Weekly Agenda #1: 37,773 Sent and Victories Begin

A week ago, after the Democratic Senate surrendered to Republicans on Iraq and condemned Moveon, we decided it was time for Democrats in Congress to hear from the people who elected them - us.

So we compiled a list of upcoming votes in Congress, assembled them into a Democrats.com Weekly Agenda, and asked you to send it to your Representatives.
http://democrats.com/agenda

Guess what - it worked!

12,591 of you participated, producing 37,773 emails to the Senate and House. And Congress slowly started to change.

Our biggest victory was delaying Dick Cheney's planned invasion of Iran, by helping Senator Jim Webb convince Senator Harry Reid to remove the two worst paragraphs in the Lieberman-Kyl Resolution. Our anger is being felt in Washington - see the actual changes and read about our temporary victory here:
http://www.democrats.com/Lieberman-Kyl-defanged

Democrats also passed a $35B increase the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover 4 million more children despite Bush's veto threat. The Senate vote was 67-29, enough to override a veto. The House vote was 265-159, so Dems need to switch at least 19 votes to override, and they are putting maximum pressure on vulnerable Republicans. The issue of children's health resonates strongly with the women in the GOP's core evangelical base, and Bush's veto threat is pushing his polls down to new lows.

But these small victories are just a start, so please send our Weekly Agenda for 10/1/07:
http://democrats.com/weekly-agenda

You can track our full Agenda here:
http://democrats.com/agenda

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Iraq Occupation Day 1,656

Last week Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid postponed votes on Bush's $190 Billion demand until January. They snuck through a Continuing Resolution with at least $14 billion for Iraq and $70 billion more in a Pentagon "bridge fund" if Iraq appropriations are delayed. This gives us more time to tell Congress: Cut all Iraq funds except to bring our troops home.

We were horrified to hear the three presidential frontrunners - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards - all say they would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until 2013 and beyond. Tell them to produce an out-of-Iraq plan for 2009:
http://www.democrats.com/out-of-iraq-2009

We persuaded 4 more Democrats to support the "Peace Pledge" to oppose all Iraq funds except to bring our troops safely home: Henry Waxman (CA), Mike Thompson (CA), John Tierney (MA), and Lloyd Doggett (TX). That makes 85 signers but we want a majority of 218, so keep writing/calling your Representative:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/115

Finland is launching a peace process for Iraqi Sunnis and Shia combatants, led by veterans of sectarian wars in Northern Ireland and South Africa. The U.S. is prohibited from participating.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27268

This week the House will vote on several bills to "reform" our disastrous occupation but not end it. We want Congress to ban Iraq war profiteering and contractor crimes with harsh penalties and strict enforcement; repeal the 2002 Authorization of Use of Military Force in Iraq; and oppose the meaningless Abercrombie-Tanner reporting bill.

Democrats will also introduce a resolution to condemn Rush Limbaugh for calling troops who criticize U.S. policy "phony soldiers." We want every Member who condemned Moveon's truthful ad to condemn Rush's outrageous smear. And we want Rush fired from Armed Forces Radio for attacking our troops.

To stop Cheney's insane plan to attack Iran, Rep. Dennis Kucinich told Ed Schultz: "We're preparing for another war, and they're going to destroy America. We have a government in place right now that has to be challenged. I'm seriously thinking about calling a privileged resolution on impeachment of the vice president and forcing a vote on the floor of the House." Go Dennis!

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Other Victories Last Week:

The first (of many) Republican schemes to steal the 2008 Presidential election was defeated in California, where the GOP was promoting a referendum to allocate CA's 55 electors by Congressional District, which would have switched 20 electors from D to R and made a Democratic Presidential victory nearly impossible. Congratulations to CourageCampaign.org for stopping this outrageous GOP scheme!

The 4 GOP presidential frontrunners showed their contempt for minority voters by refusing to participate in a debate hosted by Tavis Smiley on PBS, which Sam Brownback called a "disgrace." They previously refused to debate on Latino and gay issues. Why? As Digby says, "The Republicans are the party of racists."

Larry Craig didn't resign as of 9/30 like he promised, so Republicans are still the party of anonymous airport bathroom gay sex.

Newt Gingrich won't run for President, so Republicans will have to choose one of the Pygmies - hopefully not Rudy Mussolini, who mild-mannered John Dean thinks is even more dictatorial than Bush.

Jena 6's Mychael Bell was released on bond and will be tried in juvenile court thanks to tremendous grassroots organizing by ColorOfChange.org and civil rights activists and pressure on D.A. Reed Walters by Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D-LA).

Verizon reversed its outrageous policy of censoring NARAL's pro-choice text messages after massive netroots outrage led by NARAL.org.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken declared two provisions of the USA Patriot Act unconstitutional, as we all knew they were.

Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS could finally prove that George Bush deserted the Texas Air National Guard in 1972 and conspired with senior officers to defraud the U.S. government by getting credit and pay for drills he never attended.

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National Caucus on December 7

When it comes to choosing our Presidential cancidates, why does Iowa take priority over the rest of the country?

The National Presidential Caucus was created to give citizens across the country - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents - a chance to gather in small groups (up to 50 people) to discuss the candidates and vote.

Of course this vote is informal and will not choose any delegates for the convention. But it will get a lot of media coverage and will be a lot more meaningful than the polls - particularly for longer-shot candidates whose lower poll rankings reflects the Corporate Media's bias against them.

The full Caucus will be held on Friday December 7, using Meetup-style tools to help citizens connect. There will also be a Preliminary Straw Poll & Caucus Warmup on Friday, November 9, 2007

Democrats.com is a co-sponsor of the National Presidential Caucus. For more details visit:
http://www.nationalcaucus.com

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Orange Every Day

Buy an Impeach Bush and Cheney Bracelet

Help build the impeachment momentum by wearing and encouraging others to wear this symbol of commitment to restoring our Constitution.

Good quality silicone, comfortable and eye-catching. As low as 75¢ each. Fund-raise by selling for $1. or $2. each. They sell like hotcakes. In a test sale at a recent rally a team of two sold 600 in just three hours.

Shipped to U.S. zip codes only. $4 for shipping and handling will be added on quantities of fewer than 25. First orders will be filled from bracelets in stock, later orders may be delayed up to 3 weeks. The more you get, the cheaper they are.

See large image and buy:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/bracelet

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