IS AMERICA FIXED NOW? Net Neutrality? NSA Spying? Racial Profiling?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Certainly, the hard-work of many here at Democratic Underground is one of the reasons that Republican leaders who sought to destroy civil liberties now have less control, which brings us to an important milestone; but is the work over? How many of you can remember signing hundreds of petitions at DU that you knew did not matter because leaders in Washington D.C. did not care what we want? Does the leadership in Congress care now? On the off-chance that they do and all our work was not in vain, let me present the first petitions that might actually make a difference.

Help Restore Net Neutrality
Massive innovation on the Internet since its creation is the result of pre-2005 Net Neutrality protection. Now recent government action threatens the long-term prospects for free speech on the Internet.

Read more:
Ensuring an Internet free of content discrimination. Internet users must be allowed to access the lawful websites of their choice, free of interference or degradation by network providers. Time Warner-AOL and BellSouth have already begun to block content they oppose. A vibrant marketplace of ideas on the Internet cannot function with corporate censors...
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?id=535

or take action right now!
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=535&page=UserAction

Stop Big Brother NSA Spying Bills

A federal judge has already ruled that the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program violates the Constitution and must stop. Stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law by taking action today!

Read more:
At the urging of President Bush and Karl Rove, Congress is poised to try to rush through legislation that would pardon the president and authorize more warrantless spying on Americans than has ever been approved in US history. The terrible Cheney-Specter proposal has morphed into an even worse proposal by outgoing Senator Frist and the White House (S. 3931) that would ratify the president’s claim of inherent, exclusive power to set government spies loose on your phone calls and emails at will, without any individualized warrant or independent check...
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=515

or take action right now!
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=515&page=UserAction

Urge Congress to Stop Racial Profiling

Many Americans know about racial profiling -- the practice of using ethnicity or religion as the primary factor in deciding who to subject to law enforcement investigations. Racial profiling is ineffective and steeped in erroneous assumptions.

Read more:
Many Americans know about racial profiling -- the practice of using race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion as the primary factor in deciding who to subject to law enforcement investigations. In fact, hundreds of thousands of minorities know about it from suffering the humiliation of being stopped by police while driving, flying, or even walking for no other reason than their color, religion or ethnicity...
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=113

or take action right now
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=113

I hope at least one of these issues matters enough for you to kick and recommend this thread. On the first issue, NET NEUTRALITY, you might consider kicking like it is the last topic you will ever have a chance to kick because guess what?

[acmejack]

1. All three are of sufficient import!

All three, JG!

[ixion]

2. kicked and recommended... now is when the work begins

to restore our republic, and our international standing.

[NewJeffCT]

3. Fixed? Far from it

The real battle is just beginning. While we might be able to pass a lot of legislation, we're nowhere close to having a veto-proof majority. Heck, on some controversial measures, it will be tough to get them passed at all - will Lieberman suddenly flip-flop on torture? How about those other "moderate" Dems who voted for the Military Commissions Act?

One of the best things we can do is to start thorough investigations, put out the abuses of power by the White House & Republican Congress, and build public opinion against the abuses of Domestic Spying without warrants, against torture, against the Patriot Act, etc.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. well, I'll comment on this post Jeff, the Patriot Act did one good thing...

It created a brand new Democrat who later took the online name Jeffersons Ghost! While the Mr. and Ms. Average American might quickly forget and become complacent, your friendly DU ghost has a long memory.

[LynneSin]

4. You do realize we don't gain control until January 2007

It'll get there, but until then we have the lame duck congress to deal with

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. i understand Lynne, but in matters like this "he/she who hesitates is lost"

Be sure and put a link to the ACLU in favorites. One of the dead-of-night measures slipped through Congress recently is a bill dealing with communications that essentially gives AT&T much of what it wants, regarding the internet.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. please read this Lynn...

Several Senate bills claim to protect the Internet. However, only the bipartisan bill offered by Senators Olympia Snowe and Byron Dorgan, S. 2917, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, restores three time-honored protections in place before last year:

* Ensuring an Internet free of content discrimination. Internet users must be allowed to access the lawful websites of their choice, free of interference or degradation by network providers. Time Warner-AOL and BellSouth have already begun to block content they oppose. A vibrant marketplace of ideas on the Internet cannot function with corporate censors.
* Providing equal access to all users at an equal price. Network providers must be barred from giving preferential treatment to their own services at the expense of competing sites consumers want to use. Without Net Neutrality protections, network providers have already begun barring access, providing slower access, and/or charging higher premiums to popular services competing with their own. For example, Verizon Wireless recently announced it was blocking access to PayPal in favor of its own payment service. A free marketplace of ideas, and not tollbooths run by a few corporate monopolies, must be allowed to decide Internet winners and losers.
* Letting consumers choose their own equipment. Consumers must have the right to choose the equipment they want, or make it themselves, and attach it to any network. Consumer choice has spurred innovations providing better and faster access to the Internet. If Net Neutrality is not restored, network providers can render any competing equipment incompatible with their network gateways. We don’t want to return to the days of the Ma Bell monopoly, when consumers were forced to buy from a corporate giant with no incentive to improve its inferior products.

[LynneSin]

8. First it's Lynne and second, you think I've lived under a rock

:shrug:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

10. sorry and no... i simply took the opportunity to present more complete info to others...

there are thousands of other readers at DU that don't "live under a rock" and have no idea that laws, which dramatically impact Net Neutrality were actually passed.

[LynneSin]

11. Well you didn't have to necessarily reply twice to me

If you had more info just edit the first entry

[Jeffersons Ghost]

26. in the early days I'd have picked a fight with you when I saw you slightly bugged...

I may have made a few enemies that way but a pissed-off DU member was good for lots of kicks... Now that people know my work I don't indulge in slightly Machiavellian approaches like that anymore.

[Amonester]

9. K&R +

Throw all signing statements into Boston Harbor! (FIRST)

'cuz what good would any new law do if the chimperor can put himself and his criminal cronies 'above the law' anytime he is allowed to sign any un-constitutional dictatorship tool?

And What Is Congress Good For Then?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

12. that's a damn good point the Chimperor evoked more Signing Statements...

than ALL OTHER PRESIDENTS COMBINED!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. I hope EVERYONE feels free to bring ALL the problems that Repubs created to this OP...

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[mom cat]

20. Throw the voting machines in there too!

Then fish them out so they do not poison any fish!

[Armstead]

14. Okay K& R and here's an addition

Bring back Anti-Trust Laws and policies that bring corporations back to size.

Stop enabling Corporate Monopolies.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

17. I SECOND THE NOMINATION! ANYONE OPPOSE? also...

make AT&T abide by the rulings of Federal Judge Harold Green during Divestiture Hearings, his mandates were never overturned. AT&T is STILL RESTRICTED from regaining control of Baby-Bells, INCLUDING BELLSOUTH! They are (or already have?) trying to achieve a friendly corporate take-over of the other communications giant.

[BlueEyedSon]

15. Legalized Torture? No Habeas Corpus?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

19. kicks and votes are appreciated but posting problems that YOU think needs attention...

is BETTER! I am hoping to use this thread as a resource for upcoming videos and OPs.

[BlueEyedSon]

21. I chose items i though would be in the ACLU ballpark

Medicare bill, bankruptcy, etc probably aren't.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

22. I understand and appreciate your respect for DU rules and my OP...

I want to thank you for attempting to not sidetrack or derail the OP but I want people to put forth ANY specific issues they have information on that need fixing. (To clarify, please limit them to things that were reasonably okay before Bush. That restriction only leaves you with about a hundred to choose from.)

[BlueEyedSon]

23. Oh, that list would be too long!

:evilgrin:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

25. I really did have to think twice about the number I used (100) it's probably lots higher...

probably a higher number than any of us realize.

[rman]

16. k&r

[mom cat]

18. Another great petition from Democrats.com: Impeach for Change!

On Saturday, Democrats.com and our progressive allies will launch a nationwide grassroots mobilization for impeachment in Philadelphia near Independence Hall, where the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. The mobilization is called ImpeachForChange. Our goals include:

A grassroots petition drive to collect 1 million signatures at ImpeachForChange.org
Form Impeachment Committees in all 435 Congressional Districts to lobby every Member of Congress by:
delivering books & videos on impeachment
collecting petitions and handwritten letters in front of their District Offices
meeting with every Member to discuss the issues that require impeachment
Expand our Citizens Impeachment Commission to add prominent citizens, celebrities and bloggers
12/10 Bush v. Gore Day:
Hold Town Hall Meetings on impeachment around the country with Citizens Impeachment Commission speakers
12/15-17 Bill of Rights Weekend:
Collect petitions and handwritten letters at malls, libraries, post offices, and door-to-door
Sell pocket Constitutions, bumper stickers, books, videos
2007: Pass Impeachment bills in state legislatures
More details:
http://www.democrats.com/impeachforchange-plan

[Jeffersons Ghost]

24. THANKS MOM CAT all obviously anti-Bush or civil-rights restoration petitions are welcome too.

were not saving whales, wolves, wetlands or other worthy projects today though... also, please refrain from putting up petitions that support Republicans who like to molest children remaining in rehab, instead of going to jail.

[mom cat]

31. Gosh! I haven't seen any of the latter.

Hope I never do!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

27. LOL! THE "VIEWS" REGISTERING ON THE OUSIDE BOARD MAY NEED TWEEKING...

with 26 replys and nine votes, 5 "views" could be wrong. LOL

[Jeffersons Ghost]

28. SINCE IT'S ON THE FRONT PAGE... I WANT TO OFFER STUDIES BY OTHER DUers on ELECTION FRAUD...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x457571

[stellanoir]

29. Repeat of the Military Commissions and Patriot Acts

election & campaign reform, and restoration of our ravaged Constitution would help as well.

K & R'd

[stellanoir]

30. whoops that was a typo I missed

"Repeat" was supposed to be "Repeal" obviously and whoops.