Economic Terrorism

Or, why Grover Norquist should be wetting his pants.

Remember the USAPATRIOT Act? That draconian little bit of foofaraw the US Congress passed in a fevered panic in the days after September 11th?

(He said September 11th! Everyone take a drink!)

I wish to direct the reader's attention to Section 802 of the Act, which redefines "domestic terrorism." Specifically, Section 802 modifies Section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, paragraph (4) to include the following definitions of domestic terrorism:

`(B) appear to be intended--

`(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

`(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

`(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.'.

Now, if the activities, speeches, pontifications and literary musings of Grover Norquist fit the above definitions:

(ii) He has constantly sought to aggrandize the rich at the expense of everyone else by intimidating and coercing elected representatives of the people of the United States, including candidates for the Presidency, into refusing to face reality and increase taxes on those best situated to pay them;

(iii) He has sought to affect the conduct of the government by the mass economic destruction his ruinous anti-tax policies would cause.

(C) And all of this takes place right here in the good old US of A.

What should be done?

My opinion is that Mr. Norquist needs to take a nice vacation somewhere.

I hear that Guantanamo Bay is nice this time of year.