Check out this email I got from Patrick Leahy! Wow - unexpected from him.

[jillan]

http://ga3.org/campaign/sunshine

He wants people to give him feed back about the bsh administration.

[MuseRider]

1. Oh ho ho give it to him!

This is your chance, go for the gold or the gusto whatever.

There are massive lists here if you search for them. May he regret asking!

[cali]

2. Just curious; why do you find it unexpected n/t

[jillan]

6. Well first of all

I never get email from him...I get a ton of email from dem groups, but this could be the first
email from him.

And, I have always thought of Leahy as being in the middle of the road.
Not one to stir up emotions.

I do have alot of respect for the man.
That's why I posted it here, to give him support, to let him know we
are thankful that he asked.

[INdemo]

8. I thought this was great

I just got a load off my mind and the list went on and on. I was very respectful with my comments but I told it like it is.Thanks for sharing this...

[cali]

17. In his 32 years in the Senate

Pat's been one of the most passionate liberals in Congress. If you really want to get a sense of who he is, I highly recommend reading his speech from just before the IWR vote. It's a killer.
Thanks for posting this. Oh, and are you from VT?

[jillan]

24. Thanks for the tip, I will go back and read it.

No I'm not from VT, from Az.

I could see him as VP or holding a cabinet position, WHEN the dems take over the wh in '08 :)
Like I said, I do have alot of respect for this Senator, even if I don't always
agree with him. He always seems to speak from the heart, and not play politics.
And that is what I want from a politician.

[unhappycamper]

3. K&R

:kick:

[Coexist]

4. Here is some stuff:

http://www.crtk.org/detail.cfm?docID=722&cat=information%20reform

[jillan]

7. I read stuff like that

and it just makes my skin crawl.

[Auntie Bush]

13. Did you send that link to Pat Leahy? n/t

[Coexist]

18. No - I didn't get the email

So I thought he/she would forward it.

[0007]

21. Please don't take anything for granted. junior is the worse of

the most vile freepers. We can't let this slimy prick slide through the crack to fertilize the ignorant.

[CountAllVotes]

5. feedback ... feedback ... feedback !!!

Here are just a few examples where the Bush Administration has obstructed my right to know what my leaders are doing:

Spying on American citizens by reading their mail and listening in on phone calls.

They LIED about the reason for going to war with Iraq.

They are building secret prisons and concentration camps here in America. What is this all about Senator Leahy? I for one would like to know! Who is paying for this and why is this being done?

The LIED about the truth behind Katrina. They KNEW the levies were ready to go and did nothing. This is because I believe they are a bunch of racists.

The LIED about selling our ports. They figured they'd slip it right through but We the People found out about it and We the People have risen up in outrage!

They LIED and called the American people bigots for opposing selling OUR ports to the Arabs. Two of the hijackers that were on the planes on 9/11 were from the United Arab Emigrates and we are called bigots for not liking this idea? This is unreal to me! Why would We the People like this idea? We the People are NOT stupid!

If they care to find the real bigots they only need look in the mirror as the catastrophe of Katrina likely resulted in the deaths of far more than 3,000 persons - another LIE that will never be told.

They began the lying the day they stole the election in 2000, the biggest LIE of them all and YOU Senator Leahy didn't even notice it, or did you?

[stillcool]

9. They always refuse to give up documents...

but the incidents escape me. Here's a few I came up with...

Sibel Edmonds
Dick Cheney's energy bill
Torture Photo's
Able Danger
Bunny Greenhouse

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. or the haliburton inspections which end up biting the inspector in the ass

I forgot her name, but she was demoted when she touched haliburton.

[immoderate]

14. she is Bunnatine Greenhouse.

A great lady!

--IMM

[welshTerrier2]

10. that's an excellent message

i hope the Democratic Party makes this one of its central themes ... the Party should be fighting for the people's right to know and they should make restoring our democracy to its highest ideals central to their platform ...

kudos to Leahy ...

[CountAllVotes]

11. kick

:kick:

[katinmn]

15. kick!

[Wilms]

16. K&R n/t

[Laurab]

19. late night kick

:kick:

[cali]

20. C'mon folks, let's flood Sen. Leahy with

our reasons for impeachment. And though Leahy's in the Senate, not the House, that's what this is really about.

[mom cat]

22. Here is the beginning of my list. Please feel free to add to it or make

suggestions:

Here are just a few examples where the Bush Administration has obstructed my right to know what my leaders are doing:

1. Refusal to release the papers of President Regan
2. Refusal to release the names and content of Vice President Cheney's energy task force
3. Gagging of Sibol Edmonds with the arcane State Secrets Act
4. Initially obstructing the work of the 9-11 commission
5. Refusal and delays in turning over information to the 9-11 commission
6. Creating the HAVA which authorizes a system of unverifiable voting
7. Refusal to allow testimony from whistle blowers with the excuse that no one in Congress has a high enough security clearance to hear it.
8. Refusal to allow prisoners in Guantanamo the right to legal proceedings which would allow the American public to know why these men and boys were captured in the first place.
9. Reclassification of previously unclassified information.
10. Certainly, the Secret NSA spying on Americans and the refusal to disclose the scope of that and other programs.
11. The failure of some politicians to disclose the their sources of income and perks from powerful lobbies.
12. The Orwellian labeling of bills whereby the public is deluded as to the bill's main effect: where Clean Skies means more mercury pollution and Healthy Forests means more logging, in a way that enhances profits but also encourages more fires. This is an obstruction of the American right to know.
13.Facilitating major media consolidation thus reducing the number of people who control mass media and reducing the diversity of voices that promote diversity and oppose corporate takeover of our country and our democracy. The major media has become a scribe for the elites and only reports administration offenses when it has to.

[happydreams]

23. Thomas Keane, the 9/11 Commission head, invested in Saudi

company Ameralda Hess (sp).

He was appointed by Bush

[rasputin1952]

25. I have sent the good Senator from VT a link and several items he can

bring up to his colleagues.

The ONLY way we can stop this pos president, at least until the '06 election, is to expose him at every turn, and in as many ways as we can.

The media has begun to shred the illusion that bush is some kind of 'hero', the more that exposes him, the better we will be to retake at least the Senate, and possibly the House. Then we can sequester him to the WH, ands ensure he can do no more damage.

[Independent_Liberal]

26. Here's what I told Leahy...

Here are just a few examples where the Bush Administration has obstructed my right to know what my leaders are doing:

1. They seemed to stonewall 9/11 investigations and didn't even want a 9/11 Commission. What's up with that?

2. They continue to ignore FOIA requests on Iraq intelligence.

3. They're trying to manipulate the Republican leadership in the Senate to pass legislation that changes the spying laws around so the NSA program is legal and right now Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio is preparing legislation that makes it a crime for reporters to report on illegal activities done by the President. They know they broke the law. Trying to change the law around is setting our country on a dangerous course. This is a serious threat to our democracy, free speech, and freedom of the press. If legislation like this passed, it would be a dramatic step towards tyranny in the US. No one is above the law, not even the President.

It's a shame this Congress has abandoned its oversight role. The Republican leadership is putting our nation at risk by not exercising its constitutionally mandated authority to act as a check on the executive branch. It seems like everything is politics to them. They're setting a bad precedent. This is not the kind of democracy we want to hand on to future generations.

The people need to wake up to what's going on. There's many unanswered questions regarding the following issues:

-Pre-9/11 Intelligence - More whistleblowers need to step forward at the Able Danger hearings.

-Iraq Pre-War Intelligence - The evidence that intelligence was manipulated to get support from the Congress and the public into invading Iraq is overwhelming. If the Republicans don't agree to a Congressional investigation, an Independent investigation needs to be set up so the public can get answers.

-NSA Wiretaps - When more hearings on this occur, there are a lot of unanswered questions Attorney General Gonzales still needs to answer. You should keep pushing to get a Special Counsel to investigate the program. I think Sen. Robert Byrd is doing a great thing by getting public support for a bipartisan Independent Commission to investigate this.

-The Outing of Valerie Plame - The administration still has a lot to answer about this. Disclosing the name of a covert intelligence agent for political purposes greatly endangers our national security. This is an act that former President George H.W. Bush called "treasonous."

Not since Watergate has so much crime, corruption, racketeering and abuse of power taken place in this government.

There are a lot issues that this administration needs to be held accountable on. We must keep pushing for Congress to give us the accountability we want and deserve. If the Republicans don't take responsibility and act, we can elect a Democratic majority to both the House and the Senate in the November midterm elections. Then we can get some answers on these many issues. We need full public hearings and investigations in things like 9/11, Iraq, Downing Street Memos, Plame, the AIPAC spy case, Niger forgeries, FBI cover-ups, Abramoff, Enron, Halliburton, Carlyle, torure of prisoners, Katrina response, etc. In the meantime we must keep pushing for independent prosecutors and independent panels to investigate these matters.

I'm just as concerned as anybody about these issues. If we want to remain a democracy, we must demand the truth.

Sincerely,