First of all, you are right when you mentioned timing issues for Reid.

Second, calling Mikulski “thick as a brick” was not right. She is obviously wrong, but you are too young to remember Jethro Tull’s album, Thick as a Brick, and to know it referred to somebody who was stoned out of their gourd on the evil weed, Marijuana, and although I sometimes think many of our congress critters may be stoned to be able to do so little for us but so much for their corporate dollars, I think it is pure duplicity on her part.

Last, I wanted to thank you for your work to keep us old fools educated on this and so many other topics. I would lose all hope without the blogs, and you actually got me calling my senator, Claire McCaskill, disappointment that she was, on this issue.

Thank you, and know when you call for action, Ill be here.

This is obvious, perhaps- But by lobbying so fiercely for immunity, aren’t the telecoms making the tacit admission that they indeed broke the law?

I think they figured at the time that they had to play ball, but now they’re worried they are going to be made the scapegoat. I don’t blame them for trying to get immunity. If Bush & Co broke the law there’s no reason the telcoms should have to pay. The detailed question is whether the telcoms had some responsibility which they alone didn’t uphold.

Were they required to assist the gov?
Under FISA the gov doesn’t have to provide a warrant at first. So, it appears they had to go along.
How long?
Were there any other ways the government could require compliance?
Is any of those legal or just Bush BS?
Were the telcoms doing spying for their own purposes?

I think there needs to be a qualified immunity. So long as the government had the authority to require assistance they should be immune. That, of course, is probably immunity already included in FISA. If the government had any other valid way to enforce compliance they deserve immunity. That probably isn’t possible and they may be guilty on that count. If the government required compliance and did so legally, but then that legality expired (no warrant under FISA after the time delay), then they were required to stop spying and might not have.

Mostly the current FISA covers things, but the court (probably SCOTUS) needs to make a ruling on whether there is separate authority from FISA for requiring telcom complicity to clarify precisely what law(s) were to be applied.

Still, the argument that the court can’t simply make a ruling, that a case has to come before them would require that this has to go to a court and then see their call appealed.

The court(s) is/are in this one way or another. Anything less and Bush is declaring himself a dictator and should be immediately impeached — by the afternoon.

Quest CEO got prosecuted & they lost gov business. Retailiation in its finest hour.

I suspect the next president should review that conviction and sentence and consider pardon or commutation. We can’t have law abiding citizens being harassed by the government for no good reason.

As a lawyer he should remember what Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence about why we rebelled against England.

Here are few more recent reasons:

Rodney King being beaten by cops in public?
People being taken to Guantanamo illegally?
Bush & Cheney lying us into the Iraq war?
The ‘fiscal conservative’ Repubs and $9T of debt?
Civilians being tasered to death?

When does it cease being irrational?

And WOW! Dodd has my vote. That’s the end of any quandry I have been in. He got a good chunk of my money last night too!

Could it actually be a turning of the tide????
A DEMOCRAT WHO CAN AND IS LEADING!!!
WHAT A CONCEPT!!!!!

siri@legitgov.org
http://www.legitgov.org

I’ve lived in MD for nearly 30 years. Mikulski may have great “constituent services” [getting someone’s social security straightened out; getting a flag flown over the Capitol], but what I want as one of her constituents is for her to protect my constitutional rights.

Take a look at her votes over the last two years on GWB issues. I’ve followed, and her votes for the most part suck.

BTW, did not get any thank you email from last night’s contribution.

I got TWO thank yous: for the contribution & for signing the petition/contacting my senators.

Folksy…perhaps. Certainly not a fashion statement. But she will always have my respect.

She was the first female Democrat elected to the US Senate in her own right.

Mikulski is one of 11 senators to vote against both the 1991 and 2002 resolutions authorizing the use of force in Iraq. For that she deserves your respect as well.

Would specifically not granting immunity increase exposure to the WH in light of the alleged fact that this teleco spying/listening may or did occur even before 9/11/01? thus increasing the pressure on the Congressional Dems even more to act.

If that’s the case, the Dem leadership is even more compromised than it has seemed lately.