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.

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.

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.

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.

How dare these guys not be so scared of terrorists to give Big Government Inc. its Get Out of Jail Free Card and let it spy on us for our own protection. Do these Mavericks not understand that our entire civilization is at stake? I mean, we are having our PRIMARIES here! There are WOMEN voting in them, women who MAY be wearing short skirts! I bet the terrorists are frothing at the mouth because they are so fucking pissed right now about this, about 15-20% of the population voting in an obfuscated and insecure election process. They Hate Us for Our Freedoms and Super Tuesday is coming! :O

I bet this all comes down to Reid being pro-life, and the Democrats should have seen this coming because being pro-life means he is evil or something. A pro-life Mormon Crypto-Republican. Harry Reid and Joe Lieberman probably go to Bohemian Grove together and badmouth Abraham Lincoln to all of their buddies.

that happens all the time.

Shooter, the last time this topic came up you did a very good job of demonstrating that you don’t really understand what ‘rule of law’ means. So good, in fact, that you don’t really need to do it again, but you’re off to a good start. I know you can’t understand why people here don’t just want to melt into the warm fuzzy arms of Big G like you do, but some of us don’t understand why you are so frightened. Takes all kinds.

Keep up the good work. Heh. Tsk. Keep digging. Mmm. Hmmm. Ohhhh. Ahhhh. Hrmphh. Bah.

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

Actually, in case you haven't noticed, one of our favorite organizations around here, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is in the middle of a very juicy lawsuit against AT&T over another of the very issues we are discussing today. So yes, we are indeed going after AT&T, but in a more significant way than burning phone booths.

For more information on what you refer to here, ondelette has posted several times on the damage the government can inflict through its linkage analysis.

This is just another example of how far your head is up your ass.

And before you reply to that, you should know that I had a colonoscopy this morning. I have photographic proof that as of 9 am this morning, there was not a head up my butt. Further, since I weighed myself before starting the "prep" process yesterday morning, I can state with some degree of confidence that as of yesterday morning, I was no more than 2.3% shit by weight. What do you have in your defense? Heh.

(The good news is the procedure was needed only because of family history and gave good enough results that I don't have to do it again for 8 years.)