The FISA Capitulation

Rachel Maddow and Jonathan Turley discussed it last night on Countdown:

We Are About To Make A Terrible Mistake

For the last hour or so I've been watching the eloquent speeches of Senators Feingold, Dodd, Bingaman and Specter (with minor notes from others) denouncing the current FISA bill. Those few that have read the bill know that what the President signs will inevitably shred the Fourth Amendment and do (more) irreparable harm to our Constitution and our country. Those that vote against the amendments and for the bill will say that they are doing the right thing, but whatever comes out of their mouths will be lies they hope you will swallow, like these two below.

From Get FISA Right:

MYTH: Opposition to the compromise bill is because of the desire to punish telephone companies

Source(s): A good-enough spy law, Nancy Soderberg, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2008; Flip-flop accusations get too much mileage, Ruth Marcus, Erie Times-News, July 5, 2008
Soderberg says, "the compromise bill's opponents -- mostly Democrats -- want also to punish the telecommunications companies that answered President Bush's order for help." This is a gross misrepresentation of the reasons for opposing the "compromise" bill. Arguing before the US Senate for maintaining the balance struck by the original FISA bill, Russ Feingold said, "Based on the history of, and potential for government abuses, Congress decided that it was not appropriate, not appropriate, for telephone companies to simply assume that any government request for assistance to conduct electronic surveillance was legal." (Audio)
FACT: Opposition to the FISA compromise is based on concern for fundamental civil liberties

MYTH: Telco immunity covers wiretapping suspected terrorists

Source(s): President Bush can still dream, can't he?, Kathleen Parker, South Bend Tribune
Parker says, "The bill effectively grants immunity to phone companies that wiretap suspected terrorists." The compromise bill grants broad immunity to telephone companies for any wiretapping done at the request of the government, including numerous alleged instances of wide-net gathering of all communications, both foreign and purely domestic. To suggest that immunity only covers "suspected terrorists" is a laughable statement, unless you accept that all Americans and foreigners are suspected terrorists.
FACT: Immunity covers all illegal wiretapping, including purely domestic communications

In a few minutes from now the Senate will vote on the amendments to strip retroactive immunity and the bill itself. Senator Dodd is trying to shame his fellow Senators at the moment for ignoring the Constitution and he is dead on. It is a shame that any Senator who should represent Americans before telecommunication corporations to vote for this bill. These men and women will sign their names to one of the worst pieces of legislation in recent memory.....and they will be held accountable, even if they think no one is paying attention....they would be wrong, because we are watching them.

Russ Feingold Lays FISA Out On The Floor

While respecting the need to provide security for our nation, Feingold eloquently lays out the case on why we must strip retroactive immunity for the telecommunication companies from the FISA legislation:

John McCain Stands Against The 4th Amendment

John McCain responded to a question yesterday about FISA and immunity for the telecoms in Denver. In a couple minutes, he eloquently, but falsely defended the telecoms and stood against the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution. He was glad that this got recorded.....so am I.

Chris Dodd Stands Up To Bush And His Telecom Friends

This is the type of passion we need to see this week in the Senate as it debates and attempts to pass the terrible FISA legislation that George Bush so desperately desires:

FISA Situation Brightens Just A Little

Last week the House of Representatives brought a tidal wave of bad news by voting for the FISA legislation that not only gives the President unprecedented powers, but gives Bush a free pass by letting the telecommunication companies that aided and abetted his illegal spying on Americans off the hook. Plenty of Democrats voted against it, but enough voted with the Republican caucus to pass it, including many that got extra payoffs from telecom lobbying efforts. Now it heads to the Senate, and this is where we have to stand our ground and beat this bill back to the boardrooms of AT&T, Verizon and the conniving heads in the White House. The good news, the bill is most likely not going to be put to the test this month.

From RawStory:

The schedule for a FISA vote “is up in the air,” a source close to the majority leader tells Raw Story, and no decisions had been finalized Wednesday afternoon.

Senators debated the FISA bill throughout the day Wednesday, although negotiators had not brokered an agreement on how to proceed with votes on amendments. On the Senate floor, Feingold excoriated the compromise for not holding telecommunications companies accountable for their participation in the warrantless wiretapping program, despite the token court review advocates for the bill are touting as a compromise.

“No one should be fooled about the effect of this bill. Under its terms, the companies that allegedly participated in the illegal wiretapping program will walk away from these lawsuits with immunity. There is simply no question about it, and anyone who says that this bill preserves a meaningful role for the courts to play in deciding these cases is wrong,” Feingold said.

Feingold also brought up the fact that the bill is an abomination without retroactive immunity. Russ points out that the bill gives an incredible amount of power to the Presidency, something few Senators or any public official is willing to do. Senator Feingold speaks truth to power on this very important Constitutional issue and he should be commended for his actions. Keep up the fight Senator, we need all we can get to kill this bill in 2008.

Shame On Spineless, Greedy Telco Flippin' Dems

When looking at the numbers, it turns out that Democrats in the House that voted for the bill with retroactive immunity received thousands more in donations from the telecommunications industry than others. Honestly I expect more from our Democratic caucus, but this is exactly why we need to get more Democrats, then better Democrats. The 94 who voted with the Republicans for these companies to escape justice along with the architects at the Bush Administration (George included) must be held accountable for their actions...and in time will find plenty of primary challenges from Democrats ready to uphold the Constitution before their exorbitant bank accounts.

From Politico:

House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.
In March, the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity. But last week, 94 Democrats who supported the March amendment voted to support the compromise FISA legislation, which includes a provision that could let telecom companies that cooperated with the government’s warrantless electronic surveillance off the hook. The 94 Democrats who changed their positions received on average $8,359 in contributions from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint from January, 2005, to March, 2008, according to the analysis by MAPLight, a nonpartisan organization that tracks the connection between campaign contributions and legislative outcomes.

How sad is that a measly $8,400 can steer so many elected officials so far off course? It may be a sizable chunk for a Congressional race, but if you could show 840 people that you care about the Constitution, they'd throw you ten bucks faster than you can bend over for AT&T or Verizon.

Feingold And Dodd Vow To FISAbuster

Nothing was more deplorable (this month) for the Democrats than to let FISA go through the House with retroactive immunity. Pelosi, Hoyer and dozens of others forgot about their duty to their constituents and the Constitution and gave a free pass to the telecommunication companies that violated the law and let George Bush off the hook for masterminding these crimes against America. Moreover, the bill obliterates the Fourth Amendment and gives the government unprecedented power to legally spy on citizens of a supposedly free country.

Now the bill goes to the Senate and our chances aren't that great. Barack Obama did the politically centrist thing and endorsed the House bill, so counting on him to put an end to this isn't likely. However, there are at least two good men in the chamber that do care, and they are ready to filibuster this thing straight into the next Congress and hopefully make it gone for good.

From RawStory:

In a last-ditch attempt to fix a surveillance bill critics say would essentially legalize President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) have promised to filibuster the bill as long as it offers telecommunications companies retroactive immunity.

“This is a deeply flawed bill, which does nothing more than offer retroactive immunity by another name. We strongly urge our colleagues to reject this so-called ‘compromise’ legislation and oppose any efforts to consider this bill in its current form. We will oppose efforts to end debate on this bill as long as it provides retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies that may have participated in the President’s warrantless wiretapping program, and as long as it fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans,” the senators said in a joint statement Tuesday.

“If the Senate does proceed to this legislation, our immediate response will be to offer an amendment that strips the retroactive immunity provision out of the bill. We hope our colleagues will join us in supporting Americans’ civil liberties by opposing retroactive immunity and rejecting this so-called ‘compromise’ legislation.”

Filibustering this bill shouldn't be too hard as long as the members remain committed. There isn't much time before the July 4th recess and once the Senate gets back there is a lot of bills to get in order. If this has the possibility of tying up the Senate for weeks, Reid might just put the bill off for good, at least for the 110th Congress. They key is to push the bill off this year and then do it right once Obama is President next year.

Congress Compromises The Constitution

I wasn't surprised that every single Republican in the House voted to spit on the Constitution and give the telcos (and George Bush) a get out of jail free card. Spying on American citizens without cause and with no regard for the fourth amendment isn't shocking considering Bush's record thus far. What was sad, dismaying and atrocious was that more half of the Democratic caucus went along with it and have the audacity to claim it is a good bill.

From FireDogLake:

...and the drip, drip, dripping away of our civil liberties continues. The vote was 293 Yays, 129 Nays. As Glenn says:

Today, the House leadership has set aside a grand total of one hour to debate the FISA/amnesty bill, and gave its members less than 24 hours from the time it was released yesterday until they have to vote on it today. That's the same bill which the NYT this morning calls "the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years." They're going to enact massive changes to our spying laws without having the slightest idea what they're voting on. All they know is that the President demanded this, and that's enough, because -- as Kit Bond says -- "when the government tells you to do something, I'm sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do." In this formulation, "the government" means "The President."

You can register your disgust here...we're well over $250,000 and climbing....

UPDATE: The vote tally on this is not yet up on the House website. But I've confirmed the numbers that the total votes was as follows: 293 yes -129 no. Also that the majority of the House Dems voted no - 105 voted yes, 128 voted no. As soon as there is a full vote tally, will get a direct link up and running for everyone.

UPDATE #2: Vote tally just went up for the roll call vote on HR 6304. You can find the full list of yays and nays here.

Well at least my Congresswoman didn't vote for it, if that is any consolation for the constituents of NY-14. Still, everyone here on the East Side of New York, clear across to the west side of San Diego will suffer from this legislation. Congress collectively told us that our Bill of Rights doesn't matter and that they really don't care what we think about retroactive immunity for lawbreakers.

Pelosi And Hoyer Bend Over For Bush And Telco Amnesty

Much to the chagrin of many Democratic House members and all Americans that respect the Constitution, the Democratic leadership and many conservatives on both sides of the aisle are putting the finishing touches on a bill that will give the telcos the immunity they want. George Bush is a happy man today, because despite his abysmal ratings as a President, the cowardly Democrats still bent over for his willful disregard of the laws in our country. Along with his accomplices (AT&T, Verizon, etc) he broke the law and spied on Americans, not caring about their fourth amendment rights. Instead of holding him and the companies accountable, Congress is just going to rewrite the law so it'll be legal, retroactively.

From TPM:

From the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades. The House is likely to vote on the measure Friday, House aides said.

Removing the final barrier to action on the measure, which has been hashed out in recent weeks by senior lawmakers in both parties, House Democratic leaders decided to allow a vote on the bill, despite the opposition of many in their party.

The new agreement broadens the authority to spy on people in the U.S. and provides conditional legal immunity to companies that helped the government eavesdrop after the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to congressional aides in both parties.

Late Update: The deal-maker was offering immunity to the telecom companies who have already participated in the program.

Critical to sealing the deal was a compromise that would grant conditional immunity to telecommunications companies for assistance they provided from September 2001 through January 2007. If the companies can show a federal district court judge "substantial evidence" they received a written request from the attorney general or head of an intelligence agency stating the president authorized the surveillance and determined it to be lawful, the cases against them will be dismissed.

We haven't heard what "conditional" means.

Conditional means that as they long as they show the judge a note that George Bush said it was ok to spy on Americans for him, then they are in the clear. Basically this a free pass, a get out jail free card and a smack in the face to law-abiding citizens everywhere. These companies have hordes of lawyers that knew the wiretapping orders were against the law, but they decided to break the law anyway because the President said it was ok and that he'd have their back if anything went down. Not only does he have them covered, he has the cowardly, spineless Democratic leadership to help him with it.

Now the vote on the bill is actually tomorrow, so there is technically is still time before this becomes law. However, the chances of changing the minds of enough Democrats in time is a slim possibility. Regardless, make sure to call your Congress member and tell them not to vote for this shameful legislation.

Telecoms Write Legislation To Give Themselves Immunity

The FISA debate, if not for anything else shows why Washington is broken and how we need to fix the system. At&T, Verizon and the other telecoms graciously took the time to write their own legislation for Congress so that they can get off the hook for their unconstitutional crimes when they helped George Bush spy on Americans. The problem isn't that Congress laughed in their faces, its that they are trying to 'work things out'.

From Politico:

Many Democrats want the companies held accountable for participating in the program, which was initiated in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The White House, however, has insisted that the participation of the telecoms is crucial to monitoring conversations between potential terrorists. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill that does not contain immunity.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday a FISA deal is “still in flux” but he described the latest developments as “promising” and said he hoped to have a solution soon.

House officials declined to discuss the specifics of the proposed immunity language by the telecoms.

Although it remains to be seen if congressional Democrats will accept the telecom companies' proposal, the communication between the two sides signifies that progress is being made.

If many Democrats want these companies to be held accountable, it is only because either they want the rule of law to be upheld or their constituents are screaming in their faces (or in the direction of their offices) to do something for them instead of corporations for a change. The only progress that should have been made is to declare the telecoms immunity legislation dead on arrival. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that George Bush will veto what the people want, nor does it take a genius to know that we can wait until we have the 44th President in office.

If for some reason "progress" is made, Democrats are going to realize they will pay for their actions by facing primary challenges in the near or somewhat near future. We must uphold the law, even if it pisses politicians big campaign donors off. I for one, really do not care for it.

The FISA Fight Continues, Bush Starting To Stumble

You won't believe this but the Democrats (in the House at least) are trying to take advantage of the President's ridiculous, fear-mongering arguments. Granted, the formation of a spine in the Democratic caucus is still in its early stages but it is definitely taking shape. Today, in ten minutes, at 3PM Eastern Daylight Time, the House will take up H.R. 3773, which Bush had the following to say about.

From The Washington Post:

This week House leaders are finally bringing legislation to the floor. Unfortunately, instead of holding a vote on the good bipartisan bill that passed the United States Senate, they introduced a partisan bill that would undermine America's security. This bill is unwise. The House leaders know that the Senate will not pass it. And even if the Senate did pass it, they know I will veto it.[...]

Companies that may have helped us save lives should be thanked for their patriotic service, not subjected to billion-dollar lawsuits that will make them less willing to help in the future. The House bill may be good for class action trial lawyers, but it would be terrible for the United States.[...]

The American people understand the stakes in this struggle. They want their children to be safe from terror. Congress has done little in the three weeks since the last recess, and they should not leave for their Easter recess without getting the Senate bill to my desk.

Fear, fear and more fear. Please Mr. President, the people of this country have been seeing through your mindless rhetoric for quite sometime now. Thankfully the Democratic House sees that the people realize it, and are acting in kind.

From The Politico:

“Once again, the President continues to try to bully the Congress and mislead the American people on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in a statement put out just minutes after the president’s.

“He refuses to accept that under our system of government, neither the President nor the telecommunications companies gets to decide which laws to follow and which to ignore.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the president's comments "demonstrate an almost complete misreading of this important bill" and that the House bill provides all of the tools the intelligence community needs to protect the country.

That is all Bush is. A bully who misleads the people so that he can get his way and make good on corporations that helped him violate the law. Their lawyers knew what they were getting into and the only thing they have to count on is the President shielding them (and him of course) from being held accountable. He will continue to do this no matter what it takes, because escaping the consequences of his (and others) actions is paramount to respecting the rule of law and therefore, the Constitution of our country.

H.R. 3773 will do more than just protect our country from terrorists, it will help protect us from tyrants.

Will The Congressional Dems Cave On FISA?

How ridiculous would it be if the Democratic majority in Congress gave the telecommunications companies (and George Bush) retroactive immunity, even though they have no need to do so at all? Folks, it would another failure by our caucus to stand up to the President and to act as a co-equal branch of government. This would be a repudiation of the Constitution and another symbol that Congress would lay over and die rather than protect the rights of Americans, something they swore an oath to when becoming members of the Legislative branch.

I guess many in that caucus just don't give a damn:

House and Senate Democratic leaders are headed into talks today that they say could lead to a breakthrough on legislation to revamp domestic surveillance powers and grant phone companies some form of immunity for their role in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A senior House Democratic aide said a bill could be sent to President Bush as early as next week. But significant issues remain, including those surrounding immunity, said Wyndee R. Parker, general counsel of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Parker, who said she hopes the House can take up the compromise legislation as early as this week, said a resolution has been delayed partly by the need for all members of the House Judiciary Committee to gain access to the letters and other relevant documents sent to the phone companies by the administration requesting their assistance.

Um, what? No, the duty of Congress is to allow the people (who they represent) to be able to sue these companies for violating their privacy. It is up to (and framed by the people that wrote our Constitution) the courts to decide whether the telecoms are culpable in their actions that aided and abetted George Bush in his quest to illegally spy on American citizens. That is how it is supposed to work.

If only the wing of the Democratic party that wishes to (and rightly) do nothing to help these corporations had more members, we'd be able to sit tight until either the President learns that this is a nation of laws and not a nation that serves corporate interests.......or, we get a new President. That is what we need, "compromise" (meaning giving Republicans everything that they want) is not the right path of action here.

Fear This GoOPers!

Very nice C & L, very nice!

The Spies Who Love Us

The fuzzy bear wouldn't lie to you........

For Shame On The Senate

I guess we shouldn't be too shocked at the United States Senate choosing corporate interests (and George Bush's) over the rights of the American people. I'm sad to say that I almost expect it. There are a few brave souls that try to stand up for the rest of us, people like Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold, but for the most part, the Senate is filled with too many Washingtonians that don't give a damn about the Constitution.

From RawStory:

After failing to strip immunity from the Senate bill, Sen. Chris Dodd announced he would abandon his effort to block the bill with a filibuster, arguing that the House, which has passed an immunity-free bill, would be a better place to try to strip immunity from Congress's final piece of legislation.

"We lost every single battle we had on this bill," Dodd said on a conference call Tuesday with reporters and bloggers. "And the question is now, Can we do better with the House carrying the ball on this bill?"

In an effort to move along the legislative process prior to a Friday deadline on the temporary measure, Dodd said he wanted the Senate to pass something so that both chambers can begin a conference committee. If the two chambers produce a bill containing immunity, Dodd said he would filibuster that conference report.

So now the battle moves to the House and the Conference Committee that will ultimately decide on a bill that the House and Senate can agree on. Remember to call your Senators and either thank them or ostracize them for their vote today.

The Fox Guarding The Virtual Henhouse

No this isn't about Fox News, we're talking about policing the Internet. You know, who gets to get on, what you get to see, who gets to put content on, etcetera etcetera. That world wide web of the 1990s is just too open in our post- 9/11 society, right? We wouldn't want it to be democratic in nature, that would be enabling the terrorists or some crap like that. Well the story of retroactive immunity, George Bush and telecommunications industry just got a little more interesting.

From Scholars and Rogues:

Following up on my post from a little while back discussing Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell’s desire to police the Internet, the Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima confirmed last weekend that the Decider had signed a classified directive authorizing the NSA to more expansively monitor intrusions on federal networks for signs of cyberattacks:

Until now, the government’s efforts to protect itself from cyber-attacks — which run the gamut from hackers to organized crime to foreign governments trying to steal sensitive data — have been piecemeal. Under the new initiative, a task force headed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will coordinate efforts to identify the source of cyber-attacks against government computer systems. As part of that effort, the Department of Homeland Security will work to protect the systems and the Pentagon will devise strategies for counterattacks against the intruders.

As Brian has said recently, the U.S. is absolutely not ready to handle cyberwar on almost any front. I’m all in favor of redirecting tax money towards protecting and strengthening our Internet infrastructure against any one of the millions of crippling threats it can face, rather than expensive, crappy weapons systems that have little measurable effect except fattening defense contractors’ coffers.

But in an expansive profile of Mike McConnell, the New Yorker’s Lawrence Wright touches on the myriad obstacles our intelligence community faces towards handling a real threat, and why they get it wrong so often.

Getting it wrong seems to be standard operating procedure in the Bush Administration. So why would Mike McConnell want to change anything? And if democracy/the American people/ Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold, etc get their way, then it'll be hard to expand corporate America's power into doing the government's business.....not that they don't do enough already.

A Win For democracy In The Senate Today

The war is far from over, but the United States scored a huge victory today when an uphill battle to extend the debate on FISA got more than enough votes. The Republicans fight for cloture was defeated 48-45 (should have been 49-46 but Sen Landrieu D-LA changed her vote!). Now Feingold and Dodd will be able to introduce their amendment to strip retroactive immunity from the bill.

Seeing Harry Reid fight for this now as opposed to his obstruction in December is a testament to people power. He probably had no idea that people outside the beltway actually cared about retroactive immunity, so when the public outcry began, he had to reconsider. So even though he made it harder for us (with the craziness in December of not just introducing the bill without the immunity) a month ago, he was firmly on our side today. And even Senators that didn't vote our way last week changed their minds today (like Sen. Bayh and McCaskill) and decided to vote like Democrats.

Congratulations to them for seeing the light....and to all of you that fought to have your voices heard and make Bush (by default) and the telecoms stand in court and be held accountable for their criminal actions that have subverted our Constitution.

Thank You Senators Clinton And Obama, For Doing The Right Thing

I don't think we ask much as American citizens these days. We want to end costly and misguided wars, have health care available for our citizens, offer opportunity to those that work hard and basically a government that is responsive to us, instead of corporations. Oh yeah, and to preserve that Constitution written by our founding fathers. Republicans in the Senate (and George Bush) do not care about that document, especially when it gets in the way of illegally spying on American citizens. George Bush wants retroactive immunity for the telecommunications industry' complicity in his crimes against the people so that there are no court cases to expose the evidence that could, in theory, convict his ass.

The vote that will decide whether or not Bush gets away with this will happen at 4:30 this afternoon here on the East Coast. Several Democratic Senators so far seem to be in the hands of the telecommunications industry, caring more about having money to get re-elected than about the ideals and principles for which our nation was founded on. Despite that bad news, all we need is 41 Senators to vote against cloture so we can add the amendment to allow the corporations to be held accountable. Well now that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have decided to show up on the Senate floor for the vote (to vote against cloture of course) we only need three more Senators to come around to support us.

Now do as McJoan at DailyKos says:

So keep pushing, clear up until 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, EST.

The Senators we need to convince of this are those who voted with the Republicans to table the Leahy substitute amendment, the version of the bill that contained all of those protections, and didn't allow telco amnesty. One of them, Rockefeller, has already said he'll vote no on cloture. Call the rest of the Senators and tell them to stand with their majority on Monday's cloture vote and vote no.

• Bayh (202) 224-5623
• Carper (202) 224-2441
• Inouye (202) 224-3934
• Johnson (202) 224-5842
• Landrieu (202)224-5824
• McCaskill (202) 224-6154
• Mikulski (202) 224-4654
• Nelson (FL) (202) 224-5274
• Nelson (NE) (202) 224-6551
• Pryor (202) 224-2353
• Salazar (202) 224-5852

In addition, call or e-mail your own Senators. Both CREDO and EFF have great tools to make it easy.

FISA Me This, FISA Me That

So today was an important one with regards to the remaking of the FISA legislation. With only a week to go before the current legislation expires, those legislators that swim in the pockets of telecom lobbyists are desperate to get retroactive immunity passed for the companies so they won't have to be held accountable for their crimes. It is a sweet deal for AT&T, Verizon and the like, but a sour proposition for the U.S. Constitution. Thankfully there are some elected representatives who are on our side, you know, the people and are fighting tooth and nail to make sure those companies that violated the law are forced to be held accountable in a court of law.

From The Huffington Post:

In an interview with the Huffington Post on Thursday morning, Sen. Russ Feingold, who opposes granting immunity to those companies, expressed disappointment that his party's leader, Sen. Harry Reid, was not doing more to help strike the provision from a newly considered version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"Of course I have great respect for the Majority Leader," said Feingold. "He is a good friend of mine. But I really do disagree with his way of proceeding."

At issue is the likely passage of a version of FISA that contains retroactive immunity over one that doesn't. Reid has said he supports the former, but legislatively, the path has been paved for the passage of the latter. In addition, there is debate over an amendment offered by Sen. Chris Dodd, to strip immunity from any FISA bill. If that fails -- and it seems likely -- Dodd has threatened to filibuster the whole bill. On Wednesday, Reid was interpreted as saying any such filibuster will be the standing and talking variety as opposed to an agreed-upon 60-vote minimum threshold. Feingold, who supports Dodd's stance, took slight issue with that approach.

"We should have a normal process were this is debated based on a majority vote in the senate," said the Wisconsin Democrat. "That's the way it should have been done and I regret that it's not being done that way. Of course, I support Senator Dodd. He and I were principally involved in making sure this didn't get jammed through before the holidays and I will be supporting him again. But this decision does make it harder."

Now Reid supports Feingold and Dodd on principle, but he could have made the cause a lot easier to attain. Instead we are caught in this mess where a dozen Democrats capitulated to corporate America (specifically Senators Rockefeller, Bayh, Mikulski, Pryor, Salazar, McCaskill, Nelson (FL), Carper, Nelson (NE), Landrieu, Inouye, and Johnson).

At this moment, the Judiciary bill (without immunity) was ditched by sixty Senators and on Monday the issue will be taken up and Feingold/Dodd will introduce an amendment to the Intelligence bill (with immunity) to strike the immunity. Ah, Senatorial squabbles, how interesting to watch the fate of our democratic practices in the balance while they use such cordial language.

If you want, make sure to tune into C-SPAN next week before the State of the Union and see if enough Democrats stand up against the telecommunications industry and the idiot-in-chief that will be delivering his fairy tales to the Congress and the nation that evening.