How many people know that this is even in the patriot acts? The patriot acts should be allowed to fade into infamy along with so much of the other things that the Shrub and his shrubettes have and are still trying to do to our country. We don't need the acts, they are serving no usefull purpose and they really are illegal in a healthy society. Saying that of course we haven't had a healthy society since the religious right and shrub co-opted it. Why people are you so complacent on what he is doing? He doesn't speak for so many of us and yet we stand back and say very little to nothing. Why? Is this society so afraid of the mis-spoken individual that holds the title of something that is supposed to be IN SERVICE of ALL of the people of this country and not just the "privalaged few" in other words the rich, the religious right christains, the big corporations?
"If the 1st Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch." - Justice Thurgood Marshall writing the majority opinion in STANLEY v. GEORGIA
When the "Patriot Act" was first passed just six weeks after the attacks of 9/11 it included several provisions that were, well, un-American. One of the worst allows the government to go before a secret court to get a secret subpoena to access just about any records they want from libraries and bookstores to find out who's reading what. Included in the subpoenas is a gag order for the librarians and booksellers that threatens them with jail time if they tell anyone (you, for example) about the search. And because of the secrecy and gag orders these subpoenas can never be challenged because the victims don't know about them and the librarians and booksellers can't talk about them. [1]
When they finally got around to actually reading the Patriot Act, many Members of Congress were concerned about this intrusion on our liberties. Rep. Bernie Sanders pulled together a coalition from the left and the right to overturn this madness and last year offered an amendment to the budget forbidding any money to be spent on these secret searches, essentially ending them. Miracle of miracles, despite strong pressure from the Republican leadership the amendment passed the House. Then, in another un-American - and unprecedented - move the Republican leadership said that the vote wasn't actually over and then spent hours twisting arms getting Republican legislators to change their votes. They kept this up until they had turned enough votes and then, BANG, voting was ended. Shocking. For those of you keeping score, that's parliamentary hijinks to overturn a majority vote so that secret courts and gag orders could be maintained.
Well, Rep. Sanders and his colleagues are going to try again this week and this time we think they might win. Please take a moment to join with the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association in telling your Congressmember to support the Freedom to Read Protection Act. If you are a member of TrueMajorityACTION, just click "Reply" and "Send" in your email program to send a message (text below). If this email was forwarded to you or you want to edit the message just click this link:
http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/Freedom_to_Read_Act
To hear a fascinating story about how the system is supposed to work click here and check out an NPR story about one library system that challenged a conventional subpoena and won. [2] The lesson here is that if the FBI had used the Patriot Act instead of traditional laws the librarians couldn't have appealed and the subpoena couldn't have been overturned.
Thanks for helping,
Andrew Greenblatt Online Organizer
P.S. For those of you who may have feared that I was shipped off to Guantanamo, or worse, I was just on paternity leave. Nothing focuses your attention on improving our country quite like having a baby. It's good to be back.
[1] For the record, Attorney General Gonzales claims there have never been any secret searches. This "trust me" is from the same guy who thinks it really isn't torture if all your vital organs are still working.
[2] NPR report about a Washington State library that was ability to fight off a standard subpoena: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4676707
Here is the letter we'll send to your Congressmember:
Dear Representative:
I urge you to join with legislators on both sides of the aisle in supporting the Freedom to Read Act. The USA PATRIOT act gave law enforcement officials new powers to conduct searches of bookstore and library records that eliminate the safeguards against unreasonable searches we rely on as a free people.
If the Freedom to Read Act passes law enforcement agencies will still be able to search these records if they receive a valid warrant, but any attempt to overreach can be checked by an appeals process that has protected all of our rights for hundreds of years. As an American I deserve nothing less.
Thank you for supporting freedom.
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