I suggest someone with a recognizable name submit an op-ed to the New York Times along the lines of the following:

Considering that the Congress is a shadow body of no real clout or consequence, and willingly bend to the will of the President as the parliaments of the British and French kings of centuries past have done, I suggest to my fellow Democrats that they stop funding their re-election campaigns. This is clearly a waste of money since "more and better Democrats" only means more frustration as long as the current Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate Majority Leader continue to defer to the President and the Republican minority on every issue, no matter what the detriment to the Republic is should the minority prevail on them.

No, that money would be better spent making sure our preferred candidate for President of the United States is elected this November. After all, the President of the United States functions as a king in the fine tradition of Louis XIV of France who famously said, "I am the State." If America is to have a monarch rather than a mere chief executive, let us ensure we get the best damned king (or queen) we can manage, and leave the Congress to its continued exercise of rubber-stamping everything the White House asks for.

I would love to see who rebuts this.

What options are available to citizens to recall Reid and Pelosi? Is there anything at all we can do to get new leadership? Their so-called "leadership" has been dismal.

Depends on the local state law. I cannot recall if Nevada allows for recall (I doubt it) and have no idea about California. Perhaps you Californians can get an initiative on the ballot for recalling federal "representatives". You could then recall Pelosi AND Feinstein.

As for Pelosi, give money to Cindy Sheehan's candidacy against Pelosi. I don't want Sheehan in Congress because she would be a disaster in other ways vs Pelosi BUT I want Sheehan to force Pelosi to defend herself in public. Repeatedly. I want Pelosi to keep trying to defend the indefinsible.

Donate to Sheehan and send a message to Pelosi telling her you made the donation, and why.

It's times like this that makes commenting here really, really, fun. From the comment by POW WOW cited by Glenn....

This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews. For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

(SNIP)
"This sort of analysis of calling patterns and who the communities of interests are is the sort of things telephone companies are doing anyway because it's central to their businesses for marketing or optimizing the network or detecting fraud," said Professor Blaze, who has worked with the F.B.I. on technology issues.

So the next question is, why aren't you people torching ATT kiosks for doing the same thing you're freaking out about here? Heh.

Maybe this is the Ned Lamont effect. You know, the principled candidate taking a stance supported by the vast majority of the electorate and still losing to Mr Socalled Bipartisanship. As long as that's the way it goes, or as long as senators and congresspersons think it goes, appeasement will win every time.

If Dodd filibusters, I hope he uses the opportunity to read to his fellow "Democrats" about how the minority Nazis got everything they wanted from the spineless majority, before doing away with democracy altogether.

Last month before this issue was tabled in the Senate, I posted the following comment:

"Harry Reid has no choice but to push for Telecom immunity and it is not because he is opposed to the views of Dodd or Feingold, nor is it because he is in bed with the Bushies. It is because he (along with a few key Democratic congressional leaders) is also complicit in the unlawful wiretapping decisions that were made years ago.

When the wiretapping story first broke five years ago, there was much talk about certain Telecoms (e.g. Quest) refusing to go along with the Administration’s push for their support. They knew that it was illegal to do what was requested of them without a warrant, and they also knew that approval from “just” the Executive Branch would not be enough to justify the potential for future legal actions against them if they were to comply. The Telecom legal teams were not stupid. The Administration knew this. As the media attention quieted down, the Cheney team went to work lining up as many key congressional leaders as they could to “officially” support the Administration’s contention that the Telecom industry would be held harmless if future legal problems arose. One must remember that at the time, (a.) The Administration was riding a euphoric wave of invincibility, (b.) Congress was being run by sycophantic Republicans, and (c.) Congressional Democrats were afraid to oppose anything for fear of being labeled unpatriotic. It’s also important to note that it is doubtful than any of the eventual Congressional supporters knew the real magnitude and audacity of the program that was about to unfold.

Now, as the real illegal wiretapping story comes to light, the Telecoms have found it necessary to call in their Congressional chits. Reid, et al, know that depositions given by the Telecoms would include formal evidence of their complicity, and they know that by offering immunity to the Telecoms this complicity would probably never be exposed (or perhaps exposed after several decades through the Freedom of Information Act).

It’s easy to tell now which Democrats were “touched” by the Cheney crew back then. They are the ones who are either pushing for quick congressional approval of the immunity issue, or are helping to create the beltway CW that says this is all going to blow over in a few weeks."

I believe the same situation still exists.