With the successful filibuster of the Patriot Act, don't breathe a sigh of relief - it's just been put on hold.
Now, more than ever, it's required that you contact your two Senators and tell them to reject the "Patriot" Act. (See below for contact info and message.)
A couple of things to point out from the Washington Post article:
The White House made no comment last night. A senior official reached by telephone said the issue was too sensitive to talk about. None of several press officers responded to telephone or e-mail messages.1. Defense department employees are stationed WITHIN THE UNITED STATES to spy on Americans without a court order. And people within the Congress think it might be illegal.
Congressional sources familiar with limited aspects of the program would not discuss any classified details but made it clear there were serious questions about the legality of the NSA actions.
...
It has also involved teams of Defense Intelligence Agency personnel stationed in major U.S. cities conducting the type of surveillance typically performed by the FBI: monitoring the movements and activities -- through high-tech equipment -- of individuals and vehicles, the official said.
2. This administration time and time again has used 9/11 to simply ignore whatever laws they don't agree with. They used it in foreign policy, invading Iraq, lying to the American people telling them Iraq had something to do with 9/11 when it didn't. The White House attitude is quite simple - we know we're right and we're going to do it no matter what the law.
3. This administration doesn't believe in the Constitution or the rule of law. 9/11 was used to suspend the Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and any number of laws. (Yes, it really is that bad.) There is nothing at all "patriotic" about the US military and NSA illegally spying on citizens. Average Americans most certainly wouldn't reward the Bush administration with a permanent extension of the Patriot Act and congress should either.
ACTION ONE:
Visit this page to find your two Senators' phone numbers and call them. Tell them not to renew the Patriot Act until the Bush administration is held accountable for breaking US law in order to spy on American citizens. It's time the Congress finally did its job as an equal branch of government. No more blank checks for a White House that is breaking the law and spying on its own citizens.
And now from the original New York Times piece that started this all off:
The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.Delayed for a year? Was the White House really concerned about terrorism? Or was it politics? What did the New York Times know and exactly when did they know it? What was going on a little more than a year ago? The President faced reelection.
Did The New York Times know about this story before the 2004 Presidential Election? I would hate to imagine that the New York Times knew this story before the election and didn't run with it. In the days of Judy Miller and Bob Woodward, you just can't give the media the benefit of the doubt. The New York Times needs to come clean with the American people.
ACTION TWO:
Write The New York Times Public Editor and ask him to come clean on when the Times first knew about this story: public@nytimes.com
