Tom Tomorrow,
modrnwrld_blog, finally gave me the solid proof I needed to back up my suspicions yesterday. I can see the story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in the wire feeds, but it didn't show up as a regular news item in the stupid Sunday (Seattle) Times, which goes to bed at about 11 on Saturday nights. It has zero coverage in the New York Times. Apparently the Feds' return to McCarthy-era crackdowns, sheltered by the rules tossed in the Patriot Act that forbid people from discussing when they are under investigation by the Feds, was done under the cover of Sunday night secrecy that the Bush administration has used very successfully to keep items out of the news. "In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists.
In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday, the protesters said. [snip]
Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq in 2002.
They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.
"This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to happen in this country from now on."
The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!" came the day before 12 protesters were arrested at an anti-war rally at Iowa National Guard headquarters in Johnston. Organizers say the forum included nonviolence training for people planning to demonstrate.
Goddammit everyone, can we PLEASE raise a stink about this? I wrote a letter to the editor of the Seattle P-I - what else can we do? This must have the light of day shining on it! HELP HELP HELP! What can we do to raise the profile of this historic attack on our civil liberties??? Ideas, please!
