President Bush said yesterday that he would not discuss ongoing intelligence operations in the United States, after a report in The New York Times said he secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States. Several Republicans and Democrats have criticized Bush's action.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121705Z.shtml

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=r2njKa46-BezO7RxW6q5JA..

The White House push to short-circuit Patriot Act reform was soundly defeated in a Senate vote today, with five Republicans joining the call for real debate.

This vote paves the way for a bipartisan filibuster to restore checks and balances and protect the freedoms of innocent Americans.

The ACLU has been fighting this battle since the ink dried on the Patriot Act fours year ago, but we could have never have gotten this far without the tremendous support of a committed and bipartisan community of patriots.

We are well on our way to securing real reforms in the reauthorization bill, but the battle is far from over!

The White House and Senate leaders are working hard to pressure senators into changing their votes. Please call your senators NOW! Go to: http://action.aclu.org/call
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=BLtmHcoHcoyeoAj4Vx5VGA..

This vote comes on the heels of today's revelation that President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the conversations of U.S. citizens and others in the country in violation of federal law and the Constitution.

Please call your Senators and tell them to oppose any Patriot Act reauthorization bill that does not include reforms to protect the freedoms of innocent Americans.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=M5xBFxc0cSF_SojTFAUTPw..


Sincerely,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union Help the Defense of Civil Liberties!

© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004

(excerpt)

Two Florida Counties, one using Diebold optical scan machines, and another using Diebold DREs have scrapped Diebold and decided to switch to ES&S optical scan voting machines and the AutoMARK ballot marking device. ES&S voting machines are independently auditable; its optical scan machines are easier for election officials to use; and they use a more secure operating system.

Volusia County, FL Dumps Diebold Too! Opts for Transparent, Accountable Elections (Instead of Diebold Elections) After a Protracted Battle...

This just in...After various protracted legal battles (funded by the National Federation for the Blind, which had received a $1 million "donation" from Diebold previously) and along with the news out of Leon County, Florida,

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002156.htm

Volusia County has now come to their senses and also decided to dump Diebold voting machines!...

URL: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002169.htm

Yesterday the main stream press covered the Leon County, Florida story. The following three AP, Miami Herald and USA Today articles might be excellent to print and give to your local officials with a one page cover letter you write with bullets taken from the articles:

FL: Leon County - New tests fuel doubts about vote machines
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13410061.htm

FL: Leon County - Elections supervisor: Some Diebold voting machines can be hacked
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/13413981.htm

FL: Leon County - County says electronic voting machines can be hacked
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-15-opticalvoting_x.htm


I hope the above information will help you in our fight to ensure democratic elections.


Best,

Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1216-32.htm



Russ Feingold: Remarks on Ending Debate on Reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1216-29.htm

From: "John Adams, NRDC Action Fund" biogemsdefenders@savebiogems.org

It's the most outrageous scheme yet to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. We have just learned that pro-drilling Senators are sneaking their Arctic drilling measure into the Defense Appropriations bill.

The vote on the Senate floor could come as early as tomorrow!

Call your two Senators right now at the phone numbers below and tell them to get Arctic drilling out of the Defense bill, with a filibuster if necessary. Call them even if it's Friday night or Saturday:

Senator Edward Kennedy: (202) 224-4543
Senator John Kerry: (202) 224-2742

Here's the good news: thanks to a nationwide outcry from millions of Americans, including you, House and Senate leaders have given up on including Arctic drilling in the Budget Reconciliation bill.

But some Senators are so shameless in their quest to boost oil company profits that they're willing to exploit the Defense Appropriations bill, which is meant to fund our troops in Iraq and other military needs.

Your Senators will be under enormous political pressure to vote Yes on the Defense Appropriations bill no matter what's in it. We're counting on a last- ditch effort by a determined group of senators to filibuster this bill until Arctic drilling is removed. In that case, the oil industry and their allies would have to get over 60 votes to keep drilling in -- something they have never been able to do.

Call your Senators right away and tell them you're outraged that Arctic drilling would be snuck into a bill that is meant to protect our troops. Urge them to get Arctic drilling out of the Defense bill, with a filibuster if necessary. And tell them you will publicly support their No vote if they come under attack for it in your state.

The next 24 hours are critical. Call your Senators right now!


Sincerely,

John H. Adams NRDC Action Fund


Informant: Martin Greenhut

http://tinyurl.com/d859q

(AP) Bush und seine neokonservative Regierung muss eine schwere Niederlage bei der Abstimmung über den Patriot Act, der eine Anzahl von Buergerrechten erheblich einschränkt, hinnehmen: der Senat lehnte seine Festschreibung und Verlängerung ab.

Ein zentrales Projekt der Neokonservativen ist damit gescheitert: die dauerhafte Aushebelung vieler Buergerrechte unter dem Vorwand des Antiterror-Kriegs. Der Versuch, eine Staatsmacht mit annähernd totalitären Vollmachten dauerhaft zu etablieren, ist damit massiv ausgebremst worden. Selbst unter Bush's Parteifreunden gab es Gegenstimmen, die den Erfolg verhinderten bei insgesamt 47 zu 52 Stimmen.

Beigetragen zu diesem ablehnenden Votum hatte offensichtlich auch ein Eigentor von Bush selbst: kurz vor der Sitzung des Senats wurde bekannt, dass Bush den Geheimdienst NSA ermächtigt hatte, widerrechtlich ohne rechtliche Genehmigung eigene Buerger abzuhören.

Inzwischen ist kaum noch vorstellbar, wie der Präsident und seine Neokonservativen aus dem Sumpf, in dem ihnen nur noch wenige Möglichkeiten der Bewegung verbleiben - die Mehrzahl ihrer Projekte sind nun in den letzten Monaten trotz einer satten Mehrheit der Regierungspartei im Kongress gescheitert - befreien wollen.


G.Wendebourg / metainfo hamburg

Link zum Beitrag / Hintergrundinfo oder Pressehinweis:
http://www.hh-online.com?lid=23212 und
http://links.net-hh.de?lid=23212

Infopool / metainfo hamburg www.hh-online.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Friday refused to discuss a report that he secretly authorized a U.S. agency to eavesdrop on people in America but said everything he does to protect the public against terrorism is within the law.

The New York Times said Bush signed a secret presidential order after the September 11, 2001, attacks to allow the National Security Agency to track the international telephone calls and emails of hundreds of people without the court approval normally required for domestic spying.

The report added to critics' concerns that the White House violated civil rights while pursuing the war on terrorism it declared after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Bush and other administration officials declined to comment specifically on the report, but said he stayed within the law while acting to protect people from further attacks.

"We do not discuss ongoing intelligence operations to protect the country, and the reason why is that there's an enemy that lurks, that would like to know exactly what we're trying to do to stop them," Bush said.

"I will make this point. That whatever I do to protect the American people, and I have an obligation to do so, that we will uphold the law, and decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people," he said.

He was speaking in an interview with PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" to be broadcast later on Friday.

The Times said the 2002 directive to the NSA marked a major shift in U.S. intelligence-gathering and led some officials to question whether the strategy violated constitutional limits on legal searches.

The NSA, based at Fort Meade, Maryland, is authorized to monitor communications on foreign soil.

An NSA spokesperson declined to comment on the report.

CONCERN FROM CIVIL LIBERTIES ADVOCATES

Americans have been wary of domestic monitoring by intelligence agencies since it was learnt in the 1970s that the Pentagon spied on civil rights and anti-Vietnam War groups. That led to legislation imposing strict limits on intelligence gathering inside the United States.

The Bush administration has faced criticism over a range of rights issues in its declared war on terrorism, including its treatment of detainees.

On Friday, a group of senators calling for increased protection of civil liberties blocked renewal by Congress of the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law passed soon after the September 11 attacks. It expanded the federal government's authority to share information, conduct secret searches and obtain private records.

Civil liberties advocates condemned what they viewed as illegal and unconstitutional NSA activities.

"The administration is claiming extraordinary presidential powers at the expense of civil liberties and is putting the president above the law," Caroline Fredrickson, Washington legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

John Negroponte, U.S. director of national intelligence, has said in interviews that the country is safer now partly due to more integration of international and domestic espionage.

A Democratic congressional official involved in intelligence oversight said, "The lesson we learnt from 9/11 -- more than how the intelligence was organized, more than information-sharing -- was that we had been doing an abysmal job of learning what terrorists might be doing inside our own country."

He added, "But as part of the process of overseeing intelligence, I hope whatever we're doing, we're doing in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations."

The New York Times cited some officials as saying questions about the NSA's new powers led the administration to suspend the operation last year and impose more restrictions.

It said the administration informed the leaders of the Senate and House intelligence committees about the program. But other lawmakers said on Friday there was a need for greater disclosure to Congress.

"We need to look into that," remarked Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who said he had heard only media reports about the NSA program. "We should be informed as to exactly what's going on, and then find out whether an investigation is called for. All we have is initial reports."

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Doina Chiacu)


Informant: Richard