Democracy for Vancouver

From Glenn Greenwald this morning:

Just as Nancy Pelosi ran to Time to justify her support for the FISA bill, Steny Hoyer yesterday spouted his justifications to The Politico and said this:

In an interview with Politico on Monday, Hoyer called the FISA legislation a “significant victory” for the Democratic Party — one that neutralized an issue Republicans might have been able to use against Democrats in November while still, in his view, protecting the civil liberties of American citizens.

In other words, Democrats achieved a “significant victory” because — by giving Republicans everything they demanded — Republicans are no longer able to criticize Democrats on this issue. What a shrewd strategy: “if we comply with all their demands, then they can’t criticize us for anything.” That’s the Democratic Party’s plan for winning, according to Hoyer.

[emphasis in bold by GG.]

If Hoyer, Pelosi et al. are making your head explode (my friend E. says aloe works well for that, by the way), try this palliative:

Senator Obama:

On Friday, June 20th, an unconstitutional FISA update bill passed the House of Representatives, which will legitimize the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. It will give extensive powers of surveillance to the executive branch and provide an avenue for retroactive immunity for the telecoms companies that illegally spied on American citizens.

As the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party–and most likely the next President of the United States–your words and actions in the Senate carry a lot of weight. Therefore, we ask two things of you:

1) That you speak out against the bill in its entirety and encourage other Senators to vote against it when it comes up for a vote in the Senate next week.

2) That when called to vote on the FISA Bill, that you vote against it in its entirety.

Click here to sign.

It may be a placebo, but given how sick the Dems have been making me feel these days, I’ll take what I can get.

Oh, and call or email your Senators. Now. The vote is tomorrow.

Calling is better:

OREGON:
Smith (202) 224-3753
Wyden (202) 224-5244

WASHINGTON:
Cantwell (202) 224-3441
Murray (202) 224-2621

If mailbox is full for Murray, try alternate numbers:
Vancouver: (360) 696-7797
Everett: (425) 259-6515
Seattle: (206) 553-5545
Spokane: (509) 624-9515
Tacoma: (253) 572-3636
Yakima: (509) 453-7462
Bellvue: (425) 462-4460

Obama (202) 224-2854

If mailbox is full for Obama, try alternate numbers:
(312) 886-3506
(217) 492-5089
(618) 997-2402
(309) 736-1217