I just called Senator Patty Murray’s office in Washington D.C.. I spoke to a nice young lady and asked, politely of course, what the Senators’ track record is for voting on the past FISA bill. She confirmed she has voted against it.
Then an idea hit, she is up for election. She could put a hold on the bill.
So, I chatted with the young lady a bit more and asked her if she would be willing to talk or pass along an additional message, "I, as a constituent, would like for her to please consider putting a hold on the bill." After all she is up for re-election. Imagine the leadership, courage and conviction it would show if she stood up and said, no more, this ends here.
I wasn’t really to surprised when the young lady said, "You know, that is an idea that hasn’t been discussed around here. That’s interesting, I’ll pass that along as well".
I confirmed she has my contact information she stated she did because I’m in the database and it pulls up the information through caller id. Well, at least some telecommunication technology is good for something. ;)
I have also called Senator Cantwell and asked for the same thing. Since she isn’t up for reelection for 4 years that might be a tougher sell....but maybe not. The point is we need to make certain each Senator has the idea in their head.
Call to action: EVERYONE call your Senator and request they put a hold onto this horrible bill. Do the Telcos deserve retroactive immunity? Hell no! Imagine if the lawsuits started coming to a successful and rightly conclusion that the Telcos acted illegally. How long do you think it would take for the people held personally responsible to start flipping? Not very long...
So, PLEASE call your Senators, all of them, and ask for them to put a hold on the FISA bill.
I'm going follow up my phone call with a link to this diary to the Senators.