WHISKEY. TANGO. FOXTROT.
I know that political posts push some people's buttons like whoa, but this is just too important for me to put entirely behind a cut.
The United States Senate will be voting this week on whether to issue a PARDON to George W. Bush for illegal wiretapping of, and possibly other crimes committed against, American citizens.
MoveOn.org has a convenient email petition form set up, which will add your name to a list of electronic signatures to be presented to both the Senate and the House of Representatives denouncing the proposed pardon and asking members of Congress to vote against it.
I have already signed the petition via this form, and added the text behind the cut below to my message. Because faxed letters are given more weight by most Congresspeople than emails, phone calls or even snail-mailed letters, however, I will also be faxing each of my Senators individually tomorrow.
While I'm at it, I will gladly fax a letter to anyone else's Senators on their behalf. All I need is the text you would like in your letter (a personal note addressing each Senator's record and/or history is helpful but not necessary), the names and fax numbers of each of your Senators, and a graphic file with your signature -- you can do this right in a graphics program if you don't have access to a scanner, just be sure that it is either saved at 300 dpi or higher, or appears approximately three times the size of your normal signature on the screen.
What I added to the standard MoveOn.org petition text:
Upholding the laws of this country is an implicit part of Congressional legislators' duties, even as they create new laws, improve existing laws, or allow outdated laws to expire. It is not, I believe, coincidental that the oath of office sworn by United States presidents includes a promise to uphold our Constitution -- that duty should be implicit in the office of the presidency as well, but with the power of the executive branch concentrated so much more in the hands of one person than is the case in the legislative and judicial branches of federal government, it has always been considered more important to explicitly impress upon the men who have held that office that the highest office in the land is not higher than the law itself.
To pardon a sitting President for crimes committed against the citizens of this country, in violation of both the Bill of Rights and other sections of the Constitution, would be a tragic error. It would shatter the faith of American voters (and non-voters, and non-citizen residents) in the integrity of our country, more than any illegal actions by the executive branch under George W. Bush have done already. It would send a horrible message to the rest of the world, to our allies and our enemies alike, that American rhetoric about justice, freedom and democracy is nothing but hypocrisy, spin and outright lies. And it would rob American citizens already wronged by Mr. Bush's illegal actions of any opportunity for redress of their grievances -- another violation of their constitutional rights.
I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to vote against issuing a pardon to George W. Bush, or any member of his cabinet or any other employee of the federal government appointed by him, for illegal actions he or they are alleged to have taken against citizens or other residents of this country. If you cannot step forward and demand that impeachment hearings begin, at least stand with your fellow Senators of conscience, and refuse to allow this shameful pardon proposal to proceed.
Using either the text of the MoveOn.org petition or what I wrote is better than not saying anything to your Senators, but correspondence whose text is identical to other senders' is granted less weight by politicians, so use your own words unless you really can't think of anything different to say.
Comments are screened by default, so that only I will see the real names, addresses and signatures of anyone who wants me to send a fax for them (feel free to post such comments anonymously if you prefer not to have your name associated with your LJ) but other comments will be un-screened unless you request otherwise.
Edited to add: Contact information for elected government officials at all levels for all states can be found here. That site also offers an "Extra Impact" service -- someone will hand-deliver your letter to a member of Congress to their offices in Washington, for about US$9 per letter, for those who have the extra money to throw at this outrage.
The United States Senate will be voting this week on whether to issue a PARDON to George W. Bush for illegal wiretapping of, and possibly other crimes committed against, American citizens.
MoveOn.org has a convenient email petition form set up, which will add your name to a list of electronic signatures to be presented to both the Senate and the House of Representatives denouncing the proposed pardon and asking members of Congress to vote against it.
I have already signed the petition via this form, and added the text behind the cut below to my message. Because faxed letters are given more weight by most Congresspeople than emails, phone calls or even snail-mailed letters, however, I will also be faxing each of my Senators individually tomorrow.
While I'm at it, I will gladly fax a letter to anyone else's Senators on their behalf. All I need is the text you would like in your letter (a personal note addressing each Senator's record and/or history is helpful but not necessary), the names and fax numbers of each of your Senators, and a graphic file with your signature -- you can do this right in a graphics program if you don't have access to a scanner, just be sure that it is either saved at 300 dpi or higher, or appears approximately three times the size of your normal signature on the screen.
What I added to the standard MoveOn.org petition text:
Upholding the laws of this country is an implicit part of Congressional legislators' duties, even as they create new laws, improve existing laws, or allow outdated laws to expire. It is not, I believe, coincidental that the oath of office sworn by United States presidents includes a promise to uphold our Constitution -- that duty should be implicit in the office of the presidency as well, but with the power of the executive branch concentrated so much more in the hands of one person than is the case in the legislative and judicial branches of federal government, it has always been considered more important to explicitly impress upon the men who have held that office that the highest office in the land is not higher than the law itself.
To pardon a sitting President for crimes committed against the citizens of this country, in violation of both the Bill of Rights and other sections of the Constitution, would be a tragic error. It would shatter the faith of American voters (and non-voters, and non-citizen residents) in the integrity of our country, more than any illegal actions by the executive branch under George W. Bush have done already. It would send a horrible message to the rest of the world, to our allies and our enemies alike, that American rhetoric about justice, freedom and democracy is nothing but hypocrisy, spin and outright lies. And it would rob American citizens already wronged by Mr. Bush's illegal actions of any opportunity for redress of their grievances -- another violation of their constitutional rights.
I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to vote against issuing a pardon to George W. Bush, or any member of his cabinet or any other employee of the federal government appointed by him, for illegal actions he or they are alleged to have taken against citizens or other residents of this country. If you cannot step forward and demand that impeachment hearings begin, at least stand with your fellow Senators of conscience, and refuse to allow this shameful pardon proposal to proceed.
Using either the text of the MoveOn.org petition or what I wrote is better than not saying anything to your Senators, but correspondence whose text is identical to other senders' is granted less weight by politicians, so use your own words unless you really can't think of anything different to say.
Comments are screened by default, so that only I will see the real names, addresses and signatures of anyone who wants me to send a fax for them (feel free to post such comments anonymously if you prefer not to have your name associated with your LJ) but other comments will be un-screened unless you request otherwise.
Edited to add: Contact information for elected government officials at all levels for all states can be found here. That site also offers an "Extra Impact" service -- someone will hand-deliver your letter to a member of Congress to their offices in Washington, for about US$9 per letter, for those who have the extra money to throw at this outrage.