Wait! Hold off on that Blast Fax to Congress!

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Fax Services have suddenly sprung up in the last few months, flashing Conservative buzz words words and Marketing to Tea Party angst.

Be Careful!  Sites that offer to help you fax to Congress might not be what they seem!  A site can claim all kinds of things about a bill...but if they aren't showing you the actual language of the legislation...be sure to do your own homework and look it up!!

I saw one blast fax site today that said a bill was partisan, BUT when I did my own work and looked it up - it was actually bi-partisan.

Also, the site says that the bill "exempts Organized Labor -- UNIONS, particularly, SEIU and IBEW -- from the same controls put on their corporate equivalents."

When the legislation wording actually says;

‘‘(F) COVERED ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—
       In this paragraph, the term ‘covered organization’ means any of the following:

‘‘(i) Any corporation which is subject to section 316(a).
‘‘(ii) Any labor organization (as defined in section 316).
‘‘(iii) Any organization described in paragraph (4), (5), or (6) of section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code.
‘‘(iv) Any political organization under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, other than a political committee under this Act.

The Legislation also explains:

(2) The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission on January 21, 2010, reverses established jurisprudence and sound policy to greatly increase the dangers of undue special interest influence over the democratic process. That decision has opened the floodgates for corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited sums from their general treasury accounts to influence the outcome of elections.

(3) Congress must take action to ensure that the American public has all the information necessary to exercise its free speech and voting rights, and must otherwise take narrowly-tailored steps to regulate independent expenditures and electioneering communications in elections.

The summary also says -

H.R. 5175 does not play political favorites. It is intended to even the political playing field so that all politically active groups—corporations, labor unions, 527 and social welfare and trade organizations—abide by the same rules candidates and parties abide by.

and

...The DISCLOSE Act seeks to ensure that foreign countries cannot elect our leaders or influence out policy. Corporations that foreign controlled are banned from spending in U.S. elections.

So - I'm not saying that I know everything about this bill.  It's 84 pages long - it sounds like it might be a good bill, but I haven't finished looking at it yet.  I also don't know anything about this particular faxer; they might be entirely sincere - and they might have found wording that I haven't found yet.

All I am saying is ...be careful!  For one thing - if a site doesn't fully disclose who THEY are, there is a big reason to be cautious.  And if they don't show you the actual text of the legislation they are addressing, and just want you to take their word that they've paraphrased it truthfully, be cautious.

People can hurt us from the left OR the right.  There are scammers out there. Some are just out there to make a buck and don't have any honest political leanings one way or the other.  Or there might be someone from the left, trying to frustrate and stress people to the point of giving up.

Just be careful - do your research.  And keep asking questions to the people and/or politicians you trust.
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