Please Call And Damand Oversite (RE:USA Patriot Act) [phone]

[Ioo]

In short, Bush said, “Thanks Congress for this bill, now go to hell if you think I am going to follow it.”

From the Boston Globe

When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.

The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. The provisions require Justice Department officials to keep closer track of how often the FBI uses the new powers and in what type of situations. Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.

Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people." But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

Bush wrote: ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law.

Of ever there was a reason to call your congress person (you have 1 House Member, and 2 Senators), you can reach them all by calling the Capitol switchboard at [phone]. CALL THEM NOW PLEASE, DEMAND THAT THEY DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NOW.

[Ioo]

1. Please keep kicked, this is the most important thing we have....

The USA Pat Act was hard as hell to ram through, we have a real issue here.

Come-on...

[Ioo]

4. I guess I am the only one who thinks this is a big deal...

[converted_democrat]

2. ...

I give up.. I can't pretend we live in a democracy anymore..

[Ioo]

3. Byrd's Office told me to email them a link....

Maybe we should all do this...

[fooj]

5. I think it's important. Hell, how could you not?

Peace.

[Mnemosyne]

6. It is as if even here at the DU many do not

truly understand what these signing statements and the PA are being used for by this administration.

If I believed in a god I would say heaven help us about now.

Thank you for trying and caring Ioo. It matters.