Liberals Behind "Redwood Curtain" Challenge Bush

Librarians and city council refuse to follow Patriot Act, leaving government without access to library and video rental records

President Bush may have officially ended the Iraq War but new trouble is afoot here on the streets of America. The troublemakers? The not so meek and mild librarians of America.

Although over 100 cities and at least one state have passed resolutions condemning the Patriot Act's provisions that allow widespread federal snooping, it has been the country's librarians that have been particulary vocal about the requirements that they report records of books checked out by patrons.

Nowhere has the distaste for the Patriot Act been more apparent than in Northern California, home to the so-called "Redwood Curtain," an area where liberalism thrives almost as much as contempt for the President. The Northern California town of Arcata has declared that to cooperate with the Patriot Act is "criminal." City employees are fined $57 for voluntarily complying with the Act.

The town's librarian has vowed not to release any records of checked out books or video rentals from the library's audio-visual department.

The act of defiance hasn't gone unnoticed in Washington.

"It's pretty clear that the Arcata city council has declared war on the United States." said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"We knew we were doing something a little bit bold," says Dave Meserve, the councilman who sponsored the ordinance. "It certainly did not occur to me that it would catch the imagination of the American public or the Defense Department."

One official whose imagination has been captured is Tom Ridge, the Secretary of Homeland Security. "How are we supposed to fight a war on terror without library records? Are we just supposed to guess at which books are being checked out? What about videos? Do people really expect us to win the war against the Al Qaeda's of the world without access to video rental records?"

Another high level city employee reported that plans were underway to defend Arcata against government attack. "We're ready," said the employee. "We think we can defend the town square against anything they can throw at us. They're not getting the library records."

For now, Arcata is peaceful, but civil unrest lies below the surface of this quiet little town, which could easily become the next target of the Bush war machine.