Thursday, September 30, 2004 7:00 PM

“Reading Your Rights” is a 26-minute documentary about the Tattered Cover Bookstore’s successful fight against a search warrant demanding the names of books purchased by a customer. Board members of ACLU NM will offer comments and answer questions following the viewing.

At Bound to be Read (click link for address and phone number)

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU

Last week Congress began to take up the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations but now we have the details of the proposed legislation and it is much worse than we had expected. The proposed House bill would likely create what amounts to a national identification card, drastically curtail basic fairness in the nation’s immigration system and expand government powers under the PATRIOT Act.

Although the original purpose of the bill was intelligence reform, the current version includes several provisions that were not included in the 9/11 Commission recommendations but have been long been priorities for the hard-line anti-immigration lobby. (more…)

ACLU New Mexico Presents “Persons of Interest”
Film viewing followed by discussion

“A film guaranteed to raise the righteous indignation of anyone with a favorable opinion of liberty, freedom or the Constitution” - John Anderson, Newsday

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, more than 5,000 people, mainly people of South Asian or Middle Eastern origin, were taken into custody by the U.S. Justice Department and held indefinitely on grounds of national security.

Through interviews, family photographs, and letters from prison, directors Alison Maclean and Tobias Perse have fashioned a compelling film, allowing those affected a chance to tell their own stories.

LAS CRUCES: 7:00 pm Monday September 27, 2004
Peace & Justice Ctr. of Las Cruces - 1210 E. Madrid

GALLUP: 6:30 pm Wednesday September 29, 2004
El Morro Theatre - 207 W. Coal Ave.

Kimberly Lavender
Public Education Coordinator, ACLU-NM
PO Box 80915
Albuquerque, NM 87198
www.aclu-nm.org
_______________________________________________
Aclu-nm mailing list
Aclu-nm@swcp.com
http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/aclu-nm

Come hear local people speak up and share their stories about the struggle to:

PROTECT OUR FAMILIES
Town Hall Meeting
September 23rd, 7:00 P.M.
University of New Mexico
Student Union Ballroom
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Find out what you can do to support equality for all New Mexicans.

Allowing Gay and Lesbian couples the right to attain a civil marriage license does not take away any rights from heterosexual couples. In fact Gay and Lesbian families are denied over 1,ooo state and federal protections that other couples take for granted. As a result, our families face many obstacles and hardships because they are denied these protections, benefits and responsibilities that are granted by the state.

Child care provided please call ahead. For more information: 244-0201 ABQ or 888-304-2366 toll free.

Hope to see you there!

SPONSORED BY LAMBDA LEGAL, EQUALITY NEW MEXICO, NATIONAL CENTER FOR
LESBIAN RIGHTS, ACLU, PFLAG, HRC, LESBIANS FOR CHANGE, LAMBDA LAW
STUDENT ASSOCIATION, NEW MEXICO RELIGIOUS COALTION FOR REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS, SOUL FORCE and UNM’S LGBTQQI ALLIANCE.

This is the summary from www.factcheck.org (which seems pretty even-handed in its efforts). FYI. Any responses? (use comment link below) mjh

The American Civil Liberties Union is running an ad alleging that the USA Patriot Act allows authorities to search homes “without notifying us . . . treating us all like suspects.” That’s not exactly true.

Actually, notice still has to be given to the subject of such a search, eventually. And far from treating us “all” like suspects, the Department of Justice reports seeking only 47 such “sneak-and-peek” warrants in the law’s first 17 months.

“Sneak-and-peek” searches are now easier to get, legal in all jurisdictions, and the law contains no practical limit on how long authorities can delay notifying the subject of a search. But contrary to the impression left by the ad, they aren’t new: some federal courts allowed them prior to the USA Patriot Act.

Full article plus links to ad, Patriot Act text and other links: http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docid=259

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer

1) Ashcroft Continues to Seek New Powers
2) Oppose Backdoor Attempts to Institute a National ID

Attorney General Ashcroft and his allies in Congress are taking advantage of the 9/11 Commission report to push an expansion of the powers of the Department of Justice and erode key checks and balances that prevent government abuse. Many of their earlier proposals met with defeat, but now they are pushing new legislation that would dramatically expand on the PATRIOT Act and even further restrict our freedom.

This proposed legislation would increase the government’s power to secretly obtain personal records without judicial review. Also, by expanding “administrative subpoena” powers, it would erode already diminished judicial oversight in terrorism cases and would allow access to confidential records without individual suspicion of wrongdoing. (more…)

Feudal societies instilled the lesson of the monarch’s supreme authority through public displays of brutality and force. Public executions made a vivid impression of the kinds of horrors one would face if he or she dared to challenge the monarch’s rule. Torture inscribed that lesson on the subject’s very body.

With Modernity, according to French philosopher Michel Foucault, came a growing realization that state bureaucracies could efficiently neutralize challenges to their authority by making citizens the subjects of passive scrutiny and surveillance, rather than the targets of physical coercion. Some prisons, for example, adopted a design called the “panopticon” in which the configuration of cell blocks, dividing walls, and windows made each and every inmate fully visible to a single guard stationed in the center of the facility. No corner of the inmate’s cell remained hidden from view.

The ingenious feature of the panopticon was that, while guards could easily inspect the activities of inmates, the angles of view prevented inmates from seeing their custodians. (In today’s facility, mirrored windows accomplish this effect.) Even if no one was manning the guard station, inmates had to assume they were under constant close scrutiny. Under such conditions, inmates learned to police their own impulses to try to escape or otherwise stir up trouble. With little investment of resources, the prison tacitly drew the inmate into a state of tractability (or so the theory goes).

The panopticon holds a subtle, but extremely important lesson for people who think critically about the transformations in our politico-legal system since 9/11. The USA Patriot Act and related initiatives pose a very real threat that law-abiding citizens will be investigated as “terrorists” because they express critical views of the government.

More insidious yet is the implicit effect that these laws have by infusing our everyday lives with the threat of surveillance. Even if that threat is never actualized—the police never come to our door–we live with a growing misgiving that the websites we visit, the books we buy, and the travel arrangements we make might mark us as people worthy of suspicion.

The problem is not just surveillance, but secret surveillance. We don’t know if our actions are being monitored, but we’re forced to assume that they are because recent changes in law and technology have increased our exposure in so many, largely unknown, ways. With panopticon-like subtlety, we are persuaded to police our own thoughts and expression. We become co-conspirators in our own subjugation.

Secret surveillance is the foremost threat to the culture of freedom in America. The ACLU of New Mexico invites New Mexicans to learn more about this critical topic and to take part in a state-wide campaign to assert greater control over the dissemination of our personal information. Join us in Santa Fe on August 21st to learn from local and national experts about the perils surrounding “Data Mining, Privacy, and Surveillance in New Mexico.”

- Peter Simonson
Executive Director’s Notes 7/04

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU
To: ACLU Action Network Members

1) Help Stop the Marriage Amendment
2) Stop Congress from Stripping Power from the Judicial Branch (more…)

Do you want to know how to use this blog? (more…)

• Please go to our website www.aclu-nm.org to view the updated fall 2004 ACLU-NM calendar. EVENTS! VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES! BILL OF RIGHTS DINNER!
• ACLU of New Mexico Voter Empowerment Cards are online at www.aclu.org/vec. Please download them to make copies for distribution.
• A new freedom editorial was recently posted about Privacy and Surveillance at www.givemefreedom.org.
• 352 Civil Liberties Safe Zones! Four states and 348 cities and counties have passed resolutions to protect their 53,845,415 residents’ civil liberties. Hundreds more resolutions critical of the USA PATRIOT Act are in progress. Go to www.bordc.org.

Protect Civil Liberties in New Mexico !

Provided as an educational service by the ACLU of New Mexico
(505) 266-5915; aclunmpa@swcp.com

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU
To: ACLU Action Network Members
Subject: Act now! Senate leaders will soon move to approve the flag amendment

With several Senators absent due to presidential campaigns, sickness or the aftermath of Hurricane Frances, the Republican Senate leadership is planning to slip in a vote on the flag desecration amendment –- a measure that would not otherwise pass. But due to these absences, this proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution – which has already passed in the House – has a real chance of passing in the Senate. We need your help to stop it! (more…)

Here is a link for National ACLU Meetup Day. There are actually no ACLU meetups happening this month in NM. In order to get one going in a particular city, you will need to visit the site after the next Meetup day: (more…)

ACLU-NM has created this weblog ("blog") to improve communication with the membership. Take a look around; ask questions and make suggestions anytime.

mjh
Mark Justice Hinton
ACLU-NM webmaster

What is a “blog"? (more…)