Patriot ActWhen the FBI showed up with a national security letter for librarians to turn over their records, a great many probably complied. Apparently the number of such letters was in the thousands. But Connecticut librarians should be congratulated. In spite of a gag order (they could tell no one about it) they have heroically challenged the Patriot Act. According to the Washington Post, "The House and Senate have voted to make noncompliance with a national security letter a criminal offense. The House would also impose a prison term for breach of secrecy." Considering that telephone companies have, without apparent question, turned over their records to government data miners, internet search records have mostly been made available without a whimper, that commercial transactions are routinely monitored, that a fairly incompetent 'no fly' list harasses airline passengers, say goodbye to the Bill of Rights. A number of communities have rejected the Patriot Act. Chuck Baldwin on the US Police State. see EFF comments on the 'Patriot Act'. sign your name to the campaign to repeal part of the U.S.A. P.A.T. R.I.O.T. Act. This would make the police once again have to get search warrants before they can get information from bookstores or libraries about what you have read or borrowed. This is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough. The PAT RIOT act was extended in December 2003 to give the police equally easy access to many kinds of transaction records about you. The PAT RIOT act attacks your freedom in other ways, too. See http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree/. Leading Human Rights Groups Name 39 CIA ‘Disappeared’ DetaineesDo people you talk to not know the Bush regime has made torture and secret detention legal? Send them this report from the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. Restore Habeas CorpusSenator Dodd plans on re-introducing the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007. The bill will restore Habeas Corpus protections to detainees, bar information acquired through torture from being introduced as evidence in trials, and limit presidential authority to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions. Become A Citizen Co-Sponsor now! |