Are we on the way to a police state?

[Major.Arse]

No joke: South Carolina now requires ’subversives’ to register


By Daniel Tencer
Friday, February 5th, 2010 -- 11:49 am



Five-dollar registration fee for persons planning to overthrow US government

Terrorists who want to overthrow the United States government must now register with South Carolina's Secretary of State and declare their intentions -- or face a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.

The state's "Subversive Activities Registration Act," passed last year and now officially on the books, states that "every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States ... shall register with the Secretary of State."

There's even a $5 filing fee.

By "subversive organization," the law means "every corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or organization, composed of two or more persons, which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States [or] of this State."

The law also gives subversive organizations "subject to foreign control" 30 days to register with the state after setting up shop in South Carolina.

While the intention of the law is apparently aimed at Islamic terrorists, it's unclear in the law's wording whether it can be applied to right-wing militias, some of whom have reputedly called for the overthrow of the US government. The law states that "fraternal" and "patriotic" groups are exempt from the law, but only if they don't "contemplate the overthrow of the government."

While the law is clearly redundant -- there are plenty of statutes at the state and federal level through which terrorists can be prosecuted -- it reflects a not-uncommon pattern in some states of "doubling down" against particular crimes.

For instance, South Carolina is among those states which require drug dealers to declare their illegal income, or face additional criminal penalties on top of the already established penalties for buying, possessing and selling drugs.

The South Carolina blog FitsNews describes the new law as "bureaucracy for terrorists."

"In the long and storied history of utterly retarded legislation in South Carolina, we may have finally found the legal statute that takes the cake for sheer stupidity, which we think you’ll agree is saying something," the unsigned blog posting scathingly commented.

link @http://rawstory.com/2010/02/south-carol ... act-force/

a pdf of the form is attached to the original article -MA

[JoeLewd]

Oh damn I am goin to prison

[tekkamanblade]

on the way to a police state? rofl, no of course not. we've been in one for a LONG time now. what you really need to watch out for is using those logical arguments, didn't you know that was defined as terrorism under the patriot act?

[JoeLewd]

hell no I will not use the 1st amendment
I will use my TURKISH Model 38 Mauser or M16A4
to persuade them to leave us alone

[devilwolf]

i prefer the Lee-Enfield mark IV (I know, British, but thats one rifle they got right) or the Smith-Wesson 10mm myself.

[MadAce]

[Moleman]

Eyeopening stuff Madace!!

I will be stealing this and using it elsewhere!

moleman

[Major.Arse]

on the way to a police state? rofl, no of course not. we've been in one for a LONG time now. what you really need to watch out for is using those logical arguments, didn't you know that was defined as terrorism under the patriot act?

the patriot act was a bit more subtle. though i completely agree with your attitude towards it.

The problem i see with this is it is an obvious policy.

I would certainly like to hear how an attorney could potentially interpret this law on either side, the government of S.C., or the victims of it invoking their right to free speech, press, or religion.

society is on the decline when this doesn't raise an eyebrow.

...oh, look! J-Lo has a new line of puppy fur boots just in time for summer!

[ArdRhys4]

Jajaja... society will crumble and only the few intelligent people will survive... it will just take a few decades... that or the idiots will die out of their own accord...

[McGrod]

removed.

[omlow]

australia doesn't suffer any of these problems. if your going to move anywhere mcgrod, move here. not near me though cos that'd be weird.

[MadAce]

australia doesn't suffer any of these problems.

That's just not true.

[Major.Arse]

australia doesn't suffer any of these problems. if your going to move anywhere mcgrod, move here. not near me though cos that'd be weird.

theres no government like no government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8pxyAWTBk