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Call Sen. Harry Reid today and tell him to do his job and make the Senate Republicans stand and filibuster. He can be reached at 202-224-3542 in DC and 702-388-5020 in Nevada. For reasons why this is important, see here.
Another way to send a message to Harry Reid that leadership and having a spine are not mutually exclusive: sign the petition that the Campaign for America's Future. From CAP:
Senator Reid. Like you, we're frustrated that a conservative minority continues to obstruct reforms that most Americans support. We think it's time this minority pays a price for thumbing its nose at the American people. We urge you to bring essential reforms to the Senate floor, and KEEP them there until this minority yields, or takes deserved heat for obstructing progress. We pledge to help you stand up to the conservatives standing in the way of progress!
Tell Harry Reid to do his job -- make Republicans stand up and filibuster. If they are going to obstruct, they should do it in the full sunlight for everyone to see -- not just what they are doing but what they are obstructing as well.
As Chris Bowers points out, it's a lot of legislation that is important to the public:
January 17, Reid Amendment to Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007: a bill to provide greater transparency in the legislative process.
January 24, Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007: a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage.
February 5, A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq: disapproving of the troop escalation in Iraq.
February 17, A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq: disapproving of the troop escalation in Iraq (again).
April 17, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007: an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Intelligence Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes.
April 18, Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007: a bill to amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for fair prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
June 11, No confidence vote on Alberto Gonzales: a joint resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people.
June 21, Baucus Amendment to CLEAN Energy Act of 2007: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for energy advancement and investment, and for other purposes.
June 26, Employee Free Choice Act of 2007: A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
July 11, Webb Amendment to the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2008: to specify minimum periods between deployment of units and members of the Armed Forces for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
If the Republican party continues to be the Party of Obstruction, then they should pay a public price for it. Every damn day until they get to work and stop playing political games with the public's business.
UPDATE: Meant to include these toll free numbers that katymine put together for calls to the Hill:
1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437
And if you have some spare time today, please also call your Senators and tell them to support S. 185 and S. 2022 on habeas restoration -- S.2022 is the amendment that will be voted on likely tomorrow as an add-on for the defense bill, and the text is the same as S.185 which was passed by the Judiciary Committee. Every vote counts on this one, so please make calls in support of it today! Bob Geiger has more here.
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Zed!!
Christy!
Double Gitmo!!
Christy!
le quatro…
Will call this afternoon! I’m tired of reading headlines in the MSM that don’t identify the Republican obstructionists!
I very much intend to keep my party’s feet, chesnuts, etc. in the fire.
Republicants are making it quite obvious they don’t care about the will of the American people, only political payback…
Dang. I was that close. And as far as Harry Reid, I love this. He needs to be a leader. Sh-t or get off the pot as my gramps used to say. Make them filibuster. The longer Reid doesn’t hold their feet to the fire, the more respect I lose for him.
What a bizarre and appropriate photo.
Christy.
Bless your heart! You’re speedy.
I just finished a firedoglake.com primer for new acquaintances of ours and was ready to send it off.
I decided to check to see if you had your new post up yet, and…. well…. Thanks!
They’ve got some piping hot FDL a la Redd to read ;->
That’s a lot of bills that need action.
Reid should just tell the Republicans that the summer recess starts when the bills have been voted on. Want to filibuster? Then stay in Washington.
Pete Bogs @ 8
Republicants are making it quite obvious they don’t care about the will of the American people, only political payback…
With all respect, payback for *what*? We haven’t even begun to hit ‘em yet - especially in the Senate.
Just made the call to Reid’s office and they were quite polite. If we generate a couple hundred calls, maybe they will get a little frazzled.
Any 800 numbers available for those of us too poor to pay on our own dime?
Given Reids lack of leadership in the Senate one can’t help but wonder if the Mormon from Utah is at heart a Republican mole
albert fall @ 14
No! Don’t make the staff hate you. Treat them with respect. Make the hundreds of phone calls, but not with the goal of frazzling people, please.
I know staff people. This will only backfire.
albert fall @ 13
Just made the call to Reid’s office and they were quite polite. If we generate a couple hundred calls, maybe they will get a little frazzled.
I got that impression too. when I asked whether they were having a “busy day”? - was told “yeah - kind of”.
More, please.
Glenn Greenwald in Salon today:
Jim at 15 — Ooops — sorry about that! Meant to include the switchboard numbers that katymine found:
1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437
Will update the post above as well. Thanks for the reminder!
Done - signed the petition.
Personally, I think Reid needs to either step up to the plate or resign from the job. He hasn’t shown the slightest bit of spine since taking the leadership slot, and Joe Lieberman just laughs at him.
My sister told me about a bumper sticker she saw the other day: Stalin had Pravda, Bush has Fox.
After doing some headline comparison on my recent trip to the NE, I would add that Bush also has the NYT.
EPU’d to Martha:
Please do not assume that those who despair have done nothing. Some who despair are tired because we have been fighting against all odds and with no emotional support and still have nothing to show for it.
Were you fighting in 2003?
THanks CHS,
Those are the numbers I misplaced.
Christy’s comments about not giving up are dead on. But, let me add something else. America and Americans never react appropriately. That is to say that as a group, we either over-react or under react. While this leads to volatility and instability, it also means that the pendulum will swing back. It will happen. Don’t give up, and when it swings back, don’t over-reach.
egregious @ 17
More flies are attracted to honey than to vinegar. A reminder from my dear sweet southern Mom who knew how to get you to listen to her with never lifting a hand. Kindness to the staff. They take on the brunt.
Jim Clausen @ 15
Try these links…
You probably will have to click through to your Senator’s home page, but I found 800s at Sen. Akaka’s right away for both Tel. & FAX.
Hopefully others are similar format… ;->
http://www.senate.gov/general/.....rs_cfm.cfm
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml
Recall that the Republicans threatened the “nuclear option” when the Demopcrats filibustered the Bush right-wing extremist Judicial nominees.
THEY were more than willing to threaten that they could change the Senate rules in each new session.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/.....-uspo.html
Reid has got to use the same procedure. After all, the people want Congress to ACT! And the Republicans are making the Congress appear ineffectual.
He can do this either by pointing out that the American people want action from Congress on the issue of providing troops with appropriate levels of time to rest, train and prepare for urban combat, etc. as well as ending the War in Iraq.
Thus he can call for a simple majority being sufficient to effect a change in the rule requiring oral debate and presence in the Well of the Senate during a filibuster. Or he could wait until the Republicans have wandered on home and then extend the Session…and take a vote on changing the rule. Even under the current rules (which are not mandatory between sessions) it takes only a 2/3rds vote of those PRESENT to establish a rule change.
sandflea @ 23
yes. including getting tear gassed and pepper sprayed.
hang in there sandflea! we’re with you. (and we all feel the despair sometimes)
Updated the post above to include some information on the habeas restoration amendment — which could also use some support calls from everyone today if you have the time. Thanks, gang!
Christy; My 2c? with you on this, all the way.
QuakerGirl @ 26
Let me re-phrase: I like staff, and want them happy. I just want them so busy answering phone calls today that they can’t do their day jobs, and then applying pressure to the Senator to do what the constituents are asking.
Scarecrow - First, I think a hat tip (or some acknowledgement, or even an “apologies in advance to…”) would have been appropriate (and nice).*
Second, and I never thought I would have to answer this question, since the answer (and the irony) has always seemed obvious (but alas not):**
The “real” universe, where everything ChimpCo et al. does is wrong to start and fucked up in practice and everyone but Chimpco et al are fucked is and always has been the Evil Parallel Universe. We will continue to live in the EPU so long as ChimpCo or its heirs and successors are in power or able to influence policy.
I’m not sure how the FDL “correction” policy works - is there an ombudsman to write? Would a letter to the editrix/publisher do?
_______________________________________
* A WHOLE front page thread about the Evil Parallel Universe, the EPU, and you didn’t even come to me, the EPU, for a quote? An explanation? Even off the record? FDL may need to review it’s sourcing policies.
** Since I’ve been Evil Parallel Universe on this and other blogs for a long time, I think I have the standing to define it, lest my blog name/persona go down in infamy.
Re: The Lieberman Amendment:
Apologies if this has already been posted. From Dover Bitch at digby:
LOL EPU — wake up on the cheeky side of the bed this morning, did we? *g*
Is it okay with everyone if I send a little love out to three humans who I am feeling very warm and loving about this morning?
((((((((((((((((((Christy, Egy, Millinery Man)))))))))))))))))))))))
It’s no wonder that Congress’s approval numbers are tanking. The rightard’s disapprove of the majority in general and the left despises their spinelessness.
Helpless at 37 — I have been repeatedly trying to make this point to staffers: imagine how much support you could gain by simply standing up and demanding accountability from the GOP. No backing down. No giving in. Just standing up and letting them have it on the facts — standing for what is right — just like Webb did yesterday with Lindsey Graham on MtP.
That’s what we all want. Imagine if, just this once, we actually got it. Imagine the support…
Jacqrat—
Thank you, you’re a sweetheart.
That’s an interesting photo up there of Harry “What Can I Do?” Reid and Chuck Schumer.
My husband and I were just saying this morning that we would be better off if Schumer were majority leader. While we have been disappointed in Schumer in many ways, when he wants to, Schumer can be a real ball breaker. Harry Reid just does not have it in him to do this job.
jacqrat @ 36
Such company, I’m truly honored.
((((((((((((((((((Jacqrat))))))))))))))))))
Hi, Evil Parallel Universe!
Maybe we should rename the universe that Scarecrow was talking about to the Mirror Universe? Where everything seems to be backwards, and maybe also upside down?
Bluetoe @ 16
You meant to say Nevada, didn’t you?
Holy cow!!! We must IMPEACH!!
Sounds like omebody might know something we don’t know…:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....11149/8486
EPU 33
I had wondered about that.
Christy, Scarecrow? Isn’t there some way that could be updated both downstairs and here, with full explanation of EPU’s moniker origins?
Just doesn’t seem fair otherwise. imho.
I agree, playing defense and running out the clock for the ‘08 election isn’t working and it is time to draw the line..and make them filibuster.
Reid’s reluctance to do so may be very rational, however.
The Repubs own the MSM and the message would be the Dems are playing political games. I think the Dems would loose the media battle. Still, the “rope-a-dope” isn’t working..go for broke.
Petition signed, calls about to be made. Hope this activity gets their attention in DC.
“While I don’t agree with Senator Lieberman when it comes to Iraq, his amendment having to do with Iran offered yesterday was not controversial because it basically just required a report on Iran’s role in Iraq and any responses by the US government.”
Pardon my ignorance - but does anybody know on whom the reporting responsibility is imposed?
IOW, does the bill require that Iran report - to us - the nature and status of its own internal policies and actions?
EPU all the way! He’s right. He owns that copyright by all means. He made the urban dictionary after all.
Feingold told a blogger in Madison this weekend that the Democrats have a plan and to watch out Tuesday.
Dane101 Speaks with Feingold
Adie — I think EPU was being his usual snarky self. *g* As was Scarecrow by using the term in a sort of backward homage.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 38
God yes! If they would just quit listening to their “consultants” they would realize that we have got their backs and actually do somethihg
Wapiti @ 12
Unfortunately, the Dems want a recess and to play in the pool themselves as much if not more than the Repugs.
After all, Reid and crew have toiled and sweated, and done such hard, hard work for us all, doncha know? Not even feckin’ close!
Wonder how many additional recess appointments Junya is gonna make?
Maybe he’ll replace the entire DOJ with members of the Xian Coalition.
After all, Gonzo can’t afford to have real lawyers, with principles, watching his every slimy move!
One way to have input is to join your local Democratic organization. As far as I know most, if not all counties have them. In our sparsely populated farming county we have one. Right smack-dab in a red state too. If you can talk your fellow members into a joined effort to make recommendations to your reps, and put that in writing on your organization’s letterhead and send it around, that can help. And don’t forget letters to the editor of your local and state newspapers. Politicians pay attention to these things. And most editors prefer letters be sent by email. It’s as easy as making a comment here. You’ll be glad and proud when you see your letter published. And most importantly you will be doing something. You will have an effect!
Sandflea @23…here is my response to you from EPU land in the previous thread…sorry I was slow to jump to the new thread…
martha @ 188
I just want to reiterate the importance of what Christy does, day in and day out–forcing us to be citizens of this country and act like it.
From urban dictionary:
My bold.
Meanwhile, CNN reporting Barbara Starr is traveling in Iraq with Peter Pace. She just dropped another Iran bomb…
Congress must do something about this!!! This is the most dangerous and important issue facing us right now - we have to stop Bush/Cheney!!!
Yes. After reading all about Lady Bird for the last few days here in Central Texas, take a page from her playbook. She was quite something. I especially admire how she went across the South in 1964 preaching the Johnson voting rights gospel in her southern accent, which got thicker the deeper into the south she got.
OK, pups, some senators are easier than others.
Just off the phone with Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office. Told them - politely, of course - to tell her that it is never too late to switch parties. The nice young man told me he’ll pass my advice on to Lisa.
What do I tell Ted, though?
Ed*ard Teller @ 59
Suggest retirement.
I’m not being that “snarky.” L’idee c’est moi (as the French would say). Though I’m neither angry nor making demands. I’m more surprised that someone would put forth a definition other than the one I posted above.
And if Scarecrow was paying me some backwards sort of homage, can the post be stickered all over with the “backward homage” emoticon?
Ed*ard Teller @ 59
“Take a long walk on a short bridge” ??
Ed*ard Teller @ 59
Um, to resign, please? And get his truck off the toobz.
Ed*ard Teller @ 59
Oh, I don’t know… “Resign!”
OT…More “good news”
Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran
The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.
The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: “Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo.”
www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2127115,00.html
I vote in Nevada. I vote in the part of Nevada that is ultra right wing. For decades they called themselves “Mississippi of the West” and modeled themselves after the worst of that state. Things are rapidly changing. The state is growing and attracting diverse peoples and this has impacted how the state votes.
They went red in the last election by about 25,000 votes. It is this fine line that makes the Democratic Party there tentative. If they over-reach they lose. If they under-reach they lose.
Senator Reid has a long host of Republicans itching to replace him. I never had to work this hard in California in an election but in Nevada, volunteers put in serious hours and are committed to making the state blue. Presently, they are running workshops and education of issues seminars for volunteers. These people work hard.
As the demographics of the state changes, they get closer and closer to their goal. Reid doesn’t know who is with him and who is against him in his state. When will the Democrat voters turn on an issue?
My objective is to bring activism to Democrats in Nevada. Most constituents don’t call their congressperson and senators. They really aren’t up on the issues. A few constituents are carrying out activism for the many. Activism as a tactic is relatively new to the state and it is transplants who are pushing this forward.
Ed*ard Teller says
July 16th, 2007 at 8:58 am
What do I tell Ted, though?
“Senator Stevens, might I ask, and I mean this only in the nicest possible way, to fucking resign already?”
Made the call, signed the petition with the comment “Senator Reid, are you paid by A*P*C, or just gutless?”
LS @ 57
The one upside about the whole Iran thing is that it would bring closure quickly. The rest of the the world will line-up against us. We will lose, and our economy will look like 1919 Germany. So, it’s simple. If we go to war with Iran, we (that is the rational people) move to Canada.
LS @ 58
Here’s a draft of my email to “my” Senator, Clinton:
LOL! Actually, gang, last year I wrote to Stevens - after his toobz speech and another incredibly inept speech he made to a telecommunications trade group - that the time had come for him to step down. I’m predicting that neither Ted Stevens nor Rep. Don Young will be in the 2008 general election.
For too long it’s been clear that the Republican party is now controlled by anti-American, authoritarian extremists whose agenda is, first and foremost, to completely subvert the constitutional foundations of the Republic. If they called themselves Communists, most of the Democrats in Congress would (presumably) have no problem seeing their tactics for what they are. But because they call themselves Republicans, too many Democrats just don’t seem to get that there is no longer a one of them fit to serve in the legislature of a free people.
The Republicans are now the right-wing extremist equivalent of bolsheviks. Everything they do needs to be seen in that light, because everything they do is targeted to further advance the subversion. They have nothing but contempt for any legal or constitutional principle that in any way constrains their excercise of absolute power. They consider the founding principles of our country, and the constitutional structures created to preserve our self-government against usurpation by tyrants, to be illegitimate. They view our honor, integrity and respect in the eyes of the world to be utterly worthless.
Congressional Democrats’ appeasment in the face of this onslaught is an inexcusable abandonment of their duty to defend the Constitution against those who are now unambiguously intent on destroying it.
The only appropriate response to what the Republicans have become is to block this subversion on absolutely every front and to do so unrelentingly, for as long as it takes to smash it. This means forcing Republicans to engage in actual filibusters. It means charging those who ignore subpoenas with inherent contempt and sending the Congressional sergeants-at-arms (accompanied by as much back-up as they need) to arrest those so charged. It means opening impeachment proceedings against Gonzales, Cheney and Bush, without regard to the expected outcomes of Senate trials. It means using every procedural, legal, and constitutional tool available, and it particularly means consciously viewing every such action as an opportunity to educate the nation in the basics of the Constitution and the reasons the Founders designed it as they did.
By orders of magnitude, there is no more important task facing the current Congress than this. It’s not that Congress should do nothing else. It’s not that the war is not of extreme importance, or that health care or climate change or stem cells, or whatever else, are unimportant. But everything else is affected by the subversion because the Republicans use all of it to serve that goal, and they don’t let up.
That so many Congressional Democrats just don’t see it, that they would need to be told, not just to do their jobs, but what their most important job is and what the overall pattern is, is utterly beyond belief.
That, however, is where we are.
boxer @ 69
On horseback with carts….bring out yer dead..
The 97-0 Iran vote included language that they were murdering Americans and that this was intolerable.
How can this be read as anything other than a push for war?
Look at this in combination with the propaganda being catapulted on the MSM and the Guardian article where an insider is warning us Cheney is gaining ascendency over Rice and Gates.
We got some serious work to do here.
maunga @ 68
Maybe it’s just me, but that kind of comment seems like it would make the Senator tend to ignore your comments and any others from people of the same political stripe on this issue (i.e. us).
Christy Hardin Smith @ 35
Scarecrow flushed him out of his hidey-hole!
And how’s this for living in BushCo’s Evil Parallel Universe?
another vowel, another controversy: this time it’s APU
mukei @ 73
Thank you.
I still hear Democrats blethering that we have ‘Checks and Balances’. Are there any constitutional or democracy moralists anywhere but on some of these leftist-ish fora? I have not yet noticed any in Congress or the punditry speaking out.
egregious @ 75
The problem with the Iran amendment is that nobody bothered to read it before Lieberman convinced them to vote for it. If they had read it, I have no doubt there would have been at least some opposition.
Hi all I’ve been out but noticed this from Roll Call.
Thanks so much, Christy, for the action.
Now to go call.
I think I have come to the conclusion that I will abstain (or write in) from the 2008 Presidential vote if Impeachment hearings to not begin (and from what I can see as an outsider… bear fruit).
I see no reason to hand that kind of power over to any man or woman…no reason whatsoever.
Oh, and I would sign a petition to that effect.
egregious @ 75
The Iran vote and the Guardian story that Bush has decided to deal with Iran before he leaves office, may be the strongest sign yet that the bus has already gone over the cliff.
Fifty years from now, foreign historians will be trying to decide the “tipping point” for the US. My vote would be the Dems failure to filibuster Alito.
Quakergirl wrote:
Then it sounds like the Senate Dems need a different leader. I understand the concern that a Dem Senator from a red state has. Thus, to get anything done, we need a Senate leader from a blue state, one who does not place his seat at risk by doing his or her duty.
OT - Bush reaching out to try to gather the players for a new Middle East Peace Summit.
Oh, sweet jesus - he’s back to thinking he’s the president again.
No citation yet (MSNBC crawl).
Please Mr. president, for the love of all that is holy - stay away!!
Biodun@78:
This veto should be widely trumpeted by those of us on the left as “Bush hates children!” Maybe an attention-getter for the 29%-ers.
Maybe all of this Iran war hype is actually to get big investors to pump up the stock market thinking they’re gonna make a killing on another war, i.e., creating more of an artificial economy. Just a thought. The last week is showing huge gains on the market that don’t make sense at all.
i don’t see any difference between Reid and the republican leaders. Just because he has a D after his name doesn’t mean he’s “honest” and “just”.
that is the fundamental flaw with progressives in my opinion.
these people are all the same. rich and lookinig out for thier own interests. reid would sooner make a deal with the republicanst than adhere to the will of his constituents. Isn’t that obvious now?
redX @ 83
So that’s one less vote the Republicans have to muster to retain the WH.
LS @ 89
Hm. I like it. Will check w a couple people. There can be short term market manipulation.
JF @ 81
yeah, maybe. like in the house on the vote for h.con.r.21 - they had time to read that one… and then 1 dem voted against it (kucinich).
redX @ 83
No way!
I’m going to vote, get everybody I know to vote all across the country, and work to register new voters and get them to the polls on election day.
egregious @ 92
I’d be interested to know if there are Put options being purchased….but I don’t know how to find that out.
Do you really think the Chinese will hold still if we attack Iran? Isn’t that where they get *their* oil and aren’t they funding our stupidity in Iraq?
What happens if they call in those debts?
selise @ 93
Then again…