Letter to Senators Feingold and Kohl
by billybam
Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 08:06:50 AM PDT
For what its worth I penned this letter to my Senators, both of whom serve on the Judiciary committe with Sen Leahy.
- billybam's diary :: ::
Senators Feingold and Kohl:
Yet another deadline for answering subpoenas has come and gone, and the White House continues to ignore the will of the people. Although I know it will never happen, I would like to see the Congress recalled from its vacation to deal with what can only be described as a Constitutional Crisis. There can be no doubt that the domestic wiretapping operation that has been in effect since 2001 was in clear violation of the FISA act. All the Senate was asking for was the legal justification for this ‘breach’. Sounds pretty simple, yet its taken several months and three formal delays, and now this de facto extension until after Labor Day.
In light of the recent six-month enhancement of the domestic wiretapping that gave the administration even more latitude in this activity, it sounds hollow. How can you convene an emergency session when Congress has already given tacit approval for the program? This Congress has put us (those who care about the promise of this country) in a bad spot. We collectively throw out a large number of the enablers in Congress; yet get no change in results. The Bush steamroller merely continues on over a few bumps. How did this collection of tough talking Democratic candidates become cowering legislators in the course of a few months? Are all of your colleagues so scared about how they will be portrayed by a Republican candidate? By NOT abridging Constitutional guarantees we will be seen as soft on terrorism? What’s more important, their re-election or the Constitution? Unfortunately, I think I know the answer to that.
You are of course aware of how this administration has politicized EVERY facet of the government. From your chair on the Senate Judiciary committee this must be obvious. The US attorneys that were fired for not prosecuting Democrats non trumped up charges. In your own state of Wisconsin the malicious prosecution of Georgia Thompson by US attorney Biskupic, who as a reward was allowed to keep his job. And, of course, these breaches of the FISA act. With Mr. Rove’s and Mr. Nordquist’s (and a host of others) stated goal of a permanent Republican majority (sounds like the Thousand Year Reich) do you honestly believe that Democrats and their supporters have NOT been wiretapped? You may recall that this is exactly why the law was passed in the first place.
Senators, we support you. You have always seemed like someone who had the courage of his convictions. You need to do what you can to instill that same confidence in others. The people who want an end to this regime and its constant abuses will back those that stand up. I think that we proved that in the last elections. The politics of fear must come to an end. Unfortunately, in this day and age, you cannot think of the elected Republicans as someone that can be negotiated with. They have no intention of that and its obvious. The time has come for you and your colleagues to play hardball. Spend some of that political capital that the electorate has given you. Please do not let this deadline pass without some action.
The Executive Branch has already deserted us, and their perversion of the DoJ and the Supreme Court has left us without an effective judiciary. Don’t let the Legislative follow; you are the last hope.
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