Quote of the Day:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."
~Ambrose Redmoon (James Neil Hollingworth)

Subject: More urgent action needed

The Senate is likely to vote tomorrow on the bill that . . .

* Legalizes warrantless spying
* Grants immunity to the telecom companies that cooperated with previous illegal spying

Please send a message to your Senators telling them to vote NO on this bill. Please note that the Senate is rushing forward on this and there is no bill number yet. You can bet that the Senate won't even read it before they cast their votes. Just tell your Senators to vote NO on the Senate version of HR 6304. You can send your message here.

We've adjusted our old campaign on the "Protect America Act" so that your message will go to your Senators ONLY. Please let them hear from you on this issue AGAIN today. Use your personal comments to tell them you object to what the House did, and that you expect them to vote NO on the Senate version of HR 6304.

THANK & SPANK

You may think this is a lost cause, but it isn't. Even if we lose the vote in the Senate, as we lost the vote in the House on Friday, it's important to remember the example of the REAL ID Act. Congress thought this issue was settled when they voted to pass REAL ID. They thought that was the end of it. But it wasn't the end. It was only the beginning.

Hundreds of groups, starting with DownsizeDC.org, and thousands of people have joined together to fight for the repeal of REAL ID. And because of this REAL ID is dying a death of a thousand cuts.

The same thing must be done with warrantless spying. We must show Congress that they cannot steal our rights with impunity. We must convince them that when they attempt to do so, they will never hear the end of it. We must show them that this fight isn't over until WE say it's over.

Please send that message to your Senators!

But let's not stop there.

Many of you have repeatedly asked us to show you how your representatives voted on a particular issue, so you could either thank them for voting the right way, or spank them for voting the wrong way. You asked for it, and now we're delivering it. We've created our first "thank and spank" campaign for the House vote on HR 6304.

After you've sent your message to the Senate, go here . . .

* Look at the list we've provided to find out how your Representative voted on HR 6304
* If he or she voted against the bill, send them a thank you
* If they voted for it, send a message of polite disapproval

You can send your "thank or spank" message here.

Please take both of these actions.

* Tell your Senators to vote NO on the Senate version of HR 6304
* "Thank or spank" your Representative

It's important to understand that the Democratic leadership, and many Democrats in conservative districts, voted yes on HR 6304 because they were afraid of being called "soft on terror." We must teach them to be more afraid of violating the Constitutional rights of the American people, than they are of scare tactics. Please take action to convince Congress that you will NOT SUBMIT to this gross violation of the Constitution.

Thank you for being a member of the growing Downsize DC Army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.