Senatorial drunk dial

When news broke that the US House and Senate are finishing up a "compromise" bill on domestic spying authority for the President, I happened to be drinking beer in my backyard. Upon a perusal of the NY Times, where I found out about the deal and the positions of the various factions, I fired off this letter to a number of US Senators, hoping that one or another of them might consider a filibuster.

I don't feel like elaborating right now, except to say that Senator Dodd's speech on the Senate floor after the motion to allow consideration of the bill (and after I wrote this letter, but before I sent it to him) was Awesome.

Here is the text of the letter:

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I categorically oppose the expansion of executive authority to wiretap without warrants. Period. Further, the idea that this revision "reaffirms" that it is the sole authorization for the executive to conduct domestic surveillance, when it was explicitly that way before and ignored anyway, is patently ridiculous. In his signing statement, the President will conveniently broadcast that this new reaffirmation of Congress's authority in no way abridges his perceived arbitrary power to do whatever he deems necessary. Then we will be back where we started, except that no one will be accountable and lawsuits that may allow discovery of documentation will be quashed.

Our government is broken. The idea that compromise is preferable to keeping our liberty intact is bankrupt. From this point forward, every lawmaker, judge, or executive that capitulates to the imperial demands of this or any President, even in compromise, will henceforth never receive my vote. Period.

Jevan Furmanski

cc. Senator Feingold, Wisconsin
Senator Feinstein, California
Senator Voinovich, Ohio
Senator Brown, Ohio
Senator Dodd, Connecticut