The Invisible Library

Is up now. Read it here.

Savannah NOW:

As Savannah’s River Street restaurants sat nearly empty, encircled by ominous cement and metal barricades, on the first day of the G-8 Sea Island Summit, a homeland security advisor for President Bush apologized for the inconvenience.

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But those who make their living off the usual flow of tourists on River Street are looking around this week and wondering if the 5-foot security gates, dozens of armed police officers, and U.S. Coast Guard gunboats on the Savannah River is overkill.

Savannah makes most of its money from tourism, so it’s ironic that the G8 Summit, the meeting of the world’s 8 wealthiest countries in order to discuss financial and world issues, is taking a major chunk out of the economy of a town, merely with its presence. Savannah city planners had hoped that the summit’s proximity and the hosting of the media and security personal would be a huge financial gain, that they’d be rolling in the Big Media Money. But so far, all their plans have fallen through.

Even their absurd precautions for the throngs of evil, un-American protesters failed to yield anything substantial. The city charged protesters registration fees and a tax, hid mail boxes (which is a federal crime if I remember�) and generally made it a Herculean effort to be a citizen and express their first amendment right to gather peaceably. Even that’s backfired, as their draconian tactics have driven away the protesters. That and the fact that the actual Summit is an hour and a half drive south on Sea Island and any of the real protesters are going to Brunswick, which is the next town over from the island.

On top of that, the police outnumber the protesters in Savannah by dozens, which is a potential problem in itself. Imagine a bored cop, made to wear riot gear in the Georgia heat of summer and there’s no rioters. Along come some wayward hippies who couldn’t find their way to Brunswick and you’ve got a smack-down waiting to happen.

Not that protesting the G8 is really a smart move anyway. It’s like getting angry at your pinky for something your hand did. The G8 is a symptom of imperialism and enthrallment to corporate greed, not the cause of it and assuming you actually could get anywhere within twenty miles of one of the jerks in the thousand dollar suits, anything you yell in a rhythmic chant from behind your cardboard placard will have zero effect. You’re just poor trash to them, the receptacle for what meager wealth they haven’t squeezed out of the economy, yet.

Via Wired:

In the past two years, more than 300 cities and four states have passed resolutions calling on Congress to repeal or change parts of the USA Patriot Act that, activists say, violate constitutional rights such as free speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.

Barring that, the resolutions declare that their communities will uphold the constitutional rights of their residents should federal law enforcement agents come knocking on the door of local authorities for assistance in tracking residents. This means local authorities will insist on complying with federal orders only in ways that do not violate constitutional rights. The resolutions are not binding, however, and do not affect the federal government’s actions.

The national movement was launched in 2001 by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, an organization led by activist Nancy Talanian. Talanian first lobbied her community — Northhampton, Massachusetts, a town of 30,000 people — to stand against the act in November 2001, when few people had heard about the legislation.

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Although the resolutions don’t carry official weight, the communities say they hope to send a message to Congress to change or repeal parts of the act.

“Resolutions are powerful in that a city council can tell employees in their jurisdiction how they will behave,” said Talanian. “They can say we don’t want law enforcement to engage in certain activities even if authorized by certain legislation.”

This is part of a long and ongoing battle between federal and state (as well as some local) governments over who decides what laws will apply where (in its broadest sense) but it also has ramifications beyond just the USA Patriot Act (though these are big) to numerous laws, including medicinal Marijuana use and distribution, Gay Marriage and other such controversial rulings. If portions of the Patriot act can be overturned, what is to stop other statutes from being undermined, including ones more beneficial, like civil rights and and anti-miscegenation laws? Where does the rule of law end and the responsibilities of the individual begin?

Personally, I’m glad that there are so many people in such varied places working to overturn the patriot act. I don’t like it, most people I talk to don’t like it, what it represents, and the many myriad ways the law can be misused (such as locking up teenagers in GTMO because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time). it�s heartening to see the american people standing up the bullies running our government, steamrolling Undemocratic legislation into law using scare tactics and the general Populace�s own ignorance against them.