per you:

"William and I have always been on the right side and that gauls the hell out of some of you. Deal with it. Shut up and listen."

Wow! OK, I'm shutting up and listening. What else do you have to say?

"...the old UT [is] just open to a broader audience and naturally it appears the 'quality' has suffered."

Naturally.

OK, PLEASE, please allow me to say just one more thing and then I'll shut up: I'm so sorry that the UT has lowered the drawbridge and let the rabble in. Foolish me. I thought the broad exchange of diverse ideas - whether you agree with them or not - was one of the foundations of netroots. Isn't it just a short hop, skip and a jump from smart and opinionated to self-righteous and authoritarian?

And upon further reflection, I won't shut up.

Can't believe some of you have been here for years. Really???
— nicole p

Some of us have been here since before there was a here here.

Having grown weary of studying FISA and convinced that there is no end to what I could learn about surveillance and congressional procedure rules, this evening, after thoughtful consideration of my own tractor & hay debacle and just how many dictionaries I might need to get WT or TW, (hey at least the pesky order of LWM now sticks), I turned my attention to the investigation of underpants gnomes and suicidal rat engineering. Entirely worthwhile. Thanks all for the interesting tips and links. Can't believe some of you have been here for years. Really???

Some excerpts from Senate Floor Statement of Senator Boxer

http://boxer.senate.gov/news/releases/record.cfm?id=299645:

One of the most basic tenets of our freedom is justice, and at the heart of justice lies the search for truth.

Throughout history, whenever the United States government has violated the trust of the American people, we have always worked to regain that trust by seeking the truth and allowing for a full examination of the abuses of government power.

Unfortunately, what we have before us today is a bill that would not only deny the Court the ability to finally make a judicial determination as to the legality of the NSA program but would effectively guarantee immunity for the telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Administration and violated the privacy of their customers.

Now, I would support granting the telecom companies indemnification, but this immunity provision blocks us from finding the truth.

I know that many of my colleagues in the Senate think we know enough about this program. But we do not know enough. The Bush Administration trampled on the Constitution, and we are not doing anything in this bill to provide accountability.

Simply put, this bill is a fig leaf that attempts to hide the truth about the warrantless surveillance program at the expense of the rights of our citizens. And if we vote for it today, we are perpetuating a cover-up.

But we should remember, as former Justice Thurgood Marshall said, "History teaches us that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure."

If Obama does not stand up and join the FISA filibuster and denounce Telecom immunity I'm concerned that he's sending a dangerous signal. He'll be saying that now that he's assured of the nomination and has created this rock star like excitement among the populace, along with him moving the operations of the Democratic National Committee to Chicago and telling the 527s to stand down as he takes full control of the Democratic Party he's doing the same to the net. Back off, don't get to big for your britches, I'm not that crazy about net neutrality.

Congressman Hoyer, you're a Goddamn career political hack. You're a bastard. You're a piss-away-the-Constitution piece of shit. (And those are your better qualities, by the way.) You confirm Mark Twain's adage that Congress is America's native criminal class.

Barak Obama? Truth be told, I'm not expecting much from this flash-in-the-pan. He's too facile, too glib to be trusted. He tells the dummies what they want to here--and then pisses on 'em.

I want to say thank you for all your work, for the columns and for organizing the response, and for the advertising.

I want to suggest, again, that we keep up the advertising on Hoyer, in DC, in Congressional sources -- the HIll or whatever might be appropriate ...

Like with a strong headline

"Steny Hoyer is wrong!"

and a quotation from a Constitutional expert.

"Steny Hoyer thinks Dems should get votes by dismantling the Constitution..."

"Steny Hoyer Thinks You're Stupid!"

"Hoyer Leads Dems Over a Cliff!"

Thanks,

sandra

Hoyer paraphrase: "if we comply with all their demands, then they can't criticize us for anything."

It's the Bush doctrine: give them (the Democrats) everything they want, to "take the issue off the table", and win support for every new executive power imaginable. That's why he vetoed almost nothing in his first six years, but still preserved his "Vote for me or die" campaign slogan.

If the Democrat leadership thinks capitulation is a good campaign tactic, adopted from Republicans, where does it end?

Before the two parties are done, we will have a full-fledged monarchy again. One can only hope that "King Obama" will see fit to not use the powers he would be granted.

http://insideoutthebeltway.blogspot.com/2008/06/goings-on.html

If you are ever too senile to shave, cut your hair, bathe, and too paranoid of the barber shop because the barber wears those 'high water' pants.... britches, and charges 2-bits for a mop-chop and a leg-shave...

I request that Barack Obama agrees to trim your mustache. Someone needs to hire you to write speeches, shave head, legs, etc., and assure us you will promise to get a pair of those Elvis sideburns.

W.T. Please conform.

Please get with the show.

`O Sing it! Take it away.

`O, Yoo ain't nothing but a hound dog who whines all the time. O, these depraved critters makes UT readers want to smile all the time, but, GOPS are sold-out and the DoJ are such hypocritical persons. The dang DoJ fakes are frowning all the time like sad-sack-studs. So, Please get real. okay.

P.S.

I'll regret these expressions tomorrow. Good Night. It's hit the hay time. Where is DCLaw1?