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2002 ELECTION UPDATE:
CIVIL LIBERTIES AND CONGRESS:
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ACLU'S LAURA MURPHY

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Laura Murphy is the Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU. Below are excerpts from an interview on the challenges facing the ACLU in light of the recent elections.
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QUESTION: The current Congress looks like it will wrap up its work this week. How would you say civil liberties fared?

MURPHY: To put it bluntly, this is the Congress that rewarded intelligence and law enforcement failures prior to the tragic terrorist attacks of 9-11 with added powers. I must say that in my many years of working in Washington, I have never been so disheartened as when Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act with virtually no debate and little regard for protecting civil liberties. Click on this link for more:
http://www.aclu.org/Legislative/LegislativeList.cfm?c=235#q1

QUESTION: Overall, what effect do you see the recently ended 2002 Congressional elections having on ACLU's legislative priorities?

MURPHY: It is no secret that some people -- particularly those in the religious right -- view the midterm elections as a mandate to adopt all kinds of restrictive anti-civil liberties legislation. We're very concerned, for example, about several anti-choice measures that could quickly move through the House and Senate and which President Bush has eagerly said he would sign. Click on this link for more:
http://www.aclu.org/Legislative/LegislativeList.cfm?c=235#q2

QUESTION: How will the election affect the ACLU's ability to accomplish its work?

MURPHY: The ACLU is a strictly non-partisan organization and we actually have very productive relationships with members of Congress and advocacy organizations of all political stripes and beliefs. We work very closely, for example, in coalition to protect information privacy with several very conservative organizations such as the Eagle Forum and the American Conservative Union. The ACLU strongly adheres to the belief that we can be most effective if we do not apply litmus tests on members of Congress or advocacy organizations. Click on this link for more:
http://www.aclu.org/Legislative/LegislativeList.cfm?c=235#q3

QUESTION: What should people do who want to help protect civil liberties?

MURPHY: This is a very important question and one that we are giving a great deal of thought to here in the ACLU's Washington Office. We're very proud of our tens of thousands of online activists who have generated almost 1.5 million letters to Congress in the last six years and very much urge anyone who has not yet signed up for our action network to do so promptly at:
http://www.aclu.org/team/member.cfm.?MX=600&H=0

Click on this link for more:
http://www.aclu.org/Legislative/LegislativeList.cfm?c=235#q4

QUESTION: Is there anything else that concerned Americans can do?

MURPHY: Well, as the ACLU's chief lobbyist, I would be truly amiss if I didn't end with a plea that anyone who is concerned about the future of civil liberties in the United States become a card-carrying member of the ACLU. When I tell members of Congress that the ACLU gained 59,000 new members who were scared about what would happen to civil liberties after September 11, I see in their eyes an understanding about how deeply concerned many of their constituents are about the future of our basic rights. I hope to be able to tell members of the new 108th Congress that our membership growth continued to be strong in 2002. And finally, I want to say thank you to all of our current ACLU members for helping us stay strong in these difficult times.

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ACLU FEATURED CARTOON

Click on the link below to view a cartoon drawn for the ACLU by Milt Priggee:
http://www.aclu.org/L/forms.aclu.org/team/tell.cfm?MX=600&H=0

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NEWS AND ACTION:
TAKE ACTION!
STOP THE GOVERNMENT PLAN TO MINE OUR PRIVACY

The Pentagon's new Office of Information Awareness is building a system called "Total Information Awareness" that would effectively provide government officials with immediate access to our personal information. Under this program, our entire lives would be catalogued and available to government officials.

Take Action Today!
Send a FREE FAX to President Bush to urge him to end the Defense Department's new "Total Information Awareness" program before it gives government officials the ability to snoop into all aspects of our private lives.
http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=11323&c=130&MX=600&H=0

IN FIRST-EVER RULING, SECRET APPEALS COURT ALLOWS EXPANDED GOVERNMENT SPYING ON U.S. CITIZENS

Ruling for the first time in its history, the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review recently gave the green light to a Justice Department bid to broadly expand its powers to spy on U.S. citizens.

"As of today," said Ann Beeson, litigation director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, "the Attorney General can suspend the ordinary requirements of the Fourth Amendment in order to listen in on phone calls, read e-mails, and conduct secret searches of Americans' homes and offices."

At issue is whether the Constitution and the USA PATRIOT Act adopted by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks permit the government to use looser foreign intelligence standards to conduct criminal investigations in the United States.

Click on this link for more:
http://www.aclu.org/Cyber-Liberties/Cyber-Liberties.cfm?ID=11332&c=58&MX=600&H=0

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HOTEL BRAVO owned by "HOTELBRAVO.ORG"

October 11, 2002

"What lies at the end of this road is complete moral as well as political corruption. The war is a fateful turn. The day we set foot on Iraqi soil will mark the end of our old republican form of government, and the beginning of a long, slow descent into the bone-yard of empires.

"In 1952, Garet Garrett, a writer of great talent, published a little-noticed pamphlet that prophesized this moment as if he had seen it in a dream:

"'We have crossed the boundary that lies between Republic and Empire. If you ask when, the answer is that you cannot make a single stroke between day and night; the precise moment does not matter. There was no painted sign to say: "You are now entering Imperium." Yet it was a very old road and the voice of history was saying: "Whether you know it or not, the act of crossing may be irreversible." And now, not far ahead, is a sign that reads: "No U-turns."'" – Justin Raimondo

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