-Caveat Lector-
Liberty Action of the Week: March 25,2003
On the home front
by Mary Lou Seymour
While Bush continues his War of Aggression in Iraq (or, who knows, by
the time you read this Iraq may have become part of the new American
Empire and our military may be contemplating new countries
to "liberate"), let's not forget the activities of his minions on the
homefront, to put in place a police state under the guise of Homeland
Security to protect us from terrorism. The draconian measures that
were initiated as most of the country sleepwalked in shock in the
wake of 9-11, and have continued to build for the past year and a
half, are now escalating at a fever pitch.
You'd think that even the most complacent of the sheeple would grasp,
even if dimly, the escalation of attacks on our personal freedoms,
but, apparently not.
"With traffic-stalling vehicle checks on interstates, armed patrols
inside subway tunnels and briefcase inspections at heartland
statehouses, Americans encountered a new level of heightened security
on the home front Thursday. Most seemed to take the inconvenience in
stride." (Americans Face Check Points As War Begins, AP, 3/20/03)
Even the pretty darn blatant call for martial law by NJ Counter
Terrorism chief Sid Caspersen, on March 16 ("If the nation escalates
to 'red alert,' which is the highest in the color-coded readiness
against terror, you will be assumed by authorities to be the enemy if
you so much as venture outside your home") only caused an uproar in
civil libertarian circles; where the ACLU denounced his statement
as "essentially martial law," and North American Samizdat has awarded
its Jack Booted Thug Award to Kommissar Sid, for "For taking off Big
Brother's velvet gloves and declaring war on he people of NJ."
Obviously, our work is cut out for us. While our countrymen are glued
to their TVs in rage and grief ... or vicarious thrill ... at
the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad, let's take action this week
to remind them of a greater threat to our security and freedom than
ANY hypothetical terrorist attach or WMD ... the steadily expanding
police state at home.
On the congressional front, the draft "Domestic Security Enhancement
Act" contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and
intelligence gathering powers -- many of which are not related to
terrorism -- that would severely undermine basic constitutional
rights and checks and balances. Go to the ACLU "Stop the new Patriot
Act" page to send an insant quick FAX to your Congresscritters on
this enormous threat to our liberties at home.
Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System, or CAPPS II, a
secretive new system for conducting background checks on all airline
passengers, threatens to create a blacklist of Americans who cannot
travel freely. This new government program would search secret
intelligence and law enforcement databases and rate every airline
passenger a red-, yellow- or green-level threat. Go to "Oppose the
new airline passenger profiling system" to register your opposition
to the blacklist.
While you're at it, send a LTE to your local and national media on
these threats to our way of life. To easily find and contact local
and national media use the Media Guide, a neat tool, powered by the
Capitol Advantage system, where you can click on a state for list of
media, choose by zip code, name of media, or even reporter or
producer, choose up to 5 media at a time and compose a message to be
sent to those media outlets.
At the same site, check out the Soapbox Alert, where you can get
involved with your fellow citizens' issues, or even post your own
issue, tailored so visitors can contact their Congresscritter or
President for a small fee.
Finally, be prepared to defend your own rights at roadblocks
and "terrorism checkpoints" and help inform and educate others of
their rights (while we still have them).
Roadblocks Registry is compiling a registry of known and announced
roadblocks, by state and county, as well as info on state legislation
regarding roadblocks and publicity campaigns to eliminate roadblocks.
If you know of any "terrorist checkpoints" in your community, be sure
to add them to the registry.
Flex Your Rights has information on what to do at roadblocks, as well
as a downloadable flyer (Adobe Acrobat format) for you to print,
copy, and hand out to educate others.
For more information on your rights, R.J. Tavel's Freedom Law site
has links to pro se materials on traffic stops, tickets, and right to
travel, and, of course, there's the famous ACLU "bust card" ... no
purse, wallet or glove box should be without it.
While we mourn the actions of our government's imperialism abroad,
let's be sure to not slacken our efforts to prserve liberty on the
homefront.
Til next week
For Freedom!
Mary Lou
PS: Don't forget, a buck or two in the "virtual hat" will keep this
column alive.
PPS: This week's alternate actions, listed on the web site for this
column, include "Bring Them Home Now", with posters, bumper stickers
and signs to help you show your support for our troops by bringing
them home where they belong; a Peace Poster Contest which could use
some libertarian, anti-interventionist entries, and, the Moment of
Silence action, to help spread the meme of peace and quiet in our
troubled times. And we now offer even more alternate actions, and, a
chance to discuss this column online in partnership with Liberty
Forum! See the web page for details!
===============================================
Americans Face Check Points As War Begins
http://news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story2&cid=519&u=/ap/20030320/ap_on_re_us/war_protecting_america_
12&printer=1
Red alert? Stay home
http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/march/m031603e.htm
ACLU:NJ Counter terrorism chief's Red Alert statement equals martial
law
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12160&c=206
JBT Award: NJ's Kommissar Sid
http://202.80.33.17/nas/jbt10.htm
Stop the new Patriot Act
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=11904&c=206
Oppose the new airline passenger profiling system!
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=12108&c=206
Media Guide
http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/
Soapbox Alert
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issuesaction/soapbox/
This week's Liberty Action of the Week on the Web
http://www.rationalreview.com/archive/mls/mls032503.html
Liberty Action of the Week is edited by Mary Lou Seymour.
Visit us on the web at
http://rationalreview.com
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