My letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi..

[Ayestrain]

..inspired by this latest story about the House Dems bending over to help Bush and the Telecoms to continue to spy on America: pathetic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/20/congress-strikes-immunity_n_108231.html

Dear Madam Speaker,

I am writing you this today to express my disgust, disappointment, frustration and incredulity in regards to the House vote to give certain companies in the Telecommunication industry immunity in the Bush wiretap fiasco.

Not only does the brokering of this deal seem to confirm heresy about the inner workings of Washington (i.e. that it's controlled by lobbyists and industries with buckets of money), not only does your support
of this act confirm people's suspicions about the lack of difference between the public servants in our two-party system, but it confirms the House Democrats' complicity in the crimes of the Bush administration.

I'm a 28 year old male voter and I despise the right-wing and all their actions. However, Congressional Democrats' actions continue to alienate voters like me, and undermine many other worthwhile efforts. I think it's also a shame that every House member swears an oath of office to protect the Constitution while their actions in Congress serve more to dismantle it.

I and many others are closely watching these issues, and we expect more of our elected representatives (perhaps we shouldn't and it's all "business as usual"?). Please do not continue to contribute to the culture of apathy in regards to people's perception of politics in this country. Please stop protecting the criminal Bush administration that has set this country back 20 years with endless war, ignorance and with flagrant and astounding abuses of political power. We voted you into office to look out for our interests, not those of the special interest variety that have infested our political system.

Yours sincerely,

AW

If you care about this issue in the least, contact your state reps, & flood these people with correspondence (they or somebody does apparently read it)..

Pelosi: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov

Rep search by state: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/index.html

[Homyrrh]

Yup, good luck :)

[Scarfather]

You made a fundamental mistake by revealing that the letter is negative in the first sentence. You need to croon them in first, get them interested in reading the letter and then reveal that you hate their guts.

[Homyrrh]

You made a fundamental mistake by revealing that the letter is negative in the first sentence. You need to croon them in first, get them interested in reading the letter and then reveal that you hate their guts.
Yeah, make said recipient feel warm and accepted, then shit on her.

[Ayestrain]

I figure they would want to read a complaining letter once & awhile. But then again maybe they have no shred of integrity left.

[Homyrrh]

"Once [in] awhile"? What? That's all they get! Think anyone writes to their congressmen with commendation and congratulations for passing some bill? No, not all. They hear shit barreling down the mountain when a decision like this has been made.

[QUENTIN]

My roommate worked in our Congressman's office and his job was mostly to listen to/read and reply to calls and letters from angry constituents. A pledge brother worked for Obama's office in the same capacity.

Odds are a 20-year-old intern will read your letter and reply with a canned response thanking you for "your concern"and assuring you "these issues" are important to Speaker Pelosi.. No one who actually matters reads a thing sent to them by their constituency. Our democracy is fundamentally broken and letter-writing unfortunately does no good, that's probably why it's suggested so often as a means of airing your grievances by the douchebags who don't want anything done.

[Elgyn]

I`d still do her.

[Homyrrh]

My roommate worked in our Congressman's office and his job was mostly to listen to/read and reply to calls and letters from angry constituents. A pledge brother worked for Obama's office in the same capacity.

Odds are a 20-year-old intern will read your letter and reply with a canned response thanking you for "your concern"and assuring you "these issues" are important to Speaker Pelosi.. No one who actually matters reads a thing sent to them by their constituency. Our democracy is fundamentally broken and letter-writing unfortunately does no good, that's probably why it's suggested so often as a means of airing your grievances by the douchebags who don't want anything done.
What, that didn't go unspoken? I used to mail my sports trading cards to my sports "heroes" as a kid. I have maybe a dozen or so...out of three tiems that many that either were never returned or came back with that evil, extortionist, generic letter explaining how Seymour Cocks only signed letters for terminally-ill four-year-olds (not that I was) with a $30 "donation". I was fucking EIGHT. THIRTY bucks? WTF??? Where's the accounting info on that $30...

Fundamental? Nah, just a bunch of politicians whose apathy and indifference to anything other than furthering a career transcend both party loyalties and their constituents' care.

[Vong]

...representative democracy my ass...

[QUENTIN]

What, that didn't go unspoken?

Well I'd think it would, except the OP wrote a letter to the speaker of the house, something I wouldn't expect him to do if he were fully aware how futile it is.


Fundamental? Nah, just a bunch of politicians whose apathy and indifference to anything other than furthering a career transcend both party loyalties and their constituents' care.

Which has always been the case with the vast, vast majority of elected politicians. In other words, we're not really a democracy but an oligarchy. I'd call that fundamentally broken.

[SpoonMan999]

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders.

“That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.

“After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act.

“Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance – making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future. It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.

“It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives – and the liberty – of the American people.

Obama supports this...I'm shocked he would stoop this low to try and pull in some swing states.

[Ayestrain]

Obama supports this...I'm shocked he would stoop this low to try and pull in some swing states.

Obama and the Dems are in between a rock & a hard place on this issue, namely, give the Repukes what they want in the "war on terrah" at all times or be seen as soft on national defense. I get that.

But it seems to me that this bill is having forced passage merely to protection granted to the Telecom giants by their good buddy Bush. Fuck Comcast, AT&T, Verizon & all the rest involved in this.

[The Heart Collector]

Ugh.

[Homyrrh]

Well I'd think it would, except the OP wrote a letter to the speaker of the house, something I wouldn't expect him to do if he were fully aware how futile it is.



Which has always been the case with the vast, vast majority of elected politicians. In other words, we're not really a democracy but an oligarchy. I'd call that fundamentally broken.
Possibly a...kleptocracy ;)

[SpoonMan999]

Obama and the Dems are in between a rock & a hard place on this issue, namely, give the Repukes what they want in the "war on terrah" at all times or be seen as soft on national defense. I get that.

But it seems to me that this bill is having forced passage merely to protection granted to the Telecom giants by their good buddy Bush. Fuck Comcast, AT&T, Verizon & all the rest involved in this.

Exactly my point, he's selling out his morals. Every politician does it but he's going to piss off a lot of his loyal supporters with this one.