Message for you, Sir

Wow, an interesting thing happened today. I got a letter in the mail! Not just any letter. Let me back up a little. Last year, December 1, I wondered onto the National Right to Life website and found a rating of my new Senators and Representatives from Alabama. I noticed the Congressman who represented me had a low score and voted on some morally questionable bills. So, I wrote a lengthy email and sent it through the page (unfortunately, I didn't send myself a copy). I decided not to make it a personal, moral issue as that tends to not make people listen. I decided to defend my views some other way, and why not play on his own grounds. To me, abortion is unconstitutional and I used my points in there. I also brought up bills for which he voted and of which I approved, and those of which I did not. Don't forget if you want a politician to listen to you, make sure to nicely remind him that you will have to decide who to vote next election and he has to win your vote. His auto response says he replies by snail mail to all letters. I figured I would eventually get a general response saying thanks and I'll take what you said in consideration. Time went by and though I know he probably gets plenty of mail and would take some time, I figured I wouldn't hear from him and actually started to forget about it. But, today I got his response in the mail. And he personalized it too, impressive. So, I'll post his response, but first, I'll remind you that I do not affiliate with any party, but he is a democrat.

December 22, 2005

(Address with-held)

Dear Mr. McKinley:

I have received your e-mail regarding the sanctity of pre-born life. I would like to welcome you to North Alabama. I hope you will feel free to contact my office in the future regarding issues of importance to you.

I want to make it clear that I do not believe that abortion should be used as a means of birth control. In 2003, I voted in favor of H.R. 760, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. This legislation, which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 282 to 139, makes it a federal crime to perform a partial birth abortion unless the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother. This legislation banning partial birth abortions was signed into law by the President in November of 2003.

Also, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act passed the House of Representatives in February of 2004. I voted for this legislation which passed by a vote of 254-163. This bill makes it a federal crime to harm or cause the death of an unborn child. Specifically, the bill requires that separate charges be brought against an individual who harms a fetus in the womb while committing any one of more than 60 specified violent crimes against a pregnant woman, regardless of whether or not the perpetrator intended to harm the fetus or even knew if the woman involved was pregnant. The Unborn Victims of Violene Act was signed into law by President Bush on April 1, 2004.

In your e-mail, you also mention your concerns regarding embryonic stem cell research. In May of this year, the House pased H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. Currently, only human embryonic stem cell lines derived before August 9, 2001 are eligible for federally funded research. H.R. 810 would lift that restriction, making stem cell lines eligible for federally funded research regardless of the date on which they were derived. Under the provisions of the bill, only embryonic stem cells that would never have otherwise been implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded would be eligible, and no financial or other inducements could be made available to the donors.

As you may know, I voted in favor of H.R. 810. I understand that this is a controversial issue, and I respect the views of my colleagues who opposed this bill. However, embryonic stem cell research has incredible potential to generate cures and treatments for an enormous range of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I voted for this bill because I believe we must to do all that we can to provide assistance to the millions of Americans who suffer daily with these afflictions.

I thank you for contacting my office. For updates on current events and issues in Washington and North Alabama, please visit my website as http://cramer.house.gov and sign up for my monthly E-Newsletter.

Sincerely,
(signed as Bud)
Bud Cramer
Member of Congress

BC:mh

So, let's see, he supports abortion, but not partial birth abortion, and he supports considering it murder if the fetus is killed in any other matter. Okay, is it or is it not murder? That's like saying if a doctor shots you in the head its not murder, but if anyone else does it its not murder. He also supports ripping embryos out of the womb to kill them for scientific medicine when there are viable and "just as good" options. So, I guess this way, we can make the person having an abortion feel good because they are donating their baby to science. Anybody know where I can find credible sources to inform this goon that adult stem cells are just as good, if not bettern than embryonic stem cells? This is the only one of my 3 reps in the national government that seems to be confused. The 2 senators have all green marks on the NRL site. And one of them, Jeff Sessions, was on the committe to approve Alito.

I encourge you to communicate with your senators and representative. They are supposed to be representing you, so let them know what to do. Let them know if you aren't happy with them and they need to do something to win your vote. If enough people convince them that their position is in jeopardy, they have to change or they won't stay in office. The NRL site gives you contact infor for national, state, and local officials. They let you know bills on which they have voted, and bills that are coming up and a great resource to use to follow up on your pro-life views. It doesn't take any longer to write an email than it does to write a blog entry or read one. Maybe one person can't change the world, but you can make a dent.

Paix du Christ!