Who's Afraid of the Fourth Amendment?

The determination of Democrats in Congress to hand dictatorial powers to Smirky-Darth and amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms who spied on innocent Americans is far more complicated that it appears, as Glenn Greenwald makes clear.

But in addition to cowardice, corruption, political calculation, plain stupidity and old-fashioned bribery and blackmail, the FISA debate was for a moment or two distinguished by the rarest kind of passionate rhetoric in defense of American Democracy and the Constitution.

Chris Dodd went to the Senate floor last night to speak against the FISA bill and delivered one of the most compelling and inspired speeches by a prominent politician that I've heard in quite some time. He tied the core corruption of the FISA bill's telecom amnesty and warranltess eavesdropping provisions into the whole litany of the Bush administration's lawless and destructive behavior over the last seven years -- from torture and rendition to the abuse of secrecy instruments and Guantanamo mock trials -- with a focus on the way in which telecom amnesty further demolishes the rule of law among our political class.

That speech signals that the small minority in the Senate devoted to stopping this bill have made this a priority. Small, vocal, passionate minorities in the Senate -- backed up by vocal, passionate and engaged citizens -- can do much to prevent a bill's quick and painless passage. Dodd's speech can be seen and/or read here.

As salon commenter Wabanatta put it:

"Damn, a speech like that reminds me of when actual patriots roamed the halls of congress."

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

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FISA -- The Thirty Second Summary

Once upon a time Republicans scoffed at the line "we are from the government, trust us?"

Matt Stoller alerted Steve Clemons to the video after the break. Watch Senator Russ Feingold's wonderful 30 second summary of the new FISA law if you want to be frightened. It was posted to Youtube by OpenLeft.

Share Feingold's summary with a friend who doesn't have time to really follow all that complicated legislation passed by Congress, especially a friend who is about to take a foreign vacation.

Video after the break.

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At the end of the day

Clinton, McCain win Florida primary -- CNN: For the Democrats -- Clinton 50%, Obama 33%, Edwards 14%, Kucinich 1%. On the GOP side -- McCain 36%, Mitt 31%, Rudy 15%, Huck 14%, Paul 3%. Exit polls, gender and age breakouts at the link. More Democrats turned out than Repubs. Heh. [See Update II]

Digby rightly criticized MSNBC for behaving "rude, snide and dismissive about more than a million and a half Democratic voters in Florida (more than double the turnout from 2004)... ...If it is inappropriate for Clinton to declare victory it's also damned inappropriate for every gasbag on television to say that all these votes are completely meaningless. They may not add to the delegate count, but they were cast in good faith by American citizens and they should be treated with respect by these jackasses." Amen to that!

Clap harder! -- At Political Animal, Kevin examined "who [clapped] when" during Bush's SOTU and articulated valid points and comparisons between Hillary and Barack.

Disappearing wingnuts on the Hill -- "Two Republican representatives, Kenny Hulshof of Missouri and Ron Lewis of Kentucky, have announced plans to leave Congress, adding their names to a list of more than 24 House Republicans who will not be running for re-election. " Hulshof plans to run for governor of MO. Lewis wants to be with his family. NYT

Russ Feingold (D-WI) explained the privacy issue of FISA in video.

Ezra Klein rocks! -- Challenging a NYT article pronouncement, "Mr. Bush has spent years presiding over an economic climate of growth that would be the envy of most presidents," Ezra delivered a colorful chart on "Average Economic Growth by President" based on GDP. Who won? The Kennedy-Johnson Administration followed by Clinton. Go look at the presidential performers. Via Krugman who also had some choice remarks.

The House overwhelmingly approved -- by a vote of 385 to 35 -- a $146 billion economic stimulus program. Sen. Harry Reid "said the bill would be on the [Senate] floor by late Wednesday and was likely to be approved this week." Potential Senate amendments to the bill -- "to give more money to food banks, to increase food stamps temporarily, to increase subsidies for home heating and other energy costs for low-income families, to adopt alternative energy tax credits and to finance infrastructure projects." More at the link.

Sexual assaults -- Alaska is the worst in the nation: "In nearly 1,000 cases studied over two years, the average age of victims was 16, while the average age of those accused was 29. In four out of five cases, the suspects were relatives, friends or acquaintances.... Overall, 89 percent of the victims were female. One out of three cases were reported more than a month after the abuse occurred, leaving evidence hard to collect." Sexual violence is "worst in rural areas."

Pentagon WMD$? -- "The Office of Naval Research will test fire an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. on Jan. 31, 2008, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The gun will be fired at over 10 megajoules of energy – a power level never before achieved by an EMRG." See Spencer Ackerman.

Shock in Iraq -- "Civilians stumbled upon nine headless bodies in a field about 60 miles north of Baghdad on Tuesday. ...The nine, including three women, had been targeted because they were suspected of being part of a local awakening council, or concerned local citizens group, that was working with U.S. troops to fight al Qaida in Iraq, said a police officer involved in the investigation. ...On Jan. 17, a bombing killed 12 people in Diyala, and unidentified and headless bodies are found sporadically in the province." More disgusting news: "In Baghdad, five roadside bombs" injured 31 that included "five U.S. soldiers and seven members of the Iraqi security forces." McClatchy

Wasting tax dollars -- "A federal report released Tuesday says the Army Corps of Engineers charged the government hundreds of millions of dollars for supervising projects in Iraq that have been identified as having failed or fallen behind schedule specifically because oversight was lax or nonexistent." Adding insult to injury, "its rates were on average more than twice as high as those charged by an Air Force office that has also been active in Iraq reconstruction."

Tomorrow at the Daily Howler -- "Defeat of the Rubes." Bob Somerby: "Lower tax rates produce higher revenues! The rubes have been handed this flat-earth nonsense for years–and your hard-charging “press corps” just sits back and watches. Last night, two rubes repeated this blather to Luntz. Tomorrow, we give you full details." Main link.

Success! -- Blue Girl got her computer thanks to all of you who helped. Special recognition to Kevin Drum for his support!

UPDATE I: Check Yellow Dog for the 411 on Ron Lewis of Kentucky.

UPDATE II: Rudy drops out, endorses McCain. And I erred in stating that more Democrats turned out than Repubs. There are more registered Democrats (41%) than Repubs (37%) in FL... but the total number of voters who cast ballots for Democratic candidates came to 1,683,984 vs. 1,920,164 votes for Repub candidates. How dare I forget Independents. That'll teach me.

[That's all...no more after the jump.]

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For people who claim John Edwards is so progressive, hold on

That list, of course starts with John Edwards himself. But a real progressive Democrat, Sen. Russ Feingold, strongly begs to differ:

I did notice that as the primaries heated up, all of a sudden, all the presidential candidates — none of whom voted with me on the timeframe to withdraw from Iraq — all voted with me and when we did the Patriot Act stuff.

The one that is the most problematic is (John) Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act, campaigns against it. Voted for No Child Left Behind, campaigns against it. Voted for the China trade deal, campaigns against it. Voted for the Iraq war … He uses my voting record exactly as his platform, even though he had the opposite voting record.

When you had the opportunity to vote a certain way in the Senate and you didn't, and obviously there are times when you make a mistake, the notion that you sort of vote one way when you're playing the game in Washington and another way when you're running for president, there's some of that going on.

That sums it up pretty well. And, it goes far beyond the complaint/observation of Edwards’ sudden conversion to more populist economics, and gets straight to his voting record.

(That's all.)

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It's the Rule of Law, Stupid

Yeah, it’s nice to have an Attorney General who understands that forcible drowning is, you know, torture.

But it’s absolutely critical that the Attorney General understands that the president cannot just refuse to obey any laws he doesn’t like.

When the president is above the law, the U.S. Constitution is dead.

Russ Feingold gets it, and says it perfectly. And TPM catches it.

Feingold to Oppose Mukasey

Statement just released (11/4/07, 10:30 a.m.)

"I will vote against the nomination of Judge Mukasey to be the next Attorney General. This was a difficult decision, as Judge Mukasey has many impressive qualities. He is intelligent and experienced and appears to understand the need to depoliticize the Department of Justice and restore its credibility and reputation.

At this point in our history, however, the country also needs an Attorney General who will tell the President that he cannot ignore the laws passed by Congress.

Unfortunately, Judge Mukasey was unwilling to reject the extreme and dangerous theories of executive power that this administration has put forward.

The nation's top law enforcement officer must be able to stand up to a chief executive who thinks he is above the law. The rule of law is too important to our country's history and to its future to compromise on that bedrock principle."

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.

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When Does the Filibuster Start?

David Sirota asks Anyone Know When the Senate Filibuster Starts? WHERE'S THE BEEF? After all Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd are strongly denouncing the Harry Reid Surrender Bill (Er the War Funding Supplemental.) Surely the two of them could tag team an old Mr. Smith goes to Washington style filibuster to at least slow things down a bit. This morning Jerome Armstrong over at MyDD speculates that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will vote against the Harry Reid Surrender Bill. That makes 4 Senators to tag team a filibuster. I suspect that eventually all the Democratic Senators running for President will vote no on the Harry Reid Surrender Bill. That should be sufficient number of Senators to at least put up a fight. Jesus, if Senator Kyl could quietly stop the repeal of the Patriot Act provision at the center of the US Attorney firing scandal for months, then surly a bunch of big name senators wanting our votes and money to help them in their runs for President should be able to at least grab some headlines.

Any bets that they do it? With the exception of Russ Feingold, whose position is principled, the rest will moan and groan and vote a very polite and public "no" in hopes of keeping the support of the majority of folks who are fed up with the war, but in the end they won't do anything that might succeed or even call shame on their colleagues. Surrender monkeys are like that.

Oh you might want to follow that Sirota link. He has found and posted the old "Where's the Beef" commercial. A classic.

UPDATE: Keith Olbermann's Special Comment says it all. When does the filibuster start?

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