Idle Hands are the Devil's Workshop...

... and I know some folks are still smarting over Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel's cave-in to White House pressure, as they voted not to exercise real oversight over the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program.

There are plans in the works for the "next step" -- we're far from done! -- but to keep busy in the meantime, here's a repost of the "game plan" portion of an earlier, "postmortem" post. Have fun:

SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? Several things.

First, we need to communicate our displeasure to Senators Snowe and Hagel. That means that Maine and Nebraska residents need to write letters to the editor (Maine newspapers Nebraska newspapers) underscoring how Snowe and Hagel sold out their oath to the Constitution and proved themselves mere puppets of a criminal White House. That also means Maine and Nebraska residents need to email, telephone and fax Snowe’s and Hagel’s offices (DC and in-state) and tell them, over and over, for the next several weeks, what traitors and sellouts they are. And it means that, in the future, VichyDems will work to identify solid challengers to those senators -- whether nominally progressive Republicans in the primaries, or Democrats in the generals -- and encourage citizens to work for them instead of Snowe and Hagel.

Second, we need to keep developing the Roots Project. We have campaigns planned for Ohio (DeWine), Pennsylvania (Specter), and South Carolina (Graham), among others, and we need participation from people with roots in those states, so we can bring pressure to bear on the Judiciary Committee when this little farce moves to that stage. (If you’re a blogger or activist in those states and want to be involved on the ground floor, email us at vichydems@safe-mail.net.)

Third, we need the rest of our senators and congresspeople to know we’re not letting this issue disappear. Call your own representatives and let them know you’re mad as hell about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s abdication of its responsibilities, and that you STILL want real hearings, dammit! At least let them know you’re still awake out there. The Capitol Hill switchboard is 888-355-3588.

Fourth, keep informed and active. We still don’t know exactly what the Republicans’ secret deal looks like, or where it’s going next, but when we do, we’ll move fast to shed sunlight on it. So please, bookmark VichyDems or subscribe to our mailing list (put subscribe in the subject line), or bookmark Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory or Jane Hamsher and ReddHedd’s firedoglake or John Amato's Crooks and Liars, and check there regularly to see what’s up. Something WILL be up. And when it is, we’ll jump on it. Again and again and again.

Until we win.

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