i received an e-mail from CONGRESS.ORG this morning

[flordehinojos]

which i proceeded to open thinking that it was coming from congress.

after i opened it, i found that CONGRESS.ORG claims to be, a non-partisan PRIVATE COMPANY, and state in their FAQ that,

"Congress.org is a service of Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis, LLC; private, non-partisan companies that specialize in facilitating civic participation. It is powered by the award-winning Capwiz•XC™ system.

Congress.org allows users to:
• Identify and contact elected leaders in Congress, the White House, and state legislatures
• Post letters online in Letters to Leaders and read what other Americans are saying to elected officials
• Create and post Soapbox action alerts to enlist others on your issue.
• Have letters printed and hand-delivered to Congress (there is a fee for this service)
• Find and contact local and national media by ZIP code or by state with Media Guide
• Have your representative's votes sent to you weekly via e-mail
• Search alerts and take action in the Issues and Calls to Action area (contact Capitol A"

however, on reading their e-mail their claim to non-partisanship becomes highly suspect in my mind for the following reasons,

1) they are a PRIVATE COMPANY USING A GOVERNMENTAL NAME, OR CLAIMING TO BE HIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO RUN a, "FACILITATORS IN CIVIC PARTICIPATION" outfit? it just doesn't sound right.

please... GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATIZATION GO HAND IN HAND WITH THE BUSHES.
CONGRESS-PRIVATIZATION, AND, swiftboating, tuckering as in tucker carlso lies, etc., are all operations that go hand in had with the bushes.

in addition, part of their e-mail states " TELL PRES. BUSH AND CONGRESS WHAT YOU WOULD BE THANKFUL FOR "

Excuse me... "tell pres. bush what i would be thankful for?" what in the hell has bush given anyone other than his daddy-o and his ass smelling kiss-up shills like christ matthes, tucker carlson, ann coulter, right wing republicans, and others like them, anything to be thankful about?

and lastly ...why write to congress AND PRESIDENT BUSH, as the e-mail wants recipients to do, i.e.,
"CONGRESSMAN CHARLES RANGEL PROPOSES MILITARY DRAFT
Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles Rangel proposes reinstating the military draft for everyone over 18 to bolster troop levels and deter Congress from getting into further wars. Write to Congress and President Bush to share your views. We will tabulate the views daily and display them on Congress.org.
I Support Bringing Back the Draft
I Oppose Bringing Back the Draft"

on the issue of the military draft and not just to Charles Rangel and let Bush find out at the end of the day what congress actually does with the rangel idea of a draft?

EXCUSE ME BUT THIS CONGRESS.0RG E-MAIL has the smell of a right wing republican Xart to me.

Then when I click on the "unsubscribe" button and type in my e-mail for them to unsubscribe me, this is the reply i get back,

"Congress.org To Go - My Issues Sign Up - Unsubscribe

You will receive a confirmation email."

Again, excuse me. I will receive a confirmation e-mail? not an, you are now unsubscribed from this e-mail? ...

there are things that just don't pass the smell test like with everything bush and everything republican thereafter.

[Eurobabe]

1. I just ran it through SpamCop, and I think it is legit

It's being sent from CAPWIZ.com I got the same email this AM too.

http://capitoladvantage.com/who-we-are.html

Ran the guy through Newsmeat. He contributed to Lieberman in primaries 2003. Hard to tell.

Anybody can buy a .org address, AFIK.

[flordehinojos]

2. hi. thanks for the post.

:hi:

[Eurobabe]

3. One can never be too carefully with all the phishing

that takes place in the cyberspace. I've reported about 3 phishing scams last month alone EBay, PAyPal and my bank. All were almost perfectly done, but running them through view source in FireFox revealed the truth.

Who know's about this guy? Is he a CON?

[flordehinojos]

5. that is what it sounds like to me.

}(

[blogslut]

4. According to WHOIS info

The site is run by Capitol Advantage and a fellow named Mark West:
http://whois.domaintools.com/congress.org
http://capitoladvantage.com/capwiz/corp_info_mark.html

According to the copy on the Capitol Advantage site:
http://www.capitoladvantage.com/our-customers.html

"Capitol Advantage provides print and online grassroots advocacy products, PAC management tools and strategy and web development services to more than 1500 organizations. Here is a small cross-section of our client roll:

AARP

American Bankers Association

George Mason University

League of Conservation Voters

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

American Cancer Society

National Nutritional Foods Association

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

The Leadership Institute

ConservativeJobs.com

Motorcycle Riders Foundation

You probably got on some mailing list as these guys provide services for just about everybody, including Yahoo: http://www3.capwiz.com/y/e4

As for that whole opt-out/reply thing, I stay away from those as they tend to just be a clever way to collect a whole new list of opt-in addresses. Toss the mails behind the junk filter.

[flordehinojos]

6. good idea. shall do:

"Toss the mails behind the junk filter."
:)

[Ino]

7. I use congress.org to send emails all the time

you can have your email posted publicly if you want, and they've never edited what I've written, even if I call Talent a worthless mealy-mouthed weasel, or tell George he's a traitor. I think profanity is filtered out, but duly noted that a profane word was removed. It's a valuable resource for addresses, fax, phone #s, websites, how your congressperson has voted on issues, his/her contributors, what committees they're on, etc. Doesn't seem at all partisan to me. I've received answers to many emails I've sent, so they are getting through. You can find your state/local info too.

in addition, part of their e-mail states " TELL PRES. BUSH AND CONGRESS WHAT YOU WOULD BE THANKFUL FOR "
What's wrong with that?? Tell George you "WOULD be thankful" if he'd resign!

Read what people have posted at their site. There's plenty of letters/soapbox essays from both sides.

[flordehinojos]

8. sorry to hear about your wrist.

i think i prefer e-mailing the congress people directly.,, and really there is nothing that i am thankful to any of the bushes for...