Monthly Archives: October 2006

Congress keeps victimizing people. That’s bad. But it’s good that we can increase support for the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) by tapping into the latest group of Congressional victims. A prominent member of this group, a movie and TV actor who starred in two of the most popular productions of the 1980s, has already blogged about RTBA in the wake of the latest Congressional atrocity. I’ll tell you more below, but first, some context . . .

Opportunity knocks for the Read the Bills Act

DC Downsizers, I’m in a great mood today. Why? Well, each month, our goal is to raise $14,000, and as of right now, we’re only $146 away from the October finish-line.

But it gets better. A donor has already submitted $5,000 to the Downsize DC effort to help us start November. On top of that, we have now crossed the $5,000 level in monthly pledges. That means our team already has more than $10,000 raised towards the $14,000 needed for November!!!

We have consistently said that when we reach the $14,000 level in month in, month out pledged support, we would do two things.
1) Introduce a One Subject at a Time Act.
2) Launch Operation Everywhere, our plan to get the Downsize DC message out everywhere, everyday. In other words, we’d take the marginal income that exceeded our $14,000 per month need, and invest it in outreach advertising and recruitment efforts. We’d invest heavily in growth.

Well, since we have such a great start on November, I’d like to take the first baby-steps in the direction of

Rumor or fact? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

Today, we present this commentary from last Wednesday’s MSNBC show “Countdown,” with Keith Olbermann.

This piece has been making the rounds on the web. While stylistically we’re not comfortable with the personal, perhaps even partisan nature of the editorial, we believe Mr. Olbermann’s analysis of the effect of the bill and the historical context that he provides conveys the problem of the Military Tribunals quite well. One could even go so far as to call it courageous, and perhaps that’s why it’s getting passed around the web so much. 

But even more important, Mr. Olbermann, and his recent guests like Jonathan Turley, has issued a call to action on his Countdown program. Turley even wondered aloud if we’ve become a nation of “Constitutional couch potatoes.”

Well, only DownsizeDC.org, to our knowledge, is giving the public the specific and direct means to repeal this law. Therefore,

“When they came for the online poker players I did nothing, because I wasn’t an online poker player.”

Some may take that attitude. We, at DownsizeDC.org, do not.

Congress harmed American businesses that run online gaming sites by outlawing money transfers to those sites. We stand with those harmed and against Congress.

Congress harmed American taxpayers who used to enjoy playing Texas Holdem on PartyPoker, and using Fireplay to enter the game and collect their winnings, but who can no longer do so because of Congress. We stand with those Americans and against Congress.

Some may

For the second time since we released the Read the Bills Act a national publication has interviewed me about the concept only to axe any mention of us from the published story.

It happened last year with Reader’s Digest. That was depressing. A mention in Reader’s Digest would’ve been huge for us.

Now, it’s happened with Smart Money magazine and SmartMoney.com. Initially, I planned to urge you to send Smart Money’s editor a letter about it, but as you’ll see in a moment that would be a random act with little long-term value to us.

You see, I’m not surprised that this happened.

There are two lessons in all of this for those who engage in activism (and I know many on this list do).
 
Today, I want to share both of these insights with you.

Downsize DC Conference Call – October 8, 2006

The President signs the kangaroo court, pro-torture, gut the Bill-of-Rights, Torture/Tribunal bill tomorrow (Tuesday, October 17). It’s election season, and he wants the world to know, so he’s going to make a show of it.

That’s why we begin the campaign to repeal it today. We call our initiative, “Truth must count. Innocence must matter.”

Repeal is difficult, some would say impossible. Congress certainly expects us to forget.   

We don’t forget. We can’t quit. We won’t get distracted. We never surrender. This is part of the DC Downsizer ethos.

Why should you fight to repeal this law?

As DownsizeDC.org campaigned against the torture bill and the warrantless surveillance bill two weeks ago, we received some complaints. We were told that we were wrongheaded, that foreigners aren’t entitled to Constitutional rights (although the bills applied to American citizens as well), that terrorists deserve whatever is coming to them. ::::::But the issue isn’t really about Constitutional rights and punishing the guilty. It is rather about human rights and protecting the innocent. A government callous enough to violate the human rights and dignity of innocent foreigners, would do the same to domestic politcal opponents.::::::The film Road to Guantanamo illustrates what it is we are opposing. Innocent people have been swept up and incarcerated in the War on Terror. Hundreds have been detained in Guantanamo alone, without being charged.::::::The Road to Guantanamo is a powerful, true story in documentary style, although the scenes were re-enacted. It is now available for viewing and downloading here.::::::

Spinach, carrots, and lettuce… oh my! Yes, we’re all supposed to be scared of our food supply.

Hysterical journalists complain, despite the fact the spinach problem was caught relatively quickly, contained, and sourced down to one distribution center. We need . . . More bureaucrats. More money. Tougher regulations. Heck, one network said we need a new, streamlined agency to oversee all the affairs of farms — too many alphabet soup agencies are involved and that’s just not tidy and efficient.

Essentially, they’re saying, “Upsize DC” or “Centralize DC.” Obviously, we don’t agree. In fact, we think a compelling argument could be made for Downsizing DC’s role in monitoring our food supply. Such an argument goes like this . . .