AR-News: (NYC) Protest Ashcroft/Patriot Act on 9-9-03

[Camille]

******Please Cross Post Freely******

Below is a message I received from MoveOn.org about John Ashcroft's speaking engagement in New York City on Tuesday, September 9th.  Ashcroft will be speaking in support of the Patriot Act (see details below).

If any animal rights activists would like to hook up and form a contingent at this important protest sponsored by the ACLU, we can meet in front of Trinity Church at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street between 11:30 and 11:45am.

Come on your lunch hour.......Bring signs. I will make a banner. If anyone has banner or sign ideas please e-mail them to me directly at: govegan at optonline.net.  

Directions to Trinity Church:

http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/about/directions.shtml 

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Dear MoveOn member,

On Tuesday, two days before the Sept. 11 anniversary, Attorney General
John Ashcroft will be speaking in New York City in support of the
controversial Patriot Act. This is yet another exploitation of
Americans' fear and mourning to promote the Bush administration's
political agenda.

The New York ACLU and the New York Bill of Rights Defense Campaign
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.

Please consider joining this important action during your lunch hour
on Tuesday.

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 at 12 noon

WHERE: Federal Hall, 26 Wall Street at Broad Street (next to NYSE)
2/3 or 4/5 to Wall Street or J/Z to Broad Street
Map: http://www.moveon.org/r?469

WHO: New York ACLU (www.nyclu.org), New York City Bill of Rights
Defense Campaign (www.nycbordc.org), United for Peace and Justice
(www.unitedforpeace.org), and 60 other civil liberties organizations.
Contact Udi Ofer at (212) 344-3005 x242.

Please let us know you can attend:

http://www.moveon.org/ashcroft/newyork.html?id=1642-2961474-uFMeTSZ1aTZLIxBLhU7WQw

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/newyork.html?id=1642-2961474-uFMeTSZ1aTZLIxBLhU7WQw

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