UPDATED: US Spying, Searches and Seizures - What good are they?

Immigration Concerns - where are they going? Are the makers of these various rulings concerned about rights and decent human compassion?

Here I want to open up a discussion on this post concerning the relationship of Surveillance, Spying and the various rampant US Searches and Seizures going on today. Are these various Seizures now following our constitution? Our US rulings? When and how have they become illegal - or have they?

Looking back, how were Sen. Russ Feingold and others in Congress and various leaders outside Congress rightfully concerned about the US Patriot Acts? And although they passed, were these Acts amended partly because of his hard work? Were they changed enough? Who are others who've have helped mitigate the full effect of these Acts?
In what way have they become worse over time?

In which way is Obama encouraging more constitutional approaches to these Seizures? Or is he? And finally, what do the Spying, Searching and Seizures accomplish? To whom is the gov't really accountable? Do we the citizens have a say? If so, are we using this opportunity to better our gov't?

How does this "listening in" and how do all the searches and seizures over time really make people more secure and to work toward harmony and peace? When are they counter-productive? When do they create much more anger and hostility toward America and the gov't then the benefits?

Connie - the oneheart blogger

Let's start with this one...

05.31.09 - 10:59 AM on Common Dreams dot org here

Death, Taxes, Unreasonable Search and Seizure, and Then Deportation

by Abby Zimet
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Horacio Arturo Cervantes, 42, poses for a photograph at his home in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, May 3, 2009. Cervantes, from Mexico was honest about paying his taxes even though he was in the U.S. illegally. The seizure of his tax records led to his arrest and now he is facing deportation charges.
Horacio Arturo Cervantes, 42, at his home in Greeley, Colo.

Talk about a rock and a hard place. A group of illegal immigrants in Colorado are facing deporation and criminal charges after a prosecutor seized thousands of confidential records from taxes THEY PAID. The ACLU has protested the seizure of almost 5,000 tax records that netted 70 cases. Horacio Arturo Cervantes, a Mexican father of four, was paying taxes in hopes of getting U.S. citizenship. Kinda makes you wonder why he'd want it.

"If it's a crime to pay taxes, then the IRS should also be charged," said Maria Eugenia Rey.

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Access to Top-Secret Papers at Issue in Wiretapping Case

here

Other timely items are coming soon from various perspectives of these related issues.

Please DISCUSS these concerns HERE or at Common Dreams dot org - Do you mind please passing on this post to others? And thanks for tuning in!