Sent to Barack Obama's campaign Web site this morning:

Senator Obama,

I've watched your primary campaign with great hope. Your statements and speeches often focus on the leadership that you will provide to our nation as our next President. I now ask you to demonstrate that leadership in your present office, as the U.S. Senator for Illinois.

Last Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee produced a draft bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. This draft includes a provision of amnesty for telecommunication service providers who illegally cooperated with the current administration in the warrantless surveillance of American citizens. There are, at present, numerous lawsuits before the courts regarding this very issue.

Nothing could be more damaging to our Constitutional system, the authority of the judicial branch and the concept of rule of law, than to grant amnesty for these criminal acts -- an amnesty given without any knowledge of the extent of this illegal activity (which appears massive) and the disposition of the information collected. These are matters of vital interest to every American. The determination of liability and penalty for lawbreaking is assigned by the Constitution to our courts and legal system, not to the U.S. Congress.

Another Presidential candidate, Senator Chris Dodd, took a principled stand and announced that he would place a hold on any FISA bill that includes a Telco amnesty provision. There is a rumor that the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, will, in defiance of all Senate tradition and precedent, bring the draft bill to the floor for a vote next month despite Senator Dodd's hold. Senator Dodd has publicly committed to filibustering the bill if Senator Reid takes this unfortunate action.

Senator Obama, there is no better opportunity for you to now demonstrate the leadership abilities and personal convictions asserted in your present campaign. I realize that you have stated that you will vote against Telco amnesty, but that is a passive response to a matter with such momentous implications for our country. I respectfully ask that, in the days to come, you take the following actions with respect to the Senate FISA bill:

1. Support Senator Dodd's hold on the proposed FISA legislation by informing Senate Majority Leader Reid that you will also place a hold on the bill.

2. Discourage Senator Reid in every way possible from ignoring the hold and bringing this flawed legislation to the floor of the Senate.

3. If necessary, participate in a filibuster of any legislation including Telco amnesty.

4. Work to craft a FISA bill that focuses in the narrowest possible way on the genuine deficiencies in the current FISA law and that does not grant this administration or any future administration unprecedented authority to subvert the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution.

I, and many others, will be listening to you and watching your actions in this vital matter. I pray that you will prove to be the man with the principles and convictions needed to be our next President.

The cost of this litigation is far more than direct legal costs, or even penalty costs when the Guilty verdict is ultimately delivered (as everyone on both sides of this issue seems to acknowledge is a given).

So far, MSM, the administration and the telcos have been quite successful at keeping news of the stalled, endangered Senate bill very low key. In the last week I've spoken to numerous people who aren't netroots, who are totally oblivious to what's going on with telcom amnesty (and are outraged and appalled when I describe it to them). If this gets aired out in some very visible court proceedings, can you picture both the marketing and regulatory disaster it could become for the telcos?

AT&T - Your World Delivered. To The Feds. Without A Warrant.

Verizon Wireless: Can I hear you now?

How many people would dump AT&T or Verizon if they could switch to a carrier who wasn't party to the Bush taps? What new regulations would be demanded to further safeguard against a repeat of this lawless activity, how much would it cost the telcos to implement, how much would it change their business?

It could even stretch as far as serious, renewed movement to again break up AT&T (itself nothing more than the Frankenstein resurrection of the old Bell System), and it will provide plenty of ammo to block & reverse relaxed media consolidation laws.

Once people discover that they have a voice and can actually make things happen by using it, where does that end? Truly, Fred's and the rest of the Beltway's worst nightmare; people making decisions and standing up for principles without reference to them. The end of civilization as we know it.

I understand that Chris Dodd is to be the guest on Meet the Press tomorrow... for the whole hour. Should be interesting, and he'll undoubtedly discuss this issue.

I don't usually watch MTP, since Huffington Post reviews it, but tomorrow I may make an exeption.

I have this heart-felt hope that Chris Dodd will open up a real, unmoderated-by-MSM, national discussion about everything that is so wrong with Bush/Cheney -- and even more important, a discussion about what must be done to limit the damage they can do in what's left of their time in office (or man-size safe as the case may be). The runnup to the primaries was another sterile, money-driven beauty contest until Dodd stood up for the Constitution and rule of law. I'm looking forward to seeing him tomorrow too.

. . . of why MSM is dying.

One of the most frustrating things about reading Rockefeller's opinion piece is the WaPo's designed-in stifling of public response. There's no way for the public to post even a brief comment; we're to consume their wisdom and go quietly about our business while the Very Serious do all of our deep thinking for us.

This is the Web equivalent of sticking fingers in their ears and shouting so that they can't hear us.