Now that I have wiped away my tears, I need to say this. The more you share with us the very valid reasons for your demons, the more resolved we become in restoring the dreams of America that you and I pledged to defend. The sorrow of that mother is the best reminder of why those that post on Glenn’s threads will not give up and why you are such a treasure for us.

Congratulations!

In these dark times, it is difficult not to see your actions - and, of course, Senator Dodd's announcement - as a flash of light in these dark times.

Well done to all. I suggest Sen. Dodd be shown some love - not only does he appear to deserve it, but it might send a message to other Democratic contenders (and non-candidates, too) that standing up for what is right, right now, attracts support.

Chris Dodd for President

PO Box 51882

Washington, DC 20091

Phone (DC): (202) 737-DODD (3633)

Phone (CT): (860) 244-2008

Since you brought up mailing, I wonder (can someone answer?): Are safeguards (from government intrusion) for regular mail better then anything electronic?

I voiced my support to Senator Dodd, and I want to also thank you for giving us this idea. You're a genius! It just goes to show you that we CAN make a difference.

Hey--I think I've finally goaded some of you into doing something other than Glenn attaboys. Keep the $$ flowing to Dodd, for goodness sake. Putting your money where your mouth is is a beautiful thing.

Democrat leaders should be ashamed of their leadership! Telephone companies have NO RIGHT to eavesdrop on Americans, especially without oversight! And no one has the right to remove the last recourse for victims of an overreaching government; a civil law suit!

Dodd

Hey--I think I've finally goaded some of you into doing something other than Glenn attaboys. Keep the $$ flowing to Dodd, for goodness sake. Putting your money where your mouth is is a beautiful thing.

-- P.D. "Bo" Steel

It might surprise you to know that the people who are posting here respect Glenn Greenwald, but they don't need Glenn Greenwald to tell them what to do. And they sure as hell don't depend on your "goading".

Sent him congratulations, donated money. Nice to at last feel good about one of them.

Thank doG...I mean Dodd!

Thank you for the address. Appreciate your help.

Let him take the credit if he needs to. Bos will be bos and all that. It won't change anything that matters.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd is beginning to make amends for his 2002 shameful decision to vote to authorize the felon-in chief to invade Iraq. Dodd has always been a very smart, reasonable and honest man as Beltway politicians go-everything is relative. For what it's worth, this Bay area progressive is switching from Obama, whose time will come, to Chris Dodd.

While we shouldn't give up trying to influence or pressure Congress (if we do, they'll just take it as a sign that they now have a completely supine electorate, and they can do whateverthehelltheywant), we shouldn't expect what we do to change their course. The Dems have a majority on paper, but the Rs are still in nearly absolute control -- because neither Mrs Pelosi nor Mr Reid have control of their caucuses, and there are too many Dems in both houses who will vote with the Rs on crucial issues.

Ktwdawg suggests rather than focusing on Congress, pressure should be put on the Media (the Big Media, that is) to actually report what is going on, rather than eliding everything into the latest Britney meltdown and/or what kind of trouble OJ is in now.

Good luck with that. Again, not to give up on trying to influence or pressure them, don't expect such efforts to pay off any time soon. They are really quite proud and happy with their work product as it is, and nothing much you or I might have to say -- or do -- about it is going to change their course.

But Ktwdawg's suggestion that the focus of pressure needs to be where it will do the most good, and Congress ain't it, is right. If the Big Media were susceptible to direct pressure from People Like Us (I've seen little to no evidence they are, but by golly are they ever susceptible to pressure from rightwing authoritarian cultists!) then I'd be all for trying it until it does work.

Pressure on advertisers can work. Boycotts are good. Learn to love them. If people stopped subscribing to cable teevee, it would have a remarkable effect. Stop your subscriptions to daily newspapers -- if you still have them -- and don't subscribe to the Big Three Newsmagazines, either. It's not going to change them fundamentally; they're still going to be propaganda outlets (primarily in support of the Autocracy) for whom a "temporary" financial hit is OK if they get their message across. But if they see alternative news sources picking up their lost viewers/readers, which is what should happen, rather than all trying to copy Murdoch and FOX, they'll toy more with the model used by the other side. It's just their way. They're still going to want to support and defend the corporatist cause, but we might see a bit of modification in the way they do it and an occasional nod toward the (ew) Public Interest.

Meanwhile, supporting those alternative resources is critically important. Not just blogs and so forth. There's a whole raft of alternative news and information resources available -- for now -- and they need support to expand into some of the investigative areas we wish the Big Media would do but they won't.

The main pressure We The People can put on the Autocracy is to refuse to cooperate. For the most part, what they are doing to consolidate power is in the shadows; we have only the sketchiest notions of what's really going on and why. We have few opportunities to refuse outright, in other words. We're asked or required to do very little at this point, very little that we haven't always done: pay taxes, buy crap from China, keep gas in our cars, etc.

We can refuse. There will be consequences. But refusal to do even those things is still an option.