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Friday, October 19, 2007
Dodd, Feingold, Leahy: Dem Senators With Backbone on FISA
Sen. Chris Dodd will stop the flawed FISA legislation by a "hold" or by filibuster. .
Glenn Greenwald explains how too many Dem Senators, including Sen. Harry Reid, are apparently willing to grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that colluded with the Bush administration in illegal surveillance activities, and approve FISA legislation that gives away the store on civil liberties.
Meanwhile Firedoglake reports how much money Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who heads the Senate intelligence committee, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid get from the telecoms, and reveals Reid's telecom stock ownership. Connect the dots.
Today, Sen. Russ Feingold released a statement about the FISA legislation that included this pledge:
If the bill that ultimately reaches the Senate floor includes immunity and does not adequately protect the privacy of Americans, I will fight it vigorously with every tool at my disposal.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, also finds the deal on the FISA bill made by Sen. Rockefeller and others on the Senate Intelligence Committee unacceptable, as reported in The Hill.
All this points to an intense fight about the bill in both Houses of Congress, with those still afraid to confront Bush on illegal surveillance and civil liberties pitted against those who still have a conscience in some form. Stay tuned.
October 19, 2007 at 08:00 PM in Civil Liberties, Corporatism, Crime | Permalink
Comments
AHrry Reid, Pelosi, and Steny Hoyer are making really sick. Did we win the majority in 2006? I couldn't tell.
Feingold for Majority Leader!!!
Posted by: | Oct 20, 2007 5:51:10 PM
I had a lot of hope for Pelosi, and I also though Reid would step it up, both have been a disappointment, weak and ineffective just doesn't cut it.
Posted by: VP | Oct 20, 2007 7:13:37 PM
TPM has a copy of the legislation:
https://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/surveillance-bill/
Here that sucking sound? That's your 4th Amendment rights going down the toilet. Chris Dodd has shown REAL leadership on this matter.
Looks like Hillary is still trying to be Bush Lite.
Posted by: | Oct 20, 2007 10:32:03 PM
Damn, I was filling out the page to support Dodd when I noticed that it was not secure. In these days, why in the world would he have a page to put your credit info that isn't secure? The good news is, he's close to raising his $100,000. The bad news is, some of his donors may have just made their credit card numbers public.
Posted by: | Oct 21, 2007 8:44:00 AM
John maybe you need to take a closer look, my browser shows it as being secure.
Posted by: VP | Oct 21, 2007 4:33:13 PM
VP,
Firefox still shows it as insecure, Safari doesn't say, and Internet Explorer says secure. But there is an ad/bug on the page that says it's secure and warranted for $10K (and I'm not going to give that much), so I'll take the risk, in spite of the shenanigans by Harry Reid.
On another note, I just got off the phone with a canvasser from the Dem Legislative Campaign Committee. I knew it would be fun. She said "The Dems got a majority in 06" and I said, Yeah, and we don't have much to show for it, do we? Later she said "Voters are angry at the Republican party" and I said, And the Dems, too, and she said "I was about to say that." She finally got to the ask, and I said Not a chance. It was very satisfying. Wankers.
Posted by: | Oct 21, 2007 7:05:44 PM
John thanks for sharing you call from DLCC with us, they are prob getting a lot of that or at least should be. Now if only we could dump the DLC.
Posted by: VP | Oct 22, 2007 12:46:27 PM
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee supports candidates running for state rep and senate not national candidates so I don't get why John would want to diss them. It is the US Senate and House candidates and the presidential candidates that mostly suck.
Posted by: Red or Green | Oct 22, 2007 2:05:05 PM
R or G, All I knew was that they were national, part of "the party that can't", hence my response. Plus, the caller didn't disabuse me of this by saying that they supported state level candidates. Even if she had, I prefer to support local candidates directly rather than through a third party. I watch the blogs enough to know (or think I know) where I want my money to go and who needs it most.
Posted by: | Oct 22, 2007 5:59:35 PM
