Get answers to your questions
 

I doubt this will see much attention, as it doesn't have the potential to spiral into a huge partisan debate, but here it is. We've all got questions to ask the President. Some of us (myself, tecoyah, HarmlessRabbit) might ask "Why are you doing such a terrible job running this country? Is it possible for you to resign and hand the office over to a Democrat?" Others (such as Mojo_PeiPei, jcookc6, djtestudo) could ask "How is it that you are so great? Can I be more like you?" The really out-there people (maybe Lebell, seretogis, other libertarians) will perhaps ask questions like "Why isn't my specific agenda seeing more public attention? What's wrong with more freedom for every person?"

Regardless of what question you ask, ask it. Here is the President's mailing address:

Office of the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

For email:
president@whitehouse.gov

Either way, when you get a response, post your question and the response. It won't be from Bush himself, but it'll be from someone in government and maybe we can feel a little more connected to our leaders and a little better informed.

I wrote a question! I'll follow up with the response when/if I get one.

The response, so far:

Mr. President,

What-a is your-a favorite-a pasta... time-a... ahh, you know, o' day???

Rigatoni
-or-
Riganelection

Dear Mr. President,

Can my country of Canada, be assured that the American administration is being as fervent and equally proactive as the Canadian government in rooting out terrorism at all cost?

Will the American government slacken the current trade bans between countries, resolving the fisheries, soft wood lumber and the livestock disputes and recognize that because Canada didn't participate in Iraq due to lack of proof, that Canada not be bullied and/or persecuted for showing her sovereignty and resolve, accordingly diplomatic?

That you sincerely,,..

OFKU0

I can see my taxes going up so that we can pay a staffer to deliver politically acceptable answers to submissions to this site. . .

I never said George W. Bush was great. I have just said that John F. Kerry is not. I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts there is not any Republican party to speak of. There are more non enrolled registered voters than democrats. There are never any Primaries with a Republican contest, so I usually vote in the Democratic one.
Needless to say I did not vote for Kerry.
The simple fact is that in this election it comes down to people who don't like Bush will vote for anyone. Not for any other reason,
and most of these people can not tell you why they hate Bush, that he just has to go.

Yeah, that's, uh...that's not the point of the thread at all. I'm sorry you feel maligned that I listed you among Bush supporters. Now stop jacking the thread. It might not die just yet.

Heh heh,..How's this one. Found the answer to my question.

http://www.cbc.ca/

Tanzanian from Canada charged with making phony terror threat on LA mall
11:14 PM EDT May 04
ROBERT JABLON



LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Tanzanian man who entered the United States from Canada illegally was charged Tuesday with making a phony terror threat on a West Los Angeles shopping mall, the FBI said.

Zameer Mohamed, 23, was charged in federal court here with a single felony count of using a telephone to maliciously make a false threat. He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Mohamed, a Tanzanian citizen, was being held in Montana and was to be taken soon to Los Angeles, FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley said.

U.S. Border Patrol agents in Helena, Mont., arrested him for immigration violations on Thursday after he crossed the border from Canada, the FBI said. Mohamed was alone and unarmed when he was arrested, the FBI said.

Authorities allege that on April 23, Mohamed called the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., calling himself "Al" and claiming to be a former associate of a terrorist cell linked with al-Qaida.

Two men and two women, he said, were going to enter the U.S. from Canada using false American passports to "conduct an explosive attack on a mall in the vicinity" of the Federal Building in West Los Angeles, according to an FBI affidavit. He said he hoped that providing information on the attack "would enhance his chances of gaining U.S. citizenship."

The attack supposedly was to have occurred last Thursday. Police made the threat public and for several days increased patrols at several shopping centres, urging people to watch out for suspicious activity.

The FBI affidavit said Mohamed was interviewed Monday and acknowledged making the phony call. "He identified the four individuals because they took money from him," the affidavit said.

Those people included his ex-girlfriend, a former co-worker at the Royal Bank in Toronto, the affidavit said. Mohamed said he had used the woman's bank account to direct-deposit his paycheque but she then refused to give him $4,000 in the account. Also named were three of her friends.

Mohamed told the FBI that he was at a Calgary bus stop and saw a government poster with the number of a terrorist tip hotline "and had an idea to get back at her."

He hoped the four would go to jail, Mohamed allegedly said.

"Mohamed stated he never was a member of a terrorist organization and neither were these four individuals. He had picked Los Angeles as an alleged target randomly," the affidavit said.

The investigation got underway after the original call to Homeland Security was traced to a Florida calling card company, which determined that it came from a hotel in Calgary, the affidavit said.

The RCMP interviewed the desk clerk, who said a man later identified as Mohamed had stayed there from April 23-25 under an assumed name and provided a cellular telephone number as a contact, the affidavit said.

The FBI later determined that Mohamed had lived in Houston for six months in 2002, where he been under investigation by the FBI for allegedly stealing $12,000 from a group of people and using a false Social Security number to open a bank account. He had been scheduled to be interviewed by FBI officials in January 2003 but never appeared, the affidavit said.

He later moved to Canada, the affidavit said.



© The Canadian Press, 2004

I sent a letter to Reagan once, outlining my concerns for Amtrak and some proposed budget cuts.

I got a nice form letter back :p

Ok, having actually done this, here's what happens to your letters when you write:

There's an ofice in the Old Executive Office Building, where volunteers (that what I was when I was doing it) read the letter, and, through a computer, select the appropriate, pre-written response. Also, there were check marks to indicate if the writer should get a "signed" picture (signed by machines, sorry).

So, you write, and state some opinion, or ask a question (say, aobut healthcare). it's sent to the office, where it's read, you see the word healthcare, you check Healthcare on the response screen, and bingo! answer written.

Okay, so this idea wasn't great. Instead, how about we avail ourselves of this:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/

I sent clinton an email once. A few months later i got a letter from him. He thanked me for the question and said something about how great it was that i was intrested in politics at a young age and blah blah blah and totally didn't answer my question. Oh well it was probably one of his aids or something

Wow, being used to the more moderate nature of washingtonpost.com's liveonline feature, this was almost surreal.