[NV Greens] Calls to Congress Needed TODAY: Extremists Hijack Patriot Reform

[Bob Tregilus]

************************
ALERT! ACTION NEEDED!
************************

On Wednesday, November 16, the congressional conference committee 
considering the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act released its 
report which will be voted on by both the House and the Senate by the 
end of the week.

We are sorry to report that the process of revisiting the troubling 
sections of the PATRIOT Act has been hijacked by extremists in congress.

According to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) "the 
Conference Report . . . constructs a facade of checks and balances, 
while stripping the courts of any significant oversight. Opportunities 
for the Department of Justice to monitor telephone and email activities 
of ordinary Americans, as well as to delve into financial, medical, 
library, school and other records without oversight are extended, and in 
some cases expanded. The Report also creates multiple new death penalties."

Lisa Graves, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Senior Counsel for 
Legislative Strategy, stated: "The Patriot Act was bad in 2001, and 
despite bipartisan calls for reform, it's still bad in 2005. Instead of 
addressing the real concerns that millions of Americans have about the 
Patriot Act . . . Congress buckled . . . [and is] stripping the bill of 
modest yet meaningful reforms. Congress must reject this bill."

************************

PLEASE ACT NOW! Call or fax Senators Ensign and Reid and your 
representative now. Tell them that nearly 400 jurisdictions and seven 
entire states (including the county of Elko and the cities of Sparks, 
Elko and Silver City in Nevada) have made known their concerns regarding 
the overreaching sections of the PATRIOT Act. Recently, the US Chambers 
of Commerce, the National Association of Manufactures, the National 
Association of Realtors, and the American Bar Association have added 
their voices to the din of objections to this severely flawed 
legislation as well.

A few in congress apparently have their own agendas and have chosen to 
ignore this unprecedented national outcry for PATRIOT reform.

You can change that - CALL OR FAX YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW! (you can 
leave a message tonight or speak to a staff member in the morning.) Ask 
them to vote "NO" on the Conference Report reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act!

Senator John Ensign / Phone: 202-224-6244 / Fax: 202-228-2193

Senator Harry Reid / Phone: 202-224-3542 / Fax: 202-224-7327

Representative Jim Gibbons / Phone: 202-225-6155 / Fax: 202-225-5679

Representative Jon Porter / Phone: 202-225-3252 / Fax: 202-225-2185

Representative Shelley Berkley / Phone: 202-225-5965 / Fax: 202-225-3119

Sample talking points:

* Nearly 400 communities and seven states have passed resolutions 
specifically calling upon Congress to protect the Bill of Rights from 
anti-terrorism laws and orders. Many national organizations representing 
millions of Americans have passed similar resolutions in response to the 
civil liberties invasions of the PATRIOT Act.

* A recent Washington Post article alerted all of us to the fact that 
the Department of Justice has been using Section 505 to an extreme. At 
least 30,000 National Security Letters have been issued per year to 
obtain records of potentially millions of ordinary Americans. Even when 
found to be innocent of any terrorist activity, their records are kept 
in perpetuity.

* Not only are records of ordinary Americans kept in perpetuity, but by 
Executive Order 13388, signed in October 2005, those records may be 
shared with local, state and tribal governments as well as with “private 
sector entities.”

* Recently, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained 
Freedom of Information Act documents from the FBI, revealing that the 
FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on U.S. residents for months 
at a time, without proper paperwork or oversight.