ACTION: Call PATRIOT Act turncoats on nerve-gas threat

Total411.info
Feb. 11, 2006

Just hours after sensors in a U.S. Senate office building detected a nerve agent, a number of key Senators announced a capitulation to the White House's demands on the renewal and expansion of the police-state USA PATRIOT Act.

The following Senator's offices should be contacted on this. Ask Senate staffers if the Senators changed their view on the PATRIOT Act because they thought the nerve-agent incident was a threat by the White House. Ask if they changed their position out of fear of retribution.

Sen. Sununu (R- New Hampshire) (202) 224-2841
Sen. Durbin (D. - Ill.) (202) 224-2152
Sen. Murkowski (R- Alaska) 202-224-6665
Sen. Hagel (R-Nebraska) 202-224-4224
Sen. Craig (R- Idaho) - (202) 224-8078 [Idaho office (208) 342-7985]
Sen. Feinstein (D. - Calif) - (202) 224-3841

The agreement Monday reached no changes to the very flimsy evidentiary standard required to connect someone to a so-called "terrorist" before searching places and records. The Senators only agreed to three minor cosmetic changes, with a focus on library records, with no regard to the broad categories of commercial transactions searched in the wake of the law's passage in 2001.

It should be noted the original PATRIOT Act was passed in the wake of 9/11 while all of the Senate office buildings were shut down after receiving military-grade anthrax in the mail.