Call Your Senators, Call Your Congresspeople

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If you're not familiar with the FISA issue, this Glenn Greenwald post is a good place to start. It's actually a criticism of Keith Olbermann for failing to denounce Barrack Obama's new, mealy-mouthed position on the bill and, by extension, on the Fourth Amendment. For your convenience, here's the text of that Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


I've been writing every day to Senator "Change We Can Believe In" Obama, and to Senator "Ready to Lead on Day One" Clinton, and to my own reps in the House and Senate. I'm told emails are good, calls are better, letters and faxes (because they occupy physical space in their offices) are best. When I call, I always say:

1. My name and city/state. I'm calling to ask X's position on the heinous new FISA bill. (Remember, it's already passed the House -- the Senate is taking it up on July 8.)

2. I'm concerned that the bill retroactively immunizes telecom companies who may have assisted the Bush administration in illegally spying on me and other Americans.

Usually I'm told that the Senator/Congressperson hasn't reviewed the specifics of the bill because they're still being discussed. I answer: "Regardless of the specifics of the bill, what's her position generally on retroactive immunity? Is she against, generally, warrantless spying? Is she speaking out about it? Will she vote against any bill that contains these?"

Sometimes I'm told that the Senator/Congressperson hasn't released a position yet. So I ask: "Why not?"

And sometimes they'll throw out some distraction like, "I do know the Senator voted in favor of cloture ..." which only means he voted to stop debate; to block a fillibuster. If you follow that, fine -- pursue it. If you don't, go back to your point. "If he wants my vote, and my respect, he should go find a microphone and use his position to protect the Constitution. Where's he at on that?" etc., etc.

Sometimes I'll even ask the person who answers the phone what his/her position is on the matter. They're all policy wonks, so it's wicked hard for them to spit out, "I like illegal spying and retroactive immunity."

Obama said he'll support the heinous FISA bill, but that he'll try to stop the retroactive telecom immunity part of it. The trouble with that is that, at least when he said it last week, it was all for show. The Senate Majority Leader had crafted a doomed amendment just so Obama and others could say they tried to block the immunity. So the bottom line is the same: will the Senator vote against any bill containing retroactive telecom immunity, yes or no?


Here's a July 1 message from Senator Russ Feingold. He's kick-ass. He and Senator Chris Dodd have been leading the opposition to the current FISA bill:





Senator Chris Dodd also has a thing you can sign to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Dodd/Feingold amendment to stop Retroactive Immunity.

75,000 – Sea of People Seeks Sea Change

CNN's story mentioning Senator Obama's activities in Oregon over the weekend was decidedly understated (see paragraph 18). "Obama made low-key campaign stops this weekend, hitting a street festival in Keizer and stopping for ice cream in Eugene." Oh, and by the way Barack Obama --the black guy shown in the photos below-- also held a quick meet-up with some supporters at Waterfront Park in Portland.


Later CNN, on Campbell Brown's terrible show, used the rally story as a teaser throughout the hour. When they finally covered it, the angle was what a clever bit of stagecraft this was on the part of the Obama campaign. They said the Obama staffers shrewdly created a buzz by getting the word out that this would be the last chance to see the candidate before the Oregon primary (which was vote-by-mail and ended Tuesday, two days after the Sunday rally). Getting the word out -- shrewd. "Then!" said CNN, "Then on Thursday those clever stagecrafters put out the word that Michelle Obama would also be at the rally, potentially capturing some Hillary supporters." -?!? So, according to CNN this wasn't 75,000 people who wanted to show just how committed and excited they were. No, these rubes were being manipulated by a clever bit of Obama staffer stagecraft. Sorry Atlanta, but Keith is right: CNN blows.

Imagine John McCain is having a big, outdoor rally in your town. Would a thousand people go? Two thousand? Actually, it's hard to imagine it would happen at all. When McCain was in Portland a couple of weeks ago there were no free-to-the-public events and a paid ticket would set you back $1,000 to $33,100.

The Portland Obama rally was the largest to-date in the 15-month campaign, dwarfing his previous record crowd of 35,000 (nice try, Philly!). Portland police say we had 60K people inside Waterfront Park plus 15K all around the park perimeter, on the surrounding bridges, and down kayaking in the Willamette River. To Portland's great credit the thing was amazingly well-managed, with waits of about an hour to get in despite the TSA pat-down, and pretty easy traffic. And afterward the place wasn't covered in garbage -- it looked as if it had been vacuumed.

Incidentally, these photos are also useful if you want to picture how many troops we have in Iraq -- just double the size of this crowd. If you want to include the mercenaries, quadruple it.

In other news, I heard that Bill and Chelsea Clinton had breakfast just a few hours before and a half a mile away from the Obama rally at our favorite breakfast spot, Mother's Cafe and Bistro. What a shame the poor man can never order waffles! I hope they had a nice time doing whatever else they did on Sunday.

Let's Play VP Speculation!

How about Virginia's Jim Webb for Vice POTUS? He was Assistant Secretary of Defense, then Secretary of the Navy under Reagan -- Reagan! He's the Republican-turned-Democrat who squeaked past incumbent Republican Senator George "Macaca" Allen in the 2006 election to switch the Senate majority from the Republicans to the Democrats. So he's a crossover guy who slapped down a racist bully and took his job. To me, he symbolizes the message voters tried to send in 2006.

Secretary of the Navy's not enough military credibility for you? OK: he graduated from the Naval Academy and went straight to Viet Nam as a 2nd Lieutenent Marine, where he earned a Navy Cross, a Silver Star, couple of Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. Oh, and his son served with the Marines in the occupation of Iraq.

So he's a badass moderate who's held a Cabinet position with the Department of Defense, switched parties during Bush, and represents the will of voters to move away from racist, codeword, phony cowboy guys. Also, he's technically from the south.

To all you NASCAR Dads: He's clearly not afraid to use -- and he knows how to use -- the military.

To all you Soccer Moms: He's got, very literally, skin in the game.

Downside: he has very little Congressional experience so although his resume is very long he, unlike LBJ or (hate to say it) Cheney, probably isn't a master at making deals and pushing legislation through. Joe Biden's your man for that, or Chris Dodd. Even so, I'm saying:

Obama-Webb 2008.

Get. That. Dirt off your shoulder.

Do you know that Jay-Z song, "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"?
















Well, this was brilliant. Yesterday was the day after the uber-craptacular ABC Clinton v Obama "debate" in Philadelphia where substance reigned a dream and trifling pettiness -- infantile bullshit about nothing, nothing, nothing of any importance -- was trotted out and "debated." Instead of coming out the next day and whining about it, Obama literally brushed it off.















Classy, right? But if you're a member of the 18-35 demographic (or if you're plagued, as I am, with arrested development) you're also likely to recognize this as a distinct nod to your society -- a society you may not have believed anybody knew about outside the shaking windows of your pimped out gangsta Honda CRV. Now, I know that "brush it off" is a well-known turn of phrase, and that's probably why most of the audience responded so well to it. That Jay-Z song, though, turned brushing dirt off your shoulder into a dance move, and anybody who knows the video (and that's a lot of voters) would be tempted to get up and dance with Barack when he did this. You think I'm kidding, don't you. I can tell you think this whole post is about boosting my shtreet cred. Maybe so. But let's take another look at that slo-mo:

















To put this in perspective for people my age who actually act like it, Obama's bit of youth pandering was similar to Reagan's failed effort to connect to pop culture by invoking Springsteen's "Born In The USA," except Obama got the context right.

The point of the song is that one should stay cool under pressure. The point of Obama's gesture is that he's smoove like that.

Now, here's another piece of video sponsored by Schoolhouse ROC and the letter O:

Gotcha!

At Safeway this morning I'm confronted with this little gem: if my cashier fails to ask me for a donation to Easter Seals -- a handout -- then I win **free water**. As if being asked to give money is a customer service. "Don't worry, folks! Our team of checkers will definitely put you in an uncomfortable position during your visit. We guarantee* it."

*Guarantee backed by the planet's most plentiful resource.

So I put my iPod earbuds in as I go through the line and I avoid any eye contact with my cashier. I have my music up so loud that others can hear it bzipping out of the little earbuds. I try to look angry. Sure enough, my cashier fails to ask me for a donation. I pull out the earbuds and I say, "You didn't ask me to donate! I get free water!" She gives me the look I deserve, I suppose, and she hands me a warm bottle of water.

She says, "Would you like to donate to Easter Seals?"

"No," I answer, opening my water bottle.

FlapScrap Makes its Endorsement

Morning Plagiarism

Statistics are meaningless. If they were at all true, both shoelaces would break at the same time.