Bioterrorism Affects Email

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At a time when critical issues of national ...
are ... in basement rooms at the US Capitol due to ...
letters sent to ... offices, email has become ...
than At a time when critical issues of national importance are beingdiscussed in basement rooms at the US Capitol due to Anthraxlaced letters sent to government offices, email has become moreimportant than ever for person-to-person communications.Bioterrorism has now impacted even email. No worry that you'llget sick when you next check your email inbox since terroristshave not yet figured out how to send those powdery spores viaemail attachments (digitizing Anthrax spores seems to kill thelittle critters).
I sent email to my representatives this week expressing concernabout how the Anti-Terrorism Bill signed by President Bush posesextensive threats to civil liberties. Even though it was routinelyeditorialized by major newspapers as going too far without usualprotections against abuse by policing agencies, while the finalbill does require judicial oversight and the bill was given a fouryear sunset clause to end it in 2005.
I expected the usual repliesfrom those officials in the form of canned "Thank-you-for-sharingyour-thoughts-and-concerns" email. What I got back concerns meeven more!My Senator returned an email urging me to call the local officeto express my feelings because .
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"As I'm sure you know, letterscontaining anthrax have disrupted Congress by forcing the closureof the House and Senate office buildings. The Capitol, however,remains open and legislative work continues." What has that todo with email Senator?The Senator goes on .
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"Currently I've received approximately30,000 letters and emails which, because of the closure of theSenate office buildings, my staff and I have been unable to openand process. Thousands of more letters are being held by theCapitol Police." Sorry Senator, that doesn't fly, it falls flatan excuse for access to email.I have an old college buddy who works for another senator whotells me he's set up at home to retrieve the office emails andcontinues to work from there.
I know the flow of email has notslowed due to Anthrax and it is now an even more reliable methodto reach elected representatives, as it can be retrieved fromanywhere.How did my Congressperson respond? "This reply is not your finalcorrespondence from me -- it's just an automatic acknowledgmentthat I have received your e-mail. I will send you a responsethrough the regular mail service that addresses your specificconcern.
However, in order to ensure that I can respond properly,I ask that you reply back with your full mailing address,including street address, city and zip code." Swell, now they're responding to email via snail mail! I preferthe email Congressman. The present danger is not just to ourphysical health from Anthrax, but more to the health of democracywhen policy makers are inaccessible to constituents.
My concernnow is that they don't seem to value email as an effective way tocommunicate with the voting public. The average person in thiscountry now has four email addresses and can be reached at work,at home and on the road via web-based email.
This could be saidto compare to having multiple writing pads and pens at work, athome and on the road.While the famous "Carnivore" email intercepting technology soughtby the FBI will now easily track and monitor our correspondencewith Presidential approval, Congresspersons and Senators seem towant to continue to communicate by snail mail when it makes evenless sense now to do so. Nevermind that email doesn't cost nearlyas much as regular postal mail.
My Congressman continued . .
."Again, thank you for your e-mail message. I am privileged toserve as your voice in Congress." I want to know who is servingas my EARS in Congress since email seems an unreliable method ofcommunication with representatives and regular mail is "beingheld by the capitol police" as email goes unanswered but forcanned responses making excuses for lack of response and thenpromising to send me expensive postal mail to answer my concerns.We take email seriously (well except for silly urban myths andendlessly-forwarded-cutesy-pass-it-on-absurdities) in that it isa routine part of nearly everyones life now.
Physical accessto government office buildings is blocked and communication bysnail mail is nearly impossible, while phone access is much morecumbersome. It's time our representatives began to take emailjust a bit more seriously.
It'd be nice if they answered it too.Contact your own elected representatives:http://www.house.govhttp://www.senate.govhttp://www.firstgov.gov Article Tags: Office Buildings Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .