w00t, w00t! Get FISA Right finishes #5 in Ideas for Change! Congratulations and great job all!

January 15, 2009

With a late rush,  Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties squeaked into the #5 position in the change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition with 12285 votes!

Alas, even though our other endorsement Bob Fertik’s Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration picked up over 500 votes this morning, it appears to have fallen heartbreaking short by just 19 votes.   Still, overall, wow, what a huge success for Get FISA Right — and civil liberties!

Just think about it: despite virtually no help from the progressive blogosphere or 501(c)3s, we more than held our own against some really tough competition: big mailing lists, political allies.*   It’s an incredible validation of the power of our grassroots approach and social network advocacy.  Yay us!  And it’s yet another clear sign that no matter what they think in Washington and the mainstream media, Americans do see the Constitution and the rule of law as a priority right up there with health care, peace, sustainability, and drug law reform.

So thanks to everybody who was a part of this.  Once again, I’d especially like to acknowledge Democrats.com and DreamActivist.org for including us in their last-minute mailings … it made a big difference.  Neocons’ worst nightmare, indeed!  Thanks also to Jason Rosenbaum of The Seminal for a big endorsement this morning.  Within Get FISA Right, it was definitely a team effort, so thanks all around — with extra thanks to  Thomas and Patrick who really stepped forward in the last 24 hours.

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only 250 votes needed for a special prosecutor — 90 minutes to go!

January 15, 2009

Bob Fertik’s idea is within 250 votes of the #10 spot in the change.org (not .gov) Ideas for Change competition, with only 90 minutes left!

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/appoint_a_special_prosecutor_for_the_crimes_of_the_bush_administration

please vote now if you haven’t already; forward on to your friends; post on blog threads; etc. etc.

thanks!

jon

PS: our idea’s up to #6 and closing in on #5. so for the next 90 minutes, please prioritize accountability!

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URGENT: Last-minute help needed in Ideas for Change!

January 15, 2009

Update, 4:30 PM: we finished #5.  thanks to all for your help!  more here.

The voting ends Thursday at 2 p.m. Pacific time in the change.org’s Ideas for Change competition, and with the “merge” between the drug war and legalization ideas throwing things into a tizzy, anything can happen.    Bob Fertik’s Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration is up to #12 .  Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties is currently #7,  thanks to links in mailings from Bob at Democrats.com and DreamActivist.*

It’s far from over.   Bob’s only 660 votes out of the top 10, and there at least 7000 votes up for grabs.  And with less than 700 votes separate the #5 idea from #9,  if any of the ideas farther down the list suddenly get hot — and/or start merging — it could be a very close finish.  As calibration, yesterday, Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence got over 5000 votes, shooting from #10 up to #2.

So while it’s great we’re in #6 (yay us!  and thanks again, Bob and DreamActivist — as well as  Jason Rosenbaum of The Seminal, who just endorsed us), we need to roll up our virtual sleeves one more time …

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7000+ votes up for grabs on change.org?

January 15, 2009

See URGENT: last-minute help needed on Ideas for Change for an overall update

Just as I was about to go to sleep, the two drug reform ideas in the top 10 on change.org appear to have merged: dan b’s “end the war on drugs” (formerly #7) is gone, and Jose Torres’ “legalization” has 3000 more votes.  I have no idea whether they talked and got together or what.  More information as it comes out.

Update, January 15: from dan’s idea:

NOTE: the creator of this idea has agreed to merge it with a similar idea that qualified for the final round, “Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijana,” to strengthen their combined efforts. All votes were transferred except for those submitted by people who had already voted for the Legalization idea to avoid double counting. To vote for the combined idea, click here.

In the short term, though, this also means there are at least 7000 votes up for grabs, the ones who had voted for both ideas and now have a spare vote.  It’s probably even more; I for example had voted for “end the drug war” but not legalization* and so have removed my vote.  Still even with “just” 7000 votes, that’s a lot: these are people who have already signed up for change.org and figured out how to vote.  My guess is that almost all of them are against warrantless wiretapping, and a heck of a lot support a special prosecutor.  We don’t know how many have voted for our ideas already but it could easily be a chance for a few thousand more votes.

How do we reach them?  Please leave suggestions in the comments.

And if merging is possible, how do we get ahold of Pierre Loiselle to ask about combining with “Repeal the Patriot Act”?  I messaged him on change.org a while ago, and wrote on his wall … what else to try?   Again, suggestions in the comments please.

In the interim, Patrick made a great suggestion in email:

Pierre has 56 comments. If we could divide them up among 5 people (just number the comments, 10 ea.) we could reach out to posters last minute and if enough of them get the messages and pass them along it might help. We won’t reach all of Pierre’s supporters, just a suggestion as a last ditch effort.

Yeah really.  If you get a moment, please message a few of them on change.org.  Let them know that our idea’s in #9 and Bob’s is at #14, ask them to vote for both — and to pass the word to other friends and mailing lists who may have also voted for Pierre’s idea.  And then leave a comment below with the names of the people you’ve contacted, so we don’t inadvertantly spam them

Thanks much … and let’s think creatively about how we can reach 7000 drug reform advocates and Pierre Loiselle.  Get those brian cells whirling!

And I really am going to bed now.  Promise.

jon

* because legalization by itself doesn’t address issues like race- and class-based sentencing disparities, surveillance, etc. etc.

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Get FISA Right’s Ideas for Change in America endorsements (so far)

January 15, 2009

We thank all of you for your support.  Please blog about us again if you get a chance!   And anybody who’s helped advocate Get FISA Right’s idea, please use the comments to promote other ideas.

Read on for more … and digg it!  If you’d like to help us in email, Facebook, Twitter, the blogosphere, etc. see the first comment for details.

With change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition wrapping up in a little more than 12 hours, I wanted to take the time to collect endorsements related to Get FISA Right in a single thread. Get FISA Right has endorsed three ideas in the finals:

We formally voted on Bob’s; the other two were by acclamation.

Get FISA Right has been endorsed on change.org by at least 26 blogs and organizations.**  In reverse chronological order (i.e., the earliest endorsers are last on the list):

Rebecca Schneider for Congress, Worldwide Sawdust, The Democratic Activist, Susans Views, Effluvium From Sonya’s Brain, Green Dads, Rico Thomas Rico, Moonseeds Weblog, Amygdala, Happening Here, Reality Catcher, No Borders and Binaries, Obama Letdown Watch, DreamActivist, The Worley Dervish, WebUrbanist, peerflow, Beyond The Matrix, Liberty’s Crossing, Knightwhosaysni’s blog, Chris Weekly, newsrackblog.com, Democrats.com, saysmeinc.blogspot.com, Mad Progress, Moon In Cancer

Get FISA Right thanks all of you for your support.  [And, if you happen to read this before noon on Thursday, would you mind posting again and dropping a lnk in the comments?  Thanks again!  🙂 ]

With no disrespect meant to any of the other endorsements, I’d particularly like to highlight the ones from Democrats.com, DreamActivist.  newsrackblog.com, Reality Catcher, SaysMe.tv, and Rebecca Schneider for Congress.

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Act now: 30 hours left in Ideas for Change in America

January 14, 2009

Update, January 15: please see URGENT: last-minute help needed for more current information

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BREAKING: Get FISA Right endorses special prosecutor as an Idea for Change in America

January 14, 2009

Update: please see Act now for ways you can help advocate for both ideas!

With less than 36 hours to go in change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition, Get FISA Right has voted overwhelmingly (30-2) to endorse Bob Fertik’s Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration.

Please advocate for Bob’s idea, which has climbed to 14th place with 6370 votes, as well as our own Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties (currently in #7 with 9565).  Please also consider joining the Facebook group Appoint a Special Prosecutor to Investigate Bush Administration War Crimes.  I’ll include more details in the “24 hours to go” last-minute instructions later today.

Members’ opinions, on both side of the issue, are in the voting thread and earlier discussion thread  (here and here) for members’ opinions … a few highlights from “yes” votes:

Sally G:

We must defend the Constitution; whereas we must move forward, we cannot allow the Bush-administration precedents to stand. Nixon’s misconduct led to the passage of FISA; current attempts to short-circuit the Constitution must be followed up similarly.

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48 hours left, six ways to help

January 13, 2009

Update, January 14: please see Act now: 30 hours left in Ideas for Change in America for updated instructions.

The momentum shift I hoped for yesterday may be starting to happen.  After dropping to #9 last night (“Will you still love me if we don’t make the top 10?” I asked Deborah),  Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties is now back up to #8 with 8050 votes.  Even more importantly, the cushion of votes keeping us in the top ten* — probably the most important number to watch — climbed from 1200 to 1500.  Go us!

We got several blog posts, endorsements, and mailings from Facebook group admins.  Thanks all!  We are still trailing badly in endorsements, with only 22 so far — Pass the DREAM Act – Support Higher Education for All Students, which is right behind us at #10 has 67, and some ideas have over 300.  So let’s redouble our blogger outreach efforts** — and at the same time, not rely on this changing and continue to reach out via email on Facebook.  Mail your family and friends!  Change your status!  Change your image!***  Post this link!  Instructions here!

Our voting thread on whether we should endorse Bob Fertik’s Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration has gotten 22 votes: 20 yes, 1 no, 1 present (me, since I voted first and didn’t want to bias things).  If you haven’t weighed in yet, please do.

More ways to help below, but first a few paragraphs about strategy.

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Voting thread: should we endorse the Special Prosecutor idea?

January 13, 2009

Update, January 14: Final vote 30 yes, 2 no, 1 present.  Get FISA Right has officially endorsed the special prosecutor idea.  Thread locked.  Thanks to all for participating!

We’ve had two good discussion threads so far (here and here) on whether or not Get FISA Right should endorse the Bob Fertik’s idea Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration in the change.org Ideas for Change in America competition.

Sam Stein’ Obama Leaves Door Open To Investigating Bush, But Wants To “Look Forward” gives an overview of President-elect Obama’s position as well as Bob’s.  I’ve invited Bob (whose a long-time Get FISA Right member) to post here on why he thinks this makes sense, and also asked Ari Melber (who’s been working with Bob and covering this at The Nation) for his perspectives, but haven’t heard yet whether they’re interested.

So with the Thursday 2 PM Pacific time deadline for Ideas for Change, let’s get the voting started now.

Please remember that we’re voting on whether Get FISA Right should endorse the idea, not on whether each of us as individuals supports it.

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Help get the word out on Facebook! (UPDATED: 48 hours to go)

January 12, 2009

facebook logo

Update, January 14: please see Act now: 30 hours left in Ideas for Change in America for ways you can help in email, blogs, digg, and Twitter.

Voting in change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition closes Thursday at 2 p.m. Pacific time.  When I first posted this, Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties has just fallen to #8 (with Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence now a few votes ahead of us), and a couple of the ideas just out of the top 10 have been climbing rapidly.  Now would be a very good time to start increasing our momentum.

So let’s supplement our blogosphere outreach with attention to Facebook.*  I’m pretty sure at least half the Get FISA Right members have Facebook accounts, and while there are a lot of challenges to doing Facebook activism, it’s a great platform for person-to-person contact.   As you get a few moments of time over the next few days, here’s how you can help.   If you’re new to Facebook, more detailed descriptions are available on the Advocating on Facebook page on our wiki.

  1. Post the idea to your Facebook profile and Share it with your friends.   The URL is http://www.change.org/ideas/view/get_fisa_right_repeal_the_patriot_act_and_restore_our_civil_liberties
  2. Change your status, Thomas’ is currently Thomas hopes you’ll vote for “Get FISA Right” at change.org. Mine is Jon is fighting for civil liberties! http://tinyurl.com/8ovtnt
  3. sign up for the Facebook event Get FISA Right in Round 2 of “Ideas for Change” and invite your friends! We’ll be using this as a communication channel over the last 72 hours, with one or two messages a day to let people know what the priorities are.
  4. reach out to groups, causes, and pages by writing on Walls and contacting admins.  Advocating on Facebook has some sample messages and lists of likely allies.  (Don’t try to do more than two or three groups in a day!  And if you start getting warned as a spammer, please see How to respond when Facebook censors your political speech.)
  5. change your profile picture.  There are a lot of different images to choose from in our photo gallery.

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