Quote of the Day:
"We won't let the Venezuelas or the Nigerias or the Saudi Arabias or the Irans jerk us around by the gas nozzle."
-- Senator Larry Craig of airport bathroom stall fame, Source: Newsweek, July 28, 2008

Subject: Important Developments

There have been a number of important developments on a couple of issues, but first . . .

We're having technical difficulties with our new website. Many people get white screens (sometimes an Error in Internet Explorer) when they click on a link on the site. This stops them from taking action. We're working on the problem, but here's a short term fix you can use to get where you're going. Just hit the refresh button one or more times. The page you need should then appear.

Now, with that annoyance out of the way, here's some good news. We're making progress against House Concurrent Resolution 362 and Senate Resolution 580, both of which urge President Bush to blockade Iran. Such a blockade would remove Iran's oil from the world market, send gasoline prices soaring, and potentially plunge the world into a deep recession. Thanks to your work, and pressure from other groups, some in Congress are beginning to see the light.

It began when one of the key sponsors, Representative Robert Wexler, came out against his own resolution (although he hasn't yet removed his name from it). Now, three other Representative's have removed their names: Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME), and Rep. Stephen Cohen (D-TN).

If one of these is your representative please use our Iran campaign to send a thank you. This campaign tells Congress to deny the President the authority to attack Iran (something we need to keep asking for), but you can add your thank you as a personal comment.

As for the rest of us, we need to keep asking our members of Congress to oppose House Concurrent Resolution 362 and Senate Resolution 580. You can do that in your personal comments on the Iran campaign. You can also mention that four Representatives have already changed their minds about this resolution, and now oppose it.

Send your message here. Remember to keep hitting refresh if you get a white screen.

In other news, our friend Jim Harper has an excellent new blog at his excellent website, WashingtonWatch.com. We urge you to check it out. Jim provides the details about a bad new bill cobbled together by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- S. 3297, the Advancing America’s Priorities Act.

This bill is a perfect example of why we need the "One Subject at a Time Act." The bill combines 35 unrelated measures into one package. This is Reid's attempt to get around holds Senator Tom Coburn has placed on various pieces of earmark legislation. As a result, the bill has been nicknamed the Coburn Omnibous bill, even though Coburn opposes these measures.

DC Downsizer Michael Launitz also alerted us about this bill because one of the things it contains is a "Big Brother" measure called "The Mother's Act," which would require pregnant women and new mothers to receive mandatory psychiatric screening and treatment for mental disorders (translate that as more corporate welfare for drug companies).

Let's use our "One Subject at a Time" campaign to oppose this cluster of bad legislation. Send Congress a message asking them to pass DownsizeDC.org's "One Subject at a Time Act." Use your personal comments to also oppose S. 3297 (the so-called Coburn Omnibus bill), and tell them that this kind of bill is a key reason we need the "One Subject at a Time Act." If you want more talking points you can find them at the Washington Watch blog.

Send your One Subject at a Time Act message here. Remember to keep hitting refresh if you get a white screen.

Could you please also take two more actions as we head into the weekend?

First, please help our friends Ian and Mark promote their excellent talk show, Free Talk Live. This show is like a perpetual advertisement for Downsize DC. It airs on more than 40 radio affiliates internationally. It's also ranked as the number one podcast at PodcastAlley.com. This ranking helps attract new listeners and affiliates, but their lead is very thin. Ian and Mark could really use your help to boost their vote total this month.

Please take a moment to visit vote.freetalklive.com and cast a vote for Free Talk Live. It only requires your e-mail address for verification purposes - it won't be sold or spammed.

Finally, we still need emergency funding to buy new equipment to help solve the technical problems on our new site. We've made $330 worth of progress, but this leaves $2,131 still to go with just 6 days left in the month. If you can help please contribute. Monthly pledges are especially helpful. You can contribute here.

NOTE: You can remove this funding section if you forward this message to others or post it on your blog.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC army,

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.