Is this a new feature? I like it.

Especially interesting how Grassely specifically asked that the record show his vote counted as "aye". Is this SOP? It seems unusual, like he's sending a message to the White House, his constituents, or just history [in a small way] and his conscience. I've always thought Grassley was better than his record in the Rubber Stamp Caucus suggests. I hope he stays on the right course, maybe he can drag a few others along with him.

And Arlen Specter. "I have my independence from the President." Adorable. Is the Cowardly Nittany Lion going to break into a few choruses of "Courage" next? I wonder if the poor, pathetic clown actually believes that crap when he says it. I understand he abstained from this vote. I can't think of anything that better captures the spineless, confused desperation of a sad little man caught between Rove-CheneyCO and his own conscience. What a sad way to end a career in the US Senate. I actually have more respect for brazen hacks like Trent Lott.

He laid the smack down on Specter. I think it was GREAT! And Kennedy was brilliant.

I love watching these Republicans run around talking about compromise....it's so ironic. It must be nice to have no sense of self awareness or shame.

Thank you for providing this transcript. It's beyond me how Arlen can argue that anyone could get information out of Karl Rove behind closed doors, without an oath or a transcript, and then declare that he's independent from the White House.

And it's nice to see Democrats showing spine.

No way is the litigation done by the end of this Congress, and that's assuming Congress wins.

For the last several years I have railed against the intrusions on the privacy of everyday Americans and the general erosion of fundamental liberties brought about by the criminals in the executive department and abetted by fellow travelers and cowards in congress and the main stream media.

On several occasions, when I have voiced my opinion on this subject publicly, at the corner saloon or elsewhere I have been told that "if you have nothing to hide, if you have committed no crime, then you have nothing to worry about."

I have always been somewhat amazed by that argument, coming as it often does from the mouths of otherwise intelligent and independent minded Americans who once called themselves Democrats and liberals.

As a Democrat and a liberal I have a healthy respect for our system of government when it is being operated according to the limits of the constitution, however, I have a vastly larger measure of distrust and outright fear of government when it is allowed to stray from the rule of law as it has since the Supreme Court elevated this group of criminal buffoons to the highest offices of the Republic.

The anti constitutional motives of the current administration have been apparent at every turn and in nearly every move they have made. From the wretched excesses of the Patriot Act to the selective removal of habeas corpus they have sought to increase the power of the executive while diminishing that of the congress, the courts, and the people they are legally bound to serve.

The claims that they have been somehow forced to limit our basic freedoms because "evil exists in the world" impress me no more than the claims of the boys at the pool room who tell me that I have nothing to fear from this government.

Now we are embroiled in yet another power struggle between a thoroughly corrupt and woefully inept executive and a newly elected congress that seems at long last, to have at least temporarily, located it's collective cojones.

This from Senator Patrick Leahy in Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings as excerpted at Salon

"I want it open. I want people to notice it. I want both Republicans and Democrats to be able to ask questions. I have had enough of these closed-door meetings. We've had them up here, where they come up and tell you one thing one day. Two days later, in the press, we find -- oops, that wasn't what the real story was. And then they call up and say, "Oh, yes, I guess we left some key things out or we were misleading; could we have another one of those private meetings?"

"I'm tired of that."

This is an important matter. I do not take lightly a "take it or leave it" -- a "take it or leave it" so-called offer from the White House. I'm a United States senator. I believe in the prerogatives of the United States Senate.

As I said earlier, U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. The system of justice does not serve at the pleasure of any person in this country. It is there for all of us. That's what we're trying to protect.

We stand in recess.

The argument of the boys at the pool room and those in the House and Senate who insist on pussy footing around this rogue executive are equally specious.

Congress has a sworn duty to act as a check on the other institutions of our government and now that this unelected and thoroughly incompetent President has arrogantly thrown the executive privilege gauntlet, it seems to me that the Congress MUST answer with all the legal means at it's disposal and force testimony from those who attempt to deceive and hide the truth from the people of this country.

The Bush Cheney corporate cabal has ridden roughshod over every part of American government for six long and terrible years. The evidence of their arrogance, the results of their blind ambitions to empire, the cynical brutality of what they have brought to this country and the world is ever present in our lives and will have extraordinarily negative effects on the lives of millions for a generation or more.

It is the absolute responsibility of every member of congress to return some sense of ethics, of humanity, of responsibility to our government.

Authorize subpoenas? Yes. Issue subpoenas? Absolutely, it is past time for this congress to lock and load and do battle with an executive that has fought an unopposed war with America for the last six years.

Worldwide Sawdust