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[NewPacifica] Action Alert on Government Secrecy

The attached file is an Action Alert from the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

Normally, I would simply copy the text and forward as plain text, but in order 
to 
retain all of the imbedded links I had to send as an attachment. 

To see those links look at the HTML version of the alert. - CG



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Click here http://www.bordc.org/newsletter/bordc-act-alert317.php to read this alert online, with live links.

Sunshine Week: Shining the Light on Government Secrecy

This is the second annual Sunshine Week (March 12-18), a time when the media exposes government secrecy. This year, however, it?s up to the public to tell the media what it has failed to report. BORDC brings you the latest rundown of government secrets with suggestions for what we can do about it.

What you can do: Shine light on these secrets and under-reported stories by informing your local media and friends and family, and by phoning your members of Congress to let them know the government?s actions are unacceptable. Call the Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121, and ask the operator to connect you (24 hours a day) or enter your zip code here http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ to find your legislators' direct Washington office phone numbers. To find their district office numbers (a good idea while they are in recess the week of March 20), click on their names or call your local library.

USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization Redux

President Bush?s signing statement conflicts with new oversight provisions. Earlier this month, Congress disappointed millions of Americans by approving a PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill whose cosmetic fixes fail to meet basic demands for civil liberties protections. Missing from the bill are standards requiring particularized suspicion and real oversight on National Security Letters and section 215 orders for private records. The media failed to report that when President Bush signed the bill last Thursday, March 9, he issued a signing statement asserting his right to ignore its oversight provisions, including the reauthorization bill?s sections 106A and 119. Those sections require the DOJ Inspector General (IG) to audit the ?effectiveness and use, including any improper or illegal use? [emphasis added] of the FBI?s investigative authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as it applies to section 215 and of its authority to issue National Security Letters, respectively.

The existence of this letter helps explain why, according to House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, there have been no reported instances of executive branch abuse of the PATRIOT Act: Only the executive branch is privvy to that information, and the president refuses to cooperate with Congress?s law demanding reports of how the executive has used or abused its far-reaching powers.

IG report on Brandon Mayfield case: It?s certainly not a national security secret that parts of the PATRIOT Act were used in the FBI?s investigation of Oregon attorney Brandon Mayfield. Attorney General Gonzales was asked about the use of the PATRIOT Act during judiciary committee hearings last April and initially answered that the Act had not been used in the case, then later changed his answer. But apparently the government didn?t want the public to know which parts, how they were used, or what problems they caused until after the reauthorization had safely passed.

DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine was prevented from issuing a report that included those specifics until March 9, the day after President Bush signed the PATRIOT Act reauthorization. Each redaction in the executive summary released in January covered up a reference to the PATRIOT Act, as shown in this BORDC comparison of the January and March IG reports.

Find links to this and other OIG reports here. The IG report details how the FBI used the PATRIOT Act in the investigation and concludes that some sections, such as those that increased information sharing, intensified the impact of the FBI?s errors on Mr. Mayfield.

The president?s unacceptable violation of his oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed renders even Congress?s cosmetic civil liberties fixes to the PATRIOT Act worthless. The Justice Department?s delay in the release of the Mayfield report appears to have been aimed at shortchanging Congress?s debate over by the Act by suppressing news of how the FBI?s use of PATRIOT Act provisions harmed an innocent victim.

What you can do: Alert your local media, friends and neighbors, and your members of Congress. If your senators and representative voted against the reauthorization, thank them. If they voted for it, tell them you are shocked that the government would conceal essential information needed for reasoned decision-making. Urge your senators and representative to address these serious problems and to continue to address the remaining civil liberties shortcomings in the PATRIOT Act. Senator Specter?s proposed bill, S. 2369, would be a good start.

Domestic Spying at Thomas Merton Center, Home of Pittsburgh BORDC

According to documents released Tuesday under the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force spied on activists associated with the Merton Center between November 2002 and March 2005 because the Center opposed the war in Iraq. A February 2003 FBI memo titled ?International Terrorism Matters? reports a planned interfaith prayer vigil and rally, and the February 15, 2003, day of international protests against the war. A second memo from Pittsburgh Squad 4 describes the group?s plans for an event with the Islamic Center ?to bring all people of Pittsburgh together in understanding and respecting each other and also to inform them about Islam and Muslims.? It also made reference to ?Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent? among the Center?s members.

What you can do: From March 15 through 22, millions in the United States, including the Merton Center, will mark the third anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq by participating in local actions to end the war. Before and after you join with others to assert that precious First Amendment right:

Warrantless Wiretapping

Last December, when the New York Times broke the news of President Bush?s authorization of a National Security Agency warrantless domestic spying program, many members of Congress and the majority of the public were outraged: The president had broken a law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, that was specifically written and passed by Congress to protect us from warrantless wiretapping. To assure government compliance, Congress made violating FISA a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

What you can do:

More than 100,000 Chicagoans march to protect immigrant rights

As the Senate Judiciary Committee works on its immigration reform bill, trying to find a compromise that addresses the plight of approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S., Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is threatening to bring his own bill to the Senate floor if the Senate Judiciary Committee's bill isn?t ready before Congress's weeklong recess begins tomorrow, March 18. Senator Frist's office has not given a reason for rushing the bill to the Senate floor. Read Washington Times 3/16/06 article here.

But last Friday, March 10th, Chicagoans demonstrated the importance of immigrants to their city with one of the largest pro-immigrant marches in U.S. history. Read Chicago Tribune article on the march here. The size of the crowd ranges from a police estimate of 100,000 to an estimate of 300,000 by CNN. No other major news media reported on the march.

What you can do: During Congress's recess (the week of March 20), ask your senators to tell Senator Frist NOT to derail the Judiciary Committee's comprehensive approach toward immigration reform. Senator Frist's March 27 deadline for bringing the bill to the floor makes no sense. The immigration bill passed by the House in December, H.R. 4437, is unacceptable because it makes undocumented immigrants' presence in the country an aggravated felony, and puts anyone who provides charity to them at risk of being charged as an "alien smuggler."

PBS's NOW Program to Report on Ordinary People Fighting to Uncover the Truth

Friday, March 17, 2006 at 8:30 p.m. on PBS (Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html.)

NOW's program on government secrecy features interviews with two mothers who have lost sons in the Iraq War and want answers, a Massachusetts mayor with safety concerns about a local energy plant, and Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM), who charges the White House is resisting Congressional efforts to keep warrantless eavesdropping in check.

Contribute: The Bill of Rights Defense Committee needs your support to continue expanding the grassroots movement to defend the Bill of Rights. Contribute here.

If you have received this message in error, or you wish to unsubscribe from BORDC's newsletter and action alert, please send a message to newsletter@xxxxxxxxx with "Unsubscribe" in the Subject line.

 


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