Here are some of the letters I've sent to my Congressional representatives and/or the Oregonian; unfortunately, I was formerly in the habit of communicating with them via email, and only later learned that email is virtually ignored (I wrote some vitriolic and impassioned email in 2001, and never received a single acknowledgement). Feel free to plagiarize as you see fit, and by all means send them to YOUR congressperson.

• American soldiers are being attacked on a daily basis in Iraq. Plans for an interim Iraqi-led government have been shelved. A very senior British official in Baghdad told the London Daily Telegraph [in June] that the American-led reconstruction effort in Iraq was 'in chaos' and suffering from 'a complete absence of strategic direction.' How do we get out of this quagmire?
• The war in Iraq is over, but troubling questions have emerged about the Bush Administration claims concerning weapons of mass destruction. Who lied to whom?
• In May, one of the local conservatives made the case for Bush's tax cuts by claiming that only by giving big cuts to the wealthy could we create jobs. Funny, I thought that conservatives had a more realistic notion of how the business world works.
• Have you ever felt like you were living in a parallel universe?
• On the eve of war, after watching Bush and Powell bully their way through the motions of diplomacy, I wrote this scathing indictment. The links at the end of this letter are the most crucial to understanding why we have invaded Iraq, and they show that weapons of mass destruction are only a minor part of what is going on. [new March 18th]
• In January, Luis Palau, a popular local evangelist was quoted in the Oregonian as supporting the war on Iraq. What would Jesus do? [new April 19th]
• September 11th was a watershed event in American history. It has shaped our domestic security, eroded our civil liberties, and literally sent us to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet there has been very little serious examination of the lapses and failures that allowed this attack to be carried out successfully. I want a thorough investigation. [New April 1st]
• You can see it on the horizon: the 2004 Democratic train wreck. What the hell are you going to do about it, Senator Wyden? [new April 1st]
• The mantra of "Support our troops" is all pervasive in the media. With the war on, it takes a lot of courage to continue to stand publicly against the war - some days more courage than I've got. Ultimately, we have to decide whether to our opposition causes more harm than good - but I still oppose what our troops are doing. [new April 2nd]
• At the top of my list of current concerns is the Bush administration's drumbeat to war on Iraq.
• Iraq sits atop the world's second largest reserve of oil. Is this a factor in Bush war calculation? I think it is a factor in this essay. [new Feb 18]
• What privilege are we fighting for? Cheap access to energy. [new Feb 18]
• The blip you might have missed: leaked document from John Ashcroft shows how he intends to shred the Bill of Rights.
• Campaign finance is the head of the beast: less than one tenth of one percent of all campaign contributors account for 83 percent of total political contributions (as reported by The Center For Responsive Politics, on the TomPaine.com site). But Congress passed a campaign finance reform law, so we don't have to worry, right? Read this letter if you would like to hear of a significant improvement that could be made to our political system.
• Here are my comments on the Enron debacle.
• Did you know that the United States has about ten years of domestic oil supply left at current prices? This letter chronicles the finite oil problem.
• It is astonishing the way that the FCC gives telephone companies license to abuse our privacy
• Is it patriotic to question the link between Iraq and 9/11? I think they are separate issues.
• The Bush administration has set up an Office of Information Awareness, headed by proven perjurer and former Contragate spook John Poindexter. Should you be worried? In a word, yes, you should be very worried.
• The newspapers are full of the news of Venezuela; what's going on?
• Jack Ohman's editorial cartoon captured the moment perfectly: an annoyed George W. Bush, standing next to a limousine, calling down to a smashed car labeled Middle Class: "Hey, give me a hand here, can't you see we need a jump?" Bush's economic stimulus plan is nothing more than business as usual for friends of the ultra-rich.