[IMC-Boston-Dispatch] Fwd: News Release: BORDC Calls on Congress to Fix PATRIOT Act

[Boston IMC]

--- Bill of Rights Defense Committee
<bordc at democracyinaction.org> wrote:

> Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 06:30:58 -0500 (EST)
> From: Bill of Rights Defense Committee
> <bordc at democracyinaction.org>
> To: imc-boston-office at indymedia.org
> Subject: News Release: BORDC Calls on Congress to
> Fix PATRIOT Act
> 
> Contact:
> 
> Nancy Talanian, director, Bill of Rights Defense
> Committee, 413-582-0110
> 
> For Immediate Release
> 
> Bill of Rights Defense Committee Calls on Members of
> Congress to Heed Their Constituents and Fix the
> PATRIOT Act
> 
> March 2, 2006—As the USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization
> bill heads toward passage in the Senate, the Bill of
> Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) today appealed to
> the Senate and the House of Representatives to
> continue working to correct the PATRIOT Act’s most
> critical shortcomings, which neither the
> reauthorization bill nor an amendment the Senate
> approved Wednesday address.  In fact, the
> reauthorization bill gives the federal government
> new powers that further threaten constitutional
> rights.
> 
> “In the four years since the PATRIOT Act’s
> enactment, a broad range of Americans have
> petitioned their state and local governments to
> protect them from unwarranted surveillance and other
> excesses of the federal government.  Eight state
> legislatures and nearly 400 local and county
> governments have responded by passing resolutions
> upholding the civil liberties of their 85 million
> constituents, who make up one-third of the U.S.
> population,” said Nancy Talanian, BORDC’s director. 
> “Such a large, powerful, and nonpartisan groundswell
> of people acting locally to hold their federal
> elected representatives accountable is unparalleled
> in U.S. history.  We commend Senator Feingold for
> reading the state resolutions of Alaska, California,
> Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, and
> Vermont, and the county and local government
> resolutions of his home state of Wisconsin aloud to
> his Senate colleagues yesterday.” 
> 
> Critics of the PATRIOT Act remain troubled that the
> reauthorization bill does not address the original
> act’s major shortcomings, such as its lack of a
> mechanism for preventing FBI “fishing expeditions”
> into sensitive business, medical, library and other
> records of innocent Americans.  The reauthorization
> bill would reduce Americans’ First Amendment rights
> to demonstrate by criminalizing conduct considered
> disruptive by the Secret Service at locations that a
> Secret Service protectee such as the President may
> attend or may have attended.  This new measure,
> which was added to the reauthorization bill in
> secret, has never been debated by Congress.
> 
>  
> Said Talanian, “Widespread concerns over the PATRIOT
> Act have brought together people of all political
> persuasions in hundreds of communities across the
> country to work toward one common goal:  to restore
> Bill of Rights protections for themselves and all
> U.S. residents.  We ask Congress to follow their
> lead and ignore partisan rivalries that get in their
> way.  It is unconscionable for members of Congress
> to imply that their colleagues who call for bringing
> the PATRIOT Act in line with the Constitution are
> weak on terrorism.”
> 
> Media Advisory:
> 
> List of resolutions passed with resolution text are
> available at www.bordc.org.
> /*Your email ID. <diaEmailID='88872561'
thread=925/>--*/


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com