Anti Federalist
06-20-2009, 10:58 AM
What Makes a Conscientious Objector? - Ohio’s Anti-Terrorist Oath
By Marjorie Heins
In the shell-shocked weeks after September 11, 2001, Congress enacted the massive USA PATRIOT ACT,1 designed to improve our error-ridden homeland security system and in the process give expanded powers of investigation and surveillance to federal authorities. On the state level, there was plenty to do, but most states did not think it necessary to pass little Patriot Acts of their own. Ohio’s lawmakers thought otherwise, however, and among the provisions of that state’s 2006 homeland security law is a requirement that applicants for public-sector jobs or contracts, or for the renewal of licenses for various trades, complete a form abjuring any “material support” for any organization named on the U.S. State Department’s “Terrorist Exclusion List” or “TEL.”
The TEL is one of several different but partially overlapping lists of organizations or people that the U.S. government thinks are engaged in terrorism. Among the other official government compilations are the “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (or “FTO”) list, also maintained by the State Department, the “Specially Designated Terrorists” (or “SDT”) list, compiled by the Treasury Department, and the FBI’s huge “Terrorist Watch List,” currently consisting of more than one million names, with many errors of both over- and under-inclusion. The Watch List is compiled in part from information sent in by state and local police agencies.
Of these several lists, Ohio’s legislators choose the TEL for their new “Declaration of Material Assistance/Non-assistance to a Terrorist Organization” (or “DMA”) form. The DMA requires all those about to be hired for public employment, to enter into public contracts for more than $100,000 a year, or to receive certain license renewals, to answer “no” to six questions about membership in, financial contributions to, or other forms of assistance to TEL-designated organizations. According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, a “positive response” to any of the six questions disqualifies the job prospect, potential contractor, or license applicant.
The Department considers any refusal to answer, for whatever reason, to be a “positive response.”
Read the rest...http://www.fepproject.org/commentaries/ohiooath.html
By Marjorie Heins
In the shell-shocked weeks after September 11, 2001, Congress enacted the massive USA PATRIOT ACT,1 designed to improve our error-ridden homeland security system and in the process give expanded powers of investigation and surveillance to federal authorities. On the state level, there was plenty to do, but most states did not think it necessary to pass little Patriot Acts of their own. Ohio’s lawmakers thought otherwise, however, and among the provisions of that state’s 2006 homeland security law is a requirement that applicants for public-sector jobs or contracts, or for the renewal of licenses for various trades, complete a form abjuring any “material support” for any organization named on the U.S. State Department’s “Terrorist Exclusion List” or “TEL.”
The TEL is one of several different but partially overlapping lists of organizations or people that the U.S. government thinks are engaged in terrorism. Among the other official government compilations are the “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (or “FTO”) list, also maintained by the State Department, the “Specially Designated Terrorists” (or “SDT”) list, compiled by the Treasury Department, and the FBI’s huge “Terrorist Watch List,” currently consisting of more than one million names, with many errors of both over- and under-inclusion. The Watch List is compiled in part from information sent in by state and local police agencies.
Of these several lists, Ohio’s legislators choose the TEL for their new “Declaration of Material Assistance/Non-assistance to a Terrorist Organization” (or “DMA”) form. The DMA requires all those about to be hired for public employment, to enter into public contracts for more than $100,000 a year, or to receive certain license renewals, to answer “no” to six questions about membership in, financial contributions to, or other forms of assistance to TEL-designated organizations. According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, a “positive response” to any of the six questions disqualifies the job prospect, potential contractor, or license applicant.
The Department considers any refusal to answer, for whatever reason, to be a “positive response.”
Read the rest...http://www.fepproject.org/commentaries/ohiooath.html