— Sign at entrance to Santa Cruz, Calif., Public Library

There will be countless speeches on Monday about the ultimate sacrifice. Many speakers likely will make reference to the recent invasion and conquering of Iraq. And they should. The military fighters who lost their lives in Iraq were following the same call to duty as soldiers of past wars.

In most cases that call was to defend our liberty — both the freedom from foreign domination and the right to freely pursue our happiness. And when a defense of our freedom wasn't at stake, young men and women regardless have always answered the call of their commander in chief.

In the tradition of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the United States has always been one of the freest societies in the world. Foreign powers have been held far at bay and the relative freedom of American people to speak and live the way they wish has been an example for others to emulate.

That's why it's so disturbing, on this Memorial Day, to see some of the practices of more authoritarian societies creeping into our way of life. Those who have made that ultimate sacrifice would be troubled too, if they were to be aware of some of infringements on the freedom they so bravely defended.

Those assaults on our liberty are most overt in the USA Patriot Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by the president in the agitated weeks following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Some of the act's potential abuses of government authority have been well-documented. In fact, scores of communities have approved ordinances and resolutions opposing the Patriot Act. Unfortunately, such paper revolts don't hold up against federal law.

We might be able to do something about one of the act's most vile "big brother" provisions. That is Section 215 regarding access to records and other items under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It permits the FBI to seek records from bookstores and libraries pertaining to people suspected of terrorism.

No subpoena, no judicial review. And the problem is made worse by the broad definition of "domestic terrorism," which the Patriot Act's Section 802 defines as "acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State" and that "appear to be intended ... to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion."

Clearly, such a broad definition could be used against activists in any number of legitimate causes that may run counter to government policies.

But we can help turn the tide on Section 815 because Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has proposed scaling back Section 815 with the "Freedom to Read Protection Act."

"Because this new legislation will allow the FBI to use the constitutional routes at its disposal, including criminal subpoenas, to get library and bookstore records, it will not tie the hands of investigators," Sanders said.

And we are not talking about power on paper that has rarely been used by the authorities. Sanders says Section 815 has "been used already - a University of Illinois survey shows libraries were targeted at least 175 times in the year after 9/11 - yet the FBI refuses to explain how or why."

Marie Bruni, director of the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta, said "they can come in and just take the records. We can ask to have our attorney present, but even so we can't do anything to stop them."

A more-recent survey of 1,020 libraries in January and February shows that 85 of them had been asked by the authorities for information about patrons.

Unfortunately, Bruni said she couldn't say whether she has been asked by the authorities to provide any information about the reading or computer habits of local people.

That's because Section 815 also places a gag order on librarians to prevent them from disclosing that they have been ordered to produce records on their patrons.

"I could face jail. And I can't even inform the person they're investigating," Bruni said.

This country has a relatively admirable history when it comes to censorship. It occurs, but not that often. That's why it's such a shame now to have free access to books and other reading material only to have the government secretly snooping to find out just what people are reading.

It is important that Sanders' colleagues in the House get the message that they should support the Section 815 reforms, which are proposed in HR 1157.

Bruni said she wholeheartedly supports the Sanders proposal. Area residents should let their congressman know that they too support it.

Let's not sacrifice some of the freedoms for which our defenders have fought and died. Let's turn back some of the terrible civil rights violations authorized by the Patriot Act. You can help.

———

Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star. He can be reached at cary@thedailystar.com or (607) 441-7217.