With the growing abuse of the filibuster and Democrats unwilling to take the strong action necessary to fix the economy and regain the public trust, with the airwaves and cable increasingly dominated by the demagogic likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, and with the ever-growing influence of corporate money on Congress and public opinion, what hope do we have? This country, with all of its great power and potential, is becoming increasingly ungovernable, increasingly in the hands of the myopic and greedy and the voices of ignorance. We are on the brink of disaster.
The argument that free speech won is a false one. The only voices that will be heard are the ones with the most money. Your voices/letters/emails to representatives will fall on deaf ears more so than ever. But we have a tiny window of opportunity to still be heard NOW.
Here’s the background from the New York Times:
Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: January 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.
The 5-to-4 decision was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment’s most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said that allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would corrupt democracy.
The ruling represented a sharp doctrinal shift, and it will have major political and practical consequences. Specialists in campaign finance law said they expected the decision to reshape the way elections were conducted. Though the decision does not directly address them, its logic also applies to the labor unions that are often at political odds with big business.
Here’s what lawmakers may do in response to this terrible decision:
Campaign finance ruling: Can Congress do anything?
While many Republicans on Capitol Hill hailed the Supreme Court decision striking down restrictions on corporate spending on political campaigns, Democrats are ramping up measures to curb its impact. This is what lawmakers are thinking about to ameliorate the decision:
For majority Democrats, it’s yet another urgent agenda item heading into a charged election season.
“This disastrous decision paves the way for free and unlimited special-interest spending in our elections,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York at a briefing with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) of Maryland on Thursday. “We will not let this decision go unchallenged.”
I think we need to immediately contact our representatives and demand legislation—or better still, a Constitutional amendment to reverse this terrible decision!
Here’s where you can contact senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Here’s where to contact the House of Representatives:
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html
If you want to contact a member of Congress other than your own, they will ask for your area code and zip code to make sure you are in their state/district. Here’s where to get area codes/zip codes:
http://www.prodial.com/areacodes-Alpha.html
http://www.zip-area.com/search.html?type=coord&string=?57,156
These are the addresses of the major television news outlets:
FAIR’s Media Contact List
Let your voice be heard! Talk back to the media.
Network/Cable Television
ABC News
77 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 212-456-7777 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
General e-mail: netaudr@abc.com
Nightline: nightline@abcnews.com
20/20: 2020@abc.com
CBS News
524 W. 57 St., New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-975-4321
Fax: 212-975-1893
Email forms for all CBS news programs
CBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.com
The Early Show: earlyshow@cbs.com
60 Minutes II: 60m@cbsnews.com
48 Hours: 48hours@cbsnews.com
Face The Nation: ftn@cbsnews.com
CNBC
900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
Phone: (201) 735-2622
Fax: (201) 583-5453
Email: info@cnbc.com
CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1784
Email forms for all CNN news programs
Fox News Channel
1211 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 301-3000
Fax: (212) 301-4229
comments@foxnews.com
List of Email addresses for all Fox News Channel programs
Special Report with Bret Baier: Special@foxnews.com
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com
The O’Reilly Factor: Oreilly@foxnews.com
Hannity: Hannity@foxnews.com,
On the Record with Greta: Ontherecord@foxnews.com
Glenn Beck: GlennBeck@foxnews.com
MSNBC/NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
Phone: (212) 664-4444
Fax: (212) 664-4426
List of Email addresses for all MSNBC/NBC news programs
Dateline NBC: dateline@nbcuni.com
Hardball with Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com
MSNBC Reports with Joe Scarborough: joe@msnbc.com
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: nightly@nbc.com
NBC News Today: today@nbc.com
PBS
2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington VA 22202
Phone: 703-739-5000
Fax: 703-739-8458
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: newshour@pbs.org
National Radio Programs
National Public Radio
635 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001-3753
Phone: 202-513-3232
Fax: 202-513-3329
E-mail: Alicia Shephard, Ombudsman ombudsman@npr.org
List of Email addresses for all NPR news programs
The Rush Limbaugh Show
1270 Avenue of the Americas, NY 10020
Phone (on air): 800-282-2882
Fax: 212-445-3963
E-mail: ElRushbo@eibnet.com
Sean Hannity Show
Phone (on air): 800-941-7326
Sean Hannity: 212-613-3800
James Grisham, Producer: 212-613-3807
E-mail: Phil Boyce, Program Director phil.boyce@citcomm.com
National Newspapers
The Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 800-528-4637 or 213-237-5000
Fax: 213-237-4712
L.A. Times Contact Information by Department
Letters to the Editor: letters@latimes.com
Readers’ Representative: readers.rep@latimes.com
The New York Times
620 8th Ave., New York, NY 10018
Phone: 212-556-1234
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-862-0300
Fax: 212-556-3690
Letters to the Editor (for publication): letters@nytimes.com
Write to the news editors: news-tips@nytimes.com
Corrections: senioreditor@nytimes.com
New York Times Contact Information by Department
How to Contact New York Times Reporters and Editors
USA Today
7950 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, VA 22108
Phone: 703-854-3400
Fax: 703-854-2078
Letters to the Editor: editor@usatoday.com
Give feedback to USA Today
The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281
Phone: 212-416-2000
Fax: 212-416-2658
Letters to the Editor: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Comment on News Articles: wsjcontact@dowjones.com
The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW, Washington, DC 20071
Phone: 202-334-6000
Fax: 202-334-5269
Letters to the Editor: letters@washpost.com
Ombudsman: ombudsman@washpost.com
Contact Washington Post Writers and Editors
Magazines
Newsweek
251 W 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-445-4000
Fax: 212-445-5068
Letters to the Editor: letters@newsweek.com
Time
Time & Life Bldg., Rockefeller Center, 1271 6th Ave., New York, NY 10020
Phone: 212-522-1212
Fax: 212-522-0003
Letters to the Editor letters@time.com
U.S. News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson St., Washington, DC 20007
Phone: 202-955-2000
Fax: 202-955-2049
Letters to the Editor letters@usnews.com
News Services / Wires
Associated Press
450 West 33rd St., New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-621-1500
Fax: 212-621-7523
General Questions and Comments: info@ap.org
Partial Contact Information for the Associated Press by Department and Bureau
Reuters
Three Times Square, New York, NY 10036
Telephone: 646-223-4000
Reuters Editorial Feedback
United Press International
1133 19th Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-898-8000
FAX: 202-898-8048
Comments and Tips: tips@upi.com
FAIR wants to hear about your media activism. Please send copies of your letters to journalists to
FAIR
104 W. 27th St. 10th Floor
New York, NY 10001
fair@fair.org
If anyone has any other addresses, including your local newspapers, please add them to this post. PLEASE– LET’S AT LEAST TRY TO KEEP DEMOCRACY ALIVE. THANK YOU!
SueInCa says:
02/10/2010 at 7:08 PM
I just got this in my email
Cher, thanks for this post! I think contacting our Congresspeople is the best bet.
Let’s face it, if they don’t address this soon, it will be too late for them. The GOP is the natural party of corporations and any Dems seeking to represent the interests of the people over corporations will be targeted with the billions they have at their fingertips.
I heard today that Sen. Dodd is introducing a Constitutional Amendment to restrict corporate control over our democracy, it would be a tribute of a way to leave the Senate.
As javaz has mentioned, perhaps this is one issue that can reach across Dems and Tea Partiers.
Nellie– just checked the Take Action area, and THANK YOU! It is not only kosher now, but reads much better! (I bow to your greatness!)
Great compilation Cher. Unfortunately the very people and organizations in your contacts are the problem. The last thing the MSM wants is to limit campaign donations. It’s just more ad money for them. The same goes for members of Congress who receive the money.
The point I’m trying to make is that the money will be there for the two big parties to campaign. It’s up to the American people to be smart and not listen to their reptilian brains. We are getting the exact government that our polarized society deserves, pure gridlock.
Yes, KQ, we are getting exactly what we deserve, as a country! But I am not ready to throw in the towel completely yet. I am willing to invest a couple of hours or days in letting them know that too.
I have to disagree.
I don’t think Americans are getting what we deserve at all.
What we’re getting is a corrupt Senate and a corrupt Supreme Court — neither of which did we have anything to do with creating.
Nellie, I think what KQ and what I meant is that unless we are active, we will get what we deserve. And so far, too many of us as a country have been passive. I shouldn’t speak for KQ, but I think that’s what he meant too– I know he doesn’t believe that we should accept it.
I think we are being subjected to powers beyond our control right now. We have a very toxic media, a corrupt Supreme Court, and a bought congress. Those are forces that the public can’t fight by itself. We need allies within the system.
And we can’t get those allies in place until we get some important legislation passed — by the very people we are trying to fight
It’s very very complicated.
I don’t think we can lay the blame at public indifference. A million people were on the streets protesting the Iraq war. We couldn’t even get coverage.
We need to be really smart in this situation. It’s a real toughie.
I can’t really argue with your reasoning Nellie, and why would I when in an odd way, you made me feel better.
I think you make a lot of sense.
Just an FYI. I have written to Senators Leahy and Sanders many times and am never edited for a zip code. They seem to take emails from almost anyone.
Thanks, Sue. I just added those sites in case you get a rep that does filter for them. During the neverending health care debacle, I wrote to everyone, and most Sens. and Reps insist. 🙁
Cher, I need to excerpt the articles so we don’t run into copyright issues. I hope that’s okay.
Sure!
EDIT: Nellie, do whatever else you think is best, really! Edit away.
Thanks Javaz– but you can write any Senator or House Rep,just use the area code and zip I provided for any Congressman.
Excellent, Cher, simply excellent, and I thank you!
Sadly, all of my reps in the senate and congress are Republicans, but I can at least write the media.
Is there a letter that we should work on to send out or would it be better if we wrote our own?
Gosh, we’ve got to do something.