TODAY: Call the White House and Demand PATRIOT Act Reform!

by PRW Staff — April 5, 2011 - 7:36am
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When: Tuesday, April 5 9:00am - 5:00pm EST
What: Ask the president to veto any PATRIOT Act reauthorization that does not include expanded civil liberties protections
White House Phone Number: 202-456-1111

On Tuesday, April 5, the 219th anniversary of the first veto in US history by President George Washington, the Center for Media and Democracy along with the Bill of Rights Defense Council and a coalition of other civil liberties groups are calling on President Barack Obama to veto any bill reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act without imposing meaningful reforms to protect civil liberties. The Center has previously written about national security-related spin in its New York Times best-selling book, "Weapons of Mass Deception," and the Center's new executive director has testified before the U.S Senate on behalf of the Center, and previously, in favor of crucial reforms to the Patriot Act and against propaganda related to this law.

During the election campaign, President Obama repeatedly criticized the PATRIOT Act and promised to implement reforms to protect law-abiding Americans from unchecked surveillance. But now, for the second time since taking office in 2009, he is poised to take the same position on the PATRIOT Act as President Bush in supporting reauthorization without crucial reforms.

On Tuesday, please call the White House and tell President Obama to keep his campaign promises. Ask him to veto any bill reauthorizing PATRIOT Act powers unless it includes new checks and balances to prevent abuse.

Demand that Congress and the White House restore constitutional checks and balances by extending the rule of law to our nation's intelligence agencies.

Please, call the White House on April 5 to request a veto.

For more information, please visit the national call-in day facebook page, or visit the following links:

Background information on the PATRIOT Act and the three provisions set to expire in May: [http://bordc.org/patriot]

See also the proposed JUSTICE Act, which offers solutions to many of PATRIOT's problems, even beyond the provisions set to expire: [http://bordc.org/patriot/justice.php]

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This is not a serious movement

Submitted by Nia (not verified) on April 5, 2011 - 2:18pm.

GTFOH!! If anyone was serious about getting this law reformed where are the calls to members of congress and the senate. You can call the President all day if you want but how is that going to tranlate into the law makers changing this....ITS NOT! But then again maybe that is the plan. make it seem like there is a movement but do nothing that will actualy make a change furethuring the "Obama lied to us" movement....

Dear Nia

Submitted by Lisa Graves on April 5, 2011 - 8:36pm.

I understand your ire. The Patriot Act reauthorization process has been a great disappointment to so many of us who care about the essential reforms. Faced with weak congressional determination, some of our allies supporting crucial improvements to better protect individual rights determined that the only option left at this point is to ask the president to use his power to insist on key changes that he previously supported. While there is little if no chance he would veto the bill, the calls are intended to buck him up to request changes to the bill or to use his discretion administratively to help achieve them. There is no nefarious motive on the part of progressive and rights-focused groups to embarrass him; rather there is a desire to hold him to account like any president and urge him not to follow George W. Bush's course of action here as with other areas, unfortunately. Thank you for writing in about this. It is a difficult issue because the last administration was so recalcitrant on these issues and despite many hopes for crucial improvements in civil liberties connected to these expansive powers these have not been forthcoming in over two years now. So, for many of us the question is if not now, when? Thank you for considering this point of view. Lisa