Librarians, U.S. attorneys squaring off

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-lib26.html

That loud "Shhhhh!" you hear Monday may be the sound of 25,000 librarians reacting to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's defense of the government's right to confiscate people's library records.

Fitzgerald, like many U.S. attorneys around the country, has become a roving defender of the USA Patriot Act and its most controversial provision allowing federal investigators to seize people's library records.

Chief among the critics of that provision, passed in the nervous days after 9/11, is the American Library Association, which is meeting in Chicago this weekend.

Fitzgerald has volunteered to take his campaign for renewal right into the heart of the opposition Monday, debating Colleen Connell, director of the Chicago office of the American Civil Liberties Union, which takes the librarians' side.

[acmejack]

1. Isn't he supposed to be finding out who outed Valerie Plame?

Priorities, I guess...

[mom cat]

4. Oh, I'm sure he will get to it in his spare time, not!

[kath]

6. yeah, Fitzgerald, work on the Plame thing and leave the librarians alone!

[bemildred]

2. They must be pretty dumb ot think they will win a fight with librarians.

[skooooo]

3. Don't ever piss off a librarian!

(a librarian)

[kedrys]

5. I've seen how librarians fight

At least in the movies, like Rachel Weisz in the Mummy movies...my $$$'s on you. :) Thanks for fighting the good fight. :applause:

[formercia]

7. agree, i'm married to one.

lol

[VegasWolf]

8. Isn't that a "raving" defender of the Patriot Act, rather than "roving? nt

[donco6]

9. The attorneys are doomed.

I wouldn't want to take on the librarians. They scare me.

[tanyev]

10. I just started a job as a library clerk.

The librarians there are an impressive, and formidable, group of women.

[donco6]

13. And strategically - I mean, really . . .

If you asked 100 people, "Who do you trust more, a librarian or an attorney?" what do you think the answer would be?

Hence, the attorneys are doomed.

[skooooo]

11. Lol...why do they scare you?

Just curious...

[donco6]

12. I was a nerdy kid.

I read all the time. So, many of my days were spent in the library. I remember being afraid of the librarian there, because she would watch you to make sure you didn't go into the Adult section "by mistake."