OT: Ashcroft @ Faneuil Hall 9/9/03

[lyons at digitalvoodoo.org (Timothy M. Lyons)]

I thought this might interest some on the list - sorry if it's off topic. 

-- Tim

---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2003 22:47:54 -0700
>From: "Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
>Subject: Opportunity for Boston-area MoveOn members
>
>Dear MoveOn member,
>
>On Tuesday morning, Attorney General John Ashcroft will be speaking in
>Boston's historic Faneuil Hall to promote the controversial Patriot Act.
>
>The ACLU of Massachusetts and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee have
>organized a demonstration to show the broad public sentiment against this
>threat to our freedoms. They are asking all supportive people to attend with
>signs.
>
>Faneuil Hall is known as "the cradle of liberty" because of the courage
>displayed there by American revolutionaries like Samuel Adams. In 1771, he
>insisted: "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil
>Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to
>defend them against all attacks.... It will bring an everlasting mark of
>infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer
>them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated
>out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."
>
>I hope you can join us on Tuesday morning.
>
>WHAT: Demonstration to demand the protection of our basic civil liberties,
>and counter Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking in the latest
>installment of his stealth Patriot Act road show.
>
>WHEN: Tuesday, September 9, 8:00 AM
>
>WHERE: Faneuil Hall, Boston Directions: http://www.moveon.org/r?468
>
>WHO: ACLU of Massachusetts (www.aclu-mass.org)
>Contact Nancy Marie at (617) 482-3170 x314.
>Bill of Rights Defense Committee (www.bordc.org)
>Contact Nancy Telani at (413) 582-0110.
>
>Please let us know you can attend:
>
>http://www.moveon.org/ashcroft/boston.html
>
>Ashcroft is currently touring the nation, with a focus on states
>contested in the presidential election, as part of a public relations
>campaign to shore up the Patriot Act. The tour comes as increasing
>numbers of Americans are challenging the Administration's assault on
>basic freedoms and as Congress considers numerous bipartisan measures
>to prohibit implementation of aspects of the Patriot Act.
>
>The Attorney General also seeks to build support for passage of the
>expansive sequel, dubbed Patriot II, and the VICTORY Act. His speeches
>will be given before audiences of law enforcement officials and are
>closed to the public. Even the schedule of the tour is being kept a
>secret until the last minute. All of this seems designed to prevent
>Americans from showing their opposition to attacks on civil liberties.
>
>Don't let the Justice Department's secrecy prevent the free expression
>of opposition to the Patriot Act. Sign up now to attend the demonstration
>countering Ashcroft's claims:
>
>http://www.moveon.org/ashcroft/boston.html

>More information on Ashcroft's tour and the Patriot Act is below.
>Thanks for insisting that security is attainable without sacrificing
>our freedom.
>
>Sincerely,
>--Noah T. Winer
>    MoveOn.org
>    September 8, 2003
>
>-----------------
>
>Justice Department Kicks Off PATRIOT Act Roadshow; ACLU Doubtful
>Public Relations Offensive Will Change Minds
>August 19, 2003
>
>WASHINGTON - In response to the Justice Department's launch today of a
>multi-city public relations "roadshow" promoting the controversial USA
>PATRIOT Act, the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the tour's
>closure to the public, presumably intended to squelch protests, and
>questioned the agency's use of public money to counter broad public
>concern about the expansive surveillance powers in the law.
>
>"An Attorney General going on the road, away from his official duties,
>to favorably spin policies violative of civil liberties is troubling,
>to say the least," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU
>Washington Legislative Office.  "It raises two serious questions: is
>this tour -- which incidentally hits Iowa, Michigan and Ohio --
>political in nature and how prudent is it to be spending public money
>on a 'PATRIOT Act' charm offensive?"
>
>The PATRIOT Act tour comes in the midst of rapidly growing public
>concern about portions of the 2001 law, which was passed with little
>debate shortly after the September 11 attacks.  In recent months, the
>Department of Justice has been roundly criticized for this legislation
>and its questionable record on civil liberties in the post-9/11 era.
>
>Last month Republican Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID), from the
>conservative heartland, sponsored an amendment to a key spending bill
>prohibiting the implementation of a section of the law facilitating
>federal agents' use of secret "sneak and peek" searches, which permit
>a delay in notification that a search was conducted.  Also in
>Congress, Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Oregon Democrat
>Ron Wyden recently introduced a bill to narrow other sections of the
>law, and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) sponsored a bill to roll back
>Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, which allows the FBI to access
>Americans' library records without showing probable cause.  In
>addition, the ACLU filed the first-ever challenge to the PATRIOT Act,
>which also deals with Section 215.
>
>Across the United States, more than 150 communities - including three
>states - have passed local government resolutions calling for a fix to
>troubling sections of the PATRIOT Act.  And, while the Department of
>Justice continues to downplay the resolutions drive as the product of
>"liberal college towns," communities as disparate - and conservative -
>as Castle Valley, Utah; Carrboro, North Carolina, and the inimitably
>independent state of Alaska have passed broadly popular pro-civil
>liberties measures.
>
>One of the primary concerns with the tour, the ACLU said, is that it
>might be designed to prop up other politically ailing legislative
>initiatives, including the expansive sequel to the PATRIOT Act, known
>as PATRIOT II, or the new VICTORY Act, which contains four PATRIOT II
>provisions.  Lawmakers and advocacy groups from across the political
>spectrum, including conservative mainstays like the American
>Conservative Union and Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform,
>oppose both pieces of legislation.
>
>"Although the Department of Justice is understandably reluctant to
>admit it, the real significance of this roadshow is that it shows the
>PATRIOT Act is becoming a kitchen table issue," Murphy said.  "Of
>course Americans want to be safe, but they also want - and deserve -
>to be free."
>
>For more on the ACLU's campaign to Keep America Safe and Free, go to:
>http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree
>
>__________