I'll go buy a long-distance phone-card.

I'll call Bayh and Maryland's Milkulski.

Now that's a miracle considering my Oh,

a woe is damn me of one such little faith.

~

I confess 'cynicism' does rise its forehead.

If a feeling of an orphaned gosling who agrees,

marching in a single file behind a good sheepdog...

That's me? I'll phone call a few more and be pleasant.

Thanks! The worst 'vice' is to not master ugly dog syndrome.

I'll not sneer or growl as if I've wasted a dime. I'll believe.

I don't think I'm exaggerating, or using hyperbole, in saying that Chris Dodd just raised this debate to a whole new level, with an historic and profound speech about this administration and the FISA debate on the Senate floor.

It lasted for half an hour this morning, from just before 11 a.m. EST to 11:36 a.m., and deserves to be distributed far and wide, and especially to every member of the House and Senate.

Dodd connected the dots so, so well between all the various abuses of power, lawless actions, and resistance to full, fair and open democratic debate by the leadership of this administration, as mirrored by Republicans in the Senate. [I was glad to note, as well, that Sheldon Whitehouse, who has still not rejected immunity in all forms, presided in the chair throughout Dodd's speech.] Dodd also pointed out that Feinstein's FISA court immunity amendment pushes that court beyond its Congressional mandate in a too-hasty, unstudied fashion (while noting that all the FISA judges are appointed by one man), and persuasively tied his argument against that secret approach to reviewing the telecom lawsuits to the fundamental need for openness and public debate that a democracy demands.

A few phrases that particularly registered:

The FISA immunity measure is "self-preservation" and "secrecy for secrecy's sake."

This administration has demonstrated "contempt for the rule of law" in favor of "backroom deals" over and over again.

"Truth is no one's private property."

Those don't even scratch the surface. This speech needs and deserves to be printed and read in full, or recorded and watched, to be appreciated for what it is.

Senator Dodd's speech today demonstrated what honoring our Constitution means.

WOW, indeed.

Save your money! Chris Dodd's widget for making the phone calls for free is still working. Just type in your name, email and phone number after you click on the Senator you want to call. Your phone then rings and you hear a short recording from Dodd's office and then you are connected to the Senator's office. I doubt if they are still tracking calls through that widget, so I have just been hitting the "back" button instead of filling out the report on the call. Here's the link:http://chrisdodd.com/filibuster/call

Thanks for the notification about Dodd's Senate floor speech. I'm sorry to have missed it. I hope to see or read parts or all of it someway, somehow.

Jebbie, it's easy to work "fell swoop" into a post, depressingly so. Just look at each sweeping victory handed to the 26%er in chief by his supine "opposition." I have to resist overusing it.

Marcy also was very impressed. Here is her description, from Emptywheel:

And Dodd just finished kicking some serious ass on the floor of the Senate. He has called those who claim the telecoms will go out of business "amateur economists" and pointed to AT&Ts huge profits. He explained, "the point of immunity is to challenge Bush's assertion that he is the law." And he accused the telecoms of using the Nuremberg defense. Finally, after listing all the abuses of power that can't be undone--including the destruction of the torture tapes and AGAG's lies before Congress, he described immunity as one thread that we can use to combat the Administration's abuses. "We can grab hold of the one thread left to use here and pull on it until the whole garment unravels."

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/01/25/anti-immunity-porn/

Could we FINALLY be at the tipping point?

Just got off the phone with Peter Roskam's campaign here in the Illinois 6th District. He is having a fundraiser this coming Monday, January 28, 2008, at the Medinah Center in Addison, Illinois, starting at noon. Admission is $250. Since the FISA bill will ultimately end up in committee (unless the Democrats do something miraculous and pass a will without retroactive immunity and the other objectionable provisions), I think it would be fascinating to attend and hear what Rove and Roskam have to say, especially since there is now a cloture vote set for Monday as well.

I am down as a maybe. If anyone is interested, call Roskam's campaign at (630) 221-0006 and they will put you in touch with the proper person. It may also be possible to get tickets at the door on the day of the event. Interestingly, however, Roskam's campaign site does not have any information on the fundraiser (to keep out the riff-riff (i.e., constituents), perhaps?).

I am also placing calls to Durbin and Obama about FISA.

I know what you mean, but implicit in what Fineman is saying, however clueless he may be, is the mass of several significant legal questions on how the Bush administration may be exposed to criminal charges.

Telecom immunity suggests a veritable hornet's nest of extremely thorny questions, which, when bashed with an old broom could let out all the bad bugs about torture, the missing tapes, rendition, and on and on.

Who wants to wind up and hit that sucker? In an election year.

Reporting on the Justice Department and the U.S. attorneys scandal suggests some judges here and there are waking up to that mess, demanding more from the White House. Gonzales may be deposed - put in the "hot seat."

Well, sure, the Republicans always paint the Dems weak on national security, in spades since 9-11.

It's much deeper than that, as we know.

Thanks.

I'd travel in Bermuda shorts, and ride in a loco-train-boxcar

if I believed it may help move the nation toward more decency.

It's a long story. I'd wear a long Hawaiian grass-skirt with a gold necktie if it meant that my sincere petition reaches to

the highest level of this 'gummiest' Rule.

As Arne always do persistently does request,

"Show off those green and gold front buck teeth."

Cheers. I promise to behave. Sincerely, and do believe.