Take action this Wednesday January 25 to preserve our fundamental rights and freedoms by calling Congress to voice your concern about the new PATRIOT Act. Call: 202-224-3121 For talking points:

Dear CODEPINKer,

Are you concerned about government spying on peaceful protestors (including CODEPINK), wiretaps of phone calls without a court order, and FBI searches of personal records of people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing? So are we.

The USA PATRIOT Act gives the government increased authority to wiretap your phone, monitor your e-mail and demand your medical, financial and student records from banks, vendors, doctors‚ offices, and libraries. Furthermore, it prevents anyone who is required to turn over your records from ever telling you or anyone else, even if the records turned up no wrongdoing.

And did you know that the latest version of the PATRIOT Act contains a new provision that can throw protesters like us in prison for 10 years for disrupting major events such as political conventions? (In 2004 CODEPINK took our anti-war message to the floors of both the Republican AND Democratic Conventions.)

Very soon Congress will have a chance to repair some of the PATRIOT Act's worst excesses. In December 2005, a bipartisan group of senators filibustered to stop the passage of a bill that would have reauthorized 16 expiring PATRIOT Act provisions. As a compromise, the provisions were extended for 5 weeks to give the officials more time to work out their differences. This temporary extension will run out on February 3, 2006.

That's why it's so critical to join CODEPINK and millions of allies throughout the U.S. in a National Call-in Day on Wednesday, January 25 to repudiate the excesses of the PATRIOT Act and government violations of our civil liberties!

The Senate version of the bill has much stronger protections of civil liberties and more meaningful opportunities to challenge unwarranted information requests and gag orders. Please call your representatives and senators, and ask them to support the Senate version of the bill. You can call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or find your representatives and get their direct numbers by clicking here. And if you'd like additional talking points or a sample letter you can send, click here.

Don't let the Bush administration take away our basic rights to protest THEIR illegal actions. Your phone calls on January 25 can help restore our rights to privacy, free speech, and due process.

Your sisters against Big Brother,
Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Rae & Tiffany

P.S. On January 31st President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress. He'll defend the mounting death toll in Iraq, claim that spying on peace groups like CODEPINK is lawful and make more excuses for the sorry state of our union. In times like these it's important to keep our spirits up. We suggest you get together with your friends and fellow activists and head to your favorite watering hole for a People's State of the Union. Click here for action ideas and to find an event in your town.

Don't forget to forward this email to your friends!