I had to call and email my House Representative this Morning.

I was eating my Cheerios this morning while listening to Stephanie Miller and I got pissed. I heard the vote in the House was 244-188, with not one Republican in the Yea Column. I am stuck with a real douche-bag of a Rep, the Dishonorable Steven LaTourette. He must take his walking orders directly from Rush, so I emailed him and also called the office to voice my displeasure. I am here to say to all of you who are stuck with Republican Reps....CALL THEM. Give them hell, and write a fricking Letter to the Editor. Call your friends and spread the word about their "so what" attitude about the coming Depression. I know the stimulus package is not going to be a cure all, but to me it is symbolic of caring for the middle-class and the country in general.

This kind of stuff works, so please get it going DU'ers.

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Just in case you have about 45 seconds or so today. They'll transfer you to anybody's office in the House and/or the Senate.

funny when I called, they never asked me a thing....just said ok, and yes a lot. Real responsive and caring of them.

who are there in I guess what you might call front-line positions. They answer the phones and make notes or at the least, keep a running tally of who's calling on what issue and how many are for and against.

That's really all they can do, and how we impact the situation - by running the numbers up. If at the end of the day or the week, they look at the phone logs and the records everybody's been keeping of caller traffic and they see this bill or that issue is really burning up the phone lines, then that's something their boss (the congressperson or senator) needs to take a look at or pay more attention to.

Where this is really valuable and significant is in a condition like we have now (and the political reporters and pundits can't help but comment about this - Chuck Todd is speaking about exactly that as I'm writing this, during his standup outside the White House). The latest polls have come out and Obama's popularity is still through the roof and Congress's popularity in general is in the toilet, and republi-CONS across the country are licking their wounds and on the run and in disarray not knowing which way to go after getting shellacked last fall ("Shit! I just barely survived in November - damn Dem almost beat me - and now look ... hey, the climate's changing - my opponent isn't going away, either and my constituents are pissed ... YIKES... what do I tell mitch mcconnell... or boner... and I'm getting all these fucking phone calls from people telling me I better support Obama - SHIT - sucks to be me!").

THIS is where the calls can make a difference. ADD TO THE PUSH-BACK from our direction. If this poor imaginary GOP schlub I just described above is getting it in the shorts from constituents (and hey - their family members and friends from out of state and interested voters across the country too) while he or she is reading the poll numbers and the temperature readings around the country where people want change, and voted RESOUNDINGLY for change in November and are still demanding it and wondering what happened to it and why the obstructionism, then that poor schmuck will be very likely to CAVE. Besides, what can the party really offer him or her except some vaporous maybes for the next midterm elections - that may not even work out that well anyway.

They're on their knees, negotiating from a position of weakness. They're the OUT party, BOOTED OUT of power dramatically and unquestionably in the last election ALL OVER WASHINGTON. They're the ones whining. They're the ones being Sore Losermen (why nobody is calling them this in public just escapes me) and they're the ones being "represented" at the moment by that fat arrogant druggie misanthropic bully on the radio who was so mean and tasteless and cruel to Michael J. Fox and is ugly down to his soul. A REAL turnoff.

Sucks to be them. And we need to prey upon that - BIGTIME. EVERY time you call in and weigh in on something against them, it's another tiny little cut, another tiny little hole in the dike.

But we really have to do this. We have to make the calls. We have to register the complaints. We have to make sure they know WE know that their ideas suck and WE KNOW those ideas are what got us all into this economic and foreign policy nightmare from the beginning, and that we need the DEMS ideas in operation instead. They need to hear again and again and again that they are NOT HELPING, and that WE KNOW IT.

We have to slam their backs up against the wall AND KEEP THEM PINNED THERE.

we have been trying for years to get rid of stevie, but he won by 65% in November...can't understand the people in my area are so fucking stupid, but never the less I am going to give the guy hell.

Dear Congressman Bilirakis,

I am writing to express my utmost disappointment in your decision to vote against the President's economic recovery plan. I have witnessed and experienced the ravages of this downturn first-hand. I had a thriving carry-out restaurant in Tampa, that went out of business mainly because a significant number of my customers lost their jobs last year.

You, and the other members of your caucus have chosen to play for political advantage over what this country needs. Things are bad in our district, if you choose to look and listen. The state has no money to provide crucial services to the needy. Jobless claims have swamped the state system. Many of your elderly constituents on Social Security finally got a decent raise in their monthly checks, only to have Progress Energy swindle every last dime of it and more. In my case, if State Farm pulls out of the state, my home of the last 6 years will probably go into foreclosure, because I can't afford Citizens.

I believe that it was Albert Einstein who said, "Insanity is defined by doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result." We've been trying trickle-down economics for 30 years, and it hasn't worked then, and it won't work now. Income disparity and wage growth have never been higher. Don't you understand, that we, the working class of your district, just don't have any more money. Period. And no matter how many tax breaks you give to the obscenely wealthy, none of it trickles down.

Please respond to the needs of your constituents. We need jobs and higher wages. And President Obama's plan will be a step in the right direction of getting America working again.

Sincerely,

Rick Chapman,
Holiday, Florida

Obama asked us to do this in his Inauguration.

We must take responsibility for the change we want. Electing Obama is only the beginning of the change. He will continue to need our help even more, as time goes on.

Get busy and be an active citizen. I just contacted my Repug Rep and both Senators.

I suggest all who care to do the same; and continue to be active.

Thanks, blue sky