Though I am an UNFORTUNATE USER of A T & T Services, I may be BOYCOTTING THEIR RAPACIOUS CONGLOMERATE and ACTIVELY SEEK WAYS TO DESTROY BOTH THEIR POWER AND STANDING IN THE WORLD AS WELL AS THEIR MISBEGOTTEN COMPANY AS A WHOLE. IT IS HIGH TIME WE PULLED THE PLUG ON A T & T, AND THE SOONER, THE BETTER!!!!!

Write your Senators about this. You can find out who they are and how to contact them here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm . Here is what i wrote to mine as an example:

Senator _______,

This message is in regards to the latest FISA bill, and to urge you to oppose this legislation. The bill I am referring too will provide immunity for telecommunication companies who have potentially engaged in widespread illegal domestic wiretapping. While there are many reason why I feel this bill is bad for the United States there is one which I feel is the most powerful. As a United States Senator you have sworn to uphold the constitution:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

The Constitution separates the government of the United States into three distinct branches in order to protect the citizens, and the rights of the citizens of the United States. By passing this bill the United States Senate, as of member of the Legislative branch will be directly and willingly going in direct opposition to the Constitution. The issue of the guilt, or innocence of the telecommunications companies in a judicial issue, and requires the due process that only the Judicial branch provides. So please Senator ________, support the efforts to block this bill, uphold your oath to the citizens of the United States, and protect the ideals of the Constitution which has been tread on so indigently in the past few years.

With Hope,

___My Name___

The transcripts of the trial of the CEO of Qwest (one of the few Telcos that refused to cooperate with Bush regarding monitoring its customers communications without a warrant) brought to light the fact that the Bush administration began meeting with the various Telcos immediately after Bush took office in February of 2001 regarding their cooperation with the Bush administration’s desire to monitor the communications of U.S. citizens!!! This means that Bush’s justification for monitoring the communications of U.S. citizens – to protect them from the threat of terrorism – is totally moot. This was 8 months before the events of September 11th. One of the truly shocking things brought to light about this timing is that the White House was in collusion with the Telcos in initiating the surveillance program, but left Congress totally in the dark about what they were doing. That they initiated the surveillance before 9/11 means their current excuse (and free ticket) for doing so is just a convenient lie. It’s amazing how empowering the events of September 11th have been for the Bushites. They couldn’t have asked for a more timely event to justify their intentions unless they planned it themselves. The fact that the Telcos were in on this and that Congress was left in the dark is highly suspicious. Any member of Congress who is willing to grant blanket immunity from prosecution to either the Telcos or the Bush administration after learning that the program was initiated 8 months before 9/11 is suspect themselves. It’s amazing how many republicans in particular (but some democrats too) are willing to grant immunity for actions they’ve been kept in the dark about. For all they know, they could be granting immunity to those who were using surveillance for the purpose of getting them kicked out of office by involving them in a public scandal.

Once you grant the power of surveillance to any entity or person, it is next to impossible to take it away. You’ve given them the power (a) to know ahead of time when any person questions their authority through surveillance and (b) to whisk away to permanent detention in an undisclosed location anyone who may be a threat to the executive branch maintaining such power. Yet, this is exactly what some of our “representatives” in Congress want to do so they can “protect us.” I say, the only thing Americans need protection from is the unbridled power of self-serving greed mongers. The damage done to our system of government and to the protections afforded individuals by the Constitution now outweighs the damage done by the terrorists on 9/11 because many more people will be affected by this damage for many years to come.

Believe it or not, nutmeggers took a certain pride in the story, and when some marketing department changed Conn. into the "constitution state", we knew that move for the empty PR ploy that it was.

So it was indeed intended as a compliment, and to any real nutmegger, I'm confident it will be received as same.

I've spent more time in the "Land of Steady Habits" (another phrase for CT) than any other state, I think. Yes, there is some pride there. Nice to have at least three or four slogans for your state; you can pick'n'choose as the mood suits you.

Go Red Sox! And go Pats! (I'm not a New Yawk fan....)

As for Connecticut Republicans, we have Rowland, Giordano, and Lieberman carrying the standard there; quite a nice bunch. Lowell Weicker was wise to tell the CT GOP to FOAD.

Cheers,

And my thanks. I don't know how long a "hold" will last, but he at least tried.

Now it is time for him (and Sen Feingold) to deluge the press with this, to make it stick. We have to fight the M$M smear that is already in progress.