james m nordlund
2005-12-15 13:18:06 UTC
Bonjour.
Support NOW's Work | December 14, 2005 | Tell a Friend
Action Needed
Background
All NOW Actions
The Truth About George
Oppose Reauthorization: USA PATRIOT Act Violates Our Civil
Liberties
Vote set for this Friday! Act NOW.
http://lists.now.org/t/270570/883610/1231809/0/
Action Needed:
Please send a message to your Senators urging them to oppose
reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Improvement and
Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199), which fails to
include important reforms and poses a serious threat to individual
privacy and to our precious civil liberties. The reauthorization of
this controversial law would enact scores of new surveillance powers
for the government, establish a number of new crimes, including new
death penalties, and still permit secret eavesdropping and secret
search orders. Safeguards that were adopted by the Senate earlier
this year have been deleted and, alarmingly, most provisions in this
final version would be made permanent, bypassing the critically
important periodic Congressional reviews.
Senate Democrats are united in opposing this draconian re-write of
the PATRIOT Act, and so are a number of Republicans, which makes
victory possible. Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) and a number of both
Democratic and Republican members are threatening a filibuster. The
Senate is set to vote Friday (Dec.16). The more conservative House
voted today 251 to 174 to adopt the reauthorization measure. So this
makes it all the more critical to contact your Senators immediately.
Please use our formatted message or write one of your own and urge
your Senators to oppose this dangerous bill.
Take action NOW.
Background:
In just a few short weeks after September 11, 2001, the Bush
administration and right wing Republican leadership pushed
the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate
Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act through
Congress, more familiarly known by the misnomer, the USA PATRIOT
Act. At the time, Congress members were pressured to pass the
legislation, even though many had not even read the 342-page act.
This new law gave unprecedented, unnecessary powers to the
government at the expense of civil liberties protected by the
Constitution of the United States. Ironically, in a country that was
founded on dissent, the Patriot Act seeks to quell those sentiments
by creating and defining the crime "domestic terrorism" so broadly
that legal acts of civil disobedience could be grounds for federal
criminal charges.
Over the last few years, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces have
greatly expanded their scope to investigate various anti-war and
other organizations. Late last year, the American Civil Liberties
Union filed Freedom of Information Requests (FOIA) asking for
information on more than 100 groups and individuals who may have
been targeted by the FBI under the USA PATRIOT Act. This spring, the
ACLU filed a lawsuit attempting to compel the FBI to release files
on such groups as Greenpeace, United for Peace and Justice, People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee.
New language in the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act would make it
even easier for the federal government to investigate organizations
and individuals, because the target of the investigation does not
have to be suspected of any wrongdoing. The government would not
have to disclose to the targeted individual or group that they have
requested such information, the government may retain that
information indefinitely, and if anyone discloses that he/she has
received a secret order to turn over information to the government
without first getting Department of Justice permission, they could
face criminal charges!
H.R. 3199 fails to provide a balance between national security and
civil liberties. It is clearly a more draconian approach to seeking
out supposed terrorists in a variety of ways that could easily be
misapplied: "sneak and peak" searches (surreptitious searches
without notice, until some later date, often much later) under a
broad standard not limited to terrorism, with new provisions for
indefinite waivers to allow searches to remain secret; deletion of a
number of limits on surveillance powers that would now be made
permanent; and many other dangerous expansions of government power
without accountability.
NOW Resolution - A resolution opposing the law and addressing the
PATRIOT Act's impact on immigrants was passed at the 2005 NOW Annual
Conference, citing concerns with potential violations of due
process, summary deportations without evidence of a crime,
prevention of courts from questioning government actions in certain
deportation cases, the abolition of fair hearings for lawful
permanent residents convicted of even minor criminal offenses
permitting an "expedited removal" procedure and other "negative
impacts on the civil liberties and civil rights of every person in
this country, regardless of their citizenship or immigration
status." The resolution further states that the PATRIOT Act (current
law) allows the U.S. Attorney General to deport an immigrant to any
country in the world - "even though their life or freedom may be
threatened because of race, political opinion or other reasons."
Obviously, this and other parts of the Act pose a serious threat to
battered immigrant women who are fleeing violence by seeking asylum
in the U.S. NOW and other anti-violence groups have worked over the
years to improve immigration law and regulations to protect battered
immigrant women.
Above and beyond the implications of the PATRIOT Act for immigrants,
there remain many egregious provisions that could affect anyone,
regardless of citizenship; here is a short summary, as provided by
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU):
The conference report ("conference report") makes virtually all of
the expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act)
permanent without including necessary changes to restore checks and
balances.
Personal records from libraries, bookstores, doctor's offices,
business, and other entities that are not connected to an
international terrorist or spy could still be obtained using either
a secret order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA) or a "national security letter" (NSL) that can be issued by
an FBI official without any court oversight.
Both secret FISA orders and NSLs would continue to contain a
potentially permanent gag provision that bars a recipient from
telling anyone (other than the recipient's lawyer) that records have
been obtained. The court must accept as "conclusive" the
government's assertion that disclosure of an NSL would harm national
security.
The bill allows sneak-and-peek searches under a broad standard not
limited to terrorism cases. New 30 and 90 day time limits could be
waived or renewed indefinitely, allowing such searches to continue
to remain secret for weeks, months or even years.
The bill still allows secret eavesdropping and secret search orders
that do not name a target or a location, with only after-the-fact
oversight by a court as to why the government believed a unknown
target was in that location.
Reforms the Patriot Act's definition of "domestic terrorism" to
provide that assets may not be forfeited except where the
organization or individual is involved in a serious federal crime -
a welcome change.
Omits modest limits on a host of additional Patriot Act surveillance
powers, all of which are made permanent.
Although the final reauthorization bill includes the most extreme
death penalty provisions sought by some, it would create a number of
new crimes, including new death penalties, without adequate
consideration by Congress.
The bill allows the Justice Department, not federal courts, to
determine that a state has a competent death penalty system,
qualifying it for a relaxed set of procedural rules for federal
habeas proceedings.
Provides a new, four year sunset [expiration] on only three
provisions out of scores of new surveillance powers obtained by the
government in the Patriot Act.
Republican conferees rammed through this legislation, excluding
Democrats from final deliberations as is frequently the arrogant
practice by Republican members. In fact, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
as Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee and John Rockefeller IV
(D. W.Va.) as Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence,
with Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) sent a letter to
Conference Committee chairs, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and Rep.
James Sensenbrenner (R- Wis.) stating their opposition to the
legislation. The Senators noted that while the bill makes a few
improvements, it still fails to sufficiently protect individual
rights and liberties and urged instead a three-month extension of
the old law to allow more time for improvements to the Act.
Also, a bipartisan group of Senators, including Republican Sens.
Larry Craig (Idaho), John Sununu (N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
with Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin (Ill.), Russ Feingold (Wis.)
and Ken Salazar (Colo.) issued a statement that decried the
Conference Report's deletion of provisions adopted unanimously by
the Senate in July that would better protect constitutional rights
while still providing law enforcement authorities the tools they
need.
It is critically important that everyone send a message as soon as
possible to their two Senate members to oppose this dangerous
expansion of government authority, without essential oversight and
accountability.
Take action NOW.
More information:
American Civil Liberties Union: Reform the Patriot Act
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
SUPPORT NOW:
Support NOW's Work for Equal Rights | Join NOW | Shop Online |
Member Benefits
LEARN MORE:
NOW.org | TheTruthAboutGeorge.com | NOW News Releases
TAKE ACTION:
Get Involved | Legislative Action Center | Find Your Nearest Chapter
| Tell a Friend
LISTS:
Subscribe | All Lists
Arive derci.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
Support NOW's Work | December 14, 2005 | Tell a Friend
Action Needed
Background
All NOW Actions
The Truth About George
Oppose Reauthorization: USA PATRIOT Act Violates Our Civil
Liberties
Vote set for this Friday! Act NOW.
http://lists.now.org/t/270570/883610/1231809/0/
Action Needed:
Please send a message to your Senators urging them to oppose
reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Improvement and
Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199), which fails to
include important reforms and poses a serious threat to individual
privacy and to our precious civil liberties. The reauthorization of
this controversial law would enact scores of new surveillance powers
for the government, establish a number of new crimes, including new
death penalties, and still permit secret eavesdropping and secret
search orders. Safeguards that were adopted by the Senate earlier
this year have been deleted and, alarmingly, most provisions in this
final version would be made permanent, bypassing the critically
important periodic Congressional reviews.
Senate Democrats are united in opposing this draconian re-write of
the PATRIOT Act, and so are a number of Republicans, which makes
victory possible. Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) and a number of both
Democratic and Republican members are threatening a filibuster. The
Senate is set to vote Friday (Dec.16). The more conservative House
voted today 251 to 174 to adopt the reauthorization measure. So this
makes it all the more critical to contact your Senators immediately.
Please use our formatted message or write one of your own and urge
your Senators to oppose this dangerous bill.
Take action NOW.
Background:
In just a few short weeks after September 11, 2001, the Bush
administration and right wing Republican leadership pushed
the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate
Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act through
Congress, more familiarly known by the misnomer, the USA PATRIOT
Act. At the time, Congress members were pressured to pass the
legislation, even though many had not even read the 342-page act.
This new law gave unprecedented, unnecessary powers to the
government at the expense of civil liberties protected by the
Constitution of the United States. Ironically, in a country that was
founded on dissent, the Patriot Act seeks to quell those sentiments
by creating and defining the crime "domestic terrorism" so broadly
that legal acts of civil disobedience could be grounds for federal
criminal charges.
Over the last few years, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces have
greatly expanded their scope to investigate various anti-war and
other organizations. Late last year, the American Civil Liberties
Union filed Freedom of Information Requests (FOIA) asking for
information on more than 100 groups and individuals who may have
been targeted by the FBI under the USA PATRIOT Act. This spring, the
ACLU filed a lawsuit attempting to compel the FBI to release files
on such groups as Greenpeace, United for Peace and Justice, People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee.
New language in the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act would make it
even easier for the federal government to investigate organizations
and individuals, because the target of the investigation does not
have to be suspected of any wrongdoing. The government would not
have to disclose to the targeted individual or group that they have
requested such information, the government may retain that
information indefinitely, and if anyone discloses that he/she has
received a secret order to turn over information to the government
without first getting Department of Justice permission, they could
face criminal charges!
H.R. 3199 fails to provide a balance between national security and
civil liberties. It is clearly a more draconian approach to seeking
out supposed terrorists in a variety of ways that could easily be
misapplied: "sneak and peak" searches (surreptitious searches
without notice, until some later date, often much later) under a
broad standard not limited to terrorism, with new provisions for
indefinite waivers to allow searches to remain secret; deletion of a
number of limits on surveillance powers that would now be made
permanent; and many other dangerous expansions of government power
without accountability.
NOW Resolution - A resolution opposing the law and addressing the
PATRIOT Act's impact on immigrants was passed at the 2005 NOW Annual
Conference, citing concerns with potential violations of due
process, summary deportations without evidence of a crime,
prevention of courts from questioning government actions in certain
deportation cases, the abolition of fair hearings for lawful
permanent residents convicted of even minor criminal offenses
permitting an "expedited removal" procedure and other "negative
impacts on the civil liberties and civil rights of every person in
this country, regardless of their citizenship or immigration
status." The resolution further states that the PATRIOT Act (current
law) allows the U.S. Attorney General to deport an immigrant to any
country in the world - "even though their life or freedom may be
threatened because of race, political opinion or other reasons."
Obviously, this and other parts of the Act pose a serious threat to
battered immigrant women who are fleeing violence by seeking asylum
in the U.S. NOW and other anti-violence groups have worked over the
years to improve immigration law and regulations to protect battered
immigrant women.
Above and beyond the implications of the PATRIOT Act for immigrants,
there remain many egregious provisions that could affect anyone,
regardless of citizenship; here is a short summary, as provided by
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU):
The conference report ("conference report") makes virtually all of
the expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act)
permanent without including necessary changes to restore checks and
balances.
Personal records from libraries, bookstores, doctor's offices,
business, and other entities that are not connected to an
international terrorist or spy could still be obtained using either
a secret order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA) or a "national security letter" (NSL) that can be issued by
an FBI official without any court oversight.
Both secret FISA orders and NSLs would continue to contain a
potentially permanent gag provision that bars a recipient from
telling anyone (other than the recipient's lawyer) that records have
been obtained. The court must accept as "conclusive" the
government's assertion that disclosure of an NSL would harm national
security.
The bill allows sneak-and-peek searches under a broad standard not
limited to terrorism cases. New 30 and 90 day time limits could be
waived or renewed indefinitely, allowing such searches to continue
to remain secret for weeks, months or even years.
The bill still allows secret eavesdropping and secret search orders
that do not name a target or a location, with only after-the-fact
oversight by a court as to why the government believed a unknown
target was in that location.
Reforms the Patriot Act's definition of "domestic terrorism" to
provide that assets may not be forfeited except where the
organization or individual is involved in a serious federal crime -
a welcome change.
Omits modest limits on a host of additional Patriot Act surveillance
powers, all of which are made permanent.
Although the final reauthorization bill includes the most extreme
death penalty provisions sought by some, it would create a number of
new crimes, including new death penalties, without adequate
consideration by Congress.
The bill allows the Justice Department, not federal courts, to
determine that a state has a competent death penalty system,
qualifying it for a relaxed set of procedural rules for federal
habeas proceedings.
Provides a new, four year sunset [expiration] on only three
provisions out of scores of new surveillance powers obtained by the
government in the Patriot Act.
Republican conferees rammed through this legislation, excluding
Democrats from final deliberations as is frequently the arrogant
practice by Republican members. In fact, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
as Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee and John Rockefeller IV
(D. W.Va.) as Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence,
with Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) sent a letter to
Conference Committee chairs, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and Rep.
James Sensenbrenner (R- Wis.) stating their opposition to the
legislation. The Senators noted that while the bill makes a few
improvements, it still fails to sufficiently protect individual
rights and liberties and urged instead a three-month extension of
the old law to allow more time for improvements to the Act.
Also, a bipartisan group of Senators, including Republican Sens.
Larry Craig (Idaho), John Sununu (N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
with Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin (Ill.), Russ Feingold (Wis.)
and Ken Salazar (Colo.) issued a statement that decried the
Conference Report's deletion of provisions adopted unanimously by
the Senate in July that would better protect constitutional rights
while still providing law enforcement authorities the tools they
need.
It is critically important that everyone send a message as soon as
possible to their two Senate members to oppose this dangerous
expansion of government authority, without essential oversight and
accountability.
Take action NOW.
More information:
American Civil Liberties Union: Reform the Patriot Act
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
SUPPORT NOW:
Support NOW's Work for Equal Rights | Join NOW | Shop Online |
Member Benefits
LEARN MORE:
NOW.org | TheTruthAboutGeorge.com | NOW News Releases
TAKE ACTION:
Get Involved | Legislative Action Center | Find Your Nearest Chapter
| Tell a Friend
LISTS:
Subscribe | All Lists
Arive derci.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com