Today the Senate will be debating FISA and retroactive immunity.
By tomorrow, it's likely that voting will be done.
And what we do together over the next 24 hours will determine what the legislation looks like.
I've offered an amendment to strip retroactive immunity from the FISA legislation.
On Monday you joined thousands of Americans online by calling your Senators (with the help of our friends at FireDogLake) and asking them to vote "NO" on any bill containing retroactive immunity.
Connecticut's Chris Dodd is a senior Democratic leader in the United States Senate. Senator Dodd is currently a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and is the senior Democrat on its Education and Early Childhood Development Subcommittee. He also is the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics. He serves on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and is the senior Democrat on its Securities and Investment Subcommittee. He also is the senior Democrat on the Rules and Administration Committee.
I really appreciate all your hard work and perseverance on this tough issue. Even though you dropped out of the Presidential race I made my first political contribution of 2008 to your office solely because of your stand against FISA and retroactive immunity.
Thank you Chris, you are a true Patriot for the American people.
Your link to call the senators is a great link. I will make sure I use it to call my Senators first thing tomorrow morning.
For any of you who are not sure how important this is in terms of upholding the Constitution instead of allowing rule of men instead of rule of law based on the constitution see this statement made by Senator Russ Feingold (who is leading the fight along with Senator Chris Dodd.
The Raw Story | As FISA nears toward vote, Feingold warns against immunity:
“Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is sticking to his fight to convince colleagues not to retroactively eliminate any consequences for participating in President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, which was conducted outside of existing law.
"This immunity provision doesn't just allow telephone companies off the hook. It will also make it that much harder to get at the core issue that I've been raising since December 2005, which is that the president broke the law and should be held accountable," Feingold said on the Senate floor Tuesday.”
by
Christie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 149 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 7:21:49 AM
I find it extremely troubling to learn that we have elected officials who support felonies, even treasonous acts. Is it any wonder why the people give Congress a 9% approval rating? Even that is high when you consider how they have allowed the stripping of our Constitution without as much as a whisper.
When will the people open their eyes to the fact that the “terrorists” we are warned about have been attacking us on our soil. They are our elected officials! It is not bin Laden, nor Saddam Hussein, nor Ahmenijad, nor any other foreigner who have imposed wiretaps on our citizenry, who have threatened telephone companies to record conversations of their customers and to turn them over to the government (one, QWEST, refused because doing so was against the law, their CEO was then imprisoned on trumped up charges after the government withdrew contracts they had with the company), stripped our Constitution as though is is nothing but a G*ddamned piece of paper, as Bush stated. Shredded our process of government where the Legislative and Judicial Branches are nothing more than puppets of the Executive Branch (doesn't this smack of Dictatorship?), and much more. Heck, even our votes do not record as we have intended, but are counted by corporate software programmed to achieve the outcome before the vote has been cast.
Now they, our elected officials, are about to reduce the 4th Amendment to nothing more than a G*ddamned piece of paper. I believe our Nation's motto is now, “Democracy is Dead, and Living only for the NotSees!”
by
Dennis Kaiser (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 209 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 8:08:04 AM
many members of congress have been complicit in this president's illegal activities. if the full knowledge of what it was that these legislators knew and when they know it was revealed there would be alot of political embaressment and some heads would roll.
by
Levon (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 28 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 10:13:03 AM
We, the people, do not have enough money to be heard in the halls of the CONgress. Maybe that is why the latest Rasmussen Poll has the CONgress in the single Digits of approval. Not much else to say other than the CONgress will create the scenario that best protects their largest donors, Corporate America.
This is not paranoia, this is fact as I have observed the Congressional votes on the various issues. It is also fact as members of congress have told me when I actually asked.
Ciao, CZ
by
steve scheetz (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 494 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:18:34 PM
It is no longer about our Representatives in Wor-shing-ton representing "We the People." They represent the special interest groups who are lining their pockets. The sole purpose of the America people is to get their Reps. elected into office, of course with smiles, cheers and false promises, then the corporations do the rest.
by
Munich (0 articles, 52 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 726 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 2:44:07 PM
Senator Dodd I will make calls to my state's two US Senators. I am not too hopeful that they will listen to me, as I am not making a large donation, but the issue is important and I will do my part. The issue of retroactive immunity is completely unconstitutional, as the US Constitution clearly states, "No bill of attainer or ex post facto law shall be passed."
The 4th Amendment also clearly states, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Sir, thanks for your efforts at supporting our Constitution from the predatory corrupt Bush Administration.
Stirling
by
Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:29:54 PM
Unless you believe there are enough people out in the hustings who care (which I believe you personally do), nothing will happen. I admire you and Senator Feingold for holding your ground. If you lose on the usual Senatorial technicalities, don't despair. The fight will get harder but people do not want to be spied on. Some don't know. Others can't believe their government would turn on them.
In the last analysis, some cultural issue will make the issue big enough for mainline media to take seriously. So, let's think forward to what that would be. I don't mean carrying a sign in front of the White House.
The economy is going sour and people are hurting at the pump and the checkout counter. Got any ideas about the action?
by
Margaret Bassett (21 articles, 1302 quicklinks, 26 diaries, 772 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:42:49 PM
Welcome to the US surveillance society. Unchecked surveillance begins with a vengeance this afternoon in July 2008. The Senate is poised in a few moments to cave to the spying criminals in our government, unwilling to confront the criminals, willing only to support their illegal activities, both forward into the future, and backward into the past.
"You have a right to remain silent. You have a right to an attorney. What you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
-- US Miranda Act
In the past, The Act used to apply only to those whom police could identify a cause to arrest. No longer.
What we all say, on our phones, email, web comments, all of this will be used against you in a court of law. That's what police do with your information: Heed the Act. Believe what the Act warns to you about. The Act is no joke.
It's a new age tomorrow. The Miranda Act applies suddenly to EVERY CITIZEN, arrest being an unnecessary obstacle going forward as of this afternoon, the last vestige of a prior age when all men were free except men who were a public hazard.
No longer. Arrest, and the prerequisite "cause" is, however, shall no longer be the bar to initiating investigations of every US citizen, and the use of your information against you, as the Act both promises and warns.
The criminals in our government have just transformed the citizens, on the whole, into criminals themselves. And the original criminals are above the law now, innocent of their past and future crimes.
It's really weird how it all worked out... a total inversion of justice.
by
Geoffrey of Bordentown (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:56:59 PM
When history has been written on this sinking slave ship that is the USS Homeland we can rest assured that the Judas Democrats will be given their fair share of the blame for their appeasement of the Bush-Cheney-Neocon Axis of Evil for making sure that their places in the lifeboats are secure while the rest of us are used as ballast or fed to the sharks.
What a bunch of feckless, quisling, treasonous scum. The political system is irrelevant and it's time for civil disobedience and direct action (all of the non-violent nature of course) rather than to continue to participate in this dog and pony show of a sham democracy.
Just my two cents
EE
by
Ed Encho (6 articles, 10 quicklinks, 54 diaries, 371 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 5:10:34 PM
No bill of attainer or ex post facto law shall be passed
Do you even know what that means? You obviously don't if you think it applies in this case. An ex-post facto law is when something is made illegal and the government attempts to prosecute someone who committed that act before it became illegal. It does not cover the retroactive immunity given to the telecoms.
by
Watching (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 314 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 5:51:50 PM
Unbelievable. The fourth Amendment is awash. I do believe that those Senators that voted against this insane legislation, should help us start a new party. 29 Senators and how many House of Reps? It's the last of hopes for any American"way" of the constitution.
I guess I need to permanently plant this on all of my emails as it is officially correct now.>>>>>>>>
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection against this action.
by
shirley reese (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 257 comments)
on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 8:07:24 PM
