If you haven't already done so, please, please call your Senators and Congresspeople NOW and demand that they vote against the terrible Detainee bill that the Bush Administration will try to push through congress in the next few hours. We have just a little bit more time to try and stop this shameful bill. Below the jump is a message from the ACLU with talking points and a link to find your Senators' and Congressperson's phone number. If you are unable to get through on the phone, please send a brief fax.
Zack
From the ACLU:
Voting is expected today [Wednesday] in both the House and Senate on new torture and detention tactics that would gut the Geneva Conventions by diluting the War Crimes Act, taking away checks on the president's power and staining our nation's legacy as the standard for the protection of human rights. And if the Bush administration has their way, we could also see more "Big Brother" legislation this week that gives a rubber stamp for warrantless domestic spying on phone calls and emails.
Please, add your voice and call your Members of Congress right now. Ask them to vote "NO" on the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and "NO" on rubberstamping the NSA program to spy on Americans without warrants.
Phone numbers for Senators and Representatives can be found
here.
Here are the most important things to tell your Members of Congress:
* As your constituent, I oppose the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
* I also oppose any attempts to ratify the NSA program to spy on Americans without individualized warrants, including S. 3931 (in the Senate) and H.R. 5825 (in the House).
* These proposals undermine the rule of law and violate civil liberties while giving a "get out of jail free card" to those who have broken the law.
* Please use all means at your disposal to stop these bills dead in their tracks.
Here are some more talking points you can use:
* The current compromise proposal for the treatment of military detainees between Bush and Senators McCain, Graham and Warner is unacceptable because it allows the president to broadly control how the Geneva conventions are interpreted, completely undermining their effectiveness. Please vote against any bill that invites abuse of prisoners by weakening the enforcement of Article 3 of the Geneva conventions or taking power away from the courts to interpret them.
* Please block White House-endorsed bills to rubberstamp the president's warrantless spying on Americans. This legislation is like the Patriot Act on steroids--it authorizes more warrantless surveillance of Americans than ever before in US history, even though a federal court has already found the program unconstitutional and illegal.
* Civil liberties and the war on terrorism are not mutually exclusive. You have the duty to keep me both safe and free by blocking this legislation and supporting alternatives to the administration's proposals that would actually reinforce the rule of law rather than legalize the president's violations of our laws.