Surely by now you've heard of the USA FREEDOM Act, which would shutter the NSA's data-vacuuming program, among other necessary reforms. But another Senate bill, the so-called FISA Improvements Act, has moved through the Senate much more quickly -- the Judiciary Committee passed it in a 13-2 vote on Tuesday -- and that bill would not only expand the NSA's data-vacuuming program, it would also punish folks who access information about matters like the NSA data-vacuuming program with ten-year prison sentences. They still don't get that the problem we have with them is that they're trying to record everything we do without getting a warrant? They still think the real problem is the folks like Mr. Snowden who tell the world what our government is doing, and not what our government is doing? Both Daily Kos and Roots Action help you tell the Senate to reject the FISA Improvements Act and support the USA FREEDOM Act, because we're not so stupid we can't tell which is which.
Meanwhile, the Senate has passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act by a 64-32 margin. Even Utah's Orrin Hatch voted "yea." Orrin Hatch! I'm old enough to remember when you couldn't go further right in the Senate than Orrin Hatch. But our esteemed House Speaker has said he won't even bring it up because it'll encourage "frivolous lawsuits." He really thinks all discrimination cases filed by gays are "frivolous"? Or maybe he meant fabulous. But it's damn wrong to fire someone because they're gay, so Daily Kos and People for the American Way help you tell your House Rep to support ENDA. Your House Reps have no excuse -- the bill, as I've said before, exempts religious organizations in the manner the Civil Rights Act does, doesn't create affirmative action programs for gays (let alone "special rights"), and explicitly affirms that an employer's right to enforce standards in the workplace won't change. And the House version of ENDA has, at this moment, 194 sponsors, so let's get cracking.
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