Subject: On FISA, No Immunity for Telecoms, Restore our Civil Liberties, Support the Constitution and Bill of Rights: FOR A CHANGE!
We DEMAND that Senator Bayh REFUSE TO VOTE FOR CLOTURE as moved by the obstructionist Republicans in the Senate on the FISA bill pending today. The Republicans have done this to try and force a vote to pass the FISA bill that includes immunity for telecoms, furthering the cover-up of illegal spying by the Bush administration. This bill in fact goes farther than ever in permitting illegal spying on all electronic communications, even domestically, by American citizens.
I called Sen. Bayh’s Washington office twice Thursday to register my disbelief on his vote on the initial bill that would have not given telecoms immunity. I tried to call again after lunch Friday, and his Washington phone rang 36 TIMES, I counted, with no one answering, and no voice mail, nothing. This is NOT the first time I have experienced this trying to call Bayh’s office when the heat is on him, by the way. Is this a new way for the Senator to avoid answering to his constituents?
Indiana’s Sen. Evan Bayh was one of the handful of Democrats who voted Thursday to table the version of the bill (already passed in the House) that DID NOT CONTAIN the immunity clauses, and which DID contain clauses safe-guarding the civil liberties of American citizens. His vote helped that motion pass with the exact number it needed, 60. If he had voted the other way, the Senate would now be debating that bill, which tries to uncover the illegal actions of the telecoms and the Bush administration, and tries to protect our civil liberties.
Evan Bayh’s vote last week was WRONG, a disgrace and a disservice to the citizens of Indiana and America, and he MUST vote Monday AGAINST the Motion for Cloture demanded by the Republicans. It is time to support the bill that upholds the rule of law.
When is Evan Bayh going to stop voting as if he were a member of the Republican party, which in its six years as the majority party has driven this nation into the ground, into an illegal war, the destruction of our basic civil liberties, almost turning us into a police state, and destroyed our economy, so that we reel on the brink of a recession if not a depression. Why does he continue to enable this failed, corrupt administration?
Senator Bayh MUST VOTE for the rule of law today. NOT for the Republicans. They are not acting in good faith, and it is time the cowardly, craven Democratic leadership of the Senate to say ENOUGH, and stand up to these criminals and hold them accountable.
