As I understand it:

1. The cloture vote at High Noon 12/17 is to shorten debate on the Motion to Proceed to the Rockefeller Intelligence FISA bill, rather than a cloture vote to shorten debate on the bill itself. Thinking of cloture as a motion to "move the question" may help; first cloture must be approved (by 60 votes - 41 Nays aren't necessary; but 60 affirmative votes must be cast), and then debate continues for a limited amount of time - still on the Motion to Proceed, rather than on the bill itself (with Senators only able to speak for 1 or 2 hours each) - before the simple majority vote on whether or not to pass the Motion to Proceed to the Rockefeller Intelligence bill takes place. A maximum of 30 more hours of debate on the Motion to Proceed (if cloture succeeds at noon Monday) would be permitted. But Dodd may not use all of that time, as I understand Rule XXII, post-cloture. [To end debate on the bill itself (during which debate Dodd's filibuster seems most likely) if Monday's vote reaches 60, a subsequent cloture motion, after final approval of the Motion to Proceed, will need to be filed, using the same process, in order to limit debate on the bill itself, before final passage, to 30 more hours.]

http://rules.senate.gov/senaterules/rule22.php

2. Chris Dodd will, at least, get the floor Monday morning, under Friday's unanimous consent agreement, for 35 minutes, before the cloture vote. Presumably, he will then be offering any amendments for later debate, but it doesn't seem that he can start a filibuster at that time, under the terms of the two unanimous consent agreements, the second of which reads:

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m., Monday, December 17; that on Monday, following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate then resume the motion to proceed to S. 2248; with the time until 12 noon equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senator Dodd controlling 35 minutes and Senator Feingold controlling 15 minutes of the opponents' time.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2007_record&page=S15706&position=all

3. Earlier that evening, another unanimous consent agreement had been passed - shortly after Harry Reid, with the help of 18 Democratic colleagues, rode roughshod over Chris Dodd's principled hold - as follows:

Mr. REID. Madam President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 512, S. 2248, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

Cloture Motion

We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to S. 2248, FISA.

Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy, Ken Salazar, Daniel K. Inouye, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Frank R. Lautenberg, Debbie Stabenow, Richard J. Durbin, Tom Carper, John Kerry, E. Benjamin Nelson, Evan Bayh, Kent Conrad, Carl Levin, Mark Pryor, Charles Schumer, Jay Rockefeller, S. Whitehouse, Bill Nelson.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be waived that is required under rule XXII and that the cloture vote occur at 12 noon, Monday, December 17.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I now withdraw the motion.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is withdrawn.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2007_record&page=S15646&position=all

[For some reason this particular page of the GPO's Congressional Record is not accessible now. To read this at Thomas, go here: http://thomas.loc.gov/r110/r110.html and choose the Senate for 12/14, then #24, then Page 3.]

Reid introduced the Motion to Proceed to the FISA bill on Friday evening (about 5 p.m.) in order to immediately file a cloture motion to cut off debate on that Motion to Proceed, and then withdrew the Motion to Proceed itself to prevent debate on that matter until Monday morning as set up in his next UCAgreement quoted above, as I read it.

I don't at this point understand how and when Dodd will make his stand. I do know that funding for the FY 2008 federal budget runs out this coming Friday, because the current, extended Continuing Resolution only lasts that long, so any filibuster is going to be pressure-packed from beginning to end.

But please note the Democratic Senators who joined with Harry Reid to tell Chris Dodd and his hold and the American people and their Constitution's vital separation of powers to get stuffed:

Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy, Ken Salazar, Daniel K. Inouye, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Frank R. Lautenberg, Debbie Stabenow, Richard J. Durbin, Tom Carper, John Kerry, E. Benjamin Nelson, Evan Bayh, Kent Conrad, Carl Levin, Mark Pryor, Charles Schumer, Jay Rockefeller, S. Whitehouse, Bill Nelson.

Those 18 men and 1 woman decided that bipartisan Senate tradition, which has long honored individual holds on matters of principle - including holds of their own, was in need of overriding on the specific matter of corporate lawbreaking amnesty. Their names on that cloture motion speak volumes. Patrick Leahy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Dick Durbin, and John Kerry ought to be ashamed, as they willingly share the Congressional gutter with the likes of Ben Nelson and Mark Pryor.

Thus, it seems clear that none of these 19, so eager to please a back-biting party leader and his manipulative Rockefeller sidekick at the expense of 300 million American citizens, will lift a finger to stand with Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold, Ted Kennedy or anyone else who tries to block this unConstitutional, undemocratic steamroller driven by a passive-aggressive authoritarian from Nevada named Harry Reid.