ZGram - 12/11/2002 - "New Breed of Patriots Speaking Up"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Wed, 11 Dec 2002 18:48:22 -0800
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
December 11. 2002
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
Here is a heartening story, for once!
[START]
New Breed of Patriots Speaking Up
By Scott Martelle
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Sunday, 8 December, 2002
Grass-roots efforts to rein in the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act
gain support. Eugene, Ore., and other cities formally oppose aspects
of law.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Hope Marston keeps the seeds of revolution in four
plastic crates stacked on the planked floor of her overcrowded
bungalow here at the southern edge of this left-leaning college town.
There are pamphlets and petitions, news stories and political
analyses, all part of Marston's battle against what she sees as the
excesses of the USA Patriot Act, a sweeping federal law enacted after
last year's terrorist attacks that broadens the government's ability
to use secret searches, wiretaps and other covert surveillance
techniques in the pursuit of terrorists.
While the law's defenders say average citizens have nothing to fear,
civil libertarians like Marston believe the law opens the door for
government agents to resume the kind of domestic spying that
flourished under J. Edgar Hoover, when affiliation with radical ideas
was enough to get someone a place in the FBI's secret files.
"We don't know how many people have had their homes searched, or
their library or bookstore records checked," said Marston, a
part-time secretary who launched the Eugene campaign after reading
about similar efforts elsewhere. "People were amazed that there was
something they could do locally."
Under pressure from a campaign that drew together liberals and
Libertarians, Democrats and even a few Republicans, the Eugene City
Council recently joined a growing list of local governments calling
for a full or partial repeal of the Patriot Act, part of a nascent
nationwide effort organizers hope will persuade Congress to undo the
law.
Last week, city councils in Sebastopol, about 50 miles north of San
Francisco, and Burlington, Vt., joined with their own resolutions,
and activists are busy in Pasadena, Santa Barbara and at least eight
other California communities.
The campaign began in November 2001 in Northampton, Mass., although
the first cities to pass resolutions were Ann Arbor, Mich., and
Denver, said Nancy Talanian, one of the Massachusetts organizers. So
far, 17 cities have passed resolutions, and campaigns are underway in
at least 50 cities in 25 states.
Organizers hope that by marshaling the voices of locally elected
officials, they can better pressure Congress.
"Resolutions passed by elected local leaders carry a lot more weight
than letters from individual citizens," Talanian said.
Still, the resolutions are largely symbolic, as local governments
have no authority over federal laws or issues. The campaign echoes
the grass-roots efforts of a generation ago in which local groups
lobbied cities to declare themselves nuclear-free zones, a largely
symbolic show of hands of those opposing the development, use,
transport and storage of nuclear weapons.
"The most important aspect is to build a national consortium, a
groundswell, and by making these somewhat symbolic resolutions cities
are taking a stand," said Brian Michaels, a Eugene attorney who
helped draft the local resolution. "You do what you can to slow these
things down."
The resolutions differ from place to place, each tailored to local
political concerns. But most call for the federal government to
reveal what local acts they've taken under the USA Patriot Act, and
demand that Congress either repeal the law or revoke some of its
elements allowing domestic spying.
In Eugene, home to the University of Oregon and a cross-section of
liberal political groups, the City Council added its own spin by
ordering no city resources -- people or money -- be used to assist in
"unconstitutional activities."
It's unclear whether that means Eugene police will reject requests
for help by federal agents, though the department was one of several
last year that refused to cooperate with a federal sweep of 5,000 men
of Middle Eastern descent.
Since the unanimous vote, City Council members have fielded e-mails
and phone calls from people -- mostly from outside Eugene -- deriding
the decision as unpatriotic.
"Some of them said, 'Now we know where Al Qaeda is hiding: in the
City Hall,' " said Councilwoman Betty Taylor, who introduced the
measure. "But then we got some that said we made them proud to be
American."
Marston said she was pleased by the breadth of the campaign's support locally.
"They are people who want to defend freedom, and it crossed the
political spectrum," Marston said. "We have people who are way on the
right saying we want to catch bad guys, too, but we don't want to be
spied on in the process."
The pivotal vote on the eight-member council came from Gary Pape, a
self-described pro-business, conservative Republican whose support
set the stage for the City Council's unanimous vote. Pape said he
took little notice when Congress passed the Patriot Act but became
troubled by some of its elements after Marston's group began lobbying
for the resolution.
"It's overly broad, overbearing and overly intrusive," said Pape,
adding that he had not read the entire 342-page act -- and doubts
that many federal legislators did either. "I've reviewed parts of it
that deserve some real scrutiny.... Parts of it need to get into
court, where they are more skilled and adept at constitutional issues
than city councils."
At the heart of the challenge are elements of the USA Patriot Act
that grant federal investigators wide latitude in "foreign
intelligence surveillance."
That authority was backed last month by the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court of Review, which overturned a ruling that Atty.
Gen. John Ashcroft was using the Patriot Act to improperly broaden
the FBI's spying abilities.
Under the act, federal investigators can secretly enter homes, plant
wiretaps, search computers and take other investigative steps if they
believe someone is connected with foreign terrorists. The act also
makes it illegal for anyone who has been served a warrant under the
act -- such as bookstore owners or librarians -- from talking about
it.
"I'm glad I live in a city where we have spoken up against it," said
Jeremy Nissel, co-owner with his wife of J. Michaels Books in
downtown Eugene. "It's a bad law."
His wife, Linda Ellis, described the local vote as "an act of
courage," and disputed that it could be viewed as unpatriotic.
"There are as many flags on cars in Eugene as there are in New York
City or Downey," Ellis said, adding that post-attack emotions might
have clouded Congress' judgment. "We feel like we have to
rubber-stamp everything because of the things that happened in New
York City and internationally. And I think that's a very dangerous
thing."
[END]
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.)