FC: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo: SHUT UP AND LISTEN!

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I second what John says. --Declan]

----- Forwarded message from John Gilmore <gnu () toad com> -----

From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
Subject: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo: SHUT UP AND LISTEN!
To: declan () well com, gnu () toad com
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 08:12:20 -0800

Here's a sequence of five messages, starting from an unsolicited
message that Rep. Eshoo sent me about the California electricity
crisis, and my attempts to reply to it.

Lessons for aspiring politican emailers:

(1) This voter now clearly understands that Ms. Eshoo isn't interested
in hearing from voters, despite her "Let me know what you think" in
the letter.  She's spamming us from a bogus return address and trying
to get us to touch her web site.

(2) If she is gonna send out bulk mail, then she'd better be
prepared to recieve it and actually READ it -- rather than responding
with rejection notices to every reply she gets.

(3) She also sent a "Microsoft Word" document as an attachment.
Reading such documents requires proprietary software that the reader
must pay Bill Gates for.  The reason we have communication standards
(like the Internet RFC 822 that defines the format of email messages)
is so that one vendor can't lock us in and require us to pay them in
order to communicate with others.  If Rep. Eshoo isn't a believer in
monopoly, she should communicate in public standards rather than
proprietary formats.

(4) The way she attached those documents was from 1990; better
standards now exist for email attachments.

        John Gilmore
        Electronic Frontier Foundation

------- Forwarded Messages

From: ca14ima.pub () mail house gov
To: <gnu () eff org>
Subject: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 19:25:53 -0500
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3
Message-ID: <00a873026000721CA14IQ () ca14iq house gov>

February 6, 2001

Mr. John Gilmore
EFF
1550 Bryant St Ste 725
San Francisco, California  94103

Dear Mr. Gilmore,

Every day, there is a new development relative to California's energy
crisis.  Today, the San Jose Mercury News editorialized favorably on a
temporary regional price cap to restore stability to the markets - an
approach that mirrors legislation I've introduced.  Knowing of your
interest in the issue, I'm enclosing a copy for your personal perusal.

As you know, Representative Duncan Hunter and I introduced H.R. 238 on
January 20, 2001 to stabilize the California energy markets.
Specifically, our bill would give the Secretary of Energy the authority to
place a temporary cap on regional wholesale electricity rates when they're
deemed excessive.  While I typically do not support price caps, I think
this is an important step to take given our crisis situation.  We need to
bring stability to the markets and prevent further blackouts.

Let me know what you think.

  Sincerely,

Anna G. Eshoo
Member of Congress








------- Message 2

To: ca14ima.pub () mail house gov, gnu
Subject: Re: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo
In-reply-to: <00a873026000721CA14IQ () ca14iq house gov>
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 07:10:30 -0800
From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>

> Specifically, our bill would give the Secretary of Energy the authority to
> place a temporary cap on regional wholesale electricity rates when they're
> deemed excessive.  While I typically do not support price caps, I think
> this is an important step to take given our crisis situation.  We need to
> bring stability to the markets and prevent further blackouts.

I believe that if there is more demand than supply for power, the
price should rise.  Only with a rising price will consumers
actually cut back their demand.

Whether producers are cutting back the supply in an OPEC-style attempt
to influence the markets is another matter, which I believe should be
investigated.

The turmoil in electricity markets won't lessen under price caps.
These measures will INCREASE the turmoil.  If the price is capped,
people will continue consuming electricity that they don't really need.
This will result in continuing blackouts, since there is no short-term
hope of increasing the supply.

Remember when we had gasoline price caps under Nixon in the 1970's?
How we had lines around the block of people lining up at gas stations,
because the gas stations couldn't price the gas at a price which would
reduce the demand?

        John

------- Message 3

Message-ID: <54157EAD1599D211BA9F0008C75DE8C30143BAAA () pf01 house gov>
From: "Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo"
        <Congresswoman.Anna.Eshoo () mail house gov>
To: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
Subject: RE: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 10:10:38 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)

The Email address you have contacted does not accept direct email.  If you
have sent this message in error, please disregard this reply.

If you are attempting to communicate with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo,
please send a message through her website at:
http://www-eshoo.house.gov/IMA/get_address.htm

------- Message 4

Message-Id: <200102071553.HAA06664 () toad com>
To: "Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo" <Congresswoman.Anna.Eshoo () mail house gov>
cc: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>, gnu
Subject: Re: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo
In-reply-to: <54157EAD1599D211BA9F0008C75DE8C30143BAAA () pf01 house gov>
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 07:53:00 -0800
From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>

When I tried to reply to the Congresswoman's email, it sent me a
message saying:

> The Email address you have contacted does not accept direct email.  If you
> have sent this message in error, please disregard this reply.
>
> If you are attempting to communicate with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo,
> please send a message through her website at:
> http://www-eshoo.house.gov/IMA/get_address.htm

I believe this is absolutely the wrong policy for her to take.
She's SENDING ME EMAIL but REFUSING TO ACCEPT IT HERSELF?  Instead
I should go to her web site?  Why doesn't she go to my web site instead
of sending me bulk-email?

Here are my actual comments on her message:

> Specifically, our bill would give the Secretary of Energy the authority to
> place a temporary cap on regional wholesale electricity rates when they're
> deemed excessive.  While I typically do not support price caps, I think
> this is an important step to take given our crisis situation.  We need to
> bring stability to the markets and prevent further blackouts.

I believe that if there is more demand than supply for power, the
price should rise.  Only with a rising price will consumers
actually cut back their demand.

Whether producers are cutting back the supply in an OPEC-style attempt
to influence the markets is another matter, which I believe should be
investigated.

The turmoil in electricity markets won't lessen under price caps.
These measures will INCREASE the turmoil.  If the price is capped,
people will continue consuming electricity that they don't really need.
This will result in continuing blackouts, since there is no short-term
hope of increasing the supply.

Remember when we had gasoline price caps under Nixon in the 1970's?
How we had lines around the block of people lining up at gas stations,
because the gas stations couldn't price the gas at a price which would
reduce the demand?

PG&E got caught in the squeeze between market prices for wholesale
electricity, and regulated prices for retail.  This should be fixed
by deregulating the retail prices, NOT by regulating all prices.

        John

------- Message 5

Message-ID: <54157EAD1599D211BA9F0008C75DE8C30143BD4E () pf01 house gov>
From: "Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo"
        <Congresswoman.Anna.Eshoo () mail house gov>
To: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
Subject: RE: Message From Rep. Anna G. Eshoo
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 10:53:17 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)

The Email address you have contacted does not accept direct email.  If you
have sent this message in error, please disregard this reply.

If you are attempting to communicate with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo,
please send a message through her website at:
http://www-eshoo.house.gov/IMA/get_address.htm

------- End of Forwarded Messages



----- End forwarded message -----



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