We live in some sort of tumbled-up universe at the moment, don’t we? Where all things football have more importance than all things rule of law within the halls of Congress. Bread and circuses and screw the Constitution, I suppose. Via BalloonJuice:
There is a very real and perverse possibility that the NFL will face tougher sanctions for spying on practice squads and covering it up than the telecoms and this President will face for spying on the citizenry and lying about it.
Good to know we have those priorities in line, isn’t it? Especially with the Clemens fiasco in town as well. Pardon me if I’m feeling less than cheery about any of this. And yet, we still have work to do.
It isn’t over. We are pushing members of the House to stand firm against telecom immunity — please take a little time to sign the petition here. Have you called your Representative today?
The ACLU is asking its membership to call their member of the House. You can find contact information for the House here. Talking points are:
1. Vote NO on any spying bill with telecom immunity. Lawsuits must be allowed to proceed or we’ll never know the truth about what laws were broken and how many Americans rights were violated.
2. Vote NO on any spying that allows the government to spy on Americans without getting a warrant. America doesn’t need a bill that needlessly expands the President’s ability to spy on innocent Americans without a warrant.
3. Don’t let the Senate or President Bush steamroll the House of Representatives. Any bill to regulate spying on Americans must respect the Constitution and must not let phone companies off the hook for warrantless spying.
If things proceed on the course now set by the Bush Administration and its shortsighted collaborators, and the national surveillance state is achieved in short order, then future generations looking back and tracing the destruction of the grand design of our Constitution may settle on yesterday, February 12, 2008, as the date of the decisive breach. It hardly got a mention in the media, obsessed as it was with reports on the primary elections, the use of drugs in sporting events, and that unfailing topic, the weather. Yesterday the Senate voted down the resolution offered by Senator Dodd to block retroactive immunity for the telecoms and it voted for a measure which guts the Constitution’s ban on warrantless searches by extending blanket authority to the Executive to snoop on the nation’s citizens in a wide variety of circumstances, subject to no independent checks. On the key vote, the Republicans in the Senate continued to function in lock-step, as they have on almost all significant issues for the last seven years, while the Democrats fragmented. Their vote summed up everything that’s wrong with Washington politics today.
I am not content to let things just stand. And I doubt that many of you are, either. Let’s get to work…
Related posts:
- Can Skittles help fix the PATRIOT Act and FISA?
- LATE NIGHT: Straight White Boy Defies Gays, Strikes Musical Blow for Jesus
- House Voting Now On The Rule For Health Care Debate
- When Wilson Defines Debate, Democrats Squander Chance to Set Record Straight
- House Judiciary Committee to Propose PATRIOT and FISA Reforms





Spotlight







Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search

Urgh!
Christy!
The House Republicans look to be on the run with the veto threat not
having the desired effect of shutting down debate. Good debate.
I hate the “call your member of the House” thing, because it’s John Kline, the most reprehensible lockstepper of the bunch!
So, wise pups, help me gird my loins for battle with an intractible Republican representative. This is an ongoing problem for some of us.
Thanks Christy, a second call to the Rep
I guess football is important enough in West Virginia for some to threaten the life of Rich’s 11 year old niece.
Are you saying that football’s more important than steroids in baseball? Say it ain’t so!
Pardon the stupid question, but why wouldn’t Bush’s rush to break the law encourage him to use warrantless wiretaps for and against favored businesses? Military contracts? Brings a whole new aspect to the concept of no bid if corp strategies can be tapped in the name of terror & patriotism.
As we discussed yesterday, there are an awful lot of candidates for “most reprehensible lockstepper of the bunch.”
I have the disagreeable chore of having to contact the execrable Lamar Smith.
Ahem, I think it be baseball, Christy. Roger Clemons up now on CNN and MSNBC…because Congress lacks the cojones to govern and BushCo needs the clown of the day.
Oh, lordy, you win!
Mine is worse, trust me, real waste of time kool-aid chugger.
CREDO has a petition that you can sign (and edit if you like) which gets sent to Pelosi, Hoyer and your rep.
Bush, with full cooperation of Congress, is establishing an ORWELLIAN POLICE STATE.
Not that I know of, and I live in the next town over from where they live. There have been a lot of accusations and counter-accusations which have not held water when investigated in all of this BS. So I’d say wait to see if charges are ever filed against anyone for assault before you believe everything you read.
Because Rich just lost a round in his attempt to get out of paying his $4 million contract payment, and his case got kicked back to state circuit court from federal court, the latest round of accusations and counter-crap wil begin anew. None of which has resulted in any charges as yet…
Gohmert.
I was watching the floor debate and man were those republicans grandstanding. Acting so outraged that time is being wasted and I loved the one that first invoked the constitution (to protect the U.S. against all enemies foreign and domestic) but then later says that it isn’t about the constitution rather protecting the citizens. Somewhere in between was some horrible analogy between the telecom companies and community WE-Tip programs.
Dumb as a sack of wet hammers, they are!
OK
Sadly so. I’m noodling on a letter to the editor, I’ll post it on FDL when I write it, maybe others can use it themselves. Need to make some noise here, this is going on mostly under the radar.
I got me some Rohrabacher in my gerry-rigged district; shaped like a barbell with a thin string through liberal areas to connect Gooper-rich Orange County and Palos Verdes Peninsula.
I live in the thin string in LA.
CA very badly needs redistricting with no safe districts.
But i called and called on the Senate side.
Anyone got a clue on why Sheldon WH voted with the sell outs yesterday in the february day of shame.
Lincoln’s Birthday–a bad day to sell out America and the Constitution.
Thanks for the Rush Holt clip, Christy. He’s one of the best we have in the House, and a fellow physicist to boot!
Good point. Protecting te American People isn’t in the president’s job description, but protecting the constitution is.
Ditto Jim Webb. And the Tim Johnson we were holding our breath for, personally and politically.
As I said there are a large number of candidates for the dubious distinction of most reprehensible lockstepper. In fact, probably somewhere between 150 and 200 candidates.
OT: Now that Mukasey has made it abundantly clear that he will not pursue contempt charges against Miers and Bolton, Nancy says she’s gonna schedule a vote.
Good for her!! /snark
House Vote on Contempt Is Expected Soon
I thought it was a very well done speech. And I thought everyone could use some motivation on this today — considering how much effort Holt has put into this in the House, backing him up ought to be something we all do today.
digg CHS and the Rule of Law!
Slightly OT, but (sorry if you seen this already) I urge everyone to watch the McCain “no we can’t” video , and even more important, pass it on to everyone you know. Victory in Nov. looks good now, but nothing is for sure in politics.
I missed the transition from FISA to other business at the House. JTMinIA over at Emptywheel said they delayed the vote on the 21 day PAA extension. Did anyone catch what happened?
Agreed. Any way you know of that we can back him up beyond emailing our own rep and Pelosi/Hoyer?
Too bad the Republics don’t feel bad about how far their party has fallen in going from Lincoln to Bush.
Well, apparently, boys will be boys. Speaking of which, did anyone read MoDo’s latest opinion piece? The Penn Jillette “Hillary Joke” left me in a cold fury. I can’t believe that more hell isn’t being raised about the damn near ubiquitous misogny that is debasing our political discourse.
Okay, I’m an idiot, but at least I admit it. It’s what progressives do. (sigh)
Help me understand the executive branch ordering the judicial branch to do or not do. I get that it’s what’s been going on all along during BushCo, but what is the Constitutional (bwahahahahahaha!) basis for this?
I’ll raise you an Issa.
The Justice Department is part of the Executive Branch, not the Judiciary.
The Justice Dept. is a part of the Executive branch; not the judicial branch.
The Department of Justice is part of the Executive Branch (or, if you prefer, the Unitary Executive).
Just called Dean Heller’s office, again. He won by a Repug hair and you can be sure he’ll lose by a Dem land slide. Got to make this mindless SOB a one termer. He mindlessly does as Bush tells him. He gets lots of negative calls from constituents. Guess he’ll be glad to get out of Congress. Maybe he didn’t get rich as fast as he thought.
The sad thing about that joke is that it was fronted out by a PR person — I know I got an e-mail about it, anyway, from a PR firm. One wonders if MoDo does most of her columns via e-mail steno inspiration?
wow, three in a row with the same time stamp. Sharp pups!
You take what you can get, these days.
Read it, against my better judgement, this morning. She is really poisonous. One of the main reasons HRC has so much undeserved baggage, IMO. Never could quite figure out why MoDo hates her so much, it seems almost personal.
It ain’t over until its over, folks. Let’s bombard EVERY Congressperson with e-mail and phone calls, until they HAVE to listen: NO RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY! Although the other provisions of the Senate bill are also awful, at least they won’t have the effect of exonerating Bush for his illegal wiretapping. Moreover, once we have the fall election (assuming Bush doesn’t declare some “terrorist” emergency) we have the likelihood of a Democratic President and a stronger Democratic Congress, who can reverse some of the awful legislation that has passed over the last couple of years. That’s NOT true, however, about Retroactive Immunity! That’s why it’s so important to stop it, NOW, before it becomes law!
but what is the Constitutional (bwahahahahahaha!) basis for this?,/i>
Hi barbara!
I just told you all of the *valid* constitutional grounds – when I said hello…
o/t but when are they going to debate Bush’s outrageous budget?
IMO, the warrantless wiretapping is even worse than the immunity. If they can listen to us with no judicial input, that really is the first step to a police state.
“There is a very real and perverse possibility that the NFL will face tougher sanctions for spying on practice squads and covering it up than the telecoms and this President will face for spying on the citizenry and lying about it.”
————-
Pats coach payed 1/2 million, and Pats lose first round draft pick – and that was for spying on video taping coaches singals an an essentially very public palce (private football stadium) which many of the coach do or have done.
So never mind trying to hide a camera in the stadium prior to walk through, they had more punishment for just videotaping from the sideline instead of the booth!
—
You also have Roger Clemens up there (and likely the trainer as well) – lying right in Congress face. Spitting big fat lies on them. And its done like some quasi sparring session where the R’s attack the trainer (the employee) and not the employeer (Clemens, and pretty much a free walk to the owners). And the D’s spend 80% of their time on Clemens and not the trainer. Now granted the training is mostly lied out and Clemens is still lying. So you have the R & D splitting the differences, getting autographs, and nothing comes of it.
I laugh that it could be a dry run for real trials because of course there will be none.
This has been Raven’s position as well. He’s said all along that this is not about terrorism, but about the theft of business ideas, intellectual property.
Two words: Gary Miller
So you have baseball people lying to Congress, DOJ lying to Congress, the executive lying to Congress, the VP (recall not an exec or ledg) lying to Congress…. and most of all they just have to be lying to themselves.
Appears to me as a case of pure jealousy. All the way back to when she was campaigning for Bill in the early nineties.
I heard it was DOA, they’re not giving him the time of day, apparently just CRs (continuing resolutions) until CY2009.
Applause…loud din for Christy’s lateast post on House FISA debate…should turn out better than the senate effort…making calls.
Mainstream media wants to be our new government defacto…Jefferson mentioned an informed electorate was crucial..Air America…Democracy Now…KO…Bill Moyer…cannot get to the people we need to buy some media.
When telecom immunity passes then the gov asks a private company for anything and they give it – people get burned but never the corp. Then it will of course be selective – we don’t like this persons email so lets turn it over (and not this other persons), or false evidence – for example how many people in Iraq have been killed because some fradulant asshole said they were evil when they just wanted the persons land or whatever.
Its a pathetic cliche but its all a slippery slope.
Contact your House Representative NOW!
Do not let this go on.
Do not let our Constitution be destroyed.
I am on it. He was clear and easy to understand…womderful speech thanks for posting it.
Whitehouse up on CSPAN2
No disrespect for Raven, but I’m pretty sure it is perris who has been pushing the theft of ideas/intellectual property/etc.
Thank you to the glorious mods for fixing my 27.
Did I not say “idiot”? You’re right, of course.
It’s the Blue Dogs that need to be contacted. Please drop Donna Edwards name during the call. tee hee
In case you’re not keeping a close eye on this: we want the extension passed (so there’s no pressure for the House to just pass the Senate’s bill). Ask that they be careful and deliberative. Ask that the Holt amendments (from last time around) get up or down votes.
Yup.
Heh.. The New England Patriots are going to get in more trouble for stealing defensive signals than the Republicans in power are going to get for illegally spying on Americans and then covering it up. What do you think about that?
RantingRaver.com
See, I should never publicly exhibit my ignorance. But I just can’t help myself. I’d make a good Republican!
The Maryland primary was yesterday.
Senator Obama voted against telecom immunity.
Senator Clinton did not bother to show up for the vote. Campaigning was more important for her that this vote.
I’d been ambivalent about my choice until I read the roll call vote.
Guess who I voted for…
I think its LAUGHABLE and INFERIATING a the exact same time!
I called-Stated the talking points to Greg Walden(R)
Then I said if he voted the other way he was a traitor to the very document he swore an oath to uphold. I told him I served in the USN and was proud to salute my flag and stand for the Anthem, I told him I loved my country, and am no longer proud of what that flag represents, stolen and soiled by ignorant men, I told him that this is no longer a party affiliated issue, but one of humanity and the rights of free men under a constitution penned at the risk of death.
Bottom line-I will continue to state it so with anyone I contact.
I am in a rage as always, reason? I have children and I cry inside at what they must endure, if we don’t fight now.
inferiating – gerund; making oneself angry based on a false interpretation of events
Call 1 800 828-0498 ask for Rush Holt and tell his staff we support the restore america act…and impeachment.
Alas, my Rep is Hobson. His lips are surgically attached to Bush’s butt and he’s retiring so he REALLY doesn’t care. Offical position is that the telcos should not be punished for assisiting in the War on Terror.
I called, but I recognize peeing up a rope when I do it.
Boxturtle (I fear we’re going to lose this one)
christy: don’t forget this:
Blue Dogs Enable Bush on FISA
The offenders:
# Rep. Leonard L. Boswell, D-Iowa — Phone: (202) 225-3806, Fax: (202) 225-5608
# Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark. — Phone: (202) 225-4076, Fax: (202) 225-5602
# Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark. — Phone: (202) 225-3772, Fax: (202) 225-1314
# Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. — Phone: (202) 225-2611, Fax: (202) 226-0893
# Rep. Robert E. ”Bud” Cramer, D-Ala. — Phone: (202) 225-4801, Fax: (202) 225-4392
# Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill. — Phone: (202) 225-3711, Fax: (202) 225-7830
# Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C. — Phone: (202) 225-6401, Fax: (202) 226-6422
# Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga. — Phone: (202) 225-2823, Fax: (202) 225-3377
# Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla. — Phone: (202) 225-5235, Fax: (202) 225-5615
# Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif. — Phone: (202) 225-6161, Fax: (202) 225-8671
# Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla. — Phone: (202) 225-2701, Fax: (202) 225-3038
# Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn. — Phone: (202) 225-4714, Fax: (202) 225-1765
# Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah — Phone: (202) 225-3011, Fax: (202) 225-5638
# Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. — Phone: (202) 225-4311, Fax: (202) 226-1035
# Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn. — Phone: (202) 225-6831, Fax: (202) 226-5172
# Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind. — Phone: (202) 225-4636, Fax: (202) 225-3284
# Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa. — Phone: (202) 225-5546, Fax: (202) 226-0996
# Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La. — Phone: (202) 225-4031, Fax: (202) 226-3944
# Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan. — Phone: (202) 225-2865, Fax: (202) 225-2807
# Rep. Christopher Carney, D-Pa. — Phone: (202) 225-3731, Fax: (202) 225-9594
# Rep. Zack Space, D-Ohio — Phone: (202) 225-6265, Fax: (202) 225-3394
Might want to add this to your front page.
Just got off the phone with Peter Welch’s office (VT) – his staffer stated that Welch will not support any bill with Retroactive Immunity (which I already knew) but they glad to hear from me.
DING!!!
OT Whitehouse is just wonderful talking about torture. Unbelievable stuff.
No offense, but Holt doesn’t need a call. Nor do right-wing Republicans.
It’s the Blue Dogs that need to be kept in line.
edit: see @73 (thanks, Brendan)
Call and express your extreme displeasure. They need to feel the outrage.
I think it’s jealousy. Arianna is rabid too.
Done deal-called
I don’t think that anyone with half a brain would use any telcom media which can be tapped to communicate terraplans.
The spying on us is disgusting.
Christy – Just once, I would like one of those Democratic Senators who voted with the GOP yesterday to get up in front of the microphones and cameras and say, “I did it because I was afraid.” Just once, I’d like these folks to tell the truth.
Point taken
Doesn’t he see that warrantless surveillance and torture are both part of Bush’s attempt to set up a police state?
I just was that Baca is pushing the Senate bill in the house, yet he was one of the few who voted against the MCA.
I don’t understand how these folks think.
I just spoke to an aide in my rep’s office. Brad Sherman voted No on the last FISA vote. The aide said he’d have to have someone call me back on the current one.
But, Brad’s one of the good guys. I have no complaints for him.
Thanks PeterK! I just signed and I think thats the fourth or fith petition I have signed and sent in the last two days… We just have to keep fighting all this crap until we get to keep our constitution the way it was written by our founding fathers. They would and should be proud of the work they did back then.
They would be appalled at our current leaders who think it is just a piece of paper to be shredded when ever they feel like it!!
We can and must continue to fight against these arbitrary changes in our unifying document, it is what has kept this country strong on individule freedoms and will continue to do so only if we can convince these congresscritters that we the people do not want our rights trampled upon by thyis administration!!
Could be. I’ll defer.
As I stated in a comment this morning, remind your congressperson of what happened to Al Wynn when you call or e-mail.
Remind him(her) that that needn’t be an isolated event.
OT sanderO, have you ever seen guerrilla theatre performed in front of the cameras spying on us in the streets-fuck ‘em and entertain the imbeciles.
WHoo Hoo Maddy!!!
Please don’t be offended, because calling already puts you in the 99th percentile, but the issue, right now, is the 21-day extension of the PAA.
Why?
Because this does two things. First and foremost, it removes any pressure to just pass the Senate’s bill, which, as you know, has immunity and a bunch of other bad things. Second, it sets Bush up, making it clear that the House will no longer roll over. It forces Bush to either veto or go back on his promise. It will mark (the beginning of) the end to his veto threats to get his way.
So, again: we want the 21-day extension and we want it today. If you have a Blue Dog (see @73), call now, please.
Don’t forget about about the didactic role of the new medium as well!
My congressman is John Sullivan,R(OK). I did e-mail him and left a respectful reason to oppose telecom immunity. Doubt it will help, but he is the only one I have.
Yes, he’s fantastic. Wish the msm would pick up more of his stuff.
I also saw Jon Stewart on waterboarding last night (I think it was a rerun from Monday). Also very powerful and clear.
Biodun is in the house! Upstairs.
Extension is back in the House. You have less than 15 minutes to call.
Not that I’m pushy.
As a parent, I sometimes wonder what was the point of working so hard to bring up kids with golden rule values. We end up sending them out into a world where so few in our govt, corps, media & churches actually live by those values. This country reminds me a little too much of Lord of the Flies.
wow. I just got the most amazing email from IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) informing me of their lobbying efforts on the hill today. “IAVA will join a bipartisan coalition of Senators including Jim Webb (D-VA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and members of the nation’s leading veterans’ service organizations to call for a comprehensive World War II-style GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the fiscal 2009 budget.”
here: http://www.iava.org/
They are doing some GREAT WORK! This was my response to them, I HOPE they get back to me! (And I DID make a contribution to them.)
THIS is great work and you are to be HIGHLY commended for doing it.
And I, an American Citizen, thank you sincerely.
On a side note, could you please ask Jim Webb, when you see him next, just what exactly he was doing voting the way he did regarding the FISA legislation that passed the Senate yesterday? I, and about a bazillion other online activists who totally trusted and supported him were cruelly stunned by that and would really really like to hear the answer to that question. Unbelievably, he helped sell the 4th Amendment down the river, betraying us all who have just LOVED him and his presence and voice in our congress.
Could you please ask him about that and get back to me with the answer, so that I can share it with about 18 different websites full of people who are shocked and disillusioned AGAIN with their elected “representatives”?
Thank you so much! For what you are doing, for the difference you are making. I think I’ll go to your website now and see where I can make a contribution.
Thank you AGAIN!
siri
The FISA debate on the floor of the Senate now resembles the same “don’t give a rat’s ass” about the Consittution blather from the Rethugs I heard in the Senate–same message from Addington just out of different mouths.
I just called Boswell’s office. (again). He wrote me a detailed letter after his vote last summer indicating that he would be very careful in his deliberations over FISA reform and felt the current law hastily passed in August was not a good piece of legislation. I am disappointed to see him fall in lockstep with the Bush dogs. Boswell is being challenged by an excellent grassroots prgressive: Ed Fallon - He needs our help.
Correction, the FISA debate on the floor of the House now for an extension resembles the Senate–throwing the Constitution “under the bus.” I wonder what impact the previous vote keeping immunity will have on this situation.
It sure is illuminating,though to have the brilliant prescient Rethugs teach me that AQ is out there. This administration hasn’t caught many of them–and has done little to prevent the vibrant AQ cells in the U.S. now but they have shreded the Constitution in a way that would make bin Ladin smile.
hehehe HOYER JUMPS BAD!
WTG Steny!
s
Thank you, I had just been reading about the Boeing vs AirBus contracts and admittedly was slow to recognize the connection.
oh no (groan) you have Issa?
Hoyer’s “one minute” should be a YouTube. He gave a great summary and it goes far to show the damage that Reid has done to the Left. The Senate is usually the slow and careful body, but with Reid being outplayed every day by McConnell et al., the Senate is effectively in Republican hands, leaving it to the House to be the “grown up.”
you got THAT right!, JTM.
I would love to see the House show some spine; take the fight to the Senate hypocrits and hammer the stripping of immunity into that bill to send a message to the Telcoms and Cheney/Addington that the Constitution is not going to roll over for them.
Steny Hoyer for extension of
Dan Lungren 911!
Great, that asswipe Lundgren is up. I have peeps up that way and they aren’t fans of his. I forget just how condescending he is..
FIANLLY someone mentions their responsibility to uphold the constitution!!!
Thank you Conyers
Conyers, slow and gentle.
wobbly, i loved your recipe
Lamar Smith trying to sneak the entire Senate bill in under the guise of a Motion To Recommit?
WTF? Whining about ‘procedural games’ when he’s doing just that?
But H. Clinton and Obama would not go to the mat against these travesties, or any others really, and they will still be getting the support of Leftrootsia.
I was wondering if there was anything a candidate for Pres with a (D) after their name could do to get Progressive bloggers to withold support … there probably isn’t, but if there was the candidates would take it as a suggestion just to see how far they could push the co-dependency.
How about if a McCain vs Clinton race turns into a contest about who will be tougher against the non-existent ‘threat’ of Iran?
What if the boasting escalates from pre-emptive attack to pre-emptive nuclear attack?
then could we expect a little, tiny bit of peelback from leading lefty bloggers?
Your welcome Kathryn, it is one of my favorites. I hope to post a few more on Saturday (if I’m around). Still I wish I could heave a little at these repugs…such babies
Because the Republicans are going to play delaying games to the end, you probably have a half-hour plus to call your pet Blue Dog … hint … hint.
You are so lucky that my child is sick today, and that we are watching a movie, or I’d take that apart point by point. Nice way to try to derail the thread, though, I’ll give you that…dodge and evade on the phone calls, pass the buck off on someone else.
You want to hand the Presidency to John McCain so he can continue CheneyIII, that’s on your conscience. But don’t expect me to hand the GOP more shots at the federal bench and the SCOTUS without a fight. For starters…
Right now at Kos there has been a plea that Obama and Clinton call their Blue Dog Democrat supporters in the House and urge them to follow their lead and to vote against immunity.
McJoan at Kos notes:
Blue Dog Democrats (note list here)trying to enable Cheney and GOP are trying to derail an extension for a conference between the House and Senate to include stripping of immunity. Let Bush “not accept” whatever he wants–the only correct thing to do is to muster enough votes to exclude immunity and ram it down shrub’s throat over a veto after forcing him to sign an extension.
Because apparently if you speak out against vile misogyny and sexism these days, you’re just a “Hillary shill”. I’m not going to vote for Hillary Clinton, but I’m not going to sit around and let misgynists determine our political discourse either. A slur against Hillary is a slur against all women.
“Right now at Kos there has been a plea that Obama and Clinton call their Blue Dog Democrat supporters in the House and urge them to follow their lead and to vote against immunity.”
You know, when it comes to Clinton’s help on this, the headline from yesterday attacking Leahy is so much more appropriate here. Now that the Senate is lost … now Clinton might use her leadership skills to help??? GMFB.
Not that KoS is wrong to ask. But why weren’t they asking before and why did Clinton not do it without being asked?
- – -
What evidence is there that Blue Dogs are trying to derail the extension? The most Dem votes against it so far today is 8.
Going up the list of bluedogs – they are fairly receptive to people calling from out of state
On the floor the repugs have stated that they have support from 21 Democrats (see the letter they wrote to Pelosi), who support the senate bill that was passed. So, i guess it is up to the House of Representatives to save our collective asses. Seems appropriate that the people’s house would do the job
Let me refine that. The Blue Dogs are sure trying to ram through immunity. How’s that?
Can someone clarify what they are voting about right now?
Hope the Peanut feels better soon.
I’m keeping alist of who voted against the extension and you bet that come re-election, I will donate and campaign for their opponent
They’re voting on extending the already 21 day extension–essentially to give the House and the Senate time to resolve the difference in immunity included (Senate) versus no immunity included in the previous bill the House passed–called the House Restore Act.
thanks
25 democrats jumping ship so far…wow
The Blue Dogs just revolted. F*ck.
Voted down…damn
And we have 31. Bush Dogs, obedient as ever to their master in the White House.
Aloha…
I noticed the “Blue Dogs” are apparently en force right now…
What is the purpose of this vote?
Is the extension being drawn down?…
And the House GOPpers do the Snoopy dance.
I’m sure that Heath Shuler will be recording his vote on the most important matter of the day: congratulating the Giants on winning the Super Bowl. Idiot.
They have got to go.
how lovely, now let’s all sing kumbaya and congratulate the NY giants on their Superbowl win…*eyeroll*
yep, extension voted down…thanks blue dogs, I’ll be working extra just to fund your opponents (but then again, you’ll probably already know about it via Verizon)
Makes all the work for the 2006 elections seem so worthwhile, doesn’t it?
Well, Christy, I though it was WAYcool that CNN spent the entire fucking middle of the day on whether or not Roger Clements shot up HGH, and some designer-’roids.
We needed to know that, instead of a bunch of trivial shit like this:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/27346.html
the airing of which could only give aid and comfort to the enemy; one Barack Obama and his “cultist” followers. :o)
This describes the Senate of the United States of America who voted to give retroactive immunity to the telecoms, despite the eloquent speech of Chris Dodd:
“A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight; nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by exertions of better men than himself.”
John Stuart Mill
Maybe it would help if we send news articles on Donna Edwards BIG win over bush dog Al Wynn last night. If you are in their districts, let them know you are coming for them next, so please do not get too comfortable in Washington DC. Pelosi and Hoyer could not save Al Wynn. Primary them, Primary them, PRIMARY THEM…
Considering that 2/3 of the Senate Democratic caucus approved the immunity of telecoms in FISA and Sen. Jay Rockefeller of the Senate Security Committee declared FISA the right thing for America’s security, I think you all are way off base in your criticism.