Please call Sen Lautenberg's office on FISA!

Thanks (0.00 / 0)

TS for posting this reminder.  The bill is a disaster and none of the amendments will pass.  I cannot believe that Lautenberg is on the fence.

Glenn Greenwald has a good post on the bill in today's Salon:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/g...

He includes a copy of the WaPo ad that Blue Action and Color of Change PACs have paid for.

It's a great ad and has all the talking points one would want to convey to Sen. Lautenberg, beside telling him we have his back on national security and "patriotism."

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by: SmartyJones @ Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 23:13:02 PM UTC

After MCA (0.00 / 0)

I wouldn't get your hopes up.  Constitutional fortitude Lautenberg has not.

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by: rmfretz @ Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 03:41:04 AM UTC

The Scarcity of Hope (0.00 / 0)

Just called his Washington office at 11:00 am on Wednesday. It's only a few hours before the vote and the staffer still couldn't tell me what Lautenberg's position is. He did say, however, that calls were running heavily against the new legislation.

I don't hold out much hope though. This is the same Democratic senator who, together with Menendez, voted to eliminate habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees.

Maybe these guys should join Lieberman at the Republican convention this summer.

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by: noodletalk @ Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 15:10:12 PM UTC

Uh... (0.00 / 0)

At what point do you apologize for this absurd comment?

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by: Scott Shields @ Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 01:39:44 AM UTC

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None needed (3.00 / 1)

They may have voted the right way this time, in a blowout loss, but the statement SFL released just screams of pandering:

But it is a false and dangerous choice to suggest that walking away from the Constitution is necessary to protect our state.

In our efforts to protect America, we must not forget much of what we are protecting -- the civil liberties that help make our nation so great.

If he really believed this, he never would have voted for the MCA.  Period.  If he really believed this, people wouldn't have been left in the dark so he could see what direction the calls were going.  This was a matter of principle.  

Not having hope, but being pleasantly surprised doesn't merit an apology.  Maybe SFL came to his senses, but at the last second didn't do any good in convincing others.

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by: rmfretz @ Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 05:03:23 AM UTC

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The bill (0.00 / 0)

The FISA bill passed this afternoon,  69-28.

Lautenberg and Menendez voted against it.

The NYT has a short article on line and Glenn Greenwald has more complete commentary on the bill and the failed amendments at www.Salon.com

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by: SmartyJones @ Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 19:56:26 PM UTC

anyone have a link to the rollcall on the vote (0.00 / 0)

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by: vingopal @ Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 02:24:47 AM UTC

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Roll Call (4.00 / 1)

FISA Vote:

http://www.senate.gov/legislat...

Don't have info on amendment votes or cloture vote which differed from final vote.  Yesterday Greenwald seemed to be counting these votes as they occured, probably from C-Span.

And, as soon as the president signs the bill, the ACLU and the EFF are going to challenge it in court.    

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by: SmartyJones @ Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 11:32:53 AM UTC

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thanks! (0.00 / 0)

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by: vingopal @ Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 17:50:37 PM UTC

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FYI (0.00 / 0)

Bush just signed this Democratic  cave-in:

http://thepage.time.com/2008/0...

You may be more interested in the "players" in this legislation than I (although I'm interested too).  See:

http://newsproject.org/  (video)

But I am equally interested in the ACLU and the EFF's legal challenges.  I don't know how they get past "standing."

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by: SmartyJones @ Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 19:56:18 PM UTC

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