I read your comments with interest and understand your
concerns. I expect that this subject will remain high on the Senate's
list of priorities and, as the discussion continues, I will bear your concerns
in mind.
Once
again, thank you for writing. I value your opinion and hope that
you will continue to share your thoughts with me. If I can be of
further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact David Long in my
Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.
With
warmest regards.
Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein, United States Senator
Donald Cormier wrote the following
article in response to Dianne Feinstein's letter.
— editor
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Dominator/Anti-Dominator
By Don Cormier
In
her book, The Chalice and the Blade, anthropologist Riane Eisler
talks about two types of society — the "dominator" society, and the "partnership"
society. "Dominator" societies tend to be rule-oriented, hierarchical,
and violent. "Partnership" societies tend to be flexible, egalitarian,
and peaceful. According to Eisler, the "dominator" model has prevailed
in Europe since the last ice age — but the "partnership" ideal has never
been completely suppressed.
From
her recent comments in support of various anti-terrorism efforts, it is
apparent that Senator Dianne Feinstein subscribes to the "dominator" model
of society. She sees more laws and more inequalities of power as
the solutions to our current ills.
About
a century ago, a very different feminine voice was raised in support of
the "partnership" way of life. From across the years, "Red" Emma
Goldman supplies this response1
to the notions embodied in Senator Feinstein's letter:
"Unfortunately
there are still a number of people who continue in the fatal belief that
government rests on natural laws, that it maintains social order and harmony,
that it diminishes crime, and that it prevents the crafty man from fleecing
his fellows. I shall therefore examine these contentions.
"A
natural law is that factor in man which asserts itself freely and spontaneously
without any external force, in harmony with the requirements of nature.
For instance, the demand for nutrition, for sex gratification, for light,
air, and exercise, is a natural law .... To obey such laws, if we
may call it obedience, requires only spontaneity and free opportunity.
That governments do not maintain themselves through such harmonious factors
is proven by the terrible array of violence, force, and coercion all governments
use in order to live. Thus Blackstone is right when he says, 'Human
laws are invalid, because they are contrary to the laws of nature.'
"Unless
it be the order of Warsaw after the slaughter of thousands of people, it
is difficult to ascribe to governments any capacity for order or social
harmony. Order derived through submission and maintained by terror
is not much of a safe guarantee; yet that is the only 'order' that
governments have ever maintained ....
"The
most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish
crime. Aside from the fact that the State is in itself the greatest
criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form
of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come
to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly
to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation.
"Crime
is naught but misdirected energy. So long as every institution of
today, economic, political, social, and moral, conspires to misdirect human
energy into wrong channels; so long as most people are out of place
doing things they hate to do, living a life they loathe to live, crime
will be inevitable, and all the laws on the statutes can only increase,
but never do away with, crime." |
It's
a shame that Senator Feinstein's education apparently did not include heavy
exposure to the works of Emma Goldman.
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^
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From
Anarchism,
by Emma Goldman.. Anarchism and Other Essays (Indore: Modern
Publishers, n.d.). pp.43-62. |
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