www.wexlerwantshearings.com

If we protest loudly enough, maybe the oligarchy will throw us a few heads.

Does anyone anywhere believe that the secret and warrantless wiretapping program which is, lest we forget, eavesdropping without court approval was ever used for anti-terrorisim? It is being used for political (and personal no doubt) blackmail. How else to explain the absolute spinelessness and open capitulation to EVERYTHING Bush wants.

A successful anti-terrorism program would neutralize the threat terrorists pose. If the neocons succeeded in neutralizing terrorism, they would need to find other boogeymen to scare the swing voters.

Just as the war on drugs has resulted in larger quantities of higher quality drugs available at lower prices, the war on terrorism will insure an ever increasing terrorist threat to bolster the symbiotic relationship between terrorists and neocons.

Everytime I see a Verizon commercial with the "Network"standing there in a group (uh, make that the "gang of spies") with their helicopter, parabolic dishes, etc., I cringe. Yikes!

I remain steadfast in my own opnion that there must have been some deal cut long ago (1996?) that led to this "cooporation" between these companies and Washington. You know... "we'll give you a spy in everyones pocket (via cell phone) for use of the bandwidth/frequencies to sell 'em".

Gee, the feds got a free spy program as we each paid for the hardware when we bought a cell phone.

You have to give them credit, it was brillant!

Can we please initiate impeachment hearings on Harry Reid for obstruction of justice? He is just as worthless and harmful to Americans as Bush and Cheney. Is there any way that the Democrats can elect another speaker? How much worse can it get?

5280--That's only if you bought a cell, which I refuse to do.

One of the easiest ways to increase your disposible income, help the biosphere, and simpify your life while kicking a powerful corporate sector and the USG in the groin is to rid yourself of the cell phone. For auto emergencies, CB radios are much cheaper to own and operate, and operate in areas that cell phones can't.

So, give yourself some additional freedom and money by saying NO! to cell phones.

Retroactive Immunity For Everyone; No Crime Left Behind!

Billions of dollars in contracts reportedly negotiated with the telecoms by the Bush administration and its Congressional allies months before 9/11 may have influenced their Constitutional amnesia.

They refuse to talk to Congress about what they did when and why as part of whatever agreement they have with the President.

Compel the telecoms to testify; compel your Congressional representatives to compel the telecoms to testify.

Send your Senators an email; in it tell them that if they vote for telecom immunity you will work with others to have them removed from office; send it more than once; copy others.

Have a wonderful holiday and come home to a freer, safer and better America!

It's time we quit using adjectives like invertebrate, cowardly, self-destructive, weak, timid, etc. to describe Democratic Party leadership.

And start using terms like co-opted, cooperative, crypto-neocons.

You know, if there were less customers, Big Telco would find it just as hard to lobby Congress and the White House just as much as we all do.

As for Harry Reid, he got into office with the help of the GOP special interests so why should you expect him to be a real Democrat? The GOP could barely contain their laughter when he was elected as "minority" leader in 2005. I knew he was like Daschle but WORSE. Let's just put the Democratic Party to DEATH and build us a progressive/liberal INDEPENDENT party that represents us all over the corporate interests for a change.

yeah we need a change....speaking of which...

has anybody looked at those mottos on the state quarters...

do any of our representative believe this shit...

i mean it must be shit because ain't nothing but nothing happening for the People..

Please folks, don't forget that the current "Protect America" law has a provision for keeping it in place another year, even after it "expires." Sad but true. However, If the Democraps can keep any FISA revision from becoming law, in November of 08 we will know who our new prez will be, and hopefully, this one will restore our civil liberties, including the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure.

Remember that Senators Biden, Clinton, Dodd and Obama all pledged to vote against the FISA bill if it had provision for immunity for the
telecom companies. When the bill hit the floor of the Senate, it was Senator Dodd who fought it for 11 hours and was set to start a fillibuster to insure that the immunity clause would not become part of the final bill. Where were Senators Biden, Clinton and Obama while this Constitutional breaking bill was being debated? They were on the campaign trail pursuing their personal ambitions! Only Senator Dodd rushed back from Iowa to lead the fight. That is the difference between Senator Dodd and the other presidental candidates: they talk and talk, Dodd takes action!

REMEMBER when you go to vote!
REMEMBER who was there defending our Constitution and the Rule of Law!

frank zappa quote;"i am a fundamental constitutionalist and i dont want people in washington, changing our constitution." (you go,frank) !! ( and as for myself,what i believe is):....as a citizen of the u.s.a.,i believe our original constitution to be divinely inspired and fairly if not wholly complete..........as a citizen of the u.s.a.,i also FIRMLY believe in the separation of church and state !!

If information underpins knowledge, and knowledge is power, one begins to realise how frightening the communications revolution is for our leaders.

They are busily attempting to stuff the networking genie into *their* bottle, and they'll fail.

I believe limric's comment is well taken-the political elites in this country are without scruples and will allow no person with any degree of perceived power to stand in their way. Any real opposition to the Bush\Cheney regime was quashed the day Tom Daschle's office was mailed anthrax spores. Those spores remember, were a unique variety that were grown in a specific, identifiable government laboratory; just like a piece of currency that has registration numbers, those spores were from a vault,the vault was guarded with high tech security, with a list of limited persons with id's that could have been traced.

The information that is being gathered on e-mails, phone calls and any other electronic transaction is for the sole purpose of having a file an any potential political opposition to the military and the intelligence gathering community and their good buddies: the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, and the Pentagon to mention the more noticeable entities-as well as the local and state police.

Some folks may assume they will not be concerned about domestic spying as it will not affect them; here is the scenario. Talk to no person, meet nobody, have not even the slightest interface with anyone or any computer or bank or store or . . . .

Then yes, in that case, domestic spying does not affect you.

There actually might be something working in Progressives' favor, and that is the whole housing/credit market bust. With a forecast of a recession in the near future, comatose voters actually might wake out of this fog of ignorance and confusion because finally, they will start feeling the economic pain. As we all know, that is when people start paying attention to what is transpiring, yes even politically. The government bailout plan is temporary (no pun intended), and at some point, debtors will have to pay back all of the debt (estimated around the $300-$500 billion). Banks are having to write down losses in the billions of dollars. Attorneys are lining up in droves and deliving truck loads of lawsuit papers to lending agencies, banks, financial planners, etc. In other words voters must not forget that Republicans and Democrats conspired in bankrupting this country. They also need to understand that both parties are complicit in illegally occupying another country. These are the two issues voters must clearly understand, and we as Progressives, need to ensure that they understand it. 2008 is going to be a very interesting year to see how this credit crisis unfolds, and the political turmoil (possibly fallout) surrounding the destroyed CIA interrogation tapes.

It goes to show you that if you are connected, and wealthy, you don't have to obey the laws that the rest of us do..

Reid should go. He is a disgrace. Put Dodd in there.

MRFOAD December 20th, 2007 4:37 pm

"REMEMBER when you go to vote!
REMEMBER who was there defending our Constitution and the Rule of Law!"

Anyone who pays attention to politics knows that DENNIS KUCINICH has ALWAYS been there to defend our Constitution, the Rule of Law and the average person in this country.

As far as Senators are concerned, Dodd is one of the best on many issues but he still doesn't match Kucinich's voting record on progressive issues.

Reid won a so called "golden gloves" award? I have known golden gloves boxers and he aint one of them unless they allow girls in now. Hey reid, go clean out your purse! HANG JANE!

I like Kuchinich. I hate when I read about him being "unelectable." Why? Because he doesn't look "presidential"? Television hurt this country in so many ways. Look at what we expect from our presidents and leaders now. If they get a $400 haircut, they're pandering to what the media wants and expects, yet they get razzed for it. What ever happened to actual discussions of what this country needs? Sometimes I think it went out with Reagan. And don't get me wrong, I blame Reagan for an awful lot that's wrong with this country. Start with the winnowing out of the middle class. Reagan was an idiot. Yet they act like he's some sort of demi-god here in Washington.

These bastards were so busy illegally spying on American citizens that they forgot to pay attention to their own support of illegal activities in the Middle East. That was the ONLY reason behind 9/11. Just ask the once and future presidential candidates about that but don't expect the truth.

This Congress has no interest in upholding their oath of office and defending our Constitution. They need to be thrown out of office and replaced.

YOU ARE qualified to run for office. Just watch this video of Katherine Harris and Ted Stevens and you will be inspired!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98_b5JW2CII#GU5U2spHI_4

www.peacecandidates.com

I have no idea how a milquetoast like "give 'em hell" Harry Reid ever got to be Senate leader. Maybe this is all part of the Dems' "Western Strategy" to pick up seats in states like Nevada (while taking urban states for granted, I would say).
I had fully expected Dick Durbin to get the leadership post. He is my senior Senator, and would make an excellent leader; but I think Chris Dodd would be excellent for it too. Those two and about twenty others would be an improvement over Reid.

Vote for Elizabeth Kucinich for first lady!

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, both given their positions of authority by Democrats in congress, and BOTH rushing to do the bidding of an empirical president, who retains the approval of less than a quarter of the people? Something is VERY wrong with this picture!
They are either totally complicit with the Neo-Fascists who have siezed control of our government, or somebody is holding something over their heads, and over the heads of many other dems in congress.
And by the way, while the article doesn't mention it, and I have to wonder why, BushCo began ramping up programs for spying on Americans well before 9/11. It's almost like they did what Hoover did when he was head of the FBI, keeping files on everybody in government and anybody else who might be a threat to him.
In any event, WE THE PEOPLE have a very serious problem that requires a major shake-up of our government, and a major shaking-awake and slap-in-the-face of the apathetic sheeple.
This situation begs for the Constitutional Remedy to this problem - A VERY PUBLIC IMPEACHMENT OF ALL THESE CRIMINALS!

redjeff

My dead dog would be an improvement over Reid.

Fellow Illinoisan, are you ticked off about Obama promising that he would finish out his Senate term and not run for President - and now not only running, but being missing for some of the most important votes? (And Doprah backs the liar - but what does she care for ethics? Power is her god.)

from the folks at www.recreate68.org

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CONVENTION
by RECREATE 68

'Twas the night before the Convention, when all through the land
a revolution was stirring, the people were making a stand;

The spy cameras were hung by the police with care,
In the hopes of snaring a protester and claiming it's fair;

The homeless were nestled all snug in new beds,
to hide them away from democrat heads;

When out on the street there arose such a clatter,
The police sprang from the station to see what was the matter.

Away to the Pepsi Center they flew like a flash,
with batons swinging looking for heads to smash.

The smell of tear gas permeated the night
all knew that the oppressors were in for a fight,

When, what to America's wondering eyes should appear,
But Recreate 68, showing no fear,

More rapid than eagles the protestors they came,
And comrades whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Troops Out Now! now, SDS! now, R-68!
On, Unconventional Action! on Ruckus! Don't be late!

To the top of the Capitol! Tear down the security wall!
the people's power in action, oh what a ball!"

And then, in a twinkling, the end of four long nights
The Convention was over, but not the community's plights.

Down the road people of all colors came from the community
we knew at that moment we created some unity,

with ideas from the festival of democracy swirling around in their head,
we knew that corporate controlled capitalism would soon be dead;

with the creation of a movement that included the poor,
we knew that there was a chance of ending this war.

With the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU keeping us Free
Thank God it was pro-bono we couldn't afford their fee!

We pulled back the curtain and exposed the hypocrisy
neither the Democrats or Republicans supported democracy;

The words in this poem can all become true
with hard work and organizing from people like you!

We can "Do It In Denver" if we plan right,
"Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good-night."

Pelosi, Reid, Hillary, Obama, and the rest have got to be Republican plants pretending to be Democrats. Why else would they be so supportive with Bush's disastrous policies? Republican plant Joe Lieberman is Obama's mentor. Hillary and Bill are in tight with the Bush family, and if she becomes president she will protect and pardon him from all future criminal charges.

Meanwhile, the Iraq/Afghanistan wars top the Vietnam war in cost. This could outfit every US residential structure with renewable electric energy. (antiwar.com)

I was so excited when the Dems won the House and Senate, but now I'm just disillusioned. If the dems don't stand up to this president, who will...the republicans? I sorry to say our democracy is probally dead, thanks to the spineless dems. Where do we turn? NOWHERE! They've sold us out. I never thought I say this, but the dems and republicans are just alike. So I may do the dishonerable thing and not vote in 2008, and I've never just not voted. What difference does it really make? Harry Reid can cram it up his ass! When he grows some balls, let me know and I may change my mind.....but it won't happen.

Has anyone placed an order at "Backbone's and Spines, Inc" to be sent to the democrats? I'm sure if we pass the hat, we could buy them some.

Maybe a shipment from "Balls LLP" could be arranged also.

Who will stand up to Bush?

1 Putin
2 Kim Jong Il
3 Chavez
4 Iraqi militias
5 Ahmedinijad

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has sponsored a bill that would grant immunity to the telecommunications giants and, even more gallingly, decline to subject the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" to court oversight in the case of Americans."

Good lord I'm going to puke, again for like the millionth time in a year.

We soundly denounced the expost facto laws of Nazi Germany when I was a youth. These are laws passed by Hitler making something leagl or illegal that had already occured. This is not something for a democracy. In a democracy we might give a pardon after publicly finding the facts but not in the dark. Let the chips fall. What are we foregiving, who is responsible, and why was it necessary?

I agree, if chimpy and the dick were tried for this b.s and billary was prez, she would pardon both of them for the sake of "Unity". DO NOT VOTE FOR BILLARY!!

HANG JANE!

ascott---much later on the very same day---

Your dead dog would have made the right move on the military commissions act, which was to do nothing, and let it die.

I didn't know Barack promised to serve out his full term, but I don't give much weight to those sorts of promises. I was more concerned about his "aye" for the bankruptcy deform act, passed just in time for the mortgage crisis. That was a slap in the face to the middle class.

Apparently he's never been real interested in the Senate, except as a path to the presidency. Still, he would be a remarkable improvement over the current chimpster-in-chief, mainly because he's been known to pick up a book or a briefing from time to time.