Urgent! Action needed NOW on warrantless spying bills!!

May 21, 2008

URGENT!! ACTION NEEDED ON WARRANTLESS SPYING BILLS! The deadline is one day from now, Thursday, May 22, 2008. If by that date, we can prevent Congress from giving the President EXPANDED POWERS TO SPY ON AMERICAN CITIZENS, then we're likely to have won a long lasting victory. But if we fail, further damage to the Bill of Rights will occur. In February the Senate passed a bill that... * Gave the President warrantless spying powers * Gave the telecom companies immunity for their past illegal spying Now, the House Republicans are close to having enough sponsors for something called a discharge petition. This would allow that same [civil-liberties stripping] Senate bill to be brought to a vote in the House, no matter what the House leadership wants. The Republicans currently have 190 sponsors for the

discharge petition. They need 218. If they can find 28 more sponsors then they can bring the bill to a vote, and it could pass, unless we stop it! The Republicans have a potential source of those 28 additional sponsors -- the Blue Dog Democrats. The Blue Dog's are conservative Democrats from conservative districts. They often vote with the Republicans. What's worse is that radio spots and local media campaigns have been launched in the Blue Dog districts. The message is, if they don't sign the discharge petition, they're soft on terrorism and Nancy Pelosi "lap dogs." More fear-mongering! And why not, this tactic has been extremely successful. This time, though, you can stop it! We need to urge the Blue Dog Democrats to stick with their fellow Democrats on this issue, by NOT signing the discharge petition. Time is short. And, as you can see, the push is

on. So we need to do two things RIGHT NOW... * First, EMAIL your elected Representatives ASAP telling them you OPPOSE warrantless spying and immunity for the telecom companies. Even If you've done this recently, please do it again. http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ * Second, if you're represented by a Blue Dog Democrat, ALSO call him or her and deliver the same message. Please be sure to tell them that you do NOT want him or her to sign the discharge petition for the Senate FISA revision bill. Here's the list of names and numbers for the House Blue Dogs... Joe Baca (California) 202-225-6161 John Barrow (Georgia) 202-225-2823 Melissa Bean (Illinois) 202-225-3711 Marion Berry (Arkansas) 202-225-4076 Dan Boren (Oklahoma) 202-225-2701 Leonard Boswell (Iowa) 202-225-3806 Allen Boyd (Florida) 202-225-5235 Christopher Carney (Pennsylvania) 202-225-3731 Jim Cooper (Tennessee) 202-225-4311 Bud Cramer (Alabama)

202-225-4801 Lincoln Davis(Tennessee) 202-225-6831 Brad Ellsworth (Indiana) 202-225-4636 Tim Holden (Pennsylvania) 202-225-5546 Jim Matheson (Utah) 202-225-3011 Charlie Melancon (Louisiana) 202-225-4031 Dennis Moore (Kansas) 202-225-2865 Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota) 202-225-2611 Mike Ross (Arkansas) 202-225-3772 Heath Shuler (North Carolina) 202-225-6401 Zack Space (Ohio) 202-225-6265 John Tanner (Tennessee) 202-225-4714 Only YOUR efforts can help America regain its freedoms!