"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword." -- Julius Caesar

"There is no 'slippery slope' toward loss of liberty, only a long staircase where each step down must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders."
-- Alan K. Simpson

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment, unpopular."
--Edward R. Murrow

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." -- Mark Twain

"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me." -- Reverend Martin Niemoeller

News

• News Report Reveals White House Approved Torture Techniques.   ABC News reported that in dozens of top-secret White House meetings, the most senior Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, discussed and approved specific torture techniques for use on detainees. According to this report, Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Attorney General John Ashcroft sanctioned these tactics. In light of this revelation, the ACLU is calling on Congress to appoint a special counsel to investigate these charges.   2008-04-10
   
• Federal Government Again Proves IDs are Empty Security Promises.   The Government Management, Organization, and Procurement Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on federal security that should shine a spotlight on bad security systems. It will address ID cards and other ineffective government programs.   2008-04-09
   
• Innocent Victim Of CIA Extraordinary Rendition Program Takes Case To International Tribunal.   The ACLU has filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent victim of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear El-Masri's case in October 2007.   2008-04-09
   
• Military Commission Proceedings Put Credibility Of U.S. Justice System On The Line.   The ACLU was at at Guantánamo Bay the week of April 7, 2008, to observe the U.S. military commission hearings of Sudanese national Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, Saudi national Ahmed Mohammad al-Darbi, and Canadian national Omar Ahmed Khadr. The ACLU has been present as an independent observer at each and every commission hearing and continues to see no indication that the proceedings are fair, impartial, or in accordance with constitutional principles.   2008-04-09
   
• ACLU Argues That Ashcroft Can Be Held Accountable For Wrongful Detention.   The ACLU is arguing in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of an innocent American, Abdullah al-Kidd. The ACLU is also arguing that the federal material witness law cannot be used to preventively detain or investigate suspects without sufficient evidence that they have actually committed crimes.   2008-04-08
   
• ACLU Calls for Investigation into NSL Abuse.   The ACLU has called on Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine to begin an internal investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) use of National Security Letters (NSLs), and whether they were used to funnel Americans' private information to the Department of Defense (DOD). The NSL statute is a tool used by law enforcement to compel the release of information, such as communications or business records, without a court order. The revelation that the military is getting the FBI to issue NSLs in strictly DOD investigations was disclosed in documents obtained by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The ACLU sent a letter to Fine yesterday asking him to investigate whether the FBI has aided the DOD in circumventing the law.   2008-04-08
   
• E-Verify Would Cost $40 Billion, CBO Says.   The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the estimated cost to implement H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act of 2007, and found that the proposed legislation would cost taxpayers more than $40 billion over 10 years. H.R. 4088, introduced by Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO), would implement a national employer verification system and mandate it for all new hires. It is currently under consideration for a "discharge petition" that would allow the bill to bypass the traditional committee markup process and instead go directly to the House floor.   2008-04-08
   
• ACLU Introduces First Amendment Argument In Key Patent Law Case.   Introducing a rare argument applying the First Amendment to patent law, the ACLU has filed a friend of the court brief today urging a federal court to uphold the denial of a patent that would, if awarded, violate freedom of speech. In the brief, the ACLU argues that Bernard L. Bilski is seeking a patent for an abstract idea, and that abstract ideas are not patentable under the First Amendment.   2008-04-08
   
• ACLU Issues New Reports on Costs and Arbitrariness of CA's Death Penalty. These reports demonstrate that California's death penalty is arbitrary, unnecessary, and a waste of critical resources.  2008-04-01  
  • California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year post-trial seeking execution of the people currently on death row.
  • Executing all of the people currently on death row, or waiting for them to die there of other causes, will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if they had been sentenced to die in prison of disease, injury, or old age.
  • California death penalty trials have cost as much as $10.9 million.
  • Counties that sentence people to death do not experience lower homicide rates or higher rates of solving homicides, but resources devoted to pursuing executions detract from other important programs.
  • A resident of Alameda is eight times more likely to be sentenced to death than a resident of nearby Santa Clara.
     
• ACLU of Monterey County 2007-2008 Bill of Rights Art and Essay Contest Award Winners Announced.   Each year we hold an annual Bill of Rights Art and Essay Contest. The announcement of the contest, the guidelines, and the summary of the issue are sent to all junior and senior high schools in Monterey County and posted on our web site. The winners were announced at our Annual Meeting in January, and their award-winning works of art and essays are now available on this web site.   2008-02-10