Only one member of Congress had the courage to stand up against the crowd in the rush to authorize retaliation under the War Powers Act. It has been characterized as "essentially a declaration of war": Authorization for Use of United States Armed Forces (a) That the president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34483-2001Sep14.html The measure passed 98-0 in the Senate and 420-1 in the House. The lone dissenter was Representative Barbara Lee, an African-American woman representing Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco. http://www.house.gov/lee/ No doubt their long experience with violence at the hands of the US government and the white majority makes African Americans, and especially African American women, skeptical about the efficacy of using military force to deal with the threats before us. Cypherpunks should salute their African American sisters and thank Representative Lee for her courage in standing alone at this challenging time. A short note expressing appreciation would be appropriate. Ms. Lee might be worth cultivating for support on other Cypherpunk causes. In fact since she lives nearby, she could be invited to attend a future Cypherpunk physical meeting in order to further increase ties between Cypherpunks and the black community. Both groups share skepticism about government law enforcement efforts which could make the partnership effective and productive, even though they may not agree in all areas.