| OUR LATEST IDEAS.... | |||
| Nervous yet? | http://atimes01.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/GC11Dk01.html | ||
| A few questions. A few answers. | The survey results and extrapolations from Not One Damn Dime Day 1, coupled with the upcoming, April 15th: Not One Damn Dime Day “Part Deux,” have got a lot of people looking at the NODD effort, and asking meaningful questions with a certain degree of frequency. Q: “How do we know we were heard?” A: NODD appeared near the head of Time Magazine’s Inauguartion Day coverage. We also appeared in USA Today, and in major daily newspapers around the country,, in Europe and Asia., as well as on National Public Radio. Google “Not One Damn Dime” and you’ll get more than 264,000 hits. Q: “How do we measure success?” A: It was impossible to measure the success of a one day consumer spending boycott in NODD 1. We know, however, we succeeded in providing a means of dissent for a heretofore muzzled group of American citizens who are opposed to Bush Administration policies in Iraq. We can also measure success in “raw nerves touched” among the noisier and less civil elements embedded within the rightwing of the American political spectrum. Q: Can we improve the means to get to out ends?” A: April 15th - NODD “Part Deux” represents an improvement in that, if we all email our senators and representatives in Washington, we will produce a clearly measureable and highly-visible result. | ||
| April 15th - An email blitz, not a boycott | There seems to be some confusion about the April 15th protest. It is not a consumer boycott. It’s an email blitz – a “virtual march on Washington” to protest the Bush Administration’s tax cuts, their budget deficits and the out-of-control fiscal policies that stand to compromise America’s future. So please, no consumer boycott on April 15th. Instead, just email your two senators and your representative in congress. Tell them to get America’s fiscal house in order. The primary goal is simple. Make the people in Washington aware that the burgeoning fiscal crisis is a high-priority problem out here in America, where their real constituents live. Further, with the mainstream media’s tendency to minimize and under-report dissent, we want to create an event that will be both measurable and impossible for politicians and pundits to ignore. From the moment they enter office, most representatives and senators work hard to create an email system that looks and sounds as if it’s responsive to constituents, but really isn’t. They don’t want the headache of hearing from you. They don’t want the hassle of responding to you. If everyone who thinks Washington’s fiscal insanity must stop emails their senators and representatives on April 15th, we’ll overwhelm the email system - and get their attention in the process. | ||
| Analysis of NODD-1 (Posted March 11) | Complete counts are availbale by clicking here | ||
| Who's their daddy? How they voted | On the bankroptcy bill: Voting ``yes'': 55 Republicans, 18 Democrats and 1 independent. Voting ``no'': 25 Democrats and 0 Republicans. Alabama Sessions (R) Yes; Shelby (R) Yes. Alaska Murkowski (R) Yes; Stevens (R) Yes. Arizona Kyl (R) Yes; McCain (R) Yes. Arkansas Lincoln (D) Yes; Pryor (D) Yes. California Boxer (D) No; Feinstein (D) No. Colorado Allard (R) Yes; Salazar (D) Yes. Connecticut Dodd (D) No; Lieberman (D) No. Delaware Biden (D) Yes; Carper (D) Yes. Florida Martinez (R) Yes; Nelson (D) Yes. Georgia Chambliss (R) Yes; Isakson (R) Yes. Hawaii Akaka (D) No; Inouye (D) Yes. Idaho Craig (R) Yes; Crapo (R) Yes. Illinois Durbin (D) No; Obama (D) No. Indiana Bayh (D) Yes; Lugar (R) Yes. Iowa Grassley (R) Yes; Harkin (D) No. Kansas Brownback (R) Yes; Roberts (R) Yes. Kentucky Bunning (R) Yes; McConnell (R) Yes. Louisiana Landrieu (D) Yes; Vitter (R) Yes. Maine Collins (R) Yes; Snowe (R) Yes. Maryland Mikulski (D) No; Sarbanes (D) No. Massachusetts Kennedy (D) No; Kerry (D) No. Michigan Levin (D) No; Stabenow (D) Yes. Minnesota Coleman (R) Yes; Dayton (D) No. Mississippi Cochran (R) Yes; Lott (R) Yes. Missouri Bond (R) Yes; Talent (R) Yes. Montana Baucus (D) Yes; Burns (R) Yes. Nebraska Hagel (R) Yes; Nelson (D) Yes. Nevada Ensign (R) Yes; Reid (D) Yes. New Hampshire Gregg (R) Yes; Sununu (R) Yes. New Jersey Corzine (D) No; Lautenberg (D) No. New Mexico Bingaman (D) Yes; Domenici (R) Yes. New York Clinton (D) Not Voting; Schumer (D) No. North Carolina Burr (R) Yes; Dole (R) Yes. North Dakota Conrad (D) Yes; Dorgan (D) No. Ohio DeWine (R) Yes; Voinovich (R) Yes. Oklahoma Coburn (R) Yes; Inhofe (R) Yes. Oregon Smith (R) Yes; Wyden (D) No. Pennsylvania Santorum (R) Yes; Specter (R) Yes. Rhode Island Chafee (R) Yes; Reed (D) No. South Carolina DeMint (R) Yes; Graham (R) Yes. South Dakota Johnson (D) Yes; Thune (R) Yes. Tennessee Alexander (R) Yes; Frist (R) Yes. Texas Cornyn (R) Yes; Hutchison (R) Yes. Utah Bennett (R) Yes; Hatch (R) Yes. Vermont Jeffords (I) Yes; Leahy (D) No. Virginia Allen (R) Yes; Warner (R) Yes. Washington Cantwell (D) No; Murray (D) No. West Virginia Byrd (D) Yes; Rockefeller (D) No. Wisconsin Feingold (D) No; Kohl (D) Yes. Wyoming Enzi (R) Yes; Thomas (R) Yes. | ||
| Should you trust the Social Security Trustees' Report? | http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp | ||
| Who's Their Daddy? | The "Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005" now before the Senate speaks volumes about who works for whom in Washington D.C., and what it says is that the United States Senate no longer works for you. The finance and credit card industry wanted this bill - wanted it badly enough to pump $34 million into political campaign contributions over the past nine years. And when George W. Bush signs the bill into law, the finance and credit card industry stands to recoup their investment hundreds of times over. The bill makes it harder for little people to file for bankruptcy protection - even as it makes it easier for more kinds of creditors go after little people's post bankruptcy income. At the same time, it allows millionaires who declare bankruptcy to shield more of their assets from creditors. Creditors can't touch the value of those millionaire's homes, for example. And, under the "Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005," bankrupt millionaires will be able to shelter money from creditors in something called "asset protection trusts." It is not news that money talks in D.C.. In this case, though, the Senate of the United Sates of America - many Democrats as well as Republicans - have brazenly sided with money against the interests of the majority of the American people, red and blue. More than any legislation in American history, this bald-faced piece of corruption shows us who our senators and representatives really work for, and should be "Question 1-A" on your litmus test for presidential candidates in 2008. How about it? Not one damn dime to any politician who took money from the credit card lobby - or for any politician who votes for this bill. | ||
| Announcing the NODD Blog | This is the op-ed section of the website, where the people behind it express their opinion. To express your opinion, please fill in the petition comments at http://www.notonedamndime.com/boycott/#Petition -- and to blog more often, please use http://www.notonedamndime.com/boycott/#Petition |