DES MOINES, Iowa - 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.
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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 (news - web sites) 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."
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According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, the Drake subpoena asks for records of the request for a meeting room, "all documents indicating the purpose and intended participants in the meeting, and all documents or recordings which would identify persons that actually attended the meeting."
It also asks for campus security records "reflecting any observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting, including any records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the meeting."
The focus of the inquiry is on the National Lawyers Guild, an extremely dangerous organization as judged by the aims stated on its subversive website:
• to eliminate racism;
• to safeguard and strengthen the rights of workers, women, farmers and minority groups, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends;
• to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them;
• to use the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
The federal judge, unnamed in the article, should be asked why we ought to subpoena the Catholic Peace Ministry but not Dick Cheney's energy task force for meeting minutes, or Enron CEOs for their documents, or the White House for 9-11-01 documentation, or John Ashcroft for campaign funding, or the complete military records of George W. Bush.
Catholics are identical to "Islamofascists" in the eyes of these blind cretins. The faith-based favoritism of the Bush administration mysteriously vanishes unless the protesting faith happens to be, ironically, Protestant.
UPDATE: As I was writing the above, Dick Cheney was a few miles away with some comments of his own:
Cheney called on Congress to renew the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism bill that critics say has curbed civil liberties but Cheney defended as allowing federal law enforcement to share more intelligence information.
"We used these tools to catch embezzlers and drug traffickers and we need these tools as well to hunt terrorists," he said.*
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The fund-raiser at Rosemont's [Illinois] convention center, sponsored by the National Republican Congressional Committee, raised money to help elect Republicans to the U.S. House. Organizers said 187 people paid $1,500 each for lunch and to hear Cheney speak, which means the event raised more than $280,000.
*Note that Dick didn't mention Catholic peace activists or anti-racism legal advocates — although they happen to be among the subpoenaed.
Note also that Dick Cheney did not include himself among the embezzlers for his role in Halliburton bribes totalling $180 million while he was CEO of that company.
Incidentally, has anyone who did not pay at least a thousand dollars ever even seen Dick Cheney? How do we know he exists?
