Dear Congress, what are you doing?

Dear Congress,

The Bush "administration" is trying to scare you into covering up their tracks again, telling you that if you don't make the Protect AT&T Act permanent and give the telecom companies retroactive amnesty for their lawbreaking, they might stop "helping" the "government" find "terrorists."

But do you know what happened when the Protect AT&T Act expired?

Nothing.

The telecom companies went right on "helping."

The Bush administration said yesterday that the government "lost intelligence information" because House Democrats allowed a surveillance law to expire last week, causing some telecommunications companies to refuse to cooperate with terrorism-related wiretapping orders.

But hours later, administration officials told lawmakers that the final holdout among the companies had relented and agreed to fully participate in the surveillance program, according to an official familiar with the issue.

Now, do you remember what happened when the "government" stopped paying its phone bills?

Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

"We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

That's right. The only time the telecom companies have actually stopped "helping" is when they didn't get paid. And yet, the Bushbots are running ads on TV telling people it's the Democrats' fault.

And Democrats must be believing it, because they're ready to cave.

You've already risked it all, let the law expire, had the TV ads run against you and still held out. I guarantee they'll run pretty much the same ads even if you fold now. So what will it all have been for?

"We've got to be fair to the companies," they say.

Why?

Why not let the judges -- whose actual job it is to be fair to everyone who comes into their courtrooms -- worry about being fair to the telecom companies?

Why not let federal judges -- who don't and can't take $5,000 campaign checks from the telecom companies -- worry about being fair?

Can any of you explain to us why it's "fair" to let the telecom companies lobby you, fly you on their corporate jets, and give you thousands upon thousands of dollars for your campaigns, and then take the decision on "fairness" away from the impartial judges and give it to you?

"National security sources and methods" might be exposed? Seriously?

Folks, everyone in the world currently thinks that the United States Government is listening to every phone call, vacuuming up every e-mail, and monitoring every web site on the planet.

You say they're not.

Exactly what "sources and methods" are you afraid terrorists will discover, if they already think everything is monitored?

If that doesn't sway you, would you at least consider the political and strategic value of trying to win one damn thing during this Congress, before asking America to trust you again in November?

Thanks!

Love,

Regular Democrats

P.S. -- If you think they'll only be spying on "terra-rists," ask yourself this: How will you ever find out?

By holding hearings and issuing subpoenas? Ha! Yeah, right!

Congressdudes, you are in no position whatsoever to be giving away powers that require close and vigorous oversight. None. At. All.