Sincerely, Marcy

Q: What's better than getting a "personal message" from Ted Kennedy, which happens to me occasionally? ( I didn't think Teddy knew I was alive until he started sending me personal messages in the mail, and I don't even live in his district!)

A: Getting a friendly response from your own Congressional representative! Or, better still, how about being an eligible voter in America and actually having Congressional representation?!?

Yesterday I received two letters of response from my U.S. Congressional Representative, form letters which were electronically but cheerfully signed "Sincerely, Marcy." I had written to her several weeks ago regarding two separate issues, one of them being the situation in the District of Columbia which leaves residents there without Congressional representation. (A friend who lives in DC was asking people to write to their reps and prod them to get the ball rolling so that DC residents might be able to feel like their vote counts, too, sometime in this century. By coincidence, I received Marcy's newsletter via email that same week, asking me to tell her just what was on my mind, so I did.) Marcy's first reply thanked me for urging her to support HR 5388, the DC Voting Rights Act, which has not yet been given full consideration by the House Judiciary Committee and is therefore not yet scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives. Then my new pal assured me that she will keep my views in mind, and that she expects to support the measure if and when it does come up for a vote.

My second message to Marcy had been on the subject of US-Cuban relations and what I see as our policy of attempting to either strangle the government of Cuba into submission or frustrate the people of Cuba into revolt. (It's my blog, people, and I'll say what I want to.) I expressed to Marcy my belief that it's time to lift the embargo on Cuba. Her response on that subject was a little more wishy-washy (cagey, almost) than the one regarding DC voting rights. Marcy explained to me that two bills which were introduced in early 2005 are pretty much stalled awaiting review by a wide variety of House committees. She didn't use the word "stalled" though, I did. Again, she went on to assure me that though she doesn't sit on any of those committees she will keep my thoughts in mind when she does have the opportunity to vote on these bills or any similar legislation. This time, though, she was noncommittal when it came to saying just how she would expect to vote. Reading between the lines of her official recycled stationery (but not the good, embossed stuff) I don't think Marcy is totally with me on this one. That's certainly her right, but she didn't seem to have the cajones to actually say it, and I want U.S. House Representative Marcy Kaptur to show some cajones if she wants to keep getting my vote. The next time she comes for a town meetin' I plan to go and see if I can get her to clarify things for me and others on the subject of Cuba.

If you wonder where your representative in Congress stands on an issue, or want to tell them how you feel, write!
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I've recently read that GOP party folks who had formerly distanced themselves from certain candidates are now being left with little choice but to embrace (sort of) both the scary Katherine Harris in Florida and the more moderate Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island because this time around, every seat counts. Even though I like to be reasonably informed, reading about GOP embraces of any kind makes me feel icky.
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