Mary Lou Seymour is a long-time libertarian activist and author. She lives in South Carolina. CLICK HERE FOR RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS WHY AREN'T YOU A SPONSOR?
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of the Week While our attention has been on the threats of war in Iraq, North Korea, the Phillipines, and, God help us, the internal arguments in the Freedom Movement itself over whether our actions abroad are imperialist or defensive, the regime now resident in the dismal swamp of DC has been busily plotting still more restrictions on our civil liberties at home. All in the name of "homeland security" in the "war on terrorism," of course. Two recent developments in the "War on our Civil Liberties" deserve our immediate attention: the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 and Total Information Awareness. The Department of Justice had been quietly drafting the "Son of the Patriot Act," the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, in secret over the past several months. On February 7, The Center for Public Integrity obtained a draft (available as HTML or in PDF format), dated January 9, 2003, of this previously undisclosed legislation and published it on the Net. Word spread like wildfire. Within days, columnists were calling DESA a "Total police state takeover" and noting that this time, unlike the rush to pass Patriot I, there was a "Chilly response to Patriot II." But two weeks have passed, and Patriot II has dropped out of the headlines. For this week's action, I propose we "up the pressure" and get Patriot II back in the spotlight, by writing LTEs, and by contacting our congresscritters to let them know that THIS time, unlike with Patriot I, we've found out in time, and we're watching. Let's make sure, at least, we get them to READ the durn legislation this time, instead of just passing it (like they did with Patriot I). DSEA 2003 would give statutory authority for secret detentions and the termination of court-approved limits on police spying, apply the death penalty to offenses that, because of the redefinition of domestic terrorism in USA PATRIOT, could sweep in protest tactics that "involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life." See the ACLU's detailed section by section analysis for more juicy tidbits to add to your letters. And while we're at it, let's tell 'em what we think about the government's latest plan to invade our privacy, Total Information Awareness (TIA). This little gem comes from the Department of Defense, which is developing a computer system that would provide the government with immediate access to our personal information such as communications (phone calls, emails and web searches), financial records, purchases, prescriptions, school records, medical records and travel history, all "tools to track terrorists" of course. Once word got out and civil libertarians started a public outcry, Senator Wyden sponsored an amendment to the Omnibus Appropriations bill for 2003 that would limit deployment of Total Information Awareness (TIA) and slow down its research and development so that Congress has "time to ask questions about the program." The DoD has responded to the justifiable public unease over TIA by stating it will establish two boards to provide oversight of the Total Information Awareness Project, an internal oversight board and an outside advisory committee, to work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to "help ensure that TIA develops and disseminates its products to track terrorists in a manner consistent with U.S. constitutional law, U.S. statutory law, and American values related to privacy." Oh boy, I feel safer already. To send a letter to your representatives urging them to retain the Wyden amendment on TIA as passed by the Senate, and at least slow down passage of TIA, Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) has a nifty pre - written letter and "instant send" form. You may want to add that the DoD "plan" to provide oversight boards doesn't make you feel, well, truly comfortable with the TIA concept. You might also want to note that despite the DoD's "promise" of oversight boards, companies have already been awarded over $20 million in government contracts to begin research. Last week, we talked about using humor and satire to seed our communities with the iconoclast meme and build the freedom movement. This week, with the price of gas steadily rising, is a good time to stay home and whip out our pens and keyboards to counter these latest attacks on our civil liberties, and show our "masters" that we aren't being taken in by their fear mongering and flag waving. And, a special note to our readers in other countries; it is especially important for you to weigh in with your opinions on the "American agenda," both national and worldwide. Whether the Bush Regime admits it or not, world opinion is important to them; and not just the opinion of "world leaders." Dubya wants the world to think of America as a "champion of freedom," not as an increasingly repressive totalitarian state. So send your LTEs to your own newspapers abroad as well as the newspapers in the US; with the Net, you know, the "foreign papers" are as available to us (and our glorious leaders) as our hometown weekly. Til next week! Mary Lou |
