http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
Inspired/reminded by Suu's anectdote about Sally May.
A lot of us here like writing things. Why not put it to better use? Write your senators and congressmen* and yell at them for allowing the TSA to rape the fourth amendment. Sure, it may not be as glamorous as being tazed by security, and you probably won't get on YouTube, but there's a good chance it will be one of the more effective actions you can take.
*Foreignspags need not apply.
Problem is, your congressman will never even see the letter. It will be glanced at by a staffer, who will then tell his boss that "people are concerned about security", and put whatever spin he likes on it.
This is why congress seems to have no connection whatsoever to what their constituents want.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 23, 2010, 04:06:09 PM
Problem is, your congressman will never even see the letter. It will be glanced at by a staffer, who will then tell his boss that "people are concerned about security", and put whatever spin he likes on it.
This is why congress seems to have no connection whatsoever to what their constituents want.
Wrong. The more letters, the better. I have gotten through to my senators and congressmen, and I have gotten replies. And in before "but Rhode Island is small", remember we're 2 million people in 60 square miles small, and I also got a response from a senator from New York, who's area and population eclipses ours by a lot.
Letters aren't being written anymore, and I mean LETTERS. Not emails, LETTERS.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Senators
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml Congressmen
Well, go for it. It can't HURT, though I doubt you're going to carry as much weight as the Good People at Rapiscan. There's a few dozen billions of dollars tied up in this, after all.
Also, in my state, the majority view - of both politicians and the public - is that the 4th amendment exists to give criminals a helping hand. They're not terrible fond of amendments I, V, VI, and VIII, either.
I support both ways.
Quote from: Sister Fracture on November 23, 2010, 04:19:01 PM
I support both ways.
Sure. I'm going to go ahead and write some letters...Not that I expect any help from Giffords, McCain, or Kyl.
But at least I can say I made the attempt.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 23, 2010, 04:20:06 PM
Sure. I'm going to go ahead and write some letters...Not that I expect any help from Giffords, McCain, or Kyl.
But at least I can say I made the attempt.
For sure. I mean, it doesn't hurt to try.
Quote from: Sister Fracture on November 23, 2010, 04:22:31 PM
For sure. I mean, it doesn't hurt to try.
It's going to cost me about a buck. Meh.
Oh good, I can write Barney Frank.
Taking a page from Moist von Lipwig, it couldn't hurt to print these bad boys out on some nice quality paper, possibly to set them apart from others. Do our rabid fontspags have a suggestion to use to make it look all pretty?
Arial
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on November 23, 2010, 04:26:28 PM
:lol:
And then the house-to-house searches began.
:lol:
"No, don't take me, please! I thought it was Helvetica! THE MAN WHo SOLD IT TO ME SAID IT WAS HEL-mflmf"
What would happen if a Canadian wrote in? Would it just be tossed in the trash?
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on November 23, 2010, 04:24:57 PM
Oh good, I can write Barney Frank.
Taking a page from Moist von Lipwig, it couldn't hurt to print these bad boys out on some nice quality paper, possibly to set them apart from others. Do our rabid fontspags have a suggestion to use to make it look all pretty?
Nice white paper, Times New Roman.
Write a business letter like they taught you in grade school.
Quote from: Hoopla on November 23, 2010, 04:30:41 PM
What would happen if a Canadian wrote in? Would it just be tossed in the trash?
Canadians bring in a LOT of business on the border, and there's a lot of commuters between the countries as well. You might be surprised.
You might also consider Georgia, which is another nice-looking serif font. You need to print it out before you can tell if it looks right or not, though, it really looks different when printed than on a screen. The only good reason to use Georgia instead of Times is because Times is the default in Word, and Georgia looks just slightly different, and if you're already trying to stand out by using nice paper, why not use a slightly more uncommon font.
(It's not that uncommon BTW, most weblogs that use a serif font are set in Georgia, because it is very readable on a computer screen).
If you want to experiment more, there's also a bunch of new Vista fonts your computer might have, Constantia and Cambria are the serif ones. You might also want to try Candara which is a sans-serif with stems that slope wider to the ends, like a boot-cut, so that's kind of in between serif and sans. But you gotta try it in print, cause it might also look too playful.
In any case, go for one of the default pre-installed fonts on your system. Most fonts that you can download for free aren't kerned very well (meaning that the spacing between the letters might look uneven), making them unsuitable for large blocks of text.