Last week Congress approved the "Military Commissions Act of 2006" (S. 3930 , H.R. 6166) which, among other things, allows for the revokation of Habeus Corpus, gives the President and Attorney General to have sole discretion as to who is defined as an "unlawful combatant", provides for ways to declare US Citizens to be "unlawful combatants", allows for torture of prisoners, curtails the Geneva Conventions, allows for "trials" in which the defendant may be denied the right to see the evidence against him, and gives retroactive immunity to the President and those under his authority from prosecution for the actions relating to these issues.

I'm not one to cry out that "the sky is falling". The passage of this bill, however, is a severe blow to the proud tradition of this country, and is, to even the most basic of interpretations, unconstitutional. 64 Senators and 245 Representatives voted for this bill in its respective forms. 309 people who swore an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution voted for a bill which defies that document in both word and spirit.

In a converstation with friends, I jokingly suggested that we send a copy of the Constitution to these Congressmen so they could study it--since they obviously weren't familiar with it.

My friends all piped and said "Do it! We'll chip in."

So... I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I have written a letter which will be sent to the offices of each of the Senators and Representatives who voted for the Military Commissons Act of 2006. (Sample of the letter in pdf form). I have yet to put a nice letterhead on it, and I will include the names of anyone who wishes it.

The Congressmen are all gone for election season now, and I'm sure that the letter and copy of the Constitution would never make it to their desk even if they were in their offices. But it will be seen by the office staff. And the office staff talk to each other. It'll just take one person mentioning that "someone sent my boss a copy of the Constitution" for others to chime in "yeah, mine too!" If word gets around enough, it becomes a story. And a story gets attention.

Every year, I remind people that voting isn't their only voice. This is another voice. And it's one that isn't anonymous.

All of this, however, is contingent on one thing: Getting enough people to chip in to cover the cost of printing and mailing over 3,300 pages to 309 addresses. A shirt-cuff estimate comes out at around $250. I'm looking at trimming that down some, but it's still going to be at least $200. I've set up an account with PayPal to collect donations. If I get enough to do this, I'll send it off. If not, then I'll donate whatever money is collected to the ACLU.

Donations will be accepted at: paypal@dragonflydreams.org
Please let me know if you want your name "signed" to the letter--either as a comment with your donation, or as a comment here

(I'm limiting comments to my personal blog, so as to keep things more organized. If you're reading this on LJ, click the link below to get to the blog post)

EDIT: If you'd rather not list your name here, but still want it attached to the letter, just send an e-mail to the address up above with the subject "add my name" and I'll do it.