Login HereWe've now raised almost $320,000 in our PAC to make politicians accountable for their votes to give the telecoms retroactive immunity.
On Friday we told you about ads going up in the Washington Post that hold Steny Hoyer accountable for brokering this horrible bill, paid for by these donations. Today Color of Change and Blue America have robocalls going out to Hoyer's constituents, recorded by Reverend Lennox Yearwood who is from the district. It's an outrage that ordinary people have to suffer the full burden of an inequitable justice system, and the human rights violations committed in a tyrannical prison system, and Steny works his little fingers to the nub making sure the telecoms never have to answer for the crime of invading the privacy of American citizens, now or in the future.
And we're not done yet. If you keep going, we'll keep going. We'll be announcing more plans soon but if you'd like more, you can join our effort by donating here.
(video by Dean M.)
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wow, thanks to everyone who helped with this, we are breaking new ground.
Awesome! That was a fast brainstorm!
Robocalls? They infuriate me to the point where I’m disposed to be against whatever the robocaller is for. Just sayin’….
OT - did Leahy just say that the admin is now asking congress to “cover their asses”?
Yeah well, let’s hope they piss Steny off as much as they piss you off.
If we’re really lucky, the recipient will only remember that Stainy Whorer was the reason they received the robo call and react accordingly.
The FISA sell out is under full sail in the Senate.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
there is a certain irony to all of this… robocalls presumably benefit the telcos… we are obliged to use their services more than we normally would in order to lobby congress to not let them spy on us.
Imagine how impolite it will seem to have such a notice in the Village paper. I’m sure the gentry will discreetly avert their eyes.
While clutching their pearls and subsiding on their fainting couches.
On Friday we told you about ads going up in the Washington Post that hold Steny Hoyer accountable for brokering this horrible bill, paid for by these donations.
Excellent. Maybe the ads will cause a reaction akin to the anti-MoveOn.org ad kerfuffle.
No such thing as bad publicity, right? and it would be fun to put Steny smack in the middle of such a controversy, forcing full attention to him, while forcing him to defend his actions.
Money that would otherwise have gone to Obama just now went to BlueAmericaPAC vs Retroactive Immunity. Thanks Jane and Howie!
“Robo” and “Steny” just belong together. Good work!
Good deal! Can’t wait to see the WaPo ad.
I guess DiFi didn’t get my message.
Thanks also to Rev. Yearwood for taking part.
Yours too?
Yearwood did a great job too, wouldn’t hearing it come over the phone line.
Just signed up for three months of donations to ActBlue. It’s not a huge donation, but it’s what i could afford. I also sent out an email to several friends who are likely to donate.
If the robo calls are as poorly done as the graphics and message published against Hoyer, I wasted my money for the cause.
For the record, I am against robocalls of any kind for any reason except notification of an emergency.
I REALLY wish they had picked another method. For me, a robocall is an almost automatic way to get me to support the other side.
Boxturtle (Don’t piss off the folks whose help we need)
The problem is the robocall does not hang up when you do. I have hung up on one and then picked the phone to make a call and the robocall is still going. Was just glad I wasn’t trying to call 911 for an emergency.
How can we tag Reid with supporting Geroge W. Bush republican sentate holds but trashing the holds on FISA from his own caucus? He seems well disposed to allowing Tom Coburn and others to put holds on all kinds of legislation, but when Chris Dodd or Russ Feingold want to put a hold on FISA, hmmmm it never seems to stick
Pelosi. Worst. Speaker. Ever
Reid. Worst Majority Leader. Ever
support with all their hearts
The Worst. Preznit. Evah!
Here’s a petition to Schwartzenegger asking him to NOT ALLOW oil drilling off our coast.
Hey Jo — just sent you an e-mail…when you get a chance to take a peek, wanted to let you know it was me and not some SPAM poseur. LOL
if blue america becomes moveon-like-snarky, i won’t be supporting it. i’ll just send money directly to candidates. when i include blue america in my calls to reps and sens i describe how they are doing things differently from other pacs, if they aren’t then i won’t be bringing them up in my calls and letters. i am not a heavy hitter contributor, but i do donate, and i send all literature on to friends…..that will stop, too. i think enough pr people have gone down that road and think that telling the truth is all you need to be doing. there are ways to do that that are effective without copying move-on malicious snarkfesters. if i wasn’t already on the same side of an issue, they wouldn’t convince me to listen and join up….it would do the opposite.
and i haven’t brought this up until now—i still didn’t get an answer back from actblue, i wrote, nicely, twice, about their fundraising letter the last night of the primary…once as a response to the email and the second time to ask why i hadn’t received an answer to my first email……..crickets.
sent it to a direct email address, if i were them, i would have answered. guess they don’t want my money.
: )
bbl
Glenn sees a Glimmer of Hope on FISA.
while you’re at it, there’s the issue that reid claims to be against telco immunity but only brings bills to the senate floor which include immunity (SSCI bill, h.r.6304 but not the SJC bill or the house’s restore act).
i had a “discussion” about that with the person answering the phone is reid’s office.
FYI, HJC subcomittee hearing on now, Jonathan Turley is a witness.
I think if the deluge of calls and faxes continue unabated, they will crack …
Linky please, I couldn’t connect via your link over at EW’s place.
Amazingly, Harry Reid isn’t reining in John Ensign, who is publically proclaiming he is going to game the legislative process to get what he wants.
Harry Reid, “bi-partisan” republican lover extraordinaire!
I guess if you have an “r” after your name, Harry gets all deferential and shit. Is he a closet republican?
– Glenn sees a Glimmer of Hope on FISA. –
The numbers aren’t there. I won’t be surprised if this passes after the recess, and I won’t be surprised if it passes before the recess. The administration can throw a faux hissy fit if this doesn’t pass before Sunday, but the WH is going to get the FISA bill that it effectively drafted for itself.
This was a great idea and a wise use of money. Like them or not, robo calls are effective. I think this one is damn good. Is the system set up to also leave messages on answering machines?
I think Nancy is much worse that “the worst house speaker ever.” At least, she is an enabler/protector of an ongoing progam of war crimes and crimes against humanity. She has failed in her oversight responsibility and has prevented others from exercising theirs.
She tricked us.
Thank you Jane. I’ve followed your site for years even though I don’t comment here often. I donated and will send all funds budgeted for the election of Barack Obama into this campaign instead.
Thank you for all of your hard work. It is highly appreciated.
After the promising first 100 days, Nancy started sucking Republican wind. She really is horrible.
“tricked”
I have a slightly different word.
And Bernie Sanders is kicking ass on C-SPAN 2.
I Just watched Senator Feinstein on CSPAN and what stood out to me was her willingness to vote FOR an amendment to HR6304 that would allow the District Court to rule on the legality of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping.
I called her office and asked why she wouldn’t offer such an amednment; her Staff-jason- could not give an answer.
Additionally, he could not answer why this would effectively void the opinions in Youngstown Sheet and Tube v Sawyer, 343 US 579 (1952)(tho she mentioned it; guess my fax got thru to her).
He indicated that I could only get an answer from her by emailing her and asking the same questions.
Keep faxing and calling people and insist on the opportunity to add amendments if nothing else.
link?
Ditto! I never listen to them; I just hang up. I figure if they don’t have the redeeming social value of employing a real person, they aren’t worth my time.
What I want to know is, does Steny have a progressive voice challenging his re-election? If not, what possible good does this do? Maybe I’m missing something, but if there is no alternative, it seems to me this is just spinning the wheels with no justice in the end. Is there an explanation somewhere that I failed to read? If so, please direct me to it.
“tricked” in the “carnal” sense of the word…heh, heh.
It can all be summed up as chronic lack of leadership.
… and BushCo will slam the dissenting Dems for “… endangering the safety of the American people, which clearly shows they don’t deserve to hold office …”
*sigh* When will the Dems get a clue ?
he is awesome!!!
Full and total replacement of all these so-called “leaders” is the only solution. Not just loss of their “leadership” positions (they are leaders in the same way a worm is a lion) but ejection from the Congress, and a seat in the dock of the Hague if they are complicit in the illegal, immoral war of the 1600 Crew.
Sorry about link - I’ll try again, on HCJ website
I’m growing more cynical by the day, that these guys are showboating … the deal is done … of course, I ain’t quitting by any means.
great essay from chris hedges:
when it comes to fooling us - pelosi was able to do that for a long time. i think the mask finally came off on friday with her lies and obvious manipulation of the process.
They need to stop being so darn scared on this whole National Security thing. The dems could win on this issue if they would just take it head on and show (hell it ain’t hard) that what has been done in our names over the past 7+ years has not made us, Israel, etc any safer and has destabilized the middle east even more than it already was.
good. Don’t give up. I’m not. As long as there are folks still fighting for us in congress (Sandeers, Feingold, Dodd, barbara Lee, etc.) I’m willing to fight right along with them
Hoyer needs to step down as Majority Leader. Yes, there are a few challengers to that post.
Another try HJC link
http://judiciary.house.gov/
Was it Taibi a couple of weeks back in a Book Salon who suggested that Democrats get a reputation for showing courage by doing just that?
hmmm. just a note to remind myself that Saxby Chambliss is an ass-hat.
“The companies which *allegedly* have provided assistance…”
(paraphrasing here) “and when those companies got spooked by the possibility of huge law-suits, they stopped cooperating for a while. And we lost forever valuable intelligence.”
So, you lost intelligence from companies which were only *allegedly* providing assistance, Senator?
Has anyone yet noted that the government also lost intelligence “forever” when the government forgot to pay the bills submitted by these fine patriotic, for-profit-by-gawd alleged assistors?
What’s the over/under on Senator Reid capitulation on Housing (setting it aside until after the recess), on the grounds that the GOP is just being obstructionist?
Following that, the Senate is in position to conduct the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to FISA, i.e., this afternoon/evening. That sets up a Thursday afternoon “going to the bill,” with the coincident entering of initial amendments.
Yes.
Thanks for the opportunity for another round of short answers to short questions!
idea for a T-shirt
our “GOVERNMENT SNOOPERS know
all YOUR INFO”
Could be but I also heard a few other progressives (rachel Maddow for one) making the same argument.
I for one can’t see why they don’t just do it.
Really? On the floor?
I just finished reading Dodd’s barn burner of a speech.
I called CLinton and Schumer’s ofices.Schumer is planning to vote against. We might want to do our own whip count, see if we can figure out who needs more pressure
“Snark” is a term that usually means “sarcastic” and I don’t think there’s anything here or in MoveOn’s work that falls under that category, so I’m not quite sure what you mean. But if you mean aggressively going after people who betrayed us on FISA, that’s what we told everyone we were going to do and that’s what we’re doing.
The only difference is that MoveOn can be sometimes reluctant to go after bad Dems. There is no reluctance here.
Here’s another thing I’m really puzzled about. I thought the only way you could get rid of an amendment to the Constitution is to do an amendment to revoke the old amendment and then pass a new amendment if you had a replacement. I thought all this required something like two thirds of the Senate then plus ratification by 2/3rds of the States (kinda like they did with the ERA.) Yet they are gutting the fourth amendment with a bill. Isn’t that what is called passage of an unconstitutional law. In other words, if reviewed by the courts, couldn’t it be called unconstitutional? If so, why are they doing this (given that so many members of Congress are lawyers, why wouldn’t they know better?)
see you later pups off to run some errands (but then the gov probably alredy knew that since they have all my emails)
I’d vote for a Nazi if it would defeat Hoyer. Right now the Democratic congressional contingent needs to be purged more than we need to prevent yet another fascist from entering congress.
OUR GOVERNMENT SNOOPS
BE COOL ,the BIG BROTER is Listening!
By using the word ‘reasonable’ in the language of the bill;4th amendment speaks to ‘unreasonable’.
Thank.You.Ma’am.
that’s just pre 911 thinking /s
Cant hide from Uncle Sam
Off Topic - Another Gift from Bush’s Court
Exxon Valdez $2.5 billion oil spill ruling overturned
Orrin Hatch says that checking you out when you enter a building without a warrant is no different than spying on Americans.
in their homes.
tie this too McDUMMYs oil drilling ass
or in their private conversations.
He is actually arguing that the 4th is inoperative.
Linky?
My Senator Feinstein was just on the floor telling us what a delicious treat the Shit Sandwich called FISA is and how happy we should be that she is supporting it and feeding it to us…
One of the worst things about politicians like DiFi who sell their souls to the highest bidder, is that they can always find a way to attach noble motives to their sellouts…
Out only hope now is Feingold and Dodd filibustering this evil bill.
((((( TJ )))))
Updates via gmail ?
Horse pucky! Next in line would be the likes of some DLC type Rohm Emanuel.
There’s no time for that now. We must keep investigaing and debating Obama’s Muslim status.
I tried the link originally with the link button, but it didn’t show up. So here’s the text:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....court_dc_7
Could it be that many of the lesser weevils (the d’s, so we are told) are heavily invested in the last seven years and don’t want to have to ‘fess up’?
Perhaps our current ‘crop’ are too cozy, too complicit, and too crass to really care about ‘the people’ or that quaint, disposable document, the Constitution?
Perhaps they’ve simply gotten JFK’s famous admonition backwards.
They are polly-tish-shuns, after all, and are prolly doing the best that their pure littles hearts and souls can manage …
And, we’ve gotta admit, most of ‘em have done pretty well for themselves.
He also misquote the opinion he cites (which was also wrong; it’s Truong, NOT Truang; see here and note that the opinion is based on the “as amended by the Patriot Act” http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/.....11802.html
AND “That case, however, involved an electronic surveillance carried out prior to the passage of FISA”
So not using the link button gives the link… interesting…
Hiya Petro!
that vile WAR PROFITEERING skunk,i bet she HAS TREMENDOUS amount to hide,vile skum
I called my congresscriminal and his staffers said “gee, we don’t know his position on FISA”. Next town meeting, he’s gonna get an earful about that. He’s also not getting any $$$ from me again or any other kind of support.
– Out only hope now is Feingold and Dodd filibustering this evil bill. –
It takes 41 Senators (40, with Kennedy out of commission) to stop anything “for good.” Fewer than that number can put up a good fight, make their case, and if they want to, can use parliamentary parlor tricks to delay passage for a week or so. But fewer than 41 just can’t stop the Senate.
hahahahahaha
McDUMMY loves the ENVIORMENT
http://www.pwsrcac.org/images/0037.jpg
JUST lets get it down the road,to the next congress
I’m from California and I don’t think DiFink has ever really stood for California. AIPAC yes, Bush yes(after all she did get to ride on Air Farce 1), Constitution, where it meets her contributors needs
Impeach!
SHE MAKES SCADS of dough rei me…on WAR PROFITS…she is MORE VILE THAN her lookalike THATCHER…prollyt twins,they are the same AGE …no?
But, in what coin is DiFi paid off. She’s filthy rich and probably doesn’t go to prostitutes. How do they get people like that to sell their souls and our freedoms?
word
easy she is a greedy somabitch
Sorry for OT Ms Hamsher but…..
Linky
tomatoes and tuna for lunch?
Gawd, they do look separated at birth!
oy
Oh blimey….
But the fourth amendment also says:
Other than that, I can understand that it may be reasonable in cases of hot pursuit to not go after a warrant prior to searching a perp’s car for contraband, etc., but what you’re implying is that this law states all government wiretaps of the private correspondence of everyone in the country are “reasonable,” because this law says they are. It seems to me that this is a matter for the courts to decide anyway. What I’m saying is just because they pass a law purporting to legalize something does not necessarily make it so if that law was unconstitutional from its inception.
Well, Orrin Hatch approves of this Bill and that’s good enough for me !
OMG…Orrin Hatch just compared spying on Madrasses to spying on the Sorbonne….what a frikkin’ lunatic nutcase bonehead.
the Iron C—nt
http://timesonline.typepad.com.....arrots.jpg
Oooh, Pictures … Hatch doing his State proud …
lets put a little camera up his butt PERMANENTLY
So, Hatch is telling us that they would never, ever spy on the Sorbonne, but they would spy on millions of Americans at say…. Lehigh Technical School of Terrorist Mechanics….
t-shirt
America…we know ALL your shit
Orrin Hatch STFU!!!
We know how, when, and where you shit too.
Is Orrin allowed to give himself a reach around ?
plenty of MUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZLEMS at their French University just sayin”g”
2nd row….”G”
Minneapolis Airport bathroom…
No, Chimpy. Patience, Petro - you just have to wait for the dismount.