"Congress shall make no law respecting .... to petition the government for a redress of there grievances", says the first amendment. So why do the new guys in Congress want so mightily to attack grassroots lobbyists? For all the talk about listening to the People, this Congress seems dedicated to muzzling us. http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070118-122242-2071r.htm

Here is what the radical ACLU thinks about the efforts of their normal allies. http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/24423leg20060307.html

When National Right to Life and the ACLU agree on something, I pay attention. Some Congressmen got caught with their hands in the cookie jar so restrict normal people getting information about what is going on in Washington. Sounds logical. Not. Just get rid of earmarks and mke people put their pork in the old fashion way. Then enforce the laws we already have. The problem is not that we need new ethics rules. The problem is that Congress allowed itself to lose accountability by not having names attached to spending line items. That opens itself to corruption. The Democrat approach is to use ethics reforms to insulate themselves further from the public.

Contact your federal officials and tell them to keep this effort dead. ( Would that statement be illegal?) There are attempts to revive this in the House.