Senator Burris at your service

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Tonight I wrote some letters to elected officials insisting that they unequivocally support a meaningful Public Option in the healthcare bill now being worked by the Congress. To my Senators I wrote:

Dear Senator,

I want you to know that I and the voting members of my household consider the Public Option to be non-negotiable in any reform of the nation’s healthcare system.

It is clear to me that the opposition to the Public Option in the Senate consists mainly of Senators from small states in which a single healthcare insurance provider has an actual or virtual monopoly on the health insurance insurance market. Health insurance reform will not work, period, without injecting the field with actual competition. Without competition, insurers will continue to have a free hand in fixing premium rates artificially high in order to extract more “overhead” resources from healthcare consumers. I’m certain you are aware of the numerous “horror stories” about individuals who have been denied coverage, or who have even had their policies canceled without notice, on the eve of major, necessary medical procedures. The costs are ruinous for these people, as you must be aware.

At this point I do not feel it is enough for you to simply commit to supporting the public option. I ask that you use every advantage your seniority provides to convince reluctant Senators that it is in the best interests of the nation to support the public option --- even if it means taxing the employer-provided benefits of more affluent beneficiaries (including myself). I will back my opinion on this with campaign contributions to primary challengers in any state where a Democratic Senator has worked to defeat or undermine an effective Public Option in the healthcare insurance reform effort.

I do appreciate your work toward solving our healthcare insurance and cost crises. Please use your considerable persuasive powers to get everyone possible on board with this critical provision.

Sincerely,
Stupor J. Mundi

The above message was to Dick Durbin. A similar note (without references to senate seniority) went to Roland Burris, the junior Senator from Illinois who was, by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago), declared not to have "one iota of taint" when appointed to the post by Blago back in December. Tonight Burris was really johnny-on-the-spot for his constituent, with a lightning-fast reply even before I'd finished modifying the note for consumption by our U.S. Representative (who actually looks like he suffers from consumption). The Burris response is a marvel of clarity, concision, and timeliness:

Thank you very much for contacting my office to express your views. I will take your opinions and concerns into consideration as we debate these issues in the United States Senate and address challenges facing Illinois and the nation.

The constituents of Illinois are of the utmost importance to me, and it is an honor to work on your behalf by representing you in the United States Senate.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, DC office. Again, thank you and I am honored to serve you in the United States Senate.

Sincerely,
Roland W. Burris
United States Senator

Hurrah --- we're saved! That's some real constituent service, from one Senator without an iota of taint or an iota of class. Not even trying....

Land of Lincoln sanity checks

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Governor Blagojevich returned to "business as usual" today, which for him is the administrative equivalent of spraying a tommy gun inside the capital rotunda hollering "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" Meanwhile, most state officials are making serious noises about meeting to develop a framework to draft a resolution calling for the study of possibly impeaching our modern day Baby Face Nelson. Our remaining U.S. Senator, Dick Durbin, pulled a blindingly stupid PR stunt on Tuesday when he immediately called for a special election to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat. Dumb idea: the next Congress will have been in session for months by the time a special election is set up and concluded. Nobody even knows how one would be administered in Illinois under current circumstances. And a special election would open the seat to being won by any Republican skilled enough to play the backlash card of downstate resentment of corrupt city slickers. Anybody who thinks that couldn't happen is a fool: the Land of Lincoln is not as "blue" as celebrity journalists seem to think. If I were Obama, I'd be tempted to have Durbin skinned with poultry shears for throwing a special election on the table. Bonehead.

And Armageddon must be near: I agree with a Republican. Former governor Jim Edgar said on public radio Wednesday morning that he thinks a special election is a bad idea because it would get partisanship all stirred up at a time when we need two U.S. Senators in Washington. He also suggested that Blagojevich's successor appoint a panel to help select the new senate nominee. That could work, but I don't think it's necessary: the appointment power lies with whomever is governor or acting governor.

I figured that the legislature could have Blagojevich impeached by Christmas if there was a will to do it, but serious observers seem to think that impeachment requires hard evidence of criminality and a reasonable-doubt standard for guilt. I doubt it. They don't have to impeach Blagojevich for bribery: lawyers can figure it out. For example, if Blagojevich were insane enough to appoint someone to the seat, I believe he would be violating at least the spirit of Illinois state ethics laws in the conflict-of-interest arena. [Allow me to interject that anyone accepting a Senate appointment by Blagojevich now would be an imbecile... unless Blago pulled the supreme jiu jutsu move of appointing an Republican to the seat. Think about it. You heard it here first.]

The Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, can appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court to remove a governor who is incapable of performing his duties. Madigan has indicated that she is smart enough to wait for awhile, though, necessarily letting state government twist in the wind long enough so even a mischevous Republican justice might think twice about voting against a removal petition. (The Supreme Court decision must be unanimous.) Normally, I would have thought Madigan would have been a slam-dunk appointment to the Senate seat. But under these circumstances, and given her likely role as Blagojevich's putative executioner, the Lieutenant Governor might find it awkward to be seen as "rewarding" her for the kill.

I know that people smarter than me don't believe this is a serious danger, but he longer chaos persists in Illinois government, the better it is for Republicans here. At the state level, Illinois Republicans are pathetic: divided, devoid of viable leaders, and they stand for nothing except fueling resentment against Chicago. But nothing unites Republicans like chaos.

And it's also better for the national Republican Party: without a Democrat in Obama's seat by January, the new President has one less vote to beat down the twin menace of Mitch McConnell and "Diaper" Dave Vitter.

Editor's note: the illustration of James Cagney from White Heat is used above solely for nonprofit education and research purposes, and this fair use is believed not to diminish the commercial value of the image to the copyright holder.

Writed a letter

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I wrote this one to the only Senator I have left for the moment, Dick Durbin. Let's join me now as I express my opinion to him on an issue of the day:

Senator Durbin,

This evening I am writing to you in your capacity as a member of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. It is my understanding that Senator Lieberman may petition the Committee for the privilege of retaining his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. If he does, I urge you to do everything in your power as a committee member to reject Senator Lieberman's request.

I believe that President Elect Obama's ability to provide leadership in the area of national security will be encumbered or undermined if Senator Lieberman is permitted to retain his committee chairmanship. My conclusion seems self-evident as Mr. Lieberman has actively worked with the Bush/Cheney administration and the McCain campaign to thwart the will of most U.S. citizens as well as your party on critical security and constitutional issues within the purview of his committee.

Again, I urge you to do everything you can to remove Mr. Lieberman from this important committee chairmanship and act to replace him with a Senator whose views and objectives complement and harmonize with Mr. Obama's.

Thank you.

You weigh in on this issue with your own voice, if you like, or sign the electronic petition available here. Personally, I don't care for web petitions, so I rolled my own for Senator Durbin to put in his pipe and smoke, if he likes. Notice the fancy way I expressed my concern to my Senator in terms of national security rather than pure "partisan bickering." Watch and learn, my impressionable disciples.

I know that if Lieberman defects to the GOP when stripped of his Democratic chairmanship, the Democrats will be one vote further away from a filibuster-proof majority. Too bad: he can't be trusted so he has to go. Furthermore, he has to be punished as an example to any Blue Dogs who may want to push back against the better intentions of President Obama. Democrats quickly need to relearn the homespun skills of arm-twisting and/or persuasion --- Tip O'Neill style, maybe --- for use on so-called "moderate" Republicans to break filibusters on Obama's SCOTUS nominations (for one example). True, there really are no "moderate" Republicans --- only ones who pretend to be moderate for the consumption of their home constituencies. But I'm betting those phony creatures might wise up a bit now as Bush heads for his Poppy's basement in Kennebunkport, Cheney heads for Arkham Asylum, McCain heads for well earned oblivion, and Palin heads for the political equivalent of a shallow grave. Lieberman can launch a U.S. Likkud Party for all I care.

Another letter to Barack Obama....

...in which I implore the Senator to get off the #!©k!n& campaign trail for a day or two and motivate back to Washington to block the heinous telecom immunity provisions of FISA renewal legislation. The excerpt below reprints my recommended political tactic, which I provided pro bono for Mr. Obama to use in the event that blocking the bad bill were to require a filibuster (as promised by Senator Dodd):

"I urge you to join your colleagues who are opposed to telecom immunity, including any filibuster of FISA legislation that includes retroactive immunity. Perhaps this would not even require an interruption in your campaigning for the presidency: you could take your turn at the rostrum to support the filibuster by continuously reading from transcripts of your best campaign speeches until adversaries of the Constitution get tired of hearing about you and relent. Your speeches would undoubtedly be broadcast on C-SPAN, at no cost to the Obama campaign."

Now, isn't that a piece of cunning advice? Yes, I agree with your concurrence: it is indeed.

I've already written several letters on telecom immunity to Obama and to Dick Durbin, my U.S. Senators. This stuff really matters if we want to continue living in a nation where jack-booted thugs aren't authorized to kick in our doors or our throats because they don't like something they overheard us say on our cell phones. Or write on our awesome blogs. What --- you don't have an awesome blog?!? Then write your senators and tell them you agree with StuporMundi.

Dodd delays rotten FISA bill

I wrote about this yesterday, but the headline of my post wasn't to the point. My letter, to Barack Obama and Dick Durbin (my state's so-called progressive U.S. Senators), was really about Chris Dodd's vow to filibuster a rotten revision of the FISA bill. The law would grant unconditional retroactive immunity to telecom execs and employees who may have helped rogue elements of the executive branch illegally and unconstitutionally spy on U.S. citizens. I demanded that both of my senators get Dodd's back and help make the filibuster work on behalf of the U.S. Constitution. (Obama replied with a longwinded, mealy-mouthed form letter by return robo-ping.)

Evidently, tonight Dodd succeeded in convincing the backstabbing Harry Reid to pull FISA from consideration until after the holiday Senate recess. I don't know or care about the details at this point, but hooray for Dodd! And a turd in the punchbowl for every other Democratic presidential candidate currently in the Senate who did not drop everything and haul back to DC to help Dodd line up a majority-proof filibuster. I am not interested in the purported leadership qualities of Obama or Hillary Clinton if they are not interested in showing some actual leadership on this critical issue here and now. I do not know what is the matter with these people --- more interested in being something than doing something, as the old saying goes. Trouble is, what they're being is opportunistic, irresponsible assholes.

A letter to Barack Obama

The following is the text of an email I sent to Barack Obama this evening about the Senate's impending grant of immunity to corporate executives and employees who may have cooperated in helping the current administration establish an illegal and unconstitutional domestic spying operation using U.S. telecommunications infrastructure:

Senator Obama,

I expect that tomorrow you will do everything in your power to support Senator Dodd's filibuster of the telecom immunity bill.

Nobody should be granted blanket, retroactive immunity for breaking the law or assisting others to do it. If telecom employees and executives want immunity from prosecution for breaking the laws of this land, then they need to provide their full cooperation in the prosecution of any and all government officials involved in violating the Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. citizens.

You want me, as a voter, to support your bid for President on the basis of your capacity for leadership. Fine: I want you to demonstrate your capacity for leadership by throwing your full and public support to Senator Dodd and his defense of what is left of our U.S. Constitution.

Sincerely,

[StuporMundi]

I wrote one to Dick Durbin, too, and it was even a bit snottier. Consider writing your own email along these same lines if you don't want politicians and corporations consummating their police state fantasies at the expense of our fundamental liberties.