MoveOn
Bulletin
Friday, May 30, 2003
Co-Editors: Tai Moses and Rachel Neumann, AlterNet
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CONTENTS:
1. Wes Boyd: Freedom is Our Strength
2. Rachel Neumann: Your Rights and Liberties:
Use Them or Lose Them
3. Matt Welch: Get Ready for Patriot II
4. Tram Nguyen: Immigrant Families Condemn
Racial Targeting
5. Jason Halperin: Patriot Raid
6. Farai Chideya: Getting Ashcrofted
7. Kari Lydersen: Selling Civil Liberties
8. Karen Charman: Environmentalists =
Terrorists
9. Nat Hentoff: Liberty Vanishes While the
Press Sleeps
10. Annalee Newitz: Surveillance 101
11. Jim Hightower: Shredding Ashcroft
12. About the Bulletin
------------------------------
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------------------------------
FREEDOM IS OUR STRENGTH
MoveOn Bulletin Op-Ed
by Wes Boyd
In 1814, the British marched on Washington and burned down
the White House. In World War II, the United States fought a virulent fascism
that took tens of millions of lives. During the cold war, we faced down tens of
thousands of nuclear-tipped missiles pointed directly at our cities. These
conflicts struck at the very heart of our survival as a nation.
Although there have always been men who call for dictatorial
powers in times of crisis, our Bill of Rights survived these threats intact
because our leaders knew that these freedoms are the foundation of our strength
as a nation and must be protected.
Today we hear from the Bush administration that freedom must
be traded for security -- that unless we cede our rights as citizens to the
proper authorities, we will never be safe. Showing no historical perspective,
callow pundits claim that the threats we face today are overwhelming compared
to anything in the past.
Luckily, Americans are made of sterner stuff. We'll continue
to protect freedom, and it will make us strong.
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YOUR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES: USE THEM OR LOSE THEM
Rachel Neumann, AlterNet
The administration's attack on civil liberties is so overblown as to seem
surreal. And if that weren't enough, currently proposed legislation would
increase the PATRIOT Act's powers. Our right to think and speak for ourselves,
without fear of spying neighbors, surveillance cameras or retaliation, is
gravely threatened and only our collective and coordinated resistance will stop
that threat.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16014
------------------------------
GET READY FOR PATRIOT II
Matt Welch, AlterNet
The first USA PATRIOT Act was written, passed and signed into law within seven
weeks of 9/11. As a result, the government gained new power to wiretap phones,
confiscate property of suspected terrorists, spy on its own citizens without
judicial review, conduct secret searches and snoop on the reading habits of
library users. Now Attorney General John Ashcroft wants to finish the job.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15541
------------------------------
IMMIGRANT FAMILIES CONDEMN RACIAL TARGETING
Tram Nguyen, ColorLines RaceWire
A series of "Public Truth" forums planned around the country
highlight the impact of the war on terrorism and national security on the lives
of immigrants, refugees and communities of color. Despite widespread fear in
their communities, participants are outspoken in condemning the policies and
practices that have unjustly targeted them.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15943
------------------------------
PATRIOT RAID
Jason Halperin, AlterNet
Loaded guns pointed in faces, people made to crawl on their hands and knees,
police officers kicking in doors, keeping their fingers on the trigger even
after the situation was under control. All a mistake. And, according to the
ACLU a perfectly legal one, thanks to the PATRIOT Act. People who thought these
laws would never affect them, who thought that the PATRIOT Act only applied to
the guilty, should heed this story as a wake-up call.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15770
------------------------------
GETTING ASHCROFTED
Farai Chideya, AlterNet
Everybody wants to cash in on the marketability of biometrics, the technology
of identifying people based on biological traits. Biometrics extends far beyond
electronic fingerprinting to retinal scans and, perhaps most controversial,
face recognition from video surveillance. Let's face it: the biometrics
industry is fast becoming Big Brother, Inc.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15781
------------------------------
SELLING CIVIL LIBERTIES
Kari Lydersen, AlterNet
Americans are used to being bombarded with ads for everything from shampoo and
SUVs to dating services and weight loss regimens. But now they are also seeing
paid ads selling them on an issue that many previously either took for granted
or didn't think about much at all: the importance of our civil liberties. The
campaign represents the first time in its 80-year history that the ACLU has run
paid TV ads.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15757
------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTALISTS = TERRORISTS
Karen Charman, TomPaine.com
If legislation crafted by the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange
Council becomes law, some fundamental rights of American citizenship -- like
signing a Sierra Club petition or publicly protesting for animal rights --
could become illegal.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/7748
------------------------------
LIBERTY VANISHES WHILE THE PRESS SLEEPS
Nat Hentoff, Village Voice
The media, with few exceptions, are failing to report consistently and in depth
precisely how Bush and Ashcroft are undermining our fundamental individual
liberties. For instance, how many Americans know that if PATRIOT II is passed
(and Bush certainly won't veto it), they can be stripped of their citizenship
if charged with giving "material support" to a group designated by
the government as "terrorist"?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15630
------------------------------
SURVEILLANCE 101
Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
Is New York City a laboratory for a "future surveillance state"? U.S.
privacy laws allow public surveillance because, their proponents say, you have
no reasonable expectation of privacy on the street. But some activists think
New York's mechanical eyes violate human dignity, converting our anonymous
public lives into somebody's private video collection.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15587
------------------------------
SHREDDING ASHCROFT
Jim Hightower, AlterNet
One of the most inspiring -- and unexpected -- sources of resistance to
Ashcroft's wild schemes are America's librarians. These gutsy defenders of
liberty are distributing information and joining public discussion groups to
tell us about the freedom-busting legislation that Ashcroft cynically titled
the "USA PATRIOT Act."
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15843
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