My anonymous little note from the DoJ...

[warren pease]

On July 9, I responded to one of those email calls for action, this one asking to send separate notes calling for impeachment of Bush, Cheney and Gonzales. Not wanting to go with the form letters, I wrote my own memos under my real name. Here’s the one I sent re Gonzales, excerpted from an acknowledgment-of-receipt note from Working Assets:


Thanks again for taking action!

Text of the Letter You Sent (July 9, 2007)

Subject: Gonzales must go

Impeach this partisan hack. I've seen better lying from a junkie caught red-handed than I witnessed at his congressional hearing.

And you'd think someone occupying the highest law enforcement position in the land could at least remember some of the things he did over the past couple of months.

So he's either a serial liar or a mental defective. Either are grounds for removal from office, and I urge you to take the proper steps to do so before the rest of the world splits its collective sides laughing at what's become of American justice.

So that’s all good clean fun. And then I get this weird response about 15 minutes after I sent the note to Working Assets:


From: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Gonzales must go
Date: July 9, 2007 9:46:45 PM PDT
To: [e-mail]

Thank you for contacting the Department of Justice. This is an automatic acknowledgment that your e-mail was received. It will be reviewed in the order it was received.


Unsigned, of course.

So what the hell do you think that’s all about? Is this the NSA being diligent, looking for key words and then forwarding potentially seditious communications to the DoJ for follow up? Or is this a separate DoJ operation that flags emails calling for Gonzales’ head and sends them to a storage network, which has the capability to generate automated responses? OR??

Should I actually care about this? And if so, anybody in British Columbia want to adopt me?

Those of you who know in detail how the “internets” works, please give me your best guesses.


Thanks,

wp

[MissWaverly]

1. sounds like they forwarded them all to the DOJ

you might check their website again.

:-)

[warren pease]

4. Do you mean Working Assets forwarded it?

I sincerely hope not. If they turn out to be a front for DoJ intelligence gathering, we are, like, totally screwn.


wp

[MissWaverly]

12. no, they always collect letters and forward them on

most of the sites I go to, work that way, maybe working assets is different.

[MissWaverly]

19. no, I don't think so, why don't you e-mail them

[blogslut]

2. autoresponder

:)

[dkofos]

3. They know who you are, where you are, and how you think.

You will be hearing from agent Mike soon.

[warren pease]

5. Well, that's certainly one possible outcome...

On the other hand, I wonder how many people have been advocating for Gonzales' impeachment, removal, resignation or the like. It's got to be in the millions, and it's not like I threatened violence. But I suppose, like all stuffed shirt assholes, these bastards hate being laughed at more than just about anything.

Ah, well... it's been a good run.


wp

[dkofos]

7. Remember, when they come, just tell them that you don't recall.

[warren pease]

8. Recall what? ;-)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Whomever organized the call to action you responded to sent the emails to the USDOJ

Which would make sense if you stop to think about it.

What you received was an auto-reply from the DOJ letting you know they'd received your letter. Nothing more than that.

[warren pease]

9. That's what I figured too, except...

Working Assets is one of the oldest, most respected "alternative" groups around. I first heard of them in the mid-'80s when they first emerged as a "green" investment company, pitching themselves as the peoples' alternative to Merrill Lynch and the rest. Now they've branched out into all kinds of fields and businesses, although their focus has (as far as I know) remained on sustainability, environmental awareness and left-leaning politics.

I've got my long distance service through them, and every month they put out a list of suggested reading (all left of center) along with causes they're championing and/or giving money to (all left of center).

I've never heard a single word about Working Assets that suggests they've been co-opted by right wing politics or repressive federal agencies.

Although as I write the above, it occurs to me that I wouldn't have heard anything like that anyway, since if they've been threatened or otherwise induced to become a DoJ tool, they wouldn't exactly advertise it.

I don't know... I hope you're not right, but the email trail does suggest that possibility.


Thanks for your help,

wp

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. I don't see this as a sign that they're a DOJ tool

It would appear they simply acted as a relay for you to get your message to the DOJ. This is often how an organized letter writing campaign is done.

It's the same as when an organization requests that you contact your Rep or Senator over an issue and give you the option of a form reply or writing your own. After you click submit it is then automatically sent to the person representing you. In this case it was sent to the USDOJ where complaints on Gonzales would be registered.

[warren pease]

17. Ahh.. OK. That makes sense...

So instead of giving intermediaries printouts of, say, a half million similar notes, who then deliver them to the DoJ receptionist -- who then shreds or burns them -- in this case they're forwarding them electronically as they get them?

Fair enough. That makes sense.


Thanks a lot,


wp

[Solo_in_MD]

10. Check the headers...make sure its really from the DOJ for starters

[Zywiec]

11. I'm not sure what you're worried about

That address comes from: http://www.usdoj.gov/contact-us.html

It was just an auto-responder to let you know your email was received.

[warren pease]

13. More curious than worried...

It was just so unexpected, given that I obviously didn't send it to them. So they either did a deal with Working Assets to send them a blind copy or to forward notes that WA had received on this subject, or they picked up the transmission based on key words.

I can't think of a third possibility, which is the reason for this post. I'm trying to learn about other possible conditions that would have led to their response to something that definitely wasn't sent to them in the first place -- at least by me.


wp


Edited for clarity

[Zywiec]

16. They picked up the transmission based on key words?

You've got to be kidding.

The WA clearly states it will be sent to the DOJ

Your message will be sent to:

Your Congressperson
cc: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
cc: Representative John Conyers
cc: Speaker Nancy Pelosi

http://actforchange.workingassets.com/campaign/impeach_gonzales

[warren pease]

18. OK. Things are getting more intelligible, even to the chronically dense...

Somehow, I missed that message entirely. I must have just gone straight to the box where you fill in your message and ignored the rest.

OK. Between you and lone_star_dem, I'm getting convinced that this is all normal, that WA was doing exactly what they said they would do, that the DoJ was simply sending an automated ack, and that "there's no cause for alarm."

Thanks very much. Because I write a lot of anti-BushCo, anti-corporate stuff -- under this name and my real one -- I occasionally get a little concerned about getting too high a profile. Which is kind of rediculous because you need a high profile or people won't read your stuff. But it also can also result in the "wrong" kind of scrutiny.

Anyway, thanks again,


wp


Edited for speling

[bbgrunt]

15. the question seems to be where Working Assets were sending

the emails. Was it a petition to congressional reps or what?