Blue America is launching a tool today that will help you organize in your own community.

You can use it to coordinate a meeting with a Senator or Representative, and then publish a notice so that other folks can also get involved. Or track public appearances of elected officials in local venues. Or put together a planning meet-up to come up with ideas to educate the public on FISA-- like leafletting or showing up at parades with signs.

We've been collecting some information about public appearances for elected officials -- especially for Senators so that we can take immediate action on FISA. And, let me tell you, the public information is scanty!

In fact, for most Senators and Representatives, it's nonexistent.

Guess if they don't tell their constituents where they are going to be, they don't have to be confronted with them, I suppose. It's almost as though they don't want to interact with the American public unless we are big donors, lobbyists, or accidentally run into them somewhere, isn't it?

Well, that's about to change.

We wanted to make it easier for everyone to take action in their own neighborhood. Especially since elected officials seem to want to avoid us doing just that. If you know of a public appearance you can tell others about or want to plan an action in your area, you just need to log into the Blue America tool, input the information and...voila! Along with the whip call tool we launched this morning, we hope this will make it easier for everyone to take immediate action on FISA -- and beyond.

Seems to me that, since these elected folks work for us, it's only fair that we all have some notice of where they plan to be on the public's business. Don't you think?

Here's what we know thus far:

-- Sen. Mark Pryor will be in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, this morning for an appearance at a local fire station (11:30 am CT) and for a courthouse dedication (10 am CT). This info. went up on his Senate website yesterday.

-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller's mobile office will be in two locations today in WV: in Wood County from 9 am to 11 am and in Pleasants County from 1 pm to 3 pm. No word on whether Sen. Rockefeller will actually be there, but at least staffers should be.

-- Sen. Barack Obama will be participating in a 4th of July parade in Butte, Montana.

-- Sen Susan Collins of Maine is rumored to be participating in the parade in Bangor on the 4th of July -- the parade starts at 11 am ET.

We need your help. If you have information about where your Senators or Representatives are going to be over the next few days -- an appearance at a local senior center, a 4th of July parade, a town picnic, a county or state fair, whatever -- let us know. If folks could call local offices, DC offices, local senior centers or check the "community calendar" section of their local newspapers and report back in when any public appearance from a Senator or Representative is found, that would be great. And also input it into the Blue America tool for others to see.

That's right -- the You Work For Us Summer Tour is swinging back into action. And Blue America is kicking it up a few notches. This time, we've put together a tech tool to help everyone get together. But we need your help to make it work!

PS -- The Blue America PAC is funding the development of this tool. If you have some spare change, we would love a donation to defray costs. We think this is going to be an incredibly useful tool for everyone as we head into November and beyond. If you think so, too, you can donate here. Also, True Majority is running some great FISA ads that I thought you all would enjoy.

(YouTube -- the Count Basie Orchestra performs Jumping At The Woodside.)