Great article Glenn. I only wish it weren't true. If the Dems. should vote to provide retroactive immunity to the telecoms I will have no choice but to change my voter affiliation to Independent. I could not in good conscience remain a Democrat.

Two words.

Fuck

You.

Sincerely,

Jebbie

It is remote because no one is going to bring the charges. You need someone with standing to sue the Executive Branch for violation of law -- and a court that will hear it. It's not a legal matter; as Glen said, it's a practical matter.

comandante adnoto

Should the police sandbag the windows at the station house, or are you just in town to catch The Brave One?

I think the police can rest easy. The goal is to strut one's purer-and-more-sophisticated-than-thou revolutionary wings, bringing about feelings of immense self-satisfaction.

That is accomplished by writing "lol" on blogs at people engaged in pre-revolutionary efforts. The actual carrying out of the actions is unnecessary to achieve the desired, highly personalized goals.

No sooner had I typed my last post complaining about emails from Democrats concerning crap I don't care about, I received and email from Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama: (I"ll spare you the entire thing, but copy/paste enough for you to get the gist of it).

Dear ____________

Make a pledge

I've got a job for you. And it's going to be exhilarating.

You're one of more than 250,000 people who own a piece of this campaign, but there are thousands of supporters who have not yet taken that leap.

I need your help getting them involved.

For the next ten days, Barack is asking you to match someone's first donation to our campaign.

By matching a first time donor, you'll show them that real people like you are the foundation of this movement.

You choose the amount, and we'll find a donor willing to give the same amount. You'll see their name and town, and you can even choose to exchange notes with the supporter you brought into our movement.

Will you match someone's first donation now?

https://donate.barackobama.com/pledge

It's an amazing feeling knowing that you can have an impact greater than your single vote or your single voice.

That's the feeling you get when you begin to organize -- not just to speak out, but to persuade others to speak out with you.

And on and on it goes....

Democracy in the USA right now is in a similar condition to Norman Bates’s mother - a corpse dressed up and sat in a rocking chair in the basement, while a madman runs the family business upstairs.

So, you have a bone to pick with isolationists- fair enough. What I can't seem to understand, though, is what your alternative is? Do you truly believe that the people here on this thread know nothing about geo-political matters, or the courses of history? Are you railing here against some demonstrated complacency? Are you in support of the efforts of the current administration to ensure our future safety at the point of a Howitzer?

What think you of the credo 'Give Me Liberty or Give me Death'?

Is our response to the divine authoritarianism of our Muslim opponents to return sevenfold upon their heads our own mortal ultimatum? We are all sons of Abraham, would you have us instead aspire to be the first son of Adam? Is our empire to mimic that first Great Empire- are we to become Romulus?

What alternative do we have? Would you prefer ATT to fund our candidates and leave us apart from the whole mess?

I just think, regardless of what I think has been his sloth in following some of the legislative and political details, there is likely some genuine threat of Democrats agreeing to retroactive liability based on what he wrote. I think his reporting is at least trustworthy enough to conclude that.

I'd just like to emphasize that, regardless of what is the likelihood of Democrats yielding on retroactive liability, the leak by Congressional aides at the very least makes feedback from the public very important right now.

And I agree that some Democrats are likely at least considering capitulation, and this alone is enough cause for substantial alarm and outrage.

You wrote:The Democrats are largely spineless and are scared of their own shadow, but in the absence of a third party with a viable chance of winning the presidency, there's no alternative to the Democrats if we wish to regain the democracy we lost under Bush/Cheney. The worst Democrat is infinitesimally better than the "best" Republican.

I used to think that until I have seen how the Democratic congress is acting. Their actions have convinced me that Nader was in fact right about their being just one party with two components shadowboxing to distract us. the Democrats are not spineless and scared: they are quite intelligently sticking to their principles, revealed under the principle that actions speak louder than words.

And I find that very depressing. I wish you were right, pantanal, because the world would be less scary if you were. But I am reluctantly thinking you are not right, and that we are in quite a fix.

Do you think perhaps that the Democrats aren't fighting this tooth and nail because they deep down are thinking that they will have the presidency come Jan 2009 and they are thinking maybe, just maybe, that this warrantless eavesdropping might not be such terrible thing?

To wit: do you honestly think that if a Democrat is elected President he/she will immediately give up said powers that have been collected by this administration?

Glenn,

Thanks for pointing out the complicity of the Congressional Democrats in the stripping away of the rule of law in this country. I hope they don't keep enabling this FISA violation. Their spineless lack of convictions disgusts me. I wait without much hope to be proven wrong on this one...

I think you missed my point. I'm not saying that fundraising isn't a necessary part of campaigning. However, just going by my email inbox, campaigning is ALL about fundraising, 24-7.

What I'm saying is this: Why not send an email to your supporters letting them know what you did in comgress all week? Which measures did you propose? Why? Which ones did you support? Why? Which ones did you vote against? Why? Instead, I get hit up for money a few times a week from some cheerleader. That doesn't motivate me.