"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an action, but a habit."

-- Aristotle

Subject: Ask your Senators to filibuster the warrantless spying/telecom immunity bill

Victory is still possible in the fight against warrantless spying and immunity for the telecom companies that collaborated in previous illegal spying. Just this morning the Politico reports that . . .

Senate leaders may split the warrantless spying and immunity provisions into two separate bills, and hold two separate votes.

This is a sign of significant divisions in the Senate that we may yet be able to exploit to defeat the Senate version of HR 6304.

The divisions are deep enough that there still isn't a Senate version of the House bill, or a bill number. And there are still multiple ways we could win this fight.

One strategy is to find a Senator willing to filibuster, and thereby block a vote.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reported last night that there's pressure on Presidential candidate and Senator Barak Obama to filibuster -- to show he can lead his party and stand up to the Republicans. Senators Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold have stated strong opposition to this bill and are also strong potential candidates to filibuster.

Toward this end we've changed the message to the Senate on our old campaign against the "Protect America Act", to read as follows . . .

"Please do everything you can to defeat the Senate version of HR 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. Please use your power to filibuster."

Please send this message now, with your personalizing comments added.

You can use your personal comments to point out that HR 6304 violates the 4th Amendment, and that your Senators swore an oath to defend the Constitution.

Many Senators are opposed to this bill. If we can encourage just one to filibuster then we'll only need 41 votes to defeat the bill. We believe the three Senators we've listed in this message are the best candidates to do so. But every Senator needs to be contacted.

The possibility of victory by filibuster, combined with the urgency of this situation, means that once again, we encourage you to call your Senators. Once you're logged-in to send your message, you'll see their office phone number. Please call today.

Remember, we were in a similar position with this issue back in Fall 2006, and again in February this year -- defeat seemed certain -- but we ended up pulling out a victory. Now, in the space of just 24 hours, we've gone from expecting an immediate vote to having the Senate leadership contemplate splitting the bill into two parts.

Victory is still possible, and the filibuster is a powerful weapon we could use to achieve that victory. Ask, and you may receive.

Tell your Senators to filibuster. Give the pro-Constitution forces courage, and make the anti-Constitution Senators nervous.

Send a message!

Then call.

Also, please also help us make budget this month. There are only 6 days left, and we need just $1,509 to earn a $3,600 matching pledge AND make budget. We have no one else to ask but you. You can contribute here.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.

Jim Babka

President

DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

CONTRIBUTE to the Electronic Lobbyist project

http://www.DownsizeDC.org is sponsored by DownsizeDC.org, Inc. -- a non-profit educational organization promoting the ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free markets, and small government.

You are encouraged to forward this message to friends and business associates, and permission is hereby granted to reproduce any items herein as long as attribution is provided for articles and the subscription instructions above are included.

IF you have difficulties or inquiries, simply hit reply to this message. We're eager