Can we stop using euphemisms that make bad things seem somewhat legitimate? Here's what a good editor should have done with Rep. Silvestre Reyes' letter to the President today.

I take strong offense to your suggestion in recent days that the country will be vulnerable to terrorist attack

Replace "suggestion" with "intentionally false statements."

provides legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Administration's warrantless surveillance program.

Delete from "participated" to end of sentence, and replace with "broke the law because you paid them to do it."

Third, in the remote possibility that a new terrorist organization emerges that we have never previously identified, the NSA could use existing authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor those communications.

Replace with "Third, if a new terrorist group emerges, FISA authorizes NSA to monitor that group's communications, as it did before the PAA was passed." Don't use long passive voice wishy-washy things when you need to say, very strongly, "FISA authorizes this surveillance yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

As you know…

You lose credibility if you assert that George W. Bush "knows" something about national security. Omit.

If our nation is left vulnerable in the coming months, it will not be because we don't have enough domestic spying powers. It will be because your Administration has not done enough to defeat terrorist organizations - including al Qaeda -- that have gained strength since 9/11.

Replace with "Our nation is not vulnerable because you have to obey the Constitution to spy on US citizens. Our nation is vulnerable because you have recklessly neglected your duty as President to defeat the nation's enemies, because you have focused instead on monitoring your political enemies.

I, for one, do not intend to back down - not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear.

Good. More like this sentence.

We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.

See, you lost it again. Replace last two sentences with, "We will not permit you to scare us into suspending the Constitution. If we weaken the Constitution as you demand, the terrorists win."

B+ overall, though. Sets the curve in a class full of D writers.