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The attached resolution (Resolution Condemning the Actions of President George W. Bush and Calling for His Immediate Removal or Resignation from Office) was introduced by a group of Librarians and Library employees from Seattle Public Library to their union, AFSCME Local 2083, on January 13, 2006. The Union has since mailed the resolution to its members for consideration. The resolution will be voted on at the next Union meeting (4-7-06).

We encourage Librarians, Library employees, and Library associations everywhere to get involved with this initiative at a time when voices ranging from Al Gore to some of our most beloved authors and historians are warning of the Bush administration's threat to the U.S. Constitution and the unprecedented danger of concentrated power in the Executive Branch that approaches fascism. Let us stand with them and demand that all of our voices be heard, that intellectual freedom be upheld, and that the question of whether Bush need step down become a critical debate in all of society.

The Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime has garnered widespread support. The latest signers include U.S. Representative John Conyers; Rev. Jesse L. Jackson; Paul Haggis, Academy Award Winning Director/Writer of Crash; Maxine Waters, Harry Belafonte, Sean Penn, Jessica Lange, Niles Eldredge, curator of the Darwin Show at the Museum of Natural History, NYC; and Lewis Lapham, former editor of Harper's Magazine. The advisory board includes writers Gore Vidal, Mark Crispin Miller and Howard Zinn.

Some quotes from signatories:

HAROLD PINTER, Nobel Prize winning playwright, 2005: "The Bush Administration is the most dangerous force that has ever existed. It is more dangerous than Nazi Germany because of the range and depth of its activities and intentions worldwide."

ALICE WALKER: "May all beings be free, May all Universes know peace. May all Americans be enlightened to our state of affairs."

STUDS TERKEL: "It's time we assert ourselves. And said to these outrageous liars, who offended our sense of decency, and native intelligence. It's time to BUGGER OFF! Get lost! And let's unite on behalf of peace and sanity and all that makes life rich and worthwhile..."

MICHAEL RATNER, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights: They're a criminal administration. Today, they claim they can torture worldwide. They have CIA hellholes worldwide. The victims of the administration are worldwide: Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, detention facilities...One of our lawyers went to visit one of our clients [in Guantanamo] and he was hanging from the ceiling, blood streaming from his hands."

We ask that you:
 

• Sign The Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime as an organization, professional association, union, or individual member of the Library community. Send signatures to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If signing as an individual, indicate if you'd like your organizational or Library affiliation listed for identification purposes only. We will forward these signatures to the World Can't Wait organization.

• Add your name to this open letter. Again, send signatures to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Introduce and pass resolutions condemning the actions of President George W. Bush and calling for his immediate removal or resignation from office. Feel free to use the wording of the attached resolution.

• Spread this letter and resolution to colleagues and friends. Direct people to the website: www.worldcantwait.org

• Donate funds toward the work of World Can't Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime.www.worldcantwait.org . Donations can be made online or sent to: World Can't Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime, 305 W. Broadway, #185, NY, NY 10013 (Make payable to World Can't Wait/AGJ).  Learn more about this national organization by visiting

Signed,*

Akua Abotare, Librarian, CNN

Doug Barnes, Public Service Technician, Seattle Public Library

Isobel Bascus, Librarian, Martin Luther King, Jr Elementary

Karen Trivette Cannell, MLS

Hannah Whitman Clement

Roberta Frye, Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library

Lucinda Glenn, Archivist, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA

Peter Gunther, Founder, Progressive Archivists

Marty Hendley, Librarian, Seattle Public Library

Mark Hughes, LAII, Seattle Public Library

Ron Jacobs, Library Assistant, Asheville-Buncombe Public Library, North Carolina

Jim Kuhn, Librarian, Takoma Park, MD resident

Paul Lefrak, Librarian, Broward County Main Library, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Lynn Lorenz, Librarian, Seattle Public Library

Laena McCarthy, library employee, New York City

Wendy McPherson, Young Adult Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library, activist in AFSCME 2626 (Librarians' Guild) and AFSCME 2626 delegate to the L.A. County Federation of
Labor

Valerie Metzler,Archivist/Historian, Altoona, PA

Phil Runkel, Archivist, Raynor Memorial Libraries, Marquette University

Peter Spitzform, Collection Development Librarian, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont

Tamara A. Turner, MSLS, retired librarian, Seattle

Janet Van Fleet, LAII, Seattle Public Library

Mynique Williams, Librarian, Seattle Public Library

Dennis Wolbers, Skyline College

*All affiliations are for identification purposes only. The views expressed herein are those of the signers only and not the views of affiliated Libraries or organizations.

Resolution Condemning the Actions of President George W. Bush and Calling for His Immediate Removal or Resignation from Office

WHEREAS, Democracy is a core value that defines, informs, and guides our professional practice and is the base on which rests the foundation of modern librarianship; and

WHEREAS, The American Library Association affirms the responsibility of the leaders of the United States to protect and preserve the freedoms that are the foundation of our democracy; (ALA Resolution on the USA Patriot Act and Related Measures That Infringe on the Rights of Public Library Users); and

WHEREAS, The actions of the current President, George W. Bush, have violated that responsibility in unprecedented ways that threaten the very foundation and form of a Democratic government. Those actions, many of which are indictably criminal, are as follows:

·                    Entering into an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, based upon fabricated and erroneous information;

·                    Crafting of policies adopted since September 11, 2001, including provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56) and PATRIOT ACT II and related executive orders, regulations and actions which threaten fundamental rights and liberties by:

a)     expanding the authority of federal agents to conduct so-called "sneak and peek" or "black bag" searches, in which the subject of the search warrant is unaware that his property has been searched, thereby  increasing the likelihood that the activities of library users, including their use of computers to browse the Web or access e-mail, may be under government surveillance without their knowledge or consent

b)     granting law enforcement and intelligence agencies broad access to personal medical, financial, library and education records with little if any judicial oversight;

c)      permitting the FBI to conduct surveillance of religious services, internet chat rooms, political demonstrations, and other public meetings of any kind without having any evidence that a crime has been or may be committed;

d)     diminishing personal privacy by removing important checks on government surveillance authority;

e)     reducing the accountability of government to the public by increasing government secrecy;

f)        granting expansive new immigration powers to the Attorney General which  are subject to abuse, particularly with regard to immigrants from Arab, Muslim and South Asian countries.

g)     expanding the definition of "terrorism" in a manner that threatens the constitutionally protected rights of Americans, and

·                    Approval of the use of torture (including practices such as hooding, shackling, drugging, sleep deprivation, etc.) in the interrogation of suspected terrorists or their suspected accomplices in his "war on terror."

·                    Illegal detainment of so called "enemy combatants" and others who are jailed on the merest suspicion, refusing them legal counsel and either holding them indefinitely or secretly deporting them. 

·                    Authorization of warrantless electronic surveillance of people within the United States, including U.S. citizens, by the National Security Agency (NSA).

·                    Promoting policies that erode the division of Church and State.

·                    Openly asserting executive power in attempts to override the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Judicial system, thus ignoring the system of checks and balances fundamental to democratic government.

WHEREAS, Librarians are among the preeminent defenders of intellectual freedom and government openness in the US; and

WHEREAS, Intellectual freedom, our primary value as librarians, is seriously violated by the current political climate which allows for suppression, attack and even criminalization of dissent; and

WHEREAS, The Library Bill of Rights states that Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas; and

WHEREAS, The broad social responsibilities of the American Library Association are, in part, defined in terms of the contribution that librarianship can make in ameliorating or solving the critical problems of society, and the willingness of the ALA to take a position on current critical issues with the relationship to libraries and library service set forth in the position statement (ALA Policy Manual, 1.1); therefore it is

RESOLVED, That President George W. Bush, as the head of the administration that is leading the US in its current political direction, should immediately step down from the office of the President of the United States, whether by resignation or impeachment; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That __________ support growing movements calling on President Bush to step down, whether by resignation or impeachment; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That __________ support the actions calling for President Bush to step down initiated by World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime to take place during the State of the Union Address on January 31, 2006; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That __________ encourages our members and the library community to mobilize for and participate in the State of the Union actions; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That __________ will introduce this resolution to __________; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That this resolution be forwarded to the President of the United States, to the Attorney General of the United States, to Members of both Houses of Congress, to the library community, and to others as appropriate.

Dated this ______ day of ____________, 2006

__________ (Organization)

__________ (City, State)

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