Monster
05-10-2004, 05:37 PM
Forgive my getting on a soapbox again... but I work with a group of ultra conservative types whos views of the world come from fundamentalist christian newsfeeds, so I have very few opprotunities to speak out.
We as a group are among the more forward thinking people in the country (and world) so please indulge me in the occaisional "current events" post. As you know, popular media, though it is always refered to as the "liberal media", is loath to report on issues of real substance. I however spend a lot of time looking at alternate news sources (foriegn press and such) and keeping copies of things of interest.
So Id like to present you with todays "Moment Of Freedom".
Freedom from the pap we are fed, freedom from the brainwashing we recieve.
I'll just post the story and maybe say a few words after it... form your own opinions.
Thank you in advance, because I am driven nearly to insanity each day listening to people discuss how weapons of mass destruction WERE found, and it was covered up by liberals as a means to discredit president bush because he is "pro-family".
So anyway, thanks for indulging me.
****************
For the first time since the Vietnam War, a university has been ordered to turn over records concerning an anti-war program on campus to a federal grand jury. Four anti-war activists have also been subpoenaed to appear before that same grand jury on February 10. On top of this, the university has been issued a gag-order, preventing it from saying anything about the whole sordid affair.
What so provoked the ire of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Ashcroft gang was a conference on November 15, 2003, on the Drake University campus titled “Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!” The conference was followed the next day by a righteous demonstration at the headquarters of the Iowa National Guard in Johnston, Iowa. This is precisely the kind of action the times call for if we are going to stop the government’s juggernaut of war and repression.
Stung by popular resistance, the government issued a subpoena on February 3 to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, calling for the turning over all records and documents in the possession of Drake University relating to the anti-war conference held on campus. The conference was sponsored by the Drake Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG).
The subpoena commands the university to turn over all records “relating to the scheduling of the conference,” the identity of all “persons that actually attended the meeting, the identity of the officers of the Drake chapter of the NLG,” all “meeting agenda or annual reports of this organization filed with the University since January 1, 2002,” and all “records of Drake University campus security reflecting any observations made of the November 15, 2003 meeting, including any records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the meeting.”
In other words, the university is being commanded to act as an arm of the state in spying on political dissent (the assumption is made that the campus cops already did so!) and it is ordered not make any public comment or protest about it.
The Grand Jury Is a Tool of Repression
The popular illusion is that grand juries exist to protect citizens from malicious prosecution by the state, by hearing the state’s evidence in private to ascertain if there is sufficient reason for a trial to be held. In the 1950s and 60s, however, grand juries were regularly used to both harass political dissenters and threaten people with being sent to jail if they do not snitch on their associates in secret proceedings. For example, baby doctor Benjamin Spock and Yale chaplain William Sloan Coffin were indicted by a grand jury for conspiracy to obstruct the draft after they had signed a statement against the Vietnam war and the draft.
Grand jury testimony used to be secret. Now under the USA Patriot Act, “secret” grand jury testimony can be shared with the FBI, CIA, and other agencies asserting an interest in an “anti-terrorism” investigation, but witnesses cannot get a transcript to prove what they did or did not say. So what goes on behind the closed doors is only a secret from the movements of resistance, not from the political police.
When you appear before a grand jury, you may not be accompanied by your attorney, there are no public spectators, and the federal attorney asks the questions. You can -- and should -- assert your Fifth Amendment right not to testify. But you cannot do this selectively. That is, once you begin answering questions, you must answer them all or go to jail. Finally, the government can strip you of your Fifth Amendment protection by giving you immunity from prosecution for what you say. If this happens, you must tell the government snoops what they want to know or go to jail.
Too often people subpoenaed think they can outfox the grand jury and “find out” what the investigation is really after. This is a very big mistake. The trained federal attorney has no intention of tipping the government’s hand. If you give testimony -- even seemingly innocuous testimony -- it can be used after you leave the room to “corroborate” a bogus story being fed to the grand jury. Also, if your associates are later indicted, you have no way of proving that it was not on the basis of your testimony. The watchword in dealing with the agents of repression is always DON’T TALK.
The Politics of Repression
This sudden resurgence of federal grand juries against antiwar protests highlights some ugly trends and dangerous possibilities. Besides the chilling of dissent against the U.S.’s “war on the world” by threatening people with grand jury subpoenas, there is a larger pattern of a grab for power by the federal government as concentrated in the executive branch. First of all, why is the federal government involved at all?
There is a move underway to paint anti-war protest as illegal support for “terrorism” under the USA Patriot Act and it raises the specter of using anti-dissent federal laws from World War I that are still on the books. Those laws sought to criminalize the promotion of “disaffection” among the armed forces or impede military recruitment. The Sedition and Espionage Acts were used during that period to jail hundreds of antiwar activists and ban anti-war publications from the U.S. mail.
What we are seeing is a pattern of selectively “federalizing” local law enforcement, literally making “a federal case” out of local dissent, and creating federal “dissent verboten” zones around the President and federal institutions.
Finally, colleges and universities have historically been integral to movements for rights and social progress. In attacking a university the government seeks to wield its tremendous power to shut down avenues of questioning and facilities for the organization of protest. Added to this is a totally unjustified gag order of a type that has been made “standard operating procedure” in the USA Patriot Act.
********************
You have people worrying about losing our right to bear arms? Christ, we're losing our right to peaceful assembly and free speach!
...so hurry up and plead the fifth, because you cant plead the first.
-RATM
-------------------------
Monsterland Is (NOT)Open Again!!! (http://68.43.66.69:66/monsterland.htm) (dont say you werent warned...)
"Trying is the first step towards failure."
http://www.bodo.com/simpsons/zhomerb.gif "Well, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is... never try."
We as a group are among the more forward thinking people in the country (and world) so please indulge me in the occaisional "current events" post. As you know, popular media, though it is always refered to as the "liberal media", is loath to report on issues of real substance. I however spend a lot of time looking at alternate news sources (foriegn press and such) and keeping copies of things of interest.
So Id like to present you with todays "Moment Of Freedom".
Freedom from the pap we are fed, freedom from the brainwashing we recieve.
I'll just post the story and maybe say a few words after it... form your own opinions.
Thank you in advance, because I am driven nearly to insanity each day listening to people discuss how weapons of mass destruction WERE found, and it was covered up by liberals as a means to discredit president bush because he is "pro-family".
So anyway, thanks for indulging me.
****************
For the first time since the Vietnam War, a university has been ordered to turn over records concerning an anti-war program on campus to a federal grand jury. Four anti-war activists have also been subpoenaed to appear before that same grand jury on February 10. On top of this, the university has been issued a gag-order, preventing it from saying anything about the whole sordid affair.
What so provoked the ire of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Ashcroft gang was a conference on November 15, 2003, on the Drake University campus titled “Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!” The conference was followed the next day by a righteous demonstration at the headquarters of the Iowa National Guard in Johnston, Iowa. This is precisely the kind of action the times call for if we are going to stop the government’s juggernaut of war and repression.
Stung by popular resistance, the government issued a subpoena on February 3 to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, calling for the turning over all records and documents in the possession of Drake University relating to the anti-war conference held on campus. The conference was sponsored by the Drake Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG).
The subpoena commands the university to turn over all records “relating to the scheduling of the conference,” the identity of all “persons that actually attended the meeting, the identity of the officers of the Drake chapter of the NLG,” all “meeting agenda or annual reports of this organization filed with the University since January 1, 2002,” and all “records of Drake University campus security reflecting any observations made of the November 15, 2003 meeting, including any records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the meeting.”
In other words, the university is being commanded to act as an arm of the state in spying on political dissent (the assumption is made that the campus cops already did so!) and it is ordered not make any public comment or protest about it.
The Grand Jury Is a Tool of Repression
The popular illusion is that grand juries exist to protect citizens from malicious prosecution by the state, by hearing the state’s evidence in private to ascertain if there is sufficient reason for a trial to be held. In the 1950s and 60s, however, grand juries were regularly used to both harass political dissenters and threaten people with being sent to jail if they do not snitch on their associates in secret proceedings. For example, baby doctor Benjamin Spock and Yale chaplain William Sloan Coffin were indicted by a grand jury for conspiracy to obstruct the draft after they had signed a statement against the Vietnam war and the draft.
Grand jury testimony used to be secret. Now under the USA Patriot Act, “secret” grand jury testimony can be shared with the FBI, CIA, and other agencies asserting an interest in an “anti-terrorism” investigation, but witnesses cannot get a transcript to prove what they did or did not say. So what goes on behind the closed doors is only a secret from the movements of resistance, not from the political police.
When you appear before a grand jury, you may not be accompanied by your attorney, there are no public spectators, and the federal attorney asks the questions. You can -- and should -- assert your Fifth Amendment right not to testify. But you cannot do this selectively. That is, once you begin answering questions, you must answer them all or go to jail. Finally, the government can strip you of your Fifth Amendment protection by giving you immunity from prosecution for what you say. If this happens, you must tell the government snoops what they want to know or go to jail.
Too often people subpoenaed think they can outfox the grand jury and “find out” what the investigation is really after. This is a very big mistake. The trained federal attorney has no intention of tipping the government’s hand. If you give testimony -- even seemingly innocuous testimony -- it can be used after you leave the room to “corroborate” a bogus story being fed to the grand jury. Also, if your associates are later indicted, you have no way of proving that it was not on the basis of your testimony. The watchword in dealing with the agents of repression is always DON’T TALK.
The Politics of Repression
This sudden resurgence of federal grand juries against antiwar protests highlights some ugly trends and dangerous possibilities. Besides the chilling of dissent against the U.S.’s “war on the world” by threatening people with grand jury subpoenas, there is a larger pattern of a grab for power by the federal government as concentrated in the executive branch. First of all, why is the federal government involved at all?
There is a move underway to paint anti-war protest as illegal support for “terrorism” under the USA Patriot Act and it raises the specter of using anti-dissent federal laws from World War I that are still on the books. Those laws sought to criminalize the promotion of “disaffection” among the armed forces or impede military recruitment. The Sedition and Espionage Acts were used during that period to jail hundreds of antiwar activists and ban anti-war publications from the U.S. mail.
What we are seeing is a pattern of selectively “federalizing” local law enforcement, literally making “a federal case” out of local dissent, and creating federal “dissent verboten” zones around the President and federal institutions.
Finally, colleges and universities have historically been integral to movements for rights and social progress. In attacking a university the government seeks to wield its tremendous power to shut down avenues of questioning and facilities for the organization of protest. Added to this is a totally unjustified gag order of a type that has been made “standard operating procedure” in the USA Patriot Act.
********************
You have people worrying about losing our right to bear arms? Christ, we're losing our right to peaceful assembly and free speach!
...so hurry up and plead the fifth, because you cant plead the first.
-RATM
-------------------------
Monsterland Is (NOT)Open Again!!! (http://68.43.66.69:66/monsterland.htm) (dont say you werent warned...)
"Trying is the first step towards failure."
http://www.bodo.com/simpsons/zhomerb.gif "Well, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is... never try."