Speak up-speak out-speak often

Here are e-mail letters sent to Harry Reid and my Senator, George Voinovich, regarding the Levin-Reed amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization bill.

Let your legislators know how you feel. Keep the pressure on!


The Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader, United States Senate

Dear Senator Reid,

I commend your efforts with the Levin-Reed amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization bill.

Pulling the bill from consideration was absolutely the right thing to do, considering the Republican obstructionism which forced failure of cloture on debate.

I wish to remind you however, that the Republicans action has given you a golden opportunity to finally end the Iraq occupation. There are two courses of action that you can take, one of which is much better than the other.

The "nuclear option" is one, but you know that any bill with any teeth sent to the Presidents desk will surely be vetoed, and the terrible waste of lives and money will continue unabated while you are forced back to the drawing board.

There is a much more sensible and effective course which I beg you now seriously consider, and it is this:

Split the funding for military operations in Iraq out of the Defense Authorization bill. Everyone recognizes that the military must be funded for their everyday operations, and care should be taken to ensure that all necessary funding be allocated for those purposes. The President would be very unlikely to veto such a bill.

As for Iraq, offer no funding bill at all. None. Don't permit it to come to the floor. You have the "power of the purse", Senator. No branch of Government can spend funds for any purpose unless you approve them, and it has been this way for over 200 years.

The obstructionists steadfastly defending President Bush and his illegal invasion can blather and posture and lie ( and trust me, an overwhelming majority of the American people aren't buying it any more), but they can't filibuster a non-existent bill, and the President likewise can't veto one.

Please do this,Senator Reid. Do it for America.

With sincere thanks,

***

Dear Senator Voinovich,

I was gratified to hear you voice your displeasure over the failed management of the Iraq occupation, and appreciate that you have begun to speak out.

I am a constituent living in Cincinnati, but having lived most of my life in Akron, I have followed your career with some interest from its earliest days. Though we have different political philosophies, I've always considered you to be a man of integrity who follows his conscience and works in the best interests of his constituents.

That said, it greatly disturbs me to think that my assessment may have been wrong.

I refer specifically to your vote against cloture on the Levin-Reed amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization bill. That you voted against bringing a bill up for a vote that would have started the process of extracting us from Iraq belied your words, Senator,and that you claimed the amendment was based on Democratic partisonship was particularly galling and hypocritical.

You know Senator, that we must exit the Iraq debacle. We have destroyed Iraq and have lost thousands of troops in a war that clearly we should never have started.

You will have other opportunities in the near future to make your actions reflect your aversion to what is transpiring in Iraq. Please, Senator Voinovich, for the lives of all the troops which might yet be saved, and for the good of America, be a statesman.

Help me to re-gain my faith in you.

Sincerely,

John D Wood Sr