my government speaks to me

So, as I guess many of us know, once you sign an online petition for something, you are then forever more inundated with requests to sign others in your inbox. I do so on rare occasions. And then I get like an automated response from Senator Kerry's office thanking me for me opinion or some such. Well, this past week I did get such. I also got a response from our other senator. This one seems to have been written by an actual human being. To wit:

Dear Andrea, Thank you for contacting me regarding your views on abortion and an amendment proposed by Senator Roland Burris (D-IL). As always, I value your input on this and other issues, and strive to keep you updated on the important issues facing us today. As you are aware, Senator Burris offered an amendment related to abortion access during the Senate Armed Services Committee's consideration of the Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). His amendment was designed to give service members and their dependents the ability to use private funds to have abortions performed in military health facilities. On May 27, 2010, this amendment was passed by the committee and will be included in the NDAA when the bill is considered by the full Senate. As a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, I voted against the amendment because the language did not ensure that federal funds would not ultimately be used for these abortions. While I believe that a woman’s reproductive decisions should be made by the woman in consultation with her physician, especially when the pregnancy results from either incest or rape, or when the life of the woman is endangered, I am against federal funding for abortion. Further, since 1995, it has been the policy of military hospitals to only perform abortions in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment. Government funds are used only when the service member’s or dependent’s life is in danger. Again, thank you for sharing your comments with me. I will keep your views in mind when the NDAA comes before the full Senate for debate. Should you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact me or visit my website atwww.scottbrown.senate.gov.

Sincerely, Scott P. Brown United States Senator

Huh. Did I say Scott could call me Andrea? I don't remember doing so. Perhaps Ms. ______ would have been more appropriate when addressing someone whom you might need a vote from someday. Or perhaps this is part of the whole folksy pickup-driving, flannel-wearing shtick. I don't like it, Scotty. We're not close personal friends nor do I wish to be yours. And I'm sure you'll consider my point of view on this issue. Really hard.

All of which is why signing these petitions are a waste of clicking, but hey, who says I'm not involved in the political process.

xoxo

And look at that! The guvmnt done fucked with my blog formatting!