I just called Sen. Feinstein's office

[Kira]

I spoke to a very nice guy and told him that I was very upset to hear Senator Feinstein say that there will be no filibuster. He said that as he understands it even if they did filibuster they still don't have the votes to stop him. First I wasn't sure if that was right but second I told him that at least let's not let this happen without a fight. I told him to please ask her to consider the filibuster.

Is everyone calling Senators? They need to hear from us! I called Durbin and Feingold too.

[Atman]

1. I talked to that guy too!

He was very nice. But sounded a bit harried. I think he's been receiving quite a few phone calls!

[orleans]

27. i called there as well. i called 42 or 43 senators today

and everyone who didn't answer the phone (except kerry) let you leave a message. which i did. and i'll call the rest of them (repblicans included) over the weekend & leave more messages.

we cannot have alito on this court!

these tired old dems had better stand up and filibuster this crap because this alitoworld is gonna effect the next two-three generations!

[MidwestTransplant]

2. I sure hope you gave them an earful for making poor Mrs. Alito cry.

:sarcasm:

[Kira]

3. I forgot about that

I was trying to get in all of the things he is going to ruin about this country before he had to go.

[xchrom]

4. i've already e-mailed in advance, several times, that i

supported a filibuster.

and through naral have made it known to the rest i support the same.

and like feinstein -- i don't think they can stop him.

[jfern]

5. Find out who won't fillibuster

And vote against them in both the primary and general election. Make them pay for supporting fascism.

[baby_bear]

6. Don't wait for the next election; pressure them now

I don't care how smooth this guy came across in questioning. His record speaks for itself, and it speaks against those who are without political and monetary power in this society.

Feinstein and her colleagues (or ilk, if appropriate) are afraid of staging a failed filibuster.

I don't blame her, but she gave up way too soon.

Read the newspapers LTTE. There is such a difference in understanding of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, women's and minorities' fights for justice, and on and on...the Republicans don't get it, even though NYTies columnist David Brooks says liberal whites are all elitist.

I am a career federal scientist. I get middle class wages. I have been a liberal since birth. How dare any Republican call me elitist?

Please, please call your senators and tell them Alito will tip us onto the slippery slope toward totalitarianism.

b_b

[Coastie for Truth]

8. A protest vote is like a vote for Nader in 2000

because "Bush and Gore are TweedleDum nd TweeddleDee - No Difference - Vote for Nader As A Protest". And those votes for Nader ended up being votes for John Cornyn, Jeff Sessions, Terrence W. Boyle, Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, William J. Haynes II, John Yoo and the like, as well as the Iraqi War and Eavesdropping and Social Security Piratization, and trckle down tax cuts for the wealthiest.

[Dr Fate]

11. Solution: DEMs could fillibuster....

...then we wont have to worry about that.

[EFerrari]

17. Except that Al Gore won that election. Geeze. n/t

[Coastie for Truth]

18. WEll, I think Al Gore's nominations of

Sam Alito, John Roberts, John Bolton, Chrisie Beato, John Yoo, Condi Rice, etc., and Al Gore's spying on American, and his illegal resource war of aggression in Iraq, and Al Gore's abandonment of New Orleans (I lived there in the 1960's) among other things, suck.

[EFerrari]

19. Lol. All I'm getting at, Coastie, is that our elections need

some tending because the consequences of having the wrong guy residing in the WH are unacceptable.

:)

[Coastie for Truth]

21. In 2004 - I was at a PFAW phone bank from 6AM EST

to 10 PM PST (19 hours) - we could see (and we alerted on) "something fishie in Ohio" - also picked it up in PA - but PA has an extremeley aggressive "Pennsylvania Democratic Lawyers Club".

Two hours after the polls opened in Ohio - we were putting poll watchers into polls - backed up by volunteer lawyers.

Ohio was like a Soviet bloc election.

[EFerrari]

23. Coastie, come visit the Election Forum.

We could sure use your help.

The good news: the insecure machines are tanking.

But, we really need help getting the word out.

my very best to you and yours,
Beth

[Coastie for Truth]

24. The election day work I love - working with the elderly

When I was a little kid, election was a family affair and Holiday. I used to walk to the polls with Grandma and Grandpa, and they would stop and kibbitz with various neighbors, and we'd soon a crowd.

When we got to the polls Grandma would present them a freshly baked strudel or coffee cake - as a "Thank you for working so hard."

Grandpa was multi-lingual (he was an ESL teacher for the Union when he met Grandma), Grandma had trouble reading English.

When she got to the machine and the curtain closed she would ask "Poppa - how do I vote Democrat - with just one button."

The neighborhood didn't change much - and 20+ years later I was a poll watcher in the same old neighborhood.

[EFerrari]

25. Thank you :)

:loveya:

[Tom Joad]

7. Feinstein is giving her antiwar opponent yet another issue to run on.

She supports the occupation of Iraq, and then says that fighting for abortion rights is not worth a fight.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/12/1790397_comment.php

Todd Chretien Announces 2006 Challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein
He asks everyone to join his Campaign to Win A Million Votes for Peace!


Over 2100 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis have died and there is no end in sight.

* Feinstein voted for the war in Iraq and the USA Patriot Act.
* She opposes immigrants’ rights and gay marriage.
* She called on President Bush to invoke the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act against the ILWU dockworkers.
* She voted for Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, which is shredding our public schools.
* She supports her corporate backers over environmental protections.
* She refuses to lift a finger to stop the planned execution of Stan Tookie Williams.
* As a multi-millionaire, she has no idea what life is like for most Californians who face declining wages and skyrocketing housing, energy and health care costs.

Go Todd! http://todd4senate.org/

[Coastie for Truth]

10. A Vote for Tod

may be a Vote for Duncan Hunter -- or Dan Lundgren.

That's the oldest game in Karl Rove's playbook. They played that against NOW founder Molly Yard when she ran for the State Legislature in my Birth State.

[Dr Fate]

12. Solution: She could side-swipe Rove by supporting the filibuster.

n/t

[Coastie for Truth]

14. True

Depends on how strong Harry Reid is as a leader.

[otohara]

9. Some Senators Don't Care What We Think - Reminiscent of How Bush

feels about the Murikan people and everyone on the planet for that matter.

U remember a time back in 2002 when democrats im office received thousands and thousands of calls, e-mails, letters, faxes to vote NO to War and they around and voted YES. Proving to me over and over again, they don't give a rats ass what we think.

[Tom Joad]

13. Exactly. Not fighting the Republican agenda is supporting it.

Rove is happy with DiFi.

[leesa]

15. Feinstein would be all for this guy...you kiddin' me? She's a 'have' and

you are a 'have not'. She wants an Alito on the bench, just like she wants ongoing war in the ME....good for bidness.

[radio4progressives]

16. Call the office again : We need 41 votes for Filibuster and then we

need 51 votes to deal with "nuclear option"..

that defeats the nomination.

we can do it - they just need to be unified .

Again it's the 41/51 principle -

41 votes (or more) to filibuster - 51 votes (or more) against the nuclear option.

it can work, all they have to do is TRY IT!

[BigYawn]

20. Unfortunately filibusters are looked upon negatively by majority of

Americans. It may satisfy us emotionally but in the hard,
cold world of political reality, the senators will take
the path which looks most favorable to their constituency.

[Steve A Play]

22. Majority of Americans? You have a link to that?

Fienstien's constituency (Me, my family, friends and neighbors) begged her to vote against the Iraq war, and she even admitted that the calls to her office were running 25,000 to 1 against it, but she decided to "follow her conscience" and vote for it!

Since then she has consistently voted against my interests. I should continue to vote for her why precisely? I vote for the person to uphold the party principles. Real Democrats stick to their principles.

GAME OVER, BYE BYE DI FI! YOU LOSE.

If a real Democrat runs, they will get my vote.

Steven P.

[orleans]

26. dianne's a good little republican. i wish CA would get rid of her &

vote someone good in to walk hand in hand with boxer.

[BigYawn]

28. If you abandon Diane F, you vote a republican by default...

and I was talking about FILIBUSTERS, not IWR. And on the IWR issues,
most jewish senators voted for IWR and I can understand it. Saddam was
the biggest threat to Israel. And Israel being an ally has to be
protected.

ALthough I don't think the timing was right to attack Iraq. There was
no immediate danger of Iraqi scuds targetting Israel.

[fujiyama]

30. Huh?

I can think of 4 Jewish senators off the top of my head that voted no: Levin, Boxer, Wellstone, Feingold...I think it's a mistake to claim US senators are voting based on what's good for Israel. While a few may, I doubt most think that way.

"Abandoning" Feinstein is not a vote for the puke, because in that case she'll win anyways. But if I lived in that state after the number of appaling votes she has made, I'd have a tough time voting for her war profiteering ass.

[Steve A Play]

31. No, I vote for a representative that will represent me

That candidate may not win but that is the way the system is set up. :)

Your statement that if I "abandon Diane F" I "vote (for) a republican by default" is a logical fallacy.
You may be talking about FILIBUSTERS, I, on the other hand, am talking about representation. That, after all, is the very reason for voting in the first place. I voted for Feinstein twice and she has not represented my interests any more than any Republican has. I will never again waste another vote on that woman. I will work within the party to replace her, and failing that, I will vote for a third party candidate who more closely mirrors my ideals or skip voting in that race entirely should none be running.

Americans, being members of a 'representative democracy', deserve the government that they're willing to accept. Until such a time as the majority of the American voters decide to cast their ballots for politicians who will actually represent their ideals, rather than casting them for the party they belong to, we will all be stuck with the dismal government we have now.

Voting for the 'lesser of two evils' only guarantees that you end up with evil. Perhaps it's time that you Sir rethought your position and started holding your elected representatives accountable with the only weapon you have, your vote.

Steven P. :kick:

[BigYawn]

32. You could be right, may be a kick in the azz might wake up these

politicians. I still worry about the pukes getting in because
of digruntled dem voters.

[Steve A Play]

34. Fear spurs action

which is precisely why this administration cultivates a climate of fear. It allows them to take extraordinary actions without fear of reprisal from the public.

The public needs to learn this message from the right. 'WE THE PEOPLE', as citizens, need to understand that the true nature of the threats to our wellbeing as a country are not based solely on the perceived threats from the outside. We also face very real threats from within.

Our forefathers, through their writings on the responsibilities of the government and of the citizenship, attempted to impart on us the importance of we citizens holding our government responsible for their actions. They also attempted to codify their concerns through the careful wording of our Constitution by building in 'checks and balances' in the form of three equal branches of government. Those 'checks and balances' are now under a severe threat of becoming meaningless by allowing the executive and legislative branches, under single party control, to stack the judicial branch in a way that will allow changes to the Constitution that will ensure one party rule in perpetuity.

The only thing that can prevent that from happening is an effective opposition party willing to take a strong stand against it, and equally willing to publicly voice their concerns in order to rally public support for their fight against the threats from within. There is no denying that an effective opposition party is something we lack right now. Our opposition party representatives should be taking the leadership role in informing all of the citizens of this country of the gravity of the internal threats that we're all facing.

FDR said it best, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself." Our representatives are also citizens, and as such, they and their families will also suffer the long term consequences of one party rule over all three branches of our government. If they are reluctant to act in opposition to the current administration fostering this Constitutional crisis, because they fear how their actions will be 'perceived' by the general public, then their fear is misplaced and their actions misguided.

As citizens, our power over our government representatives is rooted in a form of fear. The fear that they will lose our support and our votes, and hence their positions of power. That is the only legitimate form of fear that our representatives should ever succumb to. It is incumbent upon us as citizens to let them know, in no uncertain terms, when they are in danger of losing our support due to their inability or unwillingness to act in our country's best interests.

As long as they feel secure that they have the support of the members of their party despite their actions, or lack thereof, they will continue on their present course. They need a wake up call to alert them to their hemorrhaging support before we can realistically expect them to place their fear where it really belongs, in the wrath of the voters.

You still have that power right now. Use it or lose it.

Steven P. :kick:

[radio4progressives]

36. Someone apparently has decided to run against DiFi in 2006

dated December 15, 2005 from sf indy site:

Todd Chretien's 10 A.M. announcement took place on time in front of three-term incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein's office in downtown San Francisco.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/12/1790710.php

see link for full text and pic....

[FreedomAngel82]

29. Who gives a damn

This is for our rights as citizen's with our Constitution. If people don't get it than too bad. I want my rights and I'm going to fight as hard as I can for them! This isn't about fuzzy feelings. This is about fascism or democracy.

[Dr Fate]

33. The majority once supported invading Iraq as well...

Reality caught up just in time for Democrats to be labeled as "flip-floppers"

This is why the GOP/media talking point that "Democrats dont stand for anything" is still out there...

[radio4progressives]

35. "Looked Upon Negatively" ? Prove It.

Where is your evidence for that assertion?

The Corporate Media?

[leesa]

37. Feinstein would never fight for democracy...she likes the idea of the rich

and powerful being in charge. She's rich. It's why she has fought for nothing over the last 5 long years since Bush stole our country. She likes what he's doing.