All Things Reform: April 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

"Honesty," by David Weller

leading the U.S. -honestly with Obama -
must constituents -

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Obama administration should apply transparency to the flu vaccine program

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: POGO - Project on Government Oversight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dr. Ned Feder, POGO Staff Scientist, 202-347-1122, nfeder@pogo.org
Marthena Cowart, Director of Communications, 202-347-3958, mcowart@pogo.org

Pandemic Flu Threat Raises Question:

Is U.S. Ready to Protect the Public?

As swine flu spreads, experts are not yet able to say how serious the threat is. Predictions will become more reliable over the next few weeks as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) gather data in Mexico and other hot spots. Meanwhile the federal government is mobilizing plans to deal with a pandemic.

A key element of the government’s response is the rapid manufacture of vaccine to protect against this particular new strain of virus: the goal is to have enough vaccine for everyone in the U.S. within six months of the start of a pandemic.

The current plan for vaccine manufacture is one inherited by the Obama administration from the previous administration. Among its weaknesses is a failure to disclose certain details of vaccine production. The current administration should apply its much-heralded principle of transparency to the vaccine program.

In a report published a little over a year ago, The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) criticized the government’s plans for its vaccine program. The six-month period might be shortened if experts outside the government could easily comment on the details of the program. But these details are not readily available on the government’s pandemic flu website. This lack of transparency is a weakness that could be corrected easily, quickly, and cheaply.

It’s not too late now to reconsider POGO’s recommendations on transparency. The recommendations included the posting of information about manufacturing capacity and plans to increase capacity through government subsidies or price guarantees. Information should also be posted about U.S. dependence on foreign sources of material for vaccine production, government contracts for vaccine production, intellectual property rights, and alternatives to current vaccines.

“If a flu pandemic has now begun, it may last for more than a year, so improvements in vaccine production, even if slow to occur, may benefit both the U.S. public and other countries. If making these changes through increased transparency does not help with the current outbreak, it is a long-term investment for the next time. This is a wake-up call not to wait, ” said Danielle Brian, Executive Director, POGO.

###

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Monday, April 27, 2009

"Political Power," by David Weller

Governments enjoy powerIf it matters what we say
Opposing special interests
Keeps America at play

Sunday, April 26, 2009

The BRAD BLOG: The most important, most doable federal election reforms needed

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From: The BRAD BLOG

Top Federal Election Reform Priorities

Blogged by Brad Friedman on 3/10/2009

A draft summary of what I see as the most important, most doable, federal election reform priorities for 2009...

Okay, so I've been asked on several occasions, since the election last year, what I regard as the top priorities for election reform in the U.S. of A. In hopes of keeping it simple, stupid, at least until I hear opinions on these back from you folks, here is a summary list of the most important, and most eminently-doable-at-the-federal-level reforms as I see it.

I welcome your thoughts, recommended changes, additions, etc. For the moment, this is not meant as a comprehensive list of all needed reforms, particularly at the various local levels. But it's meant as a list of the big ones, as I seem them, and the ones for which I believe we could actually find a consensus in this Congress sooner rather than later. Nor is this meant as whitepaper with arguments and details for each item. But hopefully most regular readers of The BRAD BLOG will understand what these reforms entail and why they are necessary, as written in this summarized, simple list.

After hearing from you all, I may post an updated version later and/or set these up on their own page, in order track legislation for each of them as they roll (or don't) through Congress. Here's the list...

Hand-Marked Paper Ballots For All: All ballot selections, in all federal elections, must be hand-marked by the voter, on paper ballots, except for ballots marked by a non-tabulating assistive device, as may be required to meet HAVA's accessibility voting mandate, one per polling place, for use by those who wish such assistance in order to vote privately and independently.

Fully Disclosed Hardware & Software: All electronic voting and tabulating systems (eg. ballot tabulators, ballot marking devices for optional use voters who wish assistance), in jurisdictions that may use such systems, must employ fully open source, publicly disclosed hardware and software.

Precinct-Based Counting: Ballots cast at the precinct are to be counted in a fully public, transparent, and verifiable manner at the local precinct level, with full citizen observation allowed by law, and results posted publicly at the precinct before either ballots or results are forwarded to any other location(s).

Voting Databases Released: All vote tabulation databases are to be made available to the public.

Full Transparency: All ballot counting/tabulation/auditing processes are to be fully open and transparent to any and all members of the public.

No Remote/Networked Communications: No voting system may have remote communication capabilities, infrared or bluetooth capabilities, or be attached to the Internet or to a local area network at any time.

No Internet Voting: No ballots may be cast over the Internet.

Disclosure of Federal Testing Processes/Results: All federal voting system testing/certification processes must be fully documented and results made immediately available for public inspection.

Outlaw Deceptive Practices: Deceptive practices (such as disinformation concerning Election Day, poll locations, and registration information and processes, etc.), voter caging (the removal of voters from the rolls without notification or process for appeal), and voter intimidation (eg. use of threats, uniformed officers at the polls, etc.) shall be outlawed. These laws shall be enforced and penalized as felony crimes.

Same Day Registration: Same day voter registration will be mandated for all voters in federal elections.

Ban Disenfranchising Photo ID Restrictions: Restrictive Photo ID measures at the polling place must be outlawed. Federalize the types of voter ID that may be required at the polls for federal elections.

Notification of Rejected Absentee Ballots: All voters are to be notified and allowed timely opportunity to appeal the rejection of their absentee ballots for any reason.

Make Election Day a Holiday: Election Day must be made a federal holiday.

Move Election Day to Wednesday: Election Day is to be moved to Wednesday. (Would likely require a Constitutional amendment - see this for a quick explanation of why moving it to Wednesday is a good idea.)

"Right to Vote" Amendment: Amend the U.S. Constitution to declare a federal "Right to Vote" in all federal elections.

Disenfranchisement a Felony Crime: The purposeful disenfranchisement of any legal voter, for any reason, by any person, in any election, at any time, is to be a felony crime. Each individual case of such disenfranchisement is to be prosecutable to the full extent of the law.

So what are your thoughts?...

[Original BRAD BLOG article accepts comments]

Saturday, April 25, 2009

America is a nation of laws, not men- let the law be enforced

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From: Washington Monthly

My Allegedly Vengeful Heart

April 25, 2009
By: Hilzoy

In an unprecedented, shocking development, David Broder is against any sort of accountability for what he refers to as "torture":

"If ever there were a time for President Obama to trust his instincts and stick to his guns, that time is now, when he is being pressured to change his mind about closing the books on the "torture" policies of the past."

I normally think that there's a presumption in favor of enforcing the law, and that people who think it should be ignored have the burden of proof. So what sorts of arguments does Broder offer in support of his view? Well:

"Obama is being lobbied by politicians and voters who want something more -- the humiliation and/or punishment of those responsible for the policies of the past. They are looking for individual scalps -- or, at least, careers and reputations.

Their argument is that without identifying and punishing the perpetrators, there can be no accountability -- and therefore no deterrent lesson for future administrations. It is a plausible-sounding rationale, but it cloaks an unworthy desire for vengeance."

To which I have two responses. First, who died and made David Broder Sigmund Freud? How on earth does he presume to know what the actually motivates those of us who think that the people who authorized torture should be investigated? Speaking for myself: I have never met David Broder. As far as I know, he has no idea that I exist. So how does he know that underneath my "plausible-sounding rationale" lurks "an unworthy desire for vengeance"? And how, stranger still, does he presume to know this about everyone who thinks this -- a group that (as Greg Sargent notes) included 62% of the American public before the latest memos were released?

Second: let's just stipulate for the sake of argument that all of us who favor investigating torture do, in fact, have "an unworthy desire for vengeance". So what? Suppose our "plausible-sounding argument" is actually true: "without identifying and punishing the perpetrators, there can be no accountability -- and therefore no deterrent lesson for future administrations." In that case, by not investigating torture now, we would be setting ourselves up for future government lawbreaking. Isn't it obvious that preventing this matters more than anyone's motives?

What matters is whether this is the right thing to do. If it is, then we should do it. If it isn't, then we should not. Motives don't matter here -- any more than it would have mattered if some of the people who favored getting into World War II had an unreasonable hatred of Germans in general, or the people who brought Brown v. Board really just wanted to get into the history books.

Broder's best stab at an actual argument is this:

"The memos on torture represented a deliberate, and internally well-debated, policy decision, made in the proper places -- the White House, the intelligence agencies and the Justice Department -- by the proper officials.

One administration later, a different group of individuals occupying the same offices has -- thankfully -- made the opposite decision. Do they now go back and investigate or indict their predecessors?

That way, inevitably, lies endless political warfare. It would set the precedent for turning all future policy disagreements into political or criminal vendettas. That way lies untold bitterness -- and injustice."

When people talk about "criminalizing policy differences", there's a crucial, question-begging assumption, namely: that no one actually broke the law. If that's right, and if we know that it is, then of course investigating previous administrations for law-breaking is just a "vendetta". But whether or not laws were broken is precisely the point at issue.

If laws were broken, then the fact that they were broken as the result of "a deliberate, and internally well-debated, policy decision, made in the proper places" is no excuse -- if anything, it makes investigation and prosecution all the more important. And it also means that the people who favor prosecution are not the ones who "criminalize politics". That honor goes to the people who broke the laws while holding public office.

If we care about the rule of law, and about the idea that ours is a country of laws, not of men, then we should investigate those who break the laws, especially when they hold high office. The Presidency is a public trust, not a license for criminality.

[The original Washington Monthly post accepts comments]

Friday, April 24, 2009

Contact your U.S. Rep - Important part of global warming legislation expected in the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment

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From: Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Breaking News: The True Face of Moral Bankruptcy

Today's New York Times features a story that may not shock you, but should concern us all:

As far back as 1995, scientists working for the oil, auto and gas industries were telling their bosses that human-caused global warming could not be refuted.

But, that hasn't stopped industry lobbyists from waging a cynical campaign to undermine the science and cloud the debate.

Americans were outraged a decade ago when cigarette makers made similar claims about the evidence linking smoking and lung cancer. And then we discovered reams of damning research hidden away in tobacco company vaults.

The only real difference between then and now is that global warming stands to threaten more than just people -- millions of species face extinction, entire ecosystems altered beyond recognition, the natural world as we know it today irreparably diminished.

The Next Two Weeks Are Critical

These revelations come at a defining moment in the fight to stop global warming.

Some time in the next two weeks, the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment is expected to mark up and vote on landmark global warming legislation. According to our political experts this Subcommittee bill will set the tone for the entire debate that follows in both Houses of Congress.

In short, whether or not an effective global warming bill lands on President Obama's desk in 2009 may depend on the actions of 34 subcommittee members over the next week or two.

The opposition may be morally bankrupt, but their political coffers are overflowing. Global warming deniers are spending hundreds of millions on lobbying and advertising aimed at confusing the public and scaring legislators.

More than 2,000 top corporate lobbyists are on Capitol Hill doing whatever it takes to stop global warming action.

What do we have? The truth. And you.

If you haven't already, please send an email to your House Representative today.

Then, please forward this action link to 5 friends to get them to take action: http://action.edf.org/campaign/Waxman_Markey_alert

For friends who still doubt the science of global warming, send them to the New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/earth/24deny.html. Tell them that not even the highly paid lobbyists opposed to global warming action doubt the science.

And if you can, please donate generously to our all-out effort to stop global warming.

You are our best hope to take on the industry denial machine.

Thanks for your activism and support,
Sam Parry
Director, Online Membership and Activism

P.S. What happens in the next two weeks will determine the future of climate action this year. It has never been a more critical time. Your support is urgently needed right now.

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Has any leader in Congress or the White House taken the 'Naked CDS' deals history seriously?

AIG Tower. Image via Wikipedia

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From: Huffington Post

Cenk Uygur: The Real Crime in the Bailout -- Naked CDS Deals

The size of our national economy this year is roughly $15 trillion. The size of the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) market is $64 trillion. The whole world GDP is about $56 trillion. How could the CDS market be larger than the world GDP combined? That doesn't make any sense.

The minute I read that many months ago, I realized that there was something unreal going on in the CDS market. By "unreal" I mean something that is given value even though it is not attached to real assets. And the more I researched, the more I realized that was true.

CDS are basically supposed to be insurance on a group of assets. So, if you have a collection of mortgages, loans and other assets, and you would like to insure their value, you get a CDS. This makes sense since some of these underlying assets turned out to be quite risky.

What doesn't make sense is for the insurance market to be many times larger than the value of all of the underlying assets combined. Well, it turns out there is a reason for that. It's called the "naked" CDS. These deals are not attached to any underlying asset. They are not collateralized. They are not attached to anything of real value. They are simply bets. As in wagers. As in gambling.

For example, one bank will bet another bank that a group of mortgages will go under, and the other one will say they won't. Neither one owns the mortgage; they're just "insuring" it in theory. The reality is they are gambling -- pure and simple. Now, the numbers make sense. The CDS market got to be so large because people were making bets in ways that were not attached to the value of the underlying assets at all. So, they were free to bet as much as they liked.

And, of course, the more money they bet, the more money they made. And if they ever lost those bets, they knew didn't have the money to pay it anyway. So, they had all the incentive in the world to keep multiplying their bets.

So far, this is crazy enough, but here comes the really crazy part -- the American taxpayer is now paying off these bets. The people who bet that the housing bubble wouldn't burst or that the assets would retain their value, well, they lost -- but they don't have the money to pay off all of these theoretical bets since they never put any collateral down on them. So, they're turning to the government and saying they're out of money. And we're paying them. That's insane.

It's one thing to pay off mortgages that went bad. It's another to pay off insurance for a collection of bad debts. But it's another thing all together just to pay off gambling debts that otherwise have nothing to do with the economy. We, as the taxpayers, would have to be utter fools to provide the money for these inane bets. And, of course, that's exactly what we're doing now.

AIG was the epicenter for the naked CDS. If you care about this topic at all and want to understand how everything went down, you must read this excellent article by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone. As he explains, AIG started this madness and never had the money to back up their bets.

But what really drives me crazy is that I never hear anyone in government talk about this. I've never heard Tim Geithner or Ben Bernanke or any congressman or senator talk about what we should do with the naked CDS. They talk about all of the assets and obligations as if they are all the same. But some of the debts are based on underlying assets and some are not. Is that not an enormous distinction?

The only person who used to be in government who has raised this issue recently is Eliot Spitzer. He said what I have been wondering for a long time now - do we even have to pay these things? Since they are simply gambling wins, if the counterparties who won the bets don't get paid, nothing really happens. They didn't really actually have anything on the line, so it's not like they are going to suffer heavy losses. They are only going to suffer theoretical losses on money that never existed.

Why is Tim Geithner still paying off these debts? If he doesn't understand this phenomenon, he should be fired immediately. If he does understand it, and he thinks it is the obligation of the US taxpayer to pay off the gambling binges of the large financial institutions in the country, then I would seriously question his judgment, to say the least.

The argument they trot out every time is that we must have these financial institutions survive. I don't think that's true, but even if I did believe that, it would be important to shore up the real assets. But under no scenario is it important to pay off debts on imagined assets.

At the very least, can we please have this conversation? I would love for Tim Geithner or anyone else in the administration or Congress to explain why they think these naked CDS must be paid off. Can someone please ask them the question already, before more of our money is funneled over to the "counterparties" who won these bets?

[Original Huffington Post article accepts comments]

Monday, April 20, 2009

Send the 2008 Election Protection Report to Congress and ask them to modernize our voter registration system

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From: Election Protection

Election Protection 2008: Helping Voters Today, Modernizing the System for Tomorrow

During the 2008 election cycle, Election Protection provided assistance to more than ½ a million voters through our 866-OUR-VOTE voter services hotline, our interactive web tools, and our extensive field programs. The stories of those voters, together with our extensive and on-going dialogue with hundreds of state and local election officials as well as the experience of our leaders, partners and volunteers on the ground form the basis for our preliminary report, Election Protection 2008: Helping Voters Today, Modernizing the System for Tomorrow.

As Election Protection’s report demonstrates, voters across the country still face unnecessary barriers to the polling place at each stage of the electoral process. Voters were turned away because they did not receive their absentee ballots or because poll workers did not understand the provisional balloting system. They stood in excruciatingly long lines and lost votes on malfunctioning voting machines. Cynical attempts to prevent eligible voters from casting a ballot through deceptive practices were reported in a disturbing number of states and took on a 21st century character, utilizing text messages, social networking sites like Facebook and email. But the single largest cause of the problems on and before Election Day is our antiquated and cumbersome voter registration system.

One of Election Protection’s leaders, Jonah Goldman, testified on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 in front of the Senate Rules Committee about the urgent need to reform our antiquated registration system. We’re starting to get Congress’ attention, but they have a lot on their plate. Our leaders need to hear from everyone who wants to see fair elections become a priority in Congress. Click here to send the 2008 Election Protection Report to Congress and ask them to act to modernize our voter registration system!

Click here to read the2008 Election Protection Report

Click here to readJonah Goldman's Testimony

Saturday, April 18, 2009

In 2008, only 15% of financial services corporations were audited by the IRS, and those less thoroughly

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From: TRAC

New Data Show IRS Downgraded Large Financial Services Audits

(09 Apr 2009) Newly released data from the IRS show that only 15% of large financial services companies -- those with $250 million or more in assets -- were audited in 2008, compared with 64% of all other similar sized corporations. And when they were performed, these financial service audits appear to have been less thorough than those in other industries.

In addition, fewer of these audits were being performed by the IRS agency group with special expertise in large financial service corporations, while the number performed by other IRS groups more than doubled since 2004.

These latest findings on the IRS, based on documents and data obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act, are available at

http://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/latest/207/

TRAC is self-supporting and depends on foundation grants, individual contributions and subscription fees for the funding needed to obtain, analyze and publish the data we collect on the activities of the US Federal government. To help support TRAC's ongoing efforts, go to:

http://trac.syr.edu/sponsor/

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Stay up-to-date on the federal bailouts from ProPublica

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From: ProPublica

About 'Eye on the Bailout'

Where do these numbers come from?

Our lists of recipients and programs deal only with expenditures by the Treasury Department – in other words, taxpayer money. We've included all such money allocated by Congress, both the broader $700 billion TARP bill and the separate $400 billion bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: a total of $1.1 trillion.

But the Treasury hasn't been working alone – it's been putting up big money alongside the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Our entries for individual financial institutions and programs indicate when the Treasury has committed funds in conjunction with the Fed and/or FDIC, but for a complete accounting of the Fed's and FDIC's spending so far, see Subsidyscope.

Most of the data shown in our project comes from the Treasury Department. But in a few cases, we've gathered information from other government agencies or press releases and regulatory filings from bailout recipients.

If you've got more questions about how we do this, please drop us a line.

What You Can Do Here:

See a complete list of where the money's going, from AIG to the smallest community bank.

A map that charts all the bailed out companies.

See a timeline of major bailout events.

Plain language descriptions and graphical breakdowns of the Treasury Department's bailout programs without confusing government acronyms.

Get the latest on the bailout from our blog and our links to the best bailout reporting.

Steal Our Data

All of the data in this section is available for download – and you're free to reuse it so long as you give ProPublica credit, don't change any data, and don't sell it for money. (We're licensed under Creative Commons, which provides the legal details.)

You can download the data using the XML and CSV download links on all pages with tables. If there's sufficient interest we'll do a programmer's API. E-mail us if you're interested in the API and to let us know how you're using the data.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sign petition to release George W Bush administration's 'torture memos'

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From: Common Cause

Release the Torture Memos

Arn Pearson, Common Cause

America does not tolerate "secret laws." Justice Department: release the torture memos. Sign the petition!

Candidate Obama promised an era of unparalleled openness and transparency in Washington.

President Obama has a big opportunity to make good on those promises this Thursday.

That's when the Justice Department faces a legal deadline for announcing its decision on releasing long-secret torture memos that sought to justify the so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the CIA in questioning prisoners held in U.S. custody.

Voices within and outside of the Administration are arguing to keep the memos secret.1 They want to stop the truth from coming out about our government's involvement in torture. We need to make sure President Obama doesn't listen to them.

Sign the petition now calling on the White House and the Justice Department to release the Bush torture memos on Thursday.

The American people have the right to know what is in these memos. Attorney General Eric Holder and the White House Counsel have reportedly already urged for their release.2

An Administration dedicated to transparency and the rule of law shouldn't hide the legal arguments its predecessor used to justify reprehensible acts carried out in our name.

With the Thursday deadline fast approaching, please act today and sign the petition urging the release of the torture memos.

Thanks for all you do,

Arn Pearson, and the rest of the team at Common Cause

P.S. Tell your friends! Please forward this to 5 friends by clicking here.

1. "More delays in release of 'torture' documents," CNN, April 2, 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/02/us.torture.documents/

2. "'Holy Hell' Over Torture Memos," Newsweek, April 3, 2009, http://www.newsweek.com/id/192314

2009 Pig Book on federal government earmark spending released today

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From: Citizens Against Government Waste

CAGW releases the 2009 Pig Book!

At 10:00 a.m. EDT today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz released the 2009 Congressional Pig Book at a Washington press conference alongside CAGW's mascot, "PigFoot."

Despite all the promises of "change," CAGW’s “little pink book” exposes how Congress continues to waste vital taxpayer dollars on parochial and non-essential projects. The 2009 Congressional Pig Book profiles such outrageous examples of pork-barrel spending in the fiscal 2009 appropriations bills as $4,545,000 for wood utilization research; $1,900,000 for a water taxi service in Connecticut; and $237,500 for the restoration of the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet, Illinois.

As always, we will name the names of those responsible for this waste!

To get your own copy of the 2009 Congressional Pig Book Summary, make a tax-deductible contribution of $25 or more to CAGW today.

And please help us put a stop to the politics of pork by spreading the word about the Pig Book to as many of your friends, family, and colleagues as possible. Thanks!

Join the April 15 (Wed.) Taxpayer's Tea Party

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From: National Taxpayers Union

A Taxpayer's Tea Party Is Happening Near You!

If you're fed up with the perpetual growth of government taxes, spending, and regulation, you have a great opportunity to make your voice heard this coming Wednesday!

A couple months ago, CNBC reporter Rick Santelli sparked the birth of a nationwide grassroots movement in opposition to government bailouts with his call for a "Chicago Tea Party" protest. Organizations including the National Taxpayers Union and its local allies have run with the idea, and "Tea Parties" have been scheduled in hundreds of locations around the country for this Wednesday, April 15. Angry citizens will be able to unite against reckless federal, state, and local fiscal policies that could ruin this great nation and condemn future generations to poverty.

If you haven't made plans to attend a Tea Party already, please visit the following Web site, www.teapartyday.com/Locations.aspx.

You'll be in the good company of thousands of National Taxpayers Union supporters who are committed to participating in these rallies.

In the National Taxpayers Union's 40-year history, we have rarely seen such an outpouring of spontaneous activity from communities of taxpayers throughout America. If all of us do our best to attend a local Tea Party and encourage others to do the same, we may very well be launching the beginning of a taxpayer revolt that will rival the American Revolution itself!

Please, take an hour or so this coming Wednesday, April 15, to stand up and be counted among millions of modern-day patriots who want to take back the government that once served taxpayers rather than special interests. See you there, and let's raise a ruckus politicians won't be able to ignore!

Sincerely,

Your Grassroots Action Team at NTU

Friday, April 10, 2009

Contact your state representatives for National Popular Vote bill

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From: National Popular Vote

Second Edition of Every Vote Equal Book Contains Answers to 61 Myths about the National Popular Vote Bill

Newsletter no. 41, April 9, 2009

The second edition of Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote has now been published. It contains 100 additional pages, notably a new chapter 10 containing answers to 61 myths about the National Popular Vote bill. You can read or download the book (or just chapter 10) for FREE at

www.every-vote-equal. You can also purchase the book from Amazon for $9.95.

Please Write Your State Legislators Asking Them to Support the National Popular Vote Bill

One of the most important things you can do to support the National Popular Vote bill is to write your state legislators and state officials asking them to support the bill. You can quickly and easily send a e-mail to your state legislators by going to www.NationalPopularVote.com/write. Our system will provide a suggested letter, which you can edit. Thank you very much for considering this important action step to support the National Popular Vote bill.

[...]

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Friday, April 10, 2009

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