I agree with the hag, no that doesn’t work, the cocktail, damn you need a new moniker. I had already saved both letters and sent them to my best (conservative) friend.

Wow. Participatory democracy. Who'd a thunk it? I would like one of those "Why are you voting for..." boxes on my real ballot someday.

House Democrats have also raised questions about the compromise, which emerged after the Bush administration agreed to share documents related to the secret eavesdropping program with the Senate committee. Other committees have demanded access to the same documents.

In addition, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who is running for president, announced on his campaign Web site Thursday that he would put a hold on the proposed bill. That legislative maneuver would create another obstacle.

Wassa matter, pre-election fix results showing turmoil again, oh paper of record?

I also found this interesting.

But passage in the committee came with one unexpected hitch. In an interview after the closed session, Mr. Wyden said he had succeeded, by a vote of 9 to 6, in adding an amendment that would offer additional protections by requiring that the government get a warrant whenever it wanted to wiretap an American outside the country, like an American soldier based overseas or a business person.

“The individual freedom of an American shouldn’t depend on their physical geography,” he said.

But Mr. Wyden said the administration vigorously opposed that measure and was threatening to veto any final bill if it is included.

he administration vigorously opposed that measure and was threatening to veto any final bill if it is included.

So how does this work again?

"I'm just a bill, sittin' here on Capitol Hill"

Bush vetoes, and says "Dems support terrorists and won't pass FISA."

Dems say "Propose a bill that doesn't violate the Constitution and we'll pass it."

PROPOSE A BILL THAT DOESN'T VIOLATE THE US CONSTITUTION AND WE'LL PASS IT!!

HELLO?!?

Thanks..

I laughed so hard at that post that a curler flew off my head and landed in my gin fizz.

But Mr. Wyden said the administration vigorously opposed that measure and was threatening to veto any final bill if it is included.

Way to keep after it, RMP.

But the remark of Wyden is just so typical. . . as though to say the fact that Bush might veto such a measure might be a good reason to set it aside. They should be sending him a bill every day that he will veto!

House Democrats said Thursday that, unlike their counterparts on the Senate Intelligence Committee, they still had not been given access to classified internal documents related to the origins and framework of the N.S.A. program after months of requests. House officials made it clear in interviews that without access to those documents they would be unwilling even to consider immunity for the telecommunications companies.

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Bond, worked out an agreement with the administration giving committee and staff members access to the documents in exchange for scheduling Thursday’s review of the bill. But just what those documents showed was a matter of intense dispute.

Mr. Feingold, who had a staff member review the classified documents at a secure location earlier in the week, came away with a different impression. Mr. Feingold said, “The documents made available by the White House for the first time this week only further demonstrate that the program was illegal and that there is no basis for granting retroactive immunity to those who allegedly cooperated.”

Mr. Feingold and other Democrats said they would oppose any efforts to give immunity to the telecommunications companies. Mr. Dodd, announcing his hold on the proposed legislation, described the immunity proposal as “amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the president’s assault on the Constitution by providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.”

Pointedly, Mr. Rockefeller refused to include in his plan immunity from civil or even criminal prosecution for government officials who took part in the security agency’s program.

Yeah, and did you catch the Brit contractors that opened fire and wounded a civilian or two? The hits just keep on coming. So maybe they don't RENEW Blackwater (that seemed to be the direction Condi was leaning, right? Not kick them out now, just don't renew?). Sounds like they have several other companies who can take their place...under the same no-accountability rules.

Note for those thinking that because the company was Brit that the Brits are hiring mercs too: they were escorting US Army Corps of Engineers members. Link in my sig.

Is an excellent exemplar of The General's fine work, and that is a compliment to the spaghetti eater. His Manliness writes at least one a week.

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

Thomas C.,

It is absolutely stunning that Americans have acquiesced so readily and even enthusiastically to the abridgement of constitutional rights.

During the '80s, in the course of one lectures in Criminal Justice, I heard about university study (somewhere in Michigan, I think) conducted during the 70's involving the Bill of Rights. Thinly disguised as a petition, it was sent out with student volunteers to supermarkets and such, mostly in rural areas we would call red states today, for signatures. A disturbing number of people thought it was too radical, too "liberal". The only "crisis" being faced at the time was probably long lines at the gas pumps.

Pointedly, Mr. Rockefeller refused to include in his plan immunity from civil or even criminal prosecution for government officials who took part in the security agency’s program.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/283dnx

I guess those government officials just didn't contribute enough money to him.

Seriously, though, this is an improvement. The language I remember from previous proposals looked like it was also aimed at government types and I thought that was the main reason they were trying to get it. Let's hope that Dodd's hold (with Feingold's support?) prevents this whole issue from coming up.