September 21, 2007 9:00 AM

Working Assets: proud to be nonpartisan.

Yesterday I received an email from the Young Democrats of America (I'm not a member but am somehow on their list), asking me to send a thank you card to Congress. What terrible timing. It's been a week of bitter disappointments.

On Wednesday we lost our best chance to see Habeas Corpus restored. The vote was 56-43 - but we needed to get 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. In a world without habeas corpus, the government has the power to lock you or me up and throw away the key, without giving us a chance to challenge it in court. This will come up again in the House next week.

On Thursday the Senate decided to take time away from its busy schedule of debating the war to pass a resolution censuring MoveOn. It passed 72-29 with support from about half of the democrats. OpenLeft has the list.

On Thursday the Senate voted against the Webb amendment that would force Bush to start drawing down the number of troops in Iraq by mandating troop readiness standards and limiting the number of servicemen and women eligible for deployment. It went down 56-44 - with 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster. The House is now rethinking its strategy to try to pass a similar bill.

On Thursday Feingold/Reid went down. This was the best amendment of the bunch mandating a fully funded withdrawal on a set timetable. We've actually lost ground here - according to OpenLeft we had 29 votes for this amendment just a month ago, but yesterday only 28 senators voted to end the war. 20 democrats voted against the amendment.

Today, Levin/Reid will be up for a vote. This amendment would require that redeployment of troops from Iraq begin within 9 months - by the beginning of summer. We're still fighting on this one but it will likely go down as well.

Working Assets is a nonpartisan organization. We are part of the grassroots and advocate for our values, not some political party's agenda. We're often asked why we don't get involved in partisan politics. This week reminds us why. We're for ending the war, restoring Habeas Corpus and speaking truth to power. These are values of greater importance than petty party maneuvers.

It's weeks like this one that remind us the people must show the politicians the way. Because if we don't organize and fight like hell, they will not represent us.