From the ACLU.. Telecom immunity for warrantless spying coming this week..

[annabanana]

At the end of 2007, the principled leadership of Senator Christopher Dodd stopped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from forcing through the Senate a dangerous and unconstitutional FISA bill written closely with the Bush administration. What has Harry Reid done since then to forge a better solution?

Absolutely nothing.

In fact, Senator Reid's plan of action is to bring before the Senate this week a disastrous Intelligence Committee bill - one that yields to Bush's demand to retroactively let telecom companies off the hook for cooperating with warrantless eavesdropping on their customers.

We've only got a few days to convince Harry Reid to change course. The ACLU's principled demand is simple and straightforward: If it isn't constitutional, don't let the Senate vote on it.

Contact your Senators (esp if you've got one on the Intelligence Committee:
John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia
Christopher S. Bond, Missouri
Dianne Feinstein, California
John Warner, Virginia
Ron Wyden, Oregon
Chuck Hagel, Nebraska
Evan Bayh, Indiana
Saxby Chambliss, Georgia
Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland
Orrin Hatch, Utah
Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin
Olympia J. Snowe, Maine
Bill Nelson, Florida
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

[Oilwellian]

1. I'll piggyback on your thread

Mine sunk like a rock...DU'ers need to pay more attention to the important issues coming to the senate floor this week.

A petition you can sign:

Oppose Telecom Immunity, Uphold the Constitution

Dear Senator Reid,

After engaging in an illegal, secret surveillance program, President Bush is in no position to make demands of anyone. Americans expect you to stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law. That means:

1. Rejecting telecom immunity: President Bush is demanding immunity for companies that broke the law when they handed over phone data and emails to the NSA without a warrant. He wants Congress to bury the truth by stopping lawsuits against the phone companies. When the phone companies are off the hook, Bush is off the hook, and there would be no incentive for companies to follow the law in the future.

2. Individual warrants for Americans: Surveillance tactics that allow the government to gather huge amounts of phone and email data on Americans without a warrant are unconstitutional and violate our American principles.

Americans expect you, the most powerful member of the Senate, to lead on this issue, not cave in to President Bush and his allies in Congress. Please don’t let us down.

Sincerely,
Your Name
City, State, ZIP

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=Reid_...

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

5. Thank you. I signed it.

It is hard to believe this important constitutional matter is dropping.
:shrug:
It's like another DUer said: the primaries are taking all the oxygen away from issues infecting our democratic health.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

7. Oops! Your cite took me to the "close Guatanamo" page.

This is a petition I found on FISA: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=725&page=UserAction

I didn't see the one to Reid. :shrug:

[elaineb]

8. K&R and another try on the link

I'm not sure why, but the ending of the link in your post was cut off. I'll try to post the URL in this post also, and hopefully DU's weird HTML won't truncate the ending on this one too:

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=Reid_FISA_petition3

If the URL is also truncated in this post, the part that is cut off in the URL after "Reid_" is "FISA_petition3".

Thanks for drawing attention to this petition!

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

10. And, thank you, too! Your link works.

Moreover, I want to kick this for others to see and, hopefully, participate in opposition to yet another breakdown in our democracy.

[Zodiak]

2. Does anyone honestly think that we can change Reid's mind?

After all, he got the message loud and clear a month ago and is still pushing his original position.

When we grassroot Democrats realize that the levers of power we pull aren't attached to anything, we might start thinking of new ways to stop them instead of writing letters they do not read and making phone calls they do not listen to. Until then, they are free to ignore us and still accept our votes.

How about this...get rid of them, ALL of them. Then we won't have to worry about changing their minds about whether or not to serve the People.

[orleans]

3. k&r n/t

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

4. AGAIN?!?!!!

:grr:

[madfloridian]

6. Will recommend and join your post with one of mine earlier.

This is just being ignored in all the back and forth hate and love about Obama and Hillary.

Harry Reid determined to bring FISA bill with retroactive immunity to the floor

With links to Glenn Greenwald.

They do not care what we think. I am upset with Reid.

[L. Coyote]

9. K & R & Impeach two too, and jail the criminals in this matter. Ask, where are the ARRESTS!

If we know there were crimes, don't ask for immunity, ask for arrest warrants!

Ask, "Who are these people, Joe Stalin and Friends, or are we still in America?"

[Supersedeas]

11. Top of the Corp Dem's priority list

[Solly Mack]

12. K/R

[annabanana]

13. one last evening kick.. . . . .n/t