Letters to the Editor
farbie
Published Letters: 128 Editor's Choice: 2
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JUST GOT THROUGH WATCHING DODD'S FABULOUS SPEECH
[Read the article: Jay Rockefeller's unintentionally revealing comments]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A C-SPAN UPDATE: Senator Leahy introduced this AM an "amendment" to the Intel.Com (IC) bill which essentially substitutes the Judiciary Committee (JC) bill for the IC bill. Senator Specter also spoke in support of Leahy's amendment. Then, Chris Dodd followed with a FABULOUS speech, where he outlined his five principal objections to the IC bill. Dodd spoke eloquently about the "rule of law," and the fact that Senators are only "temporary custodians" of the rule of law. What has this country come to? The issue of telecom immunity is more important than just Bush getting his way; it's whether we will continue to live by the rule of law, or become lawless miscreants bumbling towards oblivion. I URGE ANYONE READING THIS TO NOT ONLY E-MAIL THEIR SENATORS and SENATOR REID'S OFFICE, but to CALL THEIR SENATORS AND SENATOR REID'S OFFICE, DEMANDING THAT HE STOP THE PROCEEDINGS ON THE IC BILL, AND SUBMIT INSTEAD THE JC BILL. IN ADDITION, WE NEED TO PREPARE FOR THE EVENTUALITY THAT THE IC BILL WILL PASS, AND URGE THE HOUSE TO HOLD FIRM IN CONFERENCE, SO THAT NO FINAL BILL WILL HAVE RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY IN IT.
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EDWARDS IS ON BOARD AGAINST RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY
[Read the article: Jay Rockefeller's unintentionally revealing comments]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In case anyone still does not know, (this happened around 4 hours ago) Edwards formally announced his opposition to retroactive immunity, and for the Judiciary Committee bill, with its reasonable civil rights safeguards! He was the first to do so, so he will get my vote on February 5th. One can only hope that he will get some MSM press on this. I watched C SPAN almost the entire day, and was as perplexed as Glenn was at the Republican obstructionism. Maybe, just maybe, there's hope! (Reid's comments about joining Dodd's filibuster)
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Taohban is Right: IT'S THE MEDIA, STUPID!
[Read the article: What's at stake today in the Senate's FISA filibuster vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just looked at a few of the posted comments, and read Taohban's (Sp?) comments about the Mainstream Media. There's no question that THE MAJOR PROBLEM over the last 15-20 years is the state of the MSM, which has been effectively neutered by nearly 40 years of Right Wing Noise about the "Liberal Media." The MSM is now essentially a soft version of the "Right Wing Noise Machine," which produces daily drivel from the likes of the "Drudge" report and numerous other websites. This has been well-documented by Eric Alterman, (What Liberal Media?) Chris Hedges (American Fascists), and, more recently, Al Gore. (Assault on Reason) Glenn Greenwald should become the press secretary for whomever the Democratic nominee is, because of his talent and his ability to state things accurately. Of course, that's just a pipe dream, but I can dream, can't I? Since we currently can't rely on the MSM, let's continue in our efforts to let EACH Senator, especially my own Senator, DI-FI, that they MUST vote against cloture, and allow the current bill to be filibustered to death. NO RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY!!!
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HERE'S THE SCOOP ON THE CLOTURE VOTE YESTERDAY
[Read the article: Today's FISA vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I watched the entire debate and both cloture votes held yesterday. Ultimately, there were four Demos who voted in FAVOR of Cloture on the main bill (S2248), INCLUDING Landrieu. (She originally voted AGAINST Cloture, and then changed her vote IN FAVOR of Cloture once it became clear that her "No" vote was not needed. (She changed it after there were already 43 votes against Cloture, two more than necessary) Specter was the only Republican to vote against Cloture of the main bill. As for the Republicans' blocking of Amendments, they accomplished this by not providing unanimous consent to proceeding with the Amendments, which was the tactic they used last Friday to get the bill to a cloture vote. In other words, for anything to proceed in the Senate, there are numerous times when one must seek "unanimous consent" to proceed on a motion, amendment, or other procedural hurdle. This happens at least 100 times a day, if not more. If you watch the Senate on C-SPAN at all, you will become aware of the request for "unanimous consent." What happened last Friday, is the Republicans objected to the request for "unanimous consent" for the introduction of various amendments to the FISA bill. Apparently, the Republicans didn't ask Harry Reid, so he got upset! We need to keep the pressure on today and the rest of the week, to insure that the time pressure doesn't cause the Dems to cave.
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Answer to Question about a Later Congress "undoing" Amnesty
[Read the article: Today's FISA vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In answer to a question just posted, about the possibility of a later Congress "undoing" amnesty, it's a highly doubtful proposition. That's why it's vital to stop it NOW, before it becomes law.
We need to channel Chris Dodd on this: Rewarding the telcos with "amnesty" has NOTHING TO DO WITH SECURITY! It's only about Bush lining the pockets of his already-rich buddies. By virtue of the new bill, telecom companies will already have immunity for future wiretaps, so there is no reason for them not to cooperate with the government in the "wiretap Osama scenario," as is falsely suggested by the Bush Administration, the RWNM and even the MSM. This isn't first grade, folks, this is the adult world.
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LET'S GET TO WORK TO INSURE THAT THE HOUSE DOESN'T CAVE TO BUSH
[Read the article: Amnesty Day for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't have the time to read through 450+ posts that Glenn's article yesterday generated. I know this: we MUST STOP RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY, NOW! As bad as the other provisions in the bill are authorizing "blanket" wiretaps and "after-the-fact" judicial review of them, I can live with those, for the time being. I cannot live with retroactive immunity, because that will forever end the inquiry into the lawless behavior of the Bush Admin. I am going to urge MoveOn, and other progressive organizations to organize a mass e-mail and phone campaign to Pelosi and Steney Hoyer's offices to insure that Retroactive Immunity is stripped from the final conference bill. Let's get moving on this!!!!!