Regarding terrorist attacks since 9/11, Susan wrote: "Yes. Anthrax."

The problem is that the NSA isn't going to wiretap the offices of the CIA.

I assume this is the source of the comments about FISA by Pelosi that Karen Tumulty transcribed in the comments at Swampland (I haven't yet watched the video):

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&tID=5&src=atom&atom=todays_events.xml&products_id=206056-1

As for Rahm Emanuel and his cheerleading colleagues who think we're talking about just another piece of legislation in the game of winner-take-all political sport, I'll let Thomas Paine reply to Emanuel's modern-politician-beloved excuse for compromising our national principles, shirking his duty, and lying about it to the public:

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

.

and

It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration.

and

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

Regarding the grossly irresponsible Iraq occupation funding bill that the leadership of the minority of the Democratic "Party" engineered through Congress today, I've scanned the bill a few times now, and I fail to see payroll or bullets (or MRAPs, etc.) for "the troops" authorized or itemized therein.

What is authorized is a massive amount for State Department operations (particularly in Iraq), spreadsheets full of itemized Armed Services base and facility construction worldwide, including in Iraq and in the U.S., the GI bill of course (which takes up a lot of the space), lots of "narcotics control" funding all over the world (of which $25,000,000 "shall be made available for security assistance for the West Bank"), a special ($170,000,000) dispensation for Israel [such that if Congress needs to enact continuing (budget) resolutions this fall, Israel won't need to share the pain of our own agencies under a CR's static funding, according to Dave Obey's approving description on the floor], all sorts of foreign aid and "democracy" promotion funding ($75,000,000 for "democracy activities" in Iraq), general bribe/walking-around funds for Iraq, etc., etc.

It's hard to believe that it adds up to $165 BILLION worth of "emergency" funding, but I suppose it does... I guess we can't count on the media (or the corrupt Congress) to honestly report what the (doubtless, AIPAC-beloved) funding entails, but it would appear that the "troops" in Iraq are in fact separately funded via the massive annual Defense Appropriations Bill, and this supplemental is mostly infrastructure funding for the "Empire" and its occupation(s) - on a recklessly unlimited line of credit, of course.

http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110_supp_pp_amnd.pdf

P.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of the House Intelligence Committee is scheduled to be a guest on C-SPAN's Washington Journal at 7:30 a.m. Friday, to discuss the FISA deal (as a like-minded proxy for Reyes, the chairman, no doubt).

P.P.S. Chris Dodd was doing yeoman's work - again - this week on an important housing/mortgage reform bill (while fending off unjust and clearly-unfounded personal smears and rumors about his own mortgages that were aggressively pursued by a suddenly persistent press corps). He seems to have the bulk of that work done now, though the negotiations presumably remain sensitive. So I would imagine he will now have the time to turn his attention to FISA, although I hope Russ Feingold (not to mention Obama and others) will help Dodd out by carrying a lot more of the "fatiguing" load of being temporarily "unpopular" in the juvenile caucus and Senate this time around.

A women's heart? wow.

A Lady is hard to plumb?

A Lady is not shallow, but, oh?

A Lady's heart is hard to probe?

You sure gotta love them though!

I sure forgot what I was gonna say. honest?

George Bush has a capacity to love anybody?

Here is what is going to happen...... You will be primaried not this year but 2010. Mark my words. We will look high and low - you think Obama has raised some money - just wait in that off year - there will be cash to be had....

Yes. Anthrax. Everyone always forgets about the anthrax. There have also been abortion clinic bombings and shootings and whatnot and (if you can handle more depression) many, many other close calls:

Seriously? First, the original post declared that a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 attack was coming. Setting that aside, do you equate a pro-life protestor bombing an abortion clinic or a person shooting another or even Ted Kaczynski sending letter bombs with al Qaeda's attacks on the WTC and Pentagon? One might compare Timothy McVeigh's attack in OKC, but comparing the crimes you mentioned is comparing apples to oranges. As for the anthrax mailings, those crimes were never solved. al Qaeda and their ilk love to take credit where credit is due and as far as I know, they haven't claimed responsibility for the anthrax.

Here's the thing about impending attacks, thwarted attacks, threat levels, and close calls: they give Bush the ammunition to continue to thwart the Constitution, to continue to increase the size of and reorganize government, and to continue to put us on the brink of economic despair for generations to come. They give us bills like FISA. They give our Democratic leadership excuses to roll over.

... to take to bed tonight. I'm making a habit out of looking at the ActBlue donation page as the last thing I see before the next day's atrocities overtake me.

$236,674.00 raised by 4,042 supporters.

I've been trying to come up with a reason why the Democrats in the House did a 180 on this. Their previous vote was, as many have noted, the only sign of backbone they have ever shown.

Can the NSA have dirty pictures of all of them?

Did the telcos buy all of them? Cheap?

Have they been given specific info on an upcoming 'incident' that will be blamed on them?

But I have the sinking feeling that Maddogs is right in saying that what they're thinking is "If we just do want the Repugs want, then the Repugs won't have anything to use against us in the 2008 election."

And that's even more depressing than any of the other possibilities.