[Discuss] SOPA

[mbr at arlsoft.com (MBR)]

In your grandfather's day, nobody had yet mailed weaponized anthrax 
spores to Congress.  But after envelopes of anthrax were sent to Tom 
Daschle and Patrick Leahy in 2001, letters sent via U.S. mail to members 
of Congress go through a screening that delays them by at least two 
weeks.  Since then, for any time-sensitive issue, fax is the preferable 
alternative to mailed letters.

    Mark Rosenthal
    mbr at arlsoft.com <mailto:mbr at arlsoft.com>

On 12/19/2011 9:46 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
> Since my grandfather was a in the Massachusetts House, I'll share 
> something he taught me: if you /really/ want to get their attention, 
> take my advice.
>
> Sit down and use a pen to write a letter by hand. Do /not/ use a 
> printer or word processor: write it *BY* *HAND*, in cursive, and then 
> send it off to Washington.
>
> People are funny: writing a letter with a paper and pen is hard work - 
> and your elected representatives /know/ that. They know that someone 
> willing to go through that much trouble is /really/ hot under the 
> collar, and hand-written letters are the only ones that get prompt, 
> individual attention.
>
> Email is analyized and weighted for keywords, after being run through 
> /very/ expertly devised filters which identify "mail bomb" 
> auto-writing campaigns and chain letters. Printed mail is often simply 
> weighed, after being sorted by zip code. Only hand-written letters get 
> seen by a real person.
>
> FWIW. HTH.
>
> Bill
>