Quick political alert

[annathepiper]

To all the non-U.S. folks and residents of the U.S. on my Friends list who know about this already, apologies for the spam.

For the rest of you, MoveOn.org is circulating an emergency petition to stop the so-called "nuclear option" which has been pulled out as a means with which to bring down the filibuster in Congress. If you're against the elimination of the filibuster, please go fill out the Don't Go Nuclear petition and let your voice be heard. Thanks.


Quoted from MoveOn.org:

Why is this an emergency?

This Tuesday, the Senate will vote on Republican Leader Bill Frist's "nuclear option" to break the rules of the Senate and give the Republican Party absolute control over appointing federal judges.

For 200 years the minority's right to filibuster has kept our courts fair, by making sure that federal judges needed to get at least some support from both sides of the aisle before they were given life time appointments.

If Frist eliminates the filibuster, his next step would be to force far right partisan judges onto the powerful U.S. Courts of Appeals. The real targets, however, are the four seats on the Supreme Court likely to become vacant in the next four years.

With that much power on the Supreme Court, the far right could strike down decades of progress on labor rights, environmental protections, reproductive rights, and privacy.

The "nuclear option" will live or die by a final vote, probably on Tuesday, and the vote is still way too close to call. There are at least 6 moderate Republicans still on the fence and only 3 more votes needed to win. If we can get enough of our voices into congress and into the streets in the next 72 hours, we can still save our courts.

Please take a minute to join me and sign the emergency petition today.

http://www.moveonpac.org/nuclear

Thanks!

Comments

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

I had heard that a deal had been reached before I saw this, but I signed and commented anyway.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I heard about the deal once I got home and Dara started listening to the radio while making dinner. So ultimately I guess this petition wasn't all that much of a muchness, but I figure any little gesture in the right direction is a Good Thing.

[cats-haven.livejournal.com]

Even though AR doesn't seem to give two shits, I signed the petition and left a nice comment on the subject.

thank you for giving the link. *hug*

[annathepiper]

Welcome. I've heard tonight about the deal that's come through, so I guess ultimately this might not have made all that much of a muchness--but hey, any little thing we can do is a Good Thing in my book.