Utah’s lone Democratic Congressman, Jim Matheson, sent me an email tonight, asking for my opinion (via  radio-button survey) on the Financial Crisis. In case you aren’t on his “advisor list”, here are the questions he asked, along with my responses. My answers are the ones shown as bold.

Dear Misty,

Most economists accept that the nation’s financial crisis demands intervention by the government.  But I have concerns about the proposal to put $700 billion to $1 trillion in taxpayer money on the line.

Are we acting too quickly, without gathering enough information? Will the proposal work? What benefit will taxpayers receive, if the financial system is stabilized?  Are we giving too much power to one government agency?

I would like to hear from you.  Please take a moment to respond to the following brief survey.

Sincerely,

U.S. Representative
2nd District of Utah

Do you support the use of taxpayer money to buy up the bad debt on the books of troubled investment banks?

yes
no
don’t know enough about it

How concerned are you about financial executives receiving excessive compensation even as their companies go bankrupt?

Not too concerned
Quite concerned
Strongly opposed to it

Should homeowners facing foreclosure be allowed to restructure their mortgages to afford the payments and stay in their homes?

Yes
No
Don’t know

If the bailout plan is approved, should an independent oversight board be appointed to keep tabs on the program?

yes
no

Who do you blame most for the current crisis?

Banks
Wall Street executives
Homebuyers
Mortgage lenders
Homebuilders
Realtors
A combination of the above
the government

How worried are you about the safety of your savings accounts and mutual funds?

Not worried
somewhat worried
very worried

I found the phrasing of the questions quite interesting, and much of it quite leading. Especially the question about who I blame most. Why wasn’t this question a checkbox? I can’t blame the government as much as Wall Street, and if I want to blame both Wall Street execs and Banks, I have to blame the home builders, too? That doesn’t make much sense.

If you want to give Matheson your thoughts, you’ll have to use his web site. Unfortunately, I don’t think the survey is “open”, but you can use a feedback form to pass your answers on. Or give them a call at (202) 225-3011.

Feel free to leave a comment telling if you’d answer differently than me, and why.

URGENT: Support the Climate Security Act!

Target: US Senate
Sponsored by: Environmental Defense Fund

UPDATE (June 5, 2008): The Senate has scheduled a “cloture” vote to end the filibuster on the Climate Security Act tomorrow morning. It could come as early as tonight.
———–
The Senate is set to vote on the Climate Security Act in early June.

It is crucial that the bill gets passed this year. Each year we wait means extra effort in reducing emissions to avoid catastrophic global warming.

There are five simple but extremely important reasons why the Senate must act now:

• Every year we wait equals extra effort.
• The science is unforgiving.
• The political opportunity is ripe.
• Someone is going to win the global race to reinvent energy. It should be us.
• This is an opportunity for the 110th Congress to leave its legacy.

We have no time to lose. Help keep up the pressure so the Senate doesn’t miss this historic opportunity!

Dear Senator,

I strongly urge you to put an end to the Senate filibuster on the landmark Climate Security Act by voting Yes on cloture.

This is the most important climate vote in the Senate in three years. No time has been more critical for the environment and our future generations.

Here’s why you should vote Yes on cloture and the Climate Security Act:

1. Every year we wait equals extra effort. If we delay this bill by just two years, we will have to make twice the annual cuts in carbon emissions to hit the same cumulative reductions by 2020.

2. The science is unforgiving. As the Earth warms, we approach a “tipping point,” after which large destructive climate changes become inevitable.

3. The political opportunity is ripe. 78% of Americans want Congress to act on global warming. We need to take advantage of the tremendous momentum that exists today.

4. Someone is going to win the global race to reinvent energy. It should be us. Renewable energy promises to become one of the world’s most profitable industries. But advances in renewable energy technologies will not be fully realized without a national cap on global warming pollution. The sooner we act, the sooner these new industries will start to flourish.

5. What legacy will the 110th Congress leave? When future generations look back at this moment, they will either praise the Senate for starting us down the path to solving the global warming crisis, or blame the Senate for squandering this opportunity.

Thank you for your leadership.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]

Maybe Jim Matheson will get the hint.

Here’s the email I just got from Congressman Matheson:

Dear Misty,

The lack of independent, accurate assessments about our progress in Iraq has stymied our efforts to secure the country and assist in its reconstruction. We have the world’s most powerful military. If military might alone could succeed in Iraq, our mission would be complete by now.

We need more than a military strategy for Iraq–we need a plan for political, diplomatic and economic success. The President received such a strategy a year ago in the form of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG) report. Unfortunately, he did not adopt it.

Going forward, in trying to establish a new Iraq strategy, I am guided by a set of principles that 14 Democrats and 14 Republicans support, including:

* We need a clearly defined and measurable mission for military involvement
* The government of Iraq must now be responsible for Iraq’s future and must make progress on political, security and economic benchmarks
* Our soldiers, including Guard and Reserves, must have adequate rest and recuperation time between deployments
* A safe and responsible redeployment of our Armed Forces is necessary to transfer the combat mission to the Iraqi forces
* Any ongoing mission must involve counterterrorism operations, force protection, equipping Iraqis, helping refugees and preventing genocide

It is immoral to play politics with the needs of the men and women who protect the ideals we hold so dear. Our troops have performed heroically. We owe them a new approach and a thoughtful approach to the situation in Iraq. We owe them a comprehensive strategy for success.

Our intelligence community tells us Al Qaeda–the number one threat to Americans–is strengthening. We must not weaken our capability to combat that threat. I will continue to look for responsible ways to change course in Iraq without engaging in political games that would compromise the safety of our soldiers.

Sincerely,

U.S. Representative
2nd District of Utah

It’s sad that Matheson is so far behind the Democratic platform when it comes to so many important issues.

Seriously, he’s “pushing for” this “principle” to guide us?

We need a clearly defined and measurable mission for military involvement

We needed this years ago, and now we just need out.

Oh, and is Matheson still part of the group who thinks al Qaeda is a threat to us in Iraq? They’re kicking our asses over in Afghanistan, but there’s not enough oil there for us to really care.

Get with it, Matheson!

Tags: Representative Jim Matheson

October 5, 2007
Dear Ms. Fowler,

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the temporary reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). I appreciate your interest in the issues facing our country and state, and I am glad for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry.

In the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress specifically proposed changing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 in order to make it easier to obtain warrants to conduct wiretapping and surveillance. There is no question that if conversations are taking place between terrorists, we want to know about the content of those phone calls in order to prevent future terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration opposed those changes at the time, which was a mistake. The proper course of action is to ensure that Congress establishes good laws that safeguard American lives and civil liberties.

Congress recently adopted legislation that temporarily extends updated FISA legislation for six months. The legislation permits the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to authorize the collection of foreign intelligence about individuals reasonably believed to be outside the United States. Although this legislation does not require that the foreign intelligence court established under FISA authorize warrants, it does require the Justice Department to share information regarding its methods with the FISA court for the court’s review. Finally, the legislation also requires semi-annual reports be made to the appropriate Congressional committees regarding intelligence gathering operations conducted under the authority of this legislation. I voted for this legislation, which passed the U.S. House by a vote of 227-183, and was signed into law by the President in August 2007.

However, I believe that Congress mistakenly delayed the process of formally reviewing FISA. Had Congress held more oversight hearings and done more in terms of exploring the weaknesses and strengths of the 2001 legislation, I believe that we would have enacted a more sensible long-term law, instead of this patchwork approach. Fortunately, a more deliberative process is currently underway, and it is my hope that a reasonable FISA reauthorization bill will be enacted sometime this year.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns with me. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Sincerely,

JIM MATHESON
Member of Congress

Tags: FISA, Representative Jim Matheson, wiretapping

Here’s an idea that just might work:

For three hours during a townhall meeting last night, Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) “was verbally flogged by hundreds of his constituents for no longer supporting the quick withdrawal of troops from Iraq.” “There is only one way to end an illegal and immoral war, and that’s to end it,” said Zamme Joi. “You have screwed up, my friend. You have screwed up and you have to change course,” another constituent said. “We don’t care what your convictions are,” said Jan Lustig of Vancouver, “you are here to represent us.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bLqQ-nQIw]

So, how do we pin Matheson down, and let him know that Utah Democrats want out of Iraq, and a lot of the Republicans do, too. I’d love to participate in giving him a verbal tongue lashing for making the wrong decision on that, and other issues such as Habeas Corpus.

Tags: Representative Brian Baird, Representative Jim Matheson

Thanks to Widgetbox and Open Congress, I now have an easy way to keep an eye on what my representatives are doing.

Widgetbox allows you to submit the URL of any blog and create what’s called a Blidget. Open Congress has a feed for all of the Senators and Representatives, so all I had to do was join Widgetbox, which I’d already done. Then click “Submit Blidget”, and paste the RSS feed link from the representative’s page on OpenCongress. Out came this:
Get great free widgets at Widgetbox!

I’ve made Blidgets for
Senator Bennett,
Senator Hatch, and
Representative Matheson, or you can create your own. You can see mine on the right side of this blog, if you scroll down a bit, and there’s a link by each of them if you’d like to add them to your own blog.

If anyone wants to make one and needs more help, just let me know.

Tags: Blidget, blog goodies, OpenCongress, Representative Jim Matheson, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Rob Bennett, Widgetbox