Action Alert

Under the radar, Obama pushes for Patriot Act renewal

Feingold expresses frustration over Senate version

Richard Moore
Investigative Reporter

With key sections of the U.S. Patriot Act set to expire Dec. 31, the Obama administration - essentially tiptoeing through the corridors of Congress and using the raucous health care debate as cover - has quietly maneuvered for renewal of the controversial provisions, which he opposed as a senator.

Perhaps the most contentious measure is the business records provision, also known as the library provision, which allows the government to seek a court order forcing private entities such as banks, hospitals, and libraries to hand over "any tangible thing" - from library circulation records to medical records - officials think is relevant in a terrorist investigation.

That is patently false a bald-faced lie by the government; the implied message is that this is only used in terrorism investigations and is used judiciously, and fairly, ... which it has not. And the contention that there are court orders involved in what they want to do, is an insult to our intelligence: National Security Letters, and their abuse

Sign the petition here.

Dear President Obama,

News reports indicate that you plan to send between 34,000 and 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

We urge you to reconsider this decision.

Expanding the war in Afghanistan will make Americans less safe, not more so.

Below is a list of the Congressional Progressive Caucus members from California and their DC phone numbers. Call to pressure them to speak up independently for the Kucinich amendment and ask why they are letting Lynn Woolsey stand alone on this.

Please remember to thank Lynn Woolsey and ask the others why they have been silent.

Congressional Progressive Caucus
California Members
Co-Chair Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06) Phone: 202-225-5161
Vice Chair Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33) Phone: 202-225-7084

House Members
Hon. Xavier Becerra (CA-31) Phone: 202-225-6235
Hon. Judy Chu (CA-32) Phone: 202-225-5467
Hon. Sam Farr (CA-17) Phone: 202-225-2861
Hon. Bob Filner (CA-51) Phone: 202-225-8045
Hon. Michael Honda (CA-15) Phone: 202-225-2631
Hon. Barbara Lee (CA-09) Phone: 202-225-2661
Hon. George Miller (CA-07) Phone: 202-225-2095
Hon. Laura Richardson (CA-37) Phone: 202-225-7924
Hon. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) Phone: 202-225-1766
Hon. Linda Sánchez (CA-39) Phone: 202-225-6676
Hon. Pete Stark (CA-13) Phone: 202-225-5065
Hon. Maxine Waters (CA-35) Phone: 202-225-2201
Hon. Henry Waxman (CA-30) Phone: 202-225-3976

Environmental Groups Around State Oppose Scary Legislative Water Package

Stop Zombie Water Bills from Creating the 'Delta of the Dead'
http://www.calsport.org/10-31-09a.htm
by Dan Bacher

Like a crowd of brain-eating zombies just in time for Halloween, dangerous Delta and water bond bills have proliferated over the past week in the California Legislature, creating a mind-numbing stench throughout the State Capitol.

As of Friday, October 30, there were no less than 20 water bills introduced and "few of them are any good for California rivers," said Steve Evans, Conservation Director of Friends of the River. Many of the new bills are over 100 pages long and the Legislature is expected to vote on them by Monday, Nov. 2!

'Leading the pack of scary Halloween-weekend bills is Senator Darrell Steinberg’s SB4, a bill that purports to solve California’s supposed water crisis," said Evans. "Friends of the River is concerned that the bill will result in the fast-track approval of a large Peripheral Canal capable of diverting fresh water from the Sacramento River around the Delta for export to corporate agribusiness in the southern Central Valley and urban developers in southern California. The bill would also encourage the construction of new or enlarged dams that would harm the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Mokelumne, and Bear Rivers."

The message below contains contact information for Sacramento area Congress members; if you don't live in Sacramento, you can reach your representatives and senators by calling the Congressional Switchboard, 202-224-3121 or emailing them through: www.house.gov or www.senator.gov.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION: Stop Congress from opposing the Goldstone Report  

  Last Friday, Oct. 23, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Florida)  introduced H.Res.867, calling on the Obama Administration to "oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration" of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, known as the Goldstone Report.  As of this writing local Congress members (Matsui, Thompson, Lungren and McClintock) have not signed on.

Please CALL now and ask your representative to: 1) NOT sponsor this legislation and 2) issue a statement opposing it.  Also ask them to investigate the detention of human rights activist Mohammed Othman who was taken by Israeli officials on September 22 and to demand his release (see below).     

A Call for Congress to Take Action on Torture
October 28th, 2009

ADD YOUR NAME TO THOSE OF 83 HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS AND LEADERS AT
http://afterdowningstreet.org/stop

Whereas over seven years have passed since President George W. Bush fraudulently induced the U.S. congress, the American people, and the world into the illegal war in Iraq,

Whereas it is nearly five years since Specialist Darby revealed the photos of Abu Ghraib that showed us torture being committed by our government in our name,

Whereas further evidence of torture remains secret and has been hidden from the public, courts, and Congress to insulate the perpetrators from appropriate criminal liability,

Tell the Gov to Protect Voting Rights!

Join the ACLU in urging the Governor to protect the voting rights of all of us.

AB 742 is necessary to correct ill-conceived administrative procedures that remove all individuals who have been convicted of a felony from the voting rolls. It would not change who is eligible to vote, but it will safeguard against voter disenfranchisement.

Voting is a fundamental right that should be protected for every eligible citizen. It should not be denied due to poor administrative procedures.

The American Civil Liberties Union is pleased to sponsor AB 742, which would increase voter roll accuracy in California, alleviate confusion at polling sites, and save time for registrars. Please urge Governor Schwarzenegger to support this important bill.

More: Stop Nestlé Waters; Cosmo Garvin - Going against the flow; Source Watch; Atty. Gen. Brown Warns Nestlé Of Legal Challenge To (McCloud) Water Bottling Plant; All Bottled Up: Nestlé’s Pursuit of Community Water; and last but not least, click the top picture for the trailer to Tapped, the Movie review here

What Nestle doesn’t want you to know about its plans to open a water bottling plant in Sacramento

• Nestlé and the City of Sacramento worked hard to quietly fast-track this project so Nestlé could open its South Sacramento bottling plant by January 2010. The project was only announced in a brief back page article in the Sacramento Bee at the end of July.

• While Sacramento residents are required to abide by city-imposed water restrictions, Nestlé would be able to siphon water from our municipal water supply 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. According to one staff member at the Economic Development Department, the only limit on the amount of water Nestlé can pump is the size of their pipes.

• Nestlé claims the Sacramento plant would be a “micro-bottling plant,” bottling only 50 million gallons of water per year. However, according to the Department of Utilities, the estimated water usage is 215 thousand – 320 thousand gallons of water per day (78 – 116 millions per year). This would make Nestlé one of the top ten water users in Sacramento at a time when we are in our third consecutive year of a drought.

• According to Nestlé, approximately 30 million gallons of water would come from Sacramento’s municipal water system and 20 million would be trucked to the plant from “private springs.” City staff have refused to answer questions about the springs and Nestlé has provided no information about their location, other than telling the Sacramento News & Review that they are somewhere in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

  

• Bottling 50 million gallons of water a year would create 800 million water bottles annually. It takes over 400,000 barrels of oil to produce that much plastic. Only 14% of plastic bottles get recycled – the rest end up not only in our landfills, but also in our forests, streams, and oceans.

• The diesel fuel required to truck 20 million gallons of water from the “nearby springs” to Sacramento and 800 million bottles across the state is enormous. Diesel truck emissions contain carbon dioxide and diesel soot, which both contribute to global warming. Diesel exhaust also contributes to air contamination, which is known to cause cancer and other health problems.

• Nestlé would take our tap water and sell it back to us after marking it up over 1,000 times what they paid for it. If Nestlé is allowed to build a water bottling plant in Sacramento, they can take as much water as they want, for as long as they want, without any limits or accountability.

• Water is becoming scarcer as the population grows and the drought continues. The water in Sacramento should be for the plants, animals and humans in this region to live on, not for big companies to amass enormous wealth. If Nestlé is allowed to build this plant, we give up even more control of our water for as long as that plant exists. The City says that Nestlé has a right to move here. Shouldn’t Sacramentans have a right to a secure water supply?

Save Our Water Meeting Set for September 28

Save Our Water is hosting a meeting Monday, September 28 at 6:30 pm at 1812 J St. in Sacramento on the deal the Nestle company made with the City of Sacramento to pump up to 116 million gallons of municipal water a year (at $1 per 750 gallons - what is your water bill?), while also pumping water from springs of undisclosed locations, bottle it and sell it at a 1000% markup.

There have been no public meetings about this and no environmental impact report.

For more info, attend the meeting and sign their petition, or visit www.saveourwatersacramento..org. Click on POSTS.

or read this week's Sac News & Review, Going Against The Flow, p 10

**MEDIA ADVISORY***

Delta Activists Protest Sham Bay-Delta Conservation Plan Water Meeting

Delta Community Groups Gather to Have Voices Heard

SACRAMENTO – Delta activist groups will gather at the Martin Luther King Park in Stockton on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 to protest the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) water meeting, taking place across the street at the Civic Auditorium later that afternoon.

WHO: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta

WHAT: Delta Water Policy Press Conference and Rally

WHERE: Martin Luther King Park (across from the Civic Auditorium)
Stockton, CA

WHEN: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
3:00 p.m.

Please Help Us "Pull the Trigger" for a Public Health Insurance Option

https://secure.firedoglake.com/page/contribute/pullthetrigger

President Obama will soon speak to Congress to outline his plan for health care reform. We hear that his plan may not include a strong public health insurance option. Incredibly, Obama may advocate for passing a bill with a "trigger."

What's a trigger? It means they'll wait for our health care crisis to get even worse before implementing a public health insurance option. And even then, a public option may never see the light of day.

We need to get ready for this monumental moment. But we need resources for our campaign team to prepare.