Thursday, July 27, 2006

DOPA - the battle begins now

OK, so DOPA passed the House of Reps. and it's now on to the Senate. A couple of ideas for fighting back have surfaced in the last couple of hours:
  1. Andy Carvin has set up an aggregator for reults on DOPA drawing from Technorati and Google News: Dopa Watch. Andy also has a more public forum, a blog on PBS, where he is trying to get the word out. Send him comments there - he has a big readership, more mainstream than the edtech blogosphere.
  2. Will Richardson has posted a bit of a rant about this. For now, anybody should read and circulate this. Does he have anything organized? Not yet, but stay tuned. I think the best bet is for Will and Andy to get themselves on Oprah. Maybe then public opinion (which is how our legislators vote anyway) might experience a slight shift.
  3. My thought is to contact the folks who opposed DOPA. Ask for their support. Tell them how important it is and how grateful you are that they opposed it. The fifteen smartest members of the House of Representatives are listed at the top of this page. Start with people who think like you, and ask THEM to change their colleagues' minds. They stand a much better chance than you or I. I am very proud to say my representative, Jim McDermott, is among those 15. Not that it was a tipping point for him, but it personally makes me feel better that I emailed him an impassioned plea last night...

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Liz here from I Speak of Dreams. My Congressperson, Anita Eshoo, had several messages...and still voted for. I think the Republicans are a lost cause, but those of us who have Dem. reps who voted for ought to get a scolding. Yes it's too late, but the next bad idea is just around the corner.