I voted

The only three Democratic candidates on my primary ballot still running for office are Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton. Two of them have the opportunity to filibuster against retroactive immunity for illegally spying on Americans and are not doing so. The other is urging his supporters to call their senator and ask their senator to join Chris Dodd's filibuster. Guess which one I am voting for?

As for the rest of the ballot, it is all referendums. Unless there is a referendum repealing previous propositions amended to the Constitution (especially Proposition 13, which is responsible for high residential prices in California while exempting most commercial properties from paying their fair share), I automatically vote "No" on all of those. I don't have time to parse these things to see which ones are worthwhile or not. I have people for that. They're called "Assemblymen" and "Senators". I pay their salaries for them to spend their time looking at stuff like that and passing laws and such.

Especially vile are two referendums by the City of Santa Clara, named "A" and "B" (huh!). These authorize the city to turn the last green space in southern Santa Clara into a gigantic multi-million-dollar housing project that will make developers tens of millions of dollars of profit. This despite the fact that the City of Santa Clara is woefully short on space for soccer fields, parks, and other such amenities for its citizens (the city of Santa Clara claims they don't have the money to buy this land for parks -- yet they claim to have money to spend over $100 million to subsidize rich millionaires who want to build a stadium that will be used for 9 days a year by other millionaires playing a children's game and unused the rest of the year... go figure). I still might have considered it (the city does need housing too), except the developers have been sending me glossy fliers for the past three weeks urging me to vote for "A" and "B". I have a rule -- if rich people are gonna spend money urging me to do somethin', whatever they're urging me to do probably isn't in my best interests. Because rich people don't generally become rich by being nice people. All these glossy fliers do is convince me that rich people want me to vote for these projects -- which is why I'm voting "No".

So that's that. Now I fold it up, put it in the envelope, and take it to the Post Offal in the morning, and hope it actually gets counted (which, alas, is not something I can prove or not prove in today's day and age)...

-- Badtux the Votin' Penguin

Oh, the message I got:

Dear Badtux,

When it comes to protecting the rule of law, words are not enough. We need action.

It's wrong for your government to spy on you. That's why I'm asking you to join me today in calling on Senate Democrats to filibuster revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that would give "retroactive immunity" to the giant telecom companies for their role in aiding George W. Bush's illegal eavesdropping on American citizens.

The Senate is debating this issue right now -- which is why we must act right now. You can call your Senators here:

Barbara Boxer, (D): (202) 224-3553
Dianne Feinstein, (D): (202) 224-3841

Granting retroactive immunity is wrong. It will let corporate law-breakers off the hook. It will hamstring efforts to learn the truth about Bush's illegal spying program. And it will flip on its head a core principle that has guided our nation since our founding: the belief that no one, no matter how well connected or what office they hold, is above the law.

But in Washington today, the telecom lobbyists have launched a full-court press for retroactive immunity. George Bush and Dick Cheney are doing everything in their power to ensure it passes. And too many Senate Democrats are ready to give the lobbyists and the Bush administration exactly what they want.

Please join me in calling on every Senate Democrat to do everything in their power -- including joining Senator Dodd's efforts to filibuster this legislation -- to stop retroactive immunity and stand up for the rule of law. The Constitution should not be for sale at any price.

Thank you for taking action.

John Edwards
January 24, 2008