Me and the Government During the 110th, A Perspective

     I have contacted the government three times in the last two years, although just now I can't recall the precise order.  When it was announced the Bush administration would be seeking the death penalty for Gitmo prisoners, I called the Presidential Comment Line and told them the turning them into martyrs would be a bad idea.  Later, during hearings on FISA, I spoke to a staffer of Senator Feingold's in person.  I had printed out this for them, to help them understand what was going on.  And then, more recently, I contacted the State Department after Secretary Rice spoke in support of the former government of Mauritania.  The President was an Islamist who favored clerics who praise Osama bin-Laden.  That's the guy America, the UN, the African Union, and most other international bodies supported.  There had been a coup after he tried to fire the head of the Army, who led the coup and replaced him.  He is not an Islamist, but relatively secular.  The only people who supported him... the Arab Maghreb Union and the Arab League.  Arabs and Muslims support the guy against al-Qaeda, America supports him.  I tried to use the logic of my language and conflict theory to sway them.