Life and Death of Public Records Barring Access for 100 years!

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.alternet.org/rights/32242

Buried in a 2004 law on terrorism is text that could bar public access to birth and death certificates for up to 100 years.

Sometimes it's the small abuses scurrying below radar that reveal how profoundly the Bush administration has changed America in the name of national security. Buried within the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 is a regulation that bars most public access to birth and death certificates for 70 to 100 years. In much of the country, these records have long been invaluable tools for activists, lawyers and reporters to uncover patterns of illness and pollution that officials miss or ignore.

In These Times has obtained a draft of the proposed regulations now causing widespread concern among state officials. It reveals plans to create a vast database of vital records to be centralized in Washington and details measures that states must implement -- and pay millions for -- before next year's scheduled implementation.

The draft lays out how some 60,000 already strapped town and county offices must keep the birth and death records under lock and key and report all document requests to Washington. Individuals who show up in person will still be able to obtain their own birth certificates and, in some cases, the birth and death records of an immediate relative, and "legitimate" research institutions may be able to access files. But reporters and activists won't be allowed to fish through records, many family members looking for genetic clues will be out of luck, and people wanting to trace adoptions will dead-end. If you are homeless and need your own birth certificate, forget it: no address, no service.

Consider the public health implications. A few years back, a doctor in a tiny Vermont town noticed that two patients who lived on the same hill had ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Hearing rumors of more cases of the relatively rare and always fatal disease, the doctor notified the health department. Citing lack of resources, it declined to investigate. The doc then told a reporter, who searched the death certificates filed in the town office only to find that ALS had already killed five of the town's 1,300 residents. It was statistically possible, but unlikely, that this 10-times-higher-than-normal incidence was simply chance. Since no one knows what causes ALS, clusters like this one, once revealed, help epidemiologists assess risk factors, warn doctors to watch for symptoms,and alert neighbors and activists.

Activists in Colorado already know what it is like when states bar access to vital records. For years, they fought the Cotter Corp., claiming that its uranium mining operations were killing residents and workers. Unwilling to rely on the health department, which they claimed had a "cozy" relationship with the polluters, the activists tried to access death records, only to be told that it was illegal in this closed-records state. An editorial in Colorado's Longmont Daily Times-Call lamented, "If there's a situation that makes the case for why death certificates should be available to the public, it is th Superfund area."

[Trevelyan]

1. Thank you for letting us know. DU's latest activism is on writing your

Congresspersons to support Rep. John Conyers' three bills to support the beginning of Impeachment Inquiry.

Conyers has a Solidary Letter/Citizen Co-Sponsorship of his Impeachment bills:

http://www.johnconyers.com Conyer's Action Items

http://www.conyersblog.us/

[Trevelyan]

2. Excellent letter about ltrs to Congress on DU's latest Activism site

Actually, this is sort of an ongoing campaign for me.

REGULARLY, I contact Waxman, Boxer and Feinstein, and remind them that IMPEACHMENT IS an option. With Waxman, probably every time I call his office (and I do so, frequently) i put in a word about supporting IMPEACHMENT, or John Conyers' efforts specifically, OR BOTH.

With my Senators, I remind them that I know theirs is not the IMPEACHMENT department, I realize that belongs with the House of Reps. But I tell them I KNOW they have friends in the other chamber, and if the subject EVER comes up in conversation, they're to mention it, and add how much they're hearing about this from constituents, and how IMPEACHMENT IS AN OPTION. That they should consider it, even as Senators, and that they should not fear to spread the word.

Especially in Feinstein's case, I like to remind them that I know VERY well that she's hoping to be reelected, and that if she expects MY support, she better take this seriously (especially since I am mightily displeased with her behavior and her nearly non-stop capitulation to the Dark Siders). With Boxer, the reaction tends to be a lot more friendly and more receptive.

It's worth it, guys, for anybody reading this - DO NOT HESITATE to bring up IMPEACHMENT whether you've got Dem or republi-CON representation, House OR Senate. DOESN'T MATTER if you think it's gonna fall on deaf ears. It won't, for long. Even those in the enemy camp NEED to keep hearing about this.

It'll make 'em nervous. Especially since they, as a party, are collectively growing more nervous and upset and shaky about their employment prospects and being tied to an increasingly UNPOPULAR "wartime pResident." THEY NEED TO HEAR THIS, TOO. WHETHER THEY WANT TO, OR NOT. WHETHER THEY WANT TO FACE IT, OR NOT.

Another wise DUer here, awhile back (my apologies for not remembering who it was - they deserve credit for this), posted that - even among the enemy, some of them are there in those jobs by the NARROWEST of voting margins. They are painfully aware that, to stay employed, they actually might need the support of some of us on the other side, because their own margins for victory aren't good. And, anymore, looking at the trends, those margins are getting smaller and less impressive every day.

And for some of these people, a handful of votes from our side may make the difference between their staying in that fancy, fat-cat job of influence, perks, and power, or heading to the unemployment line and LOSER-ville. Our voices will become that much more important to some of these, especially among the moderates.

VISUALIZE IMPEACHMENT!! Then go DO something about it. Call Capitol Hill Switchboard TOLL FREE: 1-888 355 3588, 1-888 818 6641, 1-877 851 6437. AND

DON'T FORGET http://www.downingstreetmemo.com / http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com/index.asp?

[Trevelyan]

3. The URL for the latest DU Activism - IMPEACH - OUT OF IRAQ NOW!

Activist HQ
Topic subject DU Activist Corps Action: Impeachment/Out Of Iraq Demonstrations

Topic URL

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x26858#26858

26858, DU Activist Corps Action: Impeachment/Out Of Iraq Demonstrations

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. But..but..we live in a democracy and have a "transparent government".

[EVDebs]

5. Oh great ! They haul dissenters into court and the dissents

Don't Really Exist ! Imagine it, you can be sent away for life on any kind of charge without a way to prove who you really are, since you can't produce any kind of record to the court as proof of who you really are.

Only Big Brother exists. 2+2=3 . Big Brother says so.

[robertpaulsen]

6. K & R!

:hi:

Good find, seemslikeadream. Alternet has really been on top of things lately. Did you read the one about Rumsfeld's plan to shut down the internet?

[linazelle]

10. .

[seemslikeadream]

11. Thanks robertpaulsen

:hi:

[gordianot]

7. This is more ominous than it appears.

Easy to make people disappear or become something else. It would have kept Gannon in his nighttime forays into the White House.

[glitch]

8. Ah ha. Some of their actions appear bizarre and motiveless until you

bring it down to the practical level. Thanks for that.

[suziedemocrat]

9. VERY SCARY!!!! Kick. eom.