You know, if by some miracle the legislation doesn't pass, or if it passes with the Bingamen ammendment, it will be a triumph of Glenn's personally. More than any other single individual, Glenn's tireless work has changed the national conversation in this matter.

That is a very good ad.

A quite good Editorial in the NYT this morning -- entitled "Compromising the Constitution" -- notes that the real effects of this FISA bill are to make it "much easier to spy on Americans at home, reduce the courts' powers and grant immunity to the companies that turned over Americans' private communications without a warrant."

Yeah, but the NYT also features an Op-Ed by Morton Halperin on why the new FISA bill is so peachy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/opinion/08halperin.html

Thanks so much for listening to an idea that noamnesty and I came up with on Friday that you first opposed and then took on and executed so brilliantly. You are proving the power and importance of everyday lurkers and commenters like me, who can sit on there computer frustrated by so much of what they see happening, and can offer one suggestion that results in rapid, decisive action. It gives all of us reinforcement that we do matter. Power only comes to the people when they see results. You are truly a magnificent leader of we the people, who are on the bottom tier of our two-tier justice system.

Thanks for your hard work on this. Is there any way we can get Russ Feingold or Chris Dodd to wave it in the faces of the sheep on the Senate floor? Or better yet, can they have the ad placed into the Senate record? What better place to document that at least a few citizens know and care about the atrocity about to be committed by our elected representatives.

I gave to ActBlue for the initial attack on the dictatorship-loving Democrats and will be donating again in the money bomb in August.

Quick question on the money bomb...I will be out of the country on the date of the bomb and may not have easy access to the net. Glen, do you know if there will be any means of pre-donating so that my donation can go in and be counted regardless?

Just get even. End the political careers of those who perpetrate this fraud.

The odds of the Bingaman amendment making it are virtually nil. The only amendment with even a real (though marginal) chance of passing is the Feingold-Dodd amendment that flatout strips immunity from the bill.

For criminal reasons (to ensure an unconstitutional law is passed quickly) Reid agreed that the the Feingold-Dodd amendment would require only a majority vote to pass, but the other amendments would require 60 votes to pass. The Bingaman amendment needed the same consideration as the Feingold-Dodd amendment: simple majority.

Reid wants this atrocity to pass so he is ensuring it will...while trying to claim credit for voting against it on the floor vote. This is an old trick on his part (and the part of too many "Democrats"). He KNOWS the bill will pass so he can try to gain cred by voting against the foregone conclusion. He will then appear to the angry voter and say "I tried to stop it, and I voted against it!" This is a lie and Reid is a liar.

Reid, regardless of his actual vote on the bill must be targeted for removal. He had FULL control on whether this bill would come to the floor (like so many other horrific bills) but he just couldn't wait to get it to the floor so it could pass. He is unfit to be in so-called Majority "Leader" and he is unfit to serve the people in the government.

Same goes for Pelosi, by the way. SHE is ultimately responsible for this entire atrocity as she had FULL power to prevent this from ever coming up.

Don't get angry

Just get even. End the political careers of those who perpetrate this fraud.

Exactly. And succeeding in that will serve the dual effects of justice and deterrence.

Great ad... And I especially like the Nixon angle, since Watergate was the last time a lawless, power-mad administration was even held to account. My, what the Republicans have learned since then. Iran Contra was the first time they succeeded, with a mixture of midnight pardons, a timely death or so, and uber "patriotic" spokesteam, Fawn and Ollie. Notice how most of the criminals involved not only escaped punishment but found lucrative futures, thanks to wingnut welfare, and Poindexter, Abrams, and others landed right back in the White House when George II ascended the throne.

Another important lesson they learned, to deal with the dual predicaments of those pesky tapes and that blabbermouth John Dean, is to routinely destroy all records and ruthlessly toss out any minion who shows the slightest trace of integrity or independence.

Finally, take impeachment "off the table" by pursuing it, scurrilously, against the next Democratic President, whether warranted or not, as both payback for Nixon and as an inoculation against future attempts, once the Republicans have regained "their" White House.

Is our children learning? No, but our Republicans are.

the money I planned to donate to his campaign will go to the Money Bomb instead. The current congress shows the futility of voting for Dems just because they are Dems. Even the Republican judiciary seems to have more respect for the Constitution.

Do the Andrew Sullivan's, Nancy Soderberg's, Steny Hoyer's, and other ‘fair-minded’ apologists for this illegal activity ever address the issue of John Ashcroft, James Comey, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and other members of the DOJ all threatening to resign en masse unless the spying activities (referred to as “other intelligence activities”) ceased?

Even if you believe that the warrantless surveillance was exercised ‘responsibly’ (as ludicrous as that is), does the Ashcroft/DOJ aspect ever get addressed any more?

The suggestion for the ad was made Thursday morning, July 3.

(Link from effwit, above):

"What’s more, this bill provides important safeguards for civil liberties. It includes effective mechanisms for oversight of the new surveillance authorities by the FISA court, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and now the Judiciary Committees. It mandates reports by inspectors general of the Justice Department, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies that will provide the committees with the information they need to conduct this oversight. (The reports by the inspectors general will also provide accountability for the potential unlawful misconduct that occurred during the Bush administration.) Finally, the bill for the first time requires FISA court warrants for surveillance of Americans overseas."

Glenn, is it true that the mandated committee reports will "provide accountability for the potential unlawful misconduct"?