Since my representative in the House is Nydia Velázquez, I will be sending a letter of thanks. However, until I was redistricted in 2002, my rep. was Joseph Crowley. I have met him, and talked with him, and am disgusted by his vote. This is a "litmus test" vote. Anyone who voted for this bill is not a loyal, patriotic, freedom-loving, Constitution-defending American. That includes almost every Republican in the House, and almost half the Democrats. The only arguments for this bill are strikingly similar to those used by Communists, Fascists and Nazis.

Below is the text of the letter I have sent to Congressman Crowley. I will never regret having sent it:

Dear Representative Crowley:

Yesterday evening, I attended the annual dinner of the Ridgewood Democratic Club. You received a large round of applause in absentia, when it was announced that you were stuck in DC to vote against the supplemental appropriation for our continued occupation of Iraq. Unfortunately, today you cast a vote that more than canceled out last night’s vote; you chose to support the “compromise” that is better termed “surrender” on the FISA bill (H.R.6304).

The plain fact is that we didn’t need another FISA bill. Current law allows the President to engage in secret wiretapping, even to the extent of waiting three days after beginning a wiretap to ask permission from a secret court. There is no security threat or loophole that demanded action.

In addition to being completely unnecessary, the bill contains several provisions that can only be described as despotic and un-American. The method by which telecoms will get immunity for having violated our constitutional rights is just as secret as FISA; just look at Sec. 201 as it deals with Title VIII, Sec. 802(c). This allows the court, via the Attorney General, not only to dismiss charges against telecoms for their criminal acts, but keeps the reasons for dismissal secret, with no review or appeal. The plaintiff in these cases won’t be able to see the reasons for dismissal, nor will anyone else aside from the Attorney General and the judge. This aspect of the bill is a clear violation of due process and strips all Americans of some of our freedom, yet you voted for it.

Our entire government was created with a keen eye toward a system of checks and balances. With your vote today, you have eliminated some of those vital checks. I don’t say this lightly: You should be ashamed of your vote! It is tyrannical and un-American. As a result of this vote, many groups, including some I belong to, will lobby hard for our Senators to undo the damage you and many of your colleagues have done. I sincerely hope that we succeed, for if this bill is signed we will have lost, possibly forever, freedoms that Americans have fought and died for over the past quarter millennium.

In 2002, as a result of redistricting, I was moved from your district into the district represented by Nydia Velázquez. Although I have disagreed, sometimes strongly, with some of your votes, I have never been so happy, or felt so passionately that I was “traded up” until now.

Shame on you!

Regretfully,
Dan Jacoby