I was in Washington DC recently and made an appointment to discuss the seeming death of our democracy with Senator Patty Murray's legal adviser , Andrew Rowe . We discussed , signing statements , posse comitatus , domestic spying , national security letters , indefinite detention , torture , several court cases involving the invocation of the state secrets defence by the administration , and the Patriot Act over about 45 minutes .
Mr. Rowe listened attentively to my concerns over a government that no longer follows it's own laws . The sheer volume of evidence that the Obama administration is embracing and even expanding many of the most egregious policies of the Bush years was obvious to both of us and when I finally pleaded that he tell me where I was wrong in this appraisal of the current state of affairs he looked very depressed and said he couldn't because he completely agrees with me and that the Senator is also VERY concerned .
Okay , I asked him what can the Senator do , in regards to these troubling policies . He pointed out that Patty Murray had voted against the Patriot Act in 2006 . He told me that as a legislator Mrs. Murrray could only do so much ,and that these policies would ultimately have to be challenged in the courts .
to vote is often not enought... act now! even a senator can do mor than to vote against it....
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