Dear friends
I truly am impressed by the proactivity and sharp minds of people on this forum. It is uplifting to network with people who have such concern that they have created websites of their own, write songs, are journalists, etc....all for the sake of preserving our freedom and justice. Thank you all!
This message is not meant for any of you on this forum who are so proactive. Instead, it is for you to please pass around.
Kucinich has said on the campaign trail that with this current administration, the rights to due process of law for ordinary civilians is at stake.
I believe him: Having served on the board of my local County ACLU Branch and read the ACLU's website for the past seven years, I know for an absolutel fact that the war OF terror is chasing after ordinary Americans, and that preciously few terrorists are actually caught since 9-11. Wiretapping is monitoring our free speech and our intentions (after all, "either you are with us or you are against us" as Bush said). Warrantless arrests without probable cause under the Patriot Act make us all vulnerable, especially when connecting the dots between wiretapping and the fact that the term "terrorist" in the Patriot Act is loosely defined so as to sweep up religious and peace groups in its definition. Gag orders imposed on receipients of National Security Letters (FBI subpoenas for public records) carry a 5-year jail sentence for telling a soul that such a subpoena was received (part of the Patriot Act). Warrantless anything---wiretapping, subpoenas by the FBI, etc----means that the power of the Judiciary to put a "check" on government power is being eroded. Abuses are running rampant: The FBI issued 143,000 NSL's between 2003-2005 alone----that's 993 per week---of which 53% were for ordinary Americans, born and naturalized alike. More than 70% of Guantanamo detainees are innocent, very few have been caught since 9-11, Bin Laden communicates with COngress yet he "can't be found" and the ACLU's website is crawling out the ears with sooooo many examples of activists dubbed as "terrorists" that it should have us all scrambling with concern for our civil liberties.
Not to mention the wars based on lies which are all over the public radar, Katrina, etc we've got two violent criminals in office. The torture bill (Military Commissions Act) grants the President the power to "Interpret" the Geneva Conventions (which provide a guide about what torture is and what may/may not be done) and the U.S. Constitution: Thus, the Prez himself presides over torture cases and what exact form it takes. It ain't pretty at all: Pain levels equivalent to "severe organ failure and death" is what is defined in the Military Commissions Act. The MCA also grants the Prez immunity from being prosecuted for war crimes as he tortures by unilateral decree: Could CHarles Manson himself be any happier with such an arrangement? Murder in the absence of actual death with no jail in sight? Yippee! Murderers don't belong with nuclear weapons in their hands, and that's just what we've got right now: Charles Manson and his gang in the Oval Office. YAY!
The fact that the mainstream media has buried the civil liberties issue is literally and actually a crime. Against the People and the Constitution itself, a form of obstruction of justice. We ought to "get them" for exactly that, in lawsuits nation-wide!
What can we do? Don't get sad, get MAD!
Let's please each devote ten minutes per day to passing word along. Please e-mail a chain letter containing Rep. Robert Wexler's impeachment petition www.wexlerwantshearings.com
Let's please also pass along chain letter emails about S. 1959 and ask friends to call their Senators, demanding that they "Just say NO" to the loss of free speech and that (very important) they promise a filibuster if it passes.
Even if only the local newspapers will publicize the causes at hand, let' s contact them. If they have 30,000 readers, that's a heck of a start. Please contact student activist groups, radio talk shows, etc and ask them to help get proactivity going. We've got to be creative in spreading word: So be it. Let's use whatever resources we have!
Please tell your friends how urgent the matters are, and that even over the holiday break it's so important to call Congress. Please stress to them that their children will be affected by this, and that we ourselves will be asap too. With gag orders in the NSL's and no judicial involvement, violations to our liberties are occurring so secretly that even COngress doesn't know the extent of all the abuses: No wonder AMericans believe we still have free speech left! Wrong. And we're about to lose even more with S. 1959, for which COngress will be voting in the first week of January. Kucinich is not dropping idle words, I am sure, when saying that ordinary citizens stand to lose their rights to due process. Power knows no boundaries and criminals want to literally bury the voices away which expose their crimes. Having read the ACLU's statistics, I know for a fact that ordinary people are targets, not terrorists and not criminals.
Can you give ten minutes per day to pass Wexler's petition along and spread word about S> 1959? Please also ask your friends to do the same. Please tell them you know it's an invasion during the holiday season and you apologize for it, but so much is at stake. We've got to scramble.
Thank you all.
