I'm on the road, so it kills me that I couldn't watch the debates and make lots of phone calls to Washington today to vent my outrage.

I'm especially upset that Obama appears to have given up on the Constitution, although I did skim some info at Emptywheel that suggests, via John Dean on Olberman tonight that the bill just passed deals only with civil action and that Obama could be contemplating criminal action against the telecoms after taking office. That would be a pleasant surprise, but I won't hold my breath.

Maybe Dodd can finally do a real filibuster.

Are you in your cups?

Are you on the pipe?

No, but I wish I was.

Instead I'll just be patient and wait for this to all shake out and have the sublime pleasure of reminding some here that I just sat back and kept my cool head while they behaved like a bunch of raving nutbars when there was really no cause for all this gnashing of teeth, clutching of pearls, fetching of fainting couches and rending of garments.

Pelosi and crew go a long way to vindicate Ralph Nader. I've help him responsible for the past eight years, but maybe he was correct when he said it didn't make a difference -- both parties suck.

1. Within a month of Obama winning the nomination this new FISA bill appears.

2. The bill has a sunset clause of 5 years, which would be after Obama's second election.

Given these 2 remarkable co-incidences, I believe this bill was engineered by Obama to improve his electoral chances on the assumption that the media would blast him on security if its telco subsidiaries or bosses were not granted immunity.

Obama needed to weave a new narrative on security i.e. that we shouldn't change America in response to terrorism. Instead his presidency is going to be a continuation of the bad old deterioration of everything that was great about America.

The Change Candidate is a show pony. I've lost all interest in him now.

This "bipartisan compromise" is either a clever way of creating a law known to be unconstitutional in the hope that the courts will overturn it...or a shameless display of self-serving cowardice on the part of Democratic leadership. I hope that Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Hoyer have started their post-Congressional retirement plans, because they will need to exercise them soon.

With Senator Kit Bond publicly stating that the rule of law and separation of governmental powers is basically irrelevant in his view, he has deemed himself unqualified to serve in the capacity he was elected to fill. I hope that the citizens of Missouri reward Senator Bond's candor in the next elections by freeing him to pursue other interests for which he is much better suited. If the military junta in Myanmar is in need of another experienced sycophant to help prop up their government, they would need to look no further than Senator Bond.

Loyal Bushies!

"It would be supremely ironic if in late October there is leak of telecom wiretap transcripts of Americans with Hussein in their name."

Why do you believe that would be ironic? Do you really believe that if McCain and his bunch of fascist wannabees or some third party douchebags want to leak crap about "someone with Hussein in their name" that Obama not supporting this Bill would make a difference?

Please, no jokes. I've pretty much lost all hope for the future of this country right now, and I'm just not in the mood for levity. -- Peter Maranci

Check out Kucinich. You'd have to write him in but it would be a vote for a principled man.

http://kucinich.us/

A matter of definitions, I suppose. I suspect Martin Luther King would have disagreed with you. I know I do. I thought that the Black Panther's invasion of the California State Legislature was an inspired bit of political theater, if only because the guns were unloaded.

Levitating the Pentagon, throwing hundred dollar bills onto the floor of the stock exchange, good. Burning banks, planting pipe bombs, throwing molotov cocktails at the police, bad.

And then there's the importance of context. If the aim is to persuade people of the insanity of a noxious conventional wisdom, sometimes graphic examples, coupled with a little -- or a lot -- of civil disobedience can help. Trying to scare or force people into situations where they have to do what you want them to do is always unhelpful. Hardly anyone loves a terrorist except his fellow cell members.

That's why I think adnoto would be a piss-poor activist. He doesn't seem to give a damn what people think, as long as his own hormones are satisfied. He mentioned being in the Marines; that may be the problem. The Marine Corps is probably the worst place you could possibly go for political training, unless maybe you were planning on recreating Sparta.

Barrack's rationale for supporting this bill is pathetic. His plea of 'trust me' is nothing but petulant arrogance.

He just doesn't get it. And he's a lawyer, a constitutional lawyer at that. Doesn't he know I just don't want any government reading my mail? It doesn't matter if the government is run by Bush, or Obama, or Clinton, or, who knows, McCain. I just want the government to get lost when it comes to my privacy! Is that so hard to understand?

Yes, I am now a libertarian. Give me liberty, or give me death!

Calling Bob Barr.......

I'm thinking ole' Io` at the Well feels well? I hope.

That bucks4mccain @ 5:38 PM had a big BM on line.

H/she proclaims Lemecouten (sp) @ 4:43 is so insane?

Io` in the Well @ 5:43 and Jim Montague need to comment.

'Um still carry a bag of smelly potatoes in their diaper or what?

I say~'Um need to be sent to bed early. Stay in a damn Grave-Pit!

Jim White.

Watch the floating clouds. Duck Birds. Hawks. Owls. Magpies. Pole-Cats.

Well that pretty much does it. The Hoyer-GOP reacharound has created the spawn of Nixon and the courts can't stop it.

Frankenstein in parchment. I'm sure that Victor Hoyer is proud of his accomplishment. I only hope HIS dirty laundry is the first to go up the flag pole for all to see...

I know he'll sleep well tonight. There's probably a clause protecting his worthless ass in that abomination.

So much for keeping Bush out of our underwear drawers. I guess I'll have to replace all my BVD's with something racier for them... We'll all have reputations to live up to now... Make it worth spying on us...

God but I feel so disgusted...