here:

http://digg.com/political_opinion/Steney_Hoyer_and_Chris_Carney_connive_for_telecom_immunity

Needs to be heard.

As much as I would love to see any ad targeting Carney for his alliances, I fear it may be too late. Carney ran in the PA Democratic primary unopposed. The two Republicans running in their primary were remarkable only for their vying as to who was the most conservative, a word featured prominently in all of their advertisements.

As always, thank you Glenn for your continued reporting on this important issue, which someone evades the MSM.

Early bird readers catch the not-yet-fully-edited worm.

Yes, I know, that was meant as a helpful correction, not a "gotcha".

I screw up my own usually short posts often enough not to feel comfortable nitpicking those of others.

Did anyone really think the govt of any party was NOT going to provide protection for major corporations?

Rep. Dennis Moore has the HQs of two telecom companies -- Sprint Nextel and Embarq -- in Overland Park, Kan.

I hear he's getting a LOT of pressure from the companies (and I'm guessing their employees) to vote for amnesty. And a LOT of pressure from other voters to oppose amnesty.

That said, Moore voted the right way last time, in support of the House bill.

Still, I bet this latest push from the Blue Dogs is ultimately driven by reps like Moore, if not Moore himself, who are stuck between two blocs of voters and who don't mind confusing the issue with a bullshit alternative bill that gives the companies (and Bush) what they want while pretending not to.

According to the linked article from The Hill the Republicans have filed a discharge petition that would force a vote on the disgusting FISA bill passed by the Senate containing all of Bush's wet dreams for immunity and eavesdropping power. A simple majority of 218 is required for the discharge petition and I think the same simple majority would then be required for the Senate bill to pass. There are now 202 Republicans and it is possible that Ron Paul is the only one who would vote against the discharge or the Senate bill. That means the Republicans only need seventeen of the 47 Blue Dogs to get what they want.

With that as background, why is Hoyer even talking to Rockefeller? The Republicans can win their discharge petition and the vote on the Senate bill any time they want, just by saying "heel" to their Manchurian mongrels.

And the US is 15th in the world in broadband efficiency, speed, reach and cost. I'm not sure what being higher in the rankings would mean, but clearly this mess and that go hand in glove.

How can the Blue Dogs possibly be afraid of Bush? Even Barney hates him! It's obvious that the longer this plays out, the more nervous Bush and the telco's and their Congressional allies get, which means they must have something VERY serious to hide. We MUST get to the bottom of this - something really bad happened that they don't want anyone to know about. I can't believe this is happening - they don't even care about their constituents anymore. Where is the leadership?!

They know something you don't. There is also the pressure of acutally being responsible for something rather than just yapping at people's ankles. But as always I don't expect that kind of imagination from people convinced they are right with religious impenetrability.

Yes, I know, that was meant as a helpful correction, not a "gotcha".

Oh, I know. I really appreciate corrections, including of typos. When you write without an editor, reader corrections are really vital. I just periodically note that typos (and other errors) which appear in the first five minutes usually aren't long for this world. Corrections to ones that endure after that are really helpful because that means I missed them.

There is a grammatical mistake in this article, namely in the use of the word "weak" to describe spineless, capitulating House Democrats. This is an incorrect usage of that word. The word "weak", when applied to Washington DC politics, has one meaning and one meaning only: "Lack of Intense Desire To Bomb, Shoot, Kill and Destroy As Many Foreigners As Possible." Accordingly, these Bush-following House Democrats are the very opposite of "weak."

http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=MPA16016

Below are Carney's own answers to a policy questionaire, filed by him in the 2006 cycle.

No b) Should the United States grant law enforcement agencies greater discretion to read mail and email, tap phones, and conduct random searches to prevent future terrorist attacks?

and

On an attached page, disk, or via email, please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.

National Security must be our country's number one priority. As a counterterrorism expert, I know that our border and port security have been ignored by Washington for years. We must secure our borders, and we must not reward illegal immigrants with amnesty.

and

I would support pre-emptive strikes if, and only if, we have iron-clad evidence of imminent attacks to US interests.

Interests are not the same as US territory or citizens, or even installations overseas. "Interests" can and does mean anything one wants it to mean.

The guy's outlook is quite consistent with Neoconserviatism.

As much as I would love to see any ad targeting Carney for his alliances, I fear it may be too late. Carney ran in the PA Democratic primary unopposed. The two Republicans running in their primary were remarkable only for their vying as to who was the most conservative, a word featured prominently in all of their advertisements.

Clearly, Carney's opponent would be no better. But at least he'd be a Republican, and so his support for such things would be less significant than Carney's.

What Democrats like Hoyer and Carney count on is that you will never challenge them or fight against them because you'll be afraid that, by doing so, you'll weaken them and help flip the district to the Republicans. They need to know that this fear won't protect them or else they have no reason to do anything but take you for granted and ignore you.

The Democrats have a large margin in the House. It's going to get larger this year. The benefit of a campaign of this sort and the message it sends (and the potential to change behavior) vastly outweighs the risk that it will end up defeating a single bad Democratic House member and replacing him with one bad Republican.