The previous FISA effort on behalf of the President failed. Presumably netroots and citizen outrage contributed to that. Now this capitulation. What has changed between then and now?

Is it simply a few months closer to the elections and Congress folks are much more conscious of their $$ warchests and the ability of telcos to fill them? Or has something else happened to make the Congress folks have much more disdain for netroots and citizen power than they did last time?

While the Congress folks are mostly of a despicable kind, let's not waste words on that. Think of them as weather vanes, pointing in the direction of the prevailing winds which get them reelected. What has changed the direction of the wind since a few months ago?

Craven, capitulating, loving the president, weak, etc., do not constitute explanations; they are only descriptions.

An example of an explanation - a far-fetched one to be sure, but in a different class from "cowardly, betrayers, etc."

The very top leadership of the Democrats know that an attack on Iran is imminent, and the political fallout of that will dwarf this FISA matter; so they can take telco dollars now and still retrieve their voters.

-- The "taking away of an election issue from the Republicans" is an explanation, but does not hold much water with me; aren't all the indications that FISA is not a winning issue for the Republicans?

The Democrats are not capitulating because they don't want to look soft on terror. The Democrats are capitulating because whatever will come out in the lawsuits will incriminate Democrats. I didn't think of it before it was explicitly cited on Countdown last night by a Professor of Law at GWU. Before then, I really couldn't understand the calculation.

This calculation would have been the same months ago, when the Democrats did repel this. What changed? Without that this explanation is incomplete.

From Dave Burstein's DSLPrime newsletter (available on dslprime.com)

Also in Seoul, the Korea Times reports “officials from the U.S. Embassy blocked access to reporters” from the FCC Chair, Kevin Martin. They were particularly outraged because the embassy had made special arrangements for American reporters to interview Kevin. A visitor from France added “`They are Americans. They do that in Paris, too.'' They do that in Las Vegas as well, where USTA boss Walt McCormick cut off the audience when Martin offered to take questions. That was pretty insulting, and McCormick followed up by twisting what Martin had just said. I haven't asked Kevin if he noticed, but shortly thereafter I noticed Walt had been seated at the far head of the “Chairman's Dinner,” as distant from the Chairman as possible. D.C. is like the court of Louis XIV, where everyone watches who draws a smile from the ruler. An FCC official once smiled and said “Hi Dave” to me in public, and the next day a senior executive of spent two hours talking to me because he “wanted to understand my issues.”

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll437.xml

H R 6304 YEA-AND-NAY 20-Jun-2008 12:48 PM

QUESTION: On Passage

BILL TITLE: FISA Amendments Act of 2008

Italians and Romans, seems quite fitting:

(Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)

Koreans are more mobilized/mobilizable than Americans?

(or maybe Beef is more vital than the rule of law?)

Power of Universal Broadband “I'm Only 15 and I Don't Want to Die Now”

1.3M sign to impeach President Lee-Myung Bak on the “venomous” Net

The Prime Minister has been fired and the Korean government may fall, demonstrating the power of the Internet in the most wired country in the world. Seoul has a 103% broadband take rate and it seems every one of those lines is being used to raise the protests against American beef. Soon after rumors flared across the Internet, thousands of Koreans swarmed Cheonggyecheon Plaza in a candlelight vigil. High school students marched with signs, “I'm only 15 and I don't want to die.” Further on, 80,000 people marched and the newly elected President's approval rating dropped to 20%. As far as I know the entire issue is total nonsense and American beef is no more or less dangerous than beef from anywhere else, but I believe the Korean people are entitled to decide what they should eat.

Opposition Chairman Sohn said, “The governing party is trying to take over the Internet through systematic countermeasures against posts on search engines.'' The Korea Times added Sohn stressed “a government which is trying to gag the media will never be successful.” The new regime is also trying to push out the head of KBC.

The President warns “the spread of falsehoods and inaccurate information are threatening even rationality and trust.” The Chinese People's Daily reports Lee “called for OECD-wide efforts to prevent abuse of the Internet and create a safer Internet-based society.” I believe the Chinese consider “Internet control” essential for a “harmonious state,” and are glad the Koreans are also seeking harmony.

Thousands flooded the police web site after the police went after “Andante”, the anonymous originator of the impeachment petition. One posted, `I too signed on for the impeachment campaign, so arrest me with Andante,' leaving his real name (Korea Times.) I'm sure there's much more to the story, but DSL Prime isn't the place for a history of U.S./Korean relations. The Internet changes everything, including the speed of panic and political protest.

From Dave Burstein, http://www.dslprime.com/

With such a bipartisan array against us I have to wonder if it is us who are crazy.

But I see no hole in the reasoning that leads us to our opposition to this bill. I don't see argument from the other side that even puts a dent in that reasoning.