I'm going to start with some nice things -- not that the librarian story isn't nice. It is totally positive. You will be dancing down the street. I just want to mention three things that I totally love not related to these kind of stories or to people who write hard-copy letters to government officials about things like, you know: Please do not attend the Olympics!Here are the three things:
01 People who drive fast. You go brother! God gave you that car for a reason. You are driving fast for all of us!
02 Beyonce and Jay-Z. I LOVE THEM. They are a nice looking couple. They should get more press. I think they look sweet sitting together at this game. (See above.) They never look unhappy.
03 I'll think of something else and get back to you. Oh, OK. I liked the movie I saw this weekend: "I Am Legend." Will Smith was good. Although I thought, you know, that if two adults had been pretty much without company for three years, and then, you know, they ran into another adult of the opposite sex; I'm just thinking there would be more touching and maybe some sex. My friend who watched it with me said they didn't have time for sex. I thought whoever was ultimately responsible for that movie should have had them touching right off the bat and then should have made time for sex. I would be touching someone after three years. I would be THRILLED to see someone. Especially of the opposite sex. I would have made time even if the crazies were coming through the roof.
Here is the librarian story:
Story available at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/04/12/news/local/35-librarians.txt
Published on Saturday, April 12, 2008.
Last modified on 4/12/2008 at 1:02 am
Librarians who resisted FBI subpoenas will detail their story today
Two Connecticut librarians who became uncommon champions for civil liberties will present their unlikely story today in Billings.In 2005, Peter Chase and George Christian, along with two other Library Connection librarians in that state, were served National Security Letters by the FBI. The letters, a form of subpoena, requested personal information from a library patron and sought records of all borrowed reading material and Internet usage. The librarians decided not to comply.
National Security Letters have been around for years but were rarely used until recent years, said Lex Hames, communications director with the American Civil Liberties Union in Montana. He said their power was enhanced with the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.
The act includes a provision that expanded FBI authority to demand records without court approval and to prohibit recipients of National Security Letters from letting anyone know about the demand.
"It goes toward all the things wrong with allowing law enforcement to operate in secret and unconstitutionally without safeguards," Christian said.
That the librarians simply talked to each other about the letters they received could have been considered illegal. The letters come with a lifetime gag order, and breaking the gag order could result in a five-year federal prison sentence.
"Librarians have a professional commitment to the First Amendment," Christian said. "We will always resist the infringement of the First Amendment. It's our professional ethos."
The librarians enlisted the help of the ACLU and took the matter to a federal court, arguing that the gag order was unconstitutional.
The judge ruled in favor of the librarians, but the letters were still valid.
The FBI decided not to pursue the investigation into the library patron, and the librarians have since been sharing their tale with other Americans.
"It's important to share our story because of the secrecy," Christian said. "There are so many other people who can't talk about the letters they received. It remains a secret until the day they die."
The U.S. Department of Justice reported last year that least 150,000 letters have been served.
The ACLU contends that 300,000 letters have been served.
"That's 300,000 people who can never speak about it," Hames said. "These four librarians are the only ones who can even say they received letters."
The librarians, collectively known as John Doe in their lawsuit, couldn't be associated with the case because it could be considered a violation of the gag order.
They watched their fate play out on a closed-circuit television 50 miles from the courthouse, Hames said.
They had to meet with their lawyers in secret and couldn't discuss the ordeal with anyone except their lawyers.
"You don't really think of librarians out against the barricades protesting," Hames said. "These four men were facing prison time, and they were very brave in a quiet way."
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