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California Enacts Resolution Critical
of USA PATRIOT Act!

By a vote of 23 to 10 the California Senate on February 16th passed a Resolution critical of the USA PATRIOT Act! The Resolution passed the California Assembly in January, making California the eighth state and 404th governmental body to protest attacks on basic Freedoms by the USA PATRIOT Act. For the latest information on the trend see: http://bordc.org/ The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by Congress without due consideration in the wake of the 9/11 disaster. (The actual bill was not widely available until after the voting.) Over 25 Billion dollars was spent yearly on intelligence gathering and evaluation prior to the 9/11 attack. In spite of this huge expenditure of personnel and money, our intelligence community was apparently unable to uncover this massive terror operation which was taking place under their collective noses. Was any agency or individual held accountable for the death and destruction this tragic lapse allowed to happen? No, the usual government answers to a disaster were employed. Throw money at the problem by expanding an intelligence community which obviously wasn't working very well, and curtail the Freedoms of law abiding citizens. See the article by John McManus at: http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_3012.shtml Were our borders strengthened so that terrorists couldn't continue to saunter over them? No! Were illegal aliens or aliens on expired or fraudulent visas picked up and deported? No! Have the governments' answers to terrorism increased your safety or Freedom? No! But now we are required to have our shoes inspected when preparing to board an airliner, so that weapons cannot be hidden under our big toes.

The USA PATRIOT Act is not aimed at those who break our laws, it is aimed at law abiding citizens which is resulting in one of the largest power grabs by the Executive Branch in the history of our nation. The PATRIOT Act does not need to be reauthorized for another four years or permanently. It does not need cosmetic alterations which do little to restrain an out-of-control Executive Branch. The USA PATRIOT Act needs to be rescinded, period. Congress needs to be given an F on this and told to do it over again, this time within the framework of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! See the USA PATRIOT Act Rescission Bill of 2006 at: http://www.usiap.org/ActionItems/PatriotBill/PatriotBillText.html Please take the following actions to protect your Freedom:

1. Send a copy of the Bill to rescind the USA PATRIOT Act to your Senators and Representative asking them to sponsor this or a similar bill.

2. Call or send a letter to your Senators and Representative objecting to any extension of the sunset provisions of the Act. 202-224-3121 By agreement with the Senate Majority leader, the vote will not be taken before March 1, 2006. For a sample letter see: http://www.capwiz.com/jbs/issues/alert/?alertid=8358876&type=CO

3. Support a resolution against the PATRIOT Act in your city, town, county, or state. See a sample Resolution and instructions at: http://bordc.org/involved/tools.php

4. Pray for the Freedom of your country, and that Congress will stand firm in defense of that Freedom.

Congress still holds the power to restrain the Executive Branch. Members of Congress need to have their spines stiffened by their constituents in order to do so. Consistent communication with your Senators and Representative is needed to insure that special interest lobbies and the Beltway Insiders lose their current control of Congress. The momentum is beginning to change toward the Freedom position. We must extend every effort to continue and accelerate this trend.

For Freedom,

Will Christensen
National Chairman
Independent American Party http://www.usiap.org Those of you who are willing to spend an hour or two weekly to preserve our Freedom by contacting Congress and your fellow citizens may join The Committee of Correspondence at: http://www.usiap.org/Join/Join.htm