Progressive activism in Washington–Shahid Buttar of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee fights renewal of the Patriot Act; Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield join the fight against corporate influence in elections. Buttar is the highly articulate executive director of BORDC and he describes the way the Patriot Act has reduced our constitutional rights and civil liberties. We open with a short speech and rap he delivered at a rally in front of the FBI HQ on MLK Day, January 17, then talk about the Patriot Act and the failure of Democrats to rescind the worst parts of it–when they held majorities in both houses, they quietly renewed it unchanged. With the loss of Sen. Feingold and the arrival of 60+ new House members, will there be any debate about renewal? Buttar invites you to join or support a lobbying day at the Capitol on Thursday, January 27 and to take action at the local level with legislation called the Local Civil Rights Restoration Act. At 43:28 we talk with my favorite ice cream guys, Ben and Jerry. They have launched Business for Democracy to lead the effort to amend the Constitution to block direct corporate funding of political candidates, as allowed by the Supreme Court decision a year ago in Citizens United. You can add your name to the petition here. These groups are supporting the effort: Alliance for Democracy, American Independent Business Alliance, Backbone Campaign, Center for Media and Democracy, Changing the Game, Code Pink, Coffee Party USA, Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Democrats.com, Fix Congress First, Free Speech for People, MoveOn, Move to Amend, PeaceMajority Report, People for the American Way, Progressive Democrats of America, Public Citizen, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Technical apology: Ben and Jerry were on a speakerphone, and their audio fades out in some places.
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