What’s at Stake Today in The Senate’s FISA Filibuster Vote

Last August, the Democratic Congress amended FISA when it passed the Protect America Act because the Bush administration and Mike McConnell shrilly warned — literally — that the country would be attacked by The Terrorists if they didn’t do so immediately. The administration insisted that without the vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers which that law provided, the entire country would be under grave threat of an imminent attack from Al Qaeda. As The Washington Post’s Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus reported back then:

McConnell won the fight, extracting a key concession despite the misgivings of Democratic negotiators. Shortly after that exchange, the Bush administration leveraged Democratic acquiescence into a broader victory: congressional approval of a Republican bill that would expand surveillance powers far beyond what Democratic leaders had initially been willing to accept. Congressional, administration and intelligence officials last week described the events leading up to the approval of this surveillance, including a remarkable series of confrontations that ended with McConnell and the White House outmaneuvering the Democratic-controlled Congress, partly by capitalizing on fresh reports of a growing terrorism threat.

“We had a forcing function,” a senior administration official said, referring to the intelligence community’s public report last month that said al-Qaeda poses a growing threat to the United States and to lawmakers’ desire to leave town in August. “The situation was key to making it work,” the official said, adding that the report’s conclusions were “fortuitous” rather than engineered.

A critical moment for the Democrats came on July 24, when McConnell met in a closed session with senators from both parties to ask for urgent approval of a slimmed-down version of his bill. Armed with new details about terrorist activity and an alarming decline in U.S. eavesdropping capabilities, he argued that Congress had days, not weeks, to act.

“Everybody who heard him speak recognized the absolute, compelling necessity to move,” Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), vice chairman of the intelligence panel, said later of the closed session.

Democrats agreed. “At that time, the discussion changed to ‘What can we do to close the gap during the August recess?’” said a senior Democratic aide who declined to be identified because the meetings were classified. As delivered by McConnell, the warnings were seen as fully credible. “He’s pushing this because he thinks we’re in a high-threat environment,” the senior aide said.

Democrats claimed to be so embarrassed by what was, even for them, the most absurd capitulation imaginable that they immediately vowed that it would not happen again:

Yet both sides acknowledge that the administration’s resurrection of virtually unchecked Cold War-era power to surveil foreign targets without warrants may be only temporary. The law expires in 180 days, and Democrats, smarting from their political defeat, have promised to alter it with new legislation to be prepared next month, when Congress returns from its recess.

So that’s how the Protect America Act — like most other laws drastically expanding the President’s unchecked powers — was born: in a climate of rank fear-mongering and exploitation of the Terrorist Threat: If you don’t give the President these new extraordinary powers, we’re all going to die. Once the Democrats did what they were told and passed the PAA, the President “commended” them and insisted that the new law was indispensable in Keeping Us All Safe:

When our intelligence professionals have the legal tools to gather information about the intentions of our enemies, America is safer. . . . Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, has assured me that this bill gives him the most immediate tools he needs to defeat the intentions of our enemies. And so in signing this legislation today I am heartened to know that his critical work will be strengthened and we will be better armed to prevent attacks in the future.

The PAA’s amendments to FISA — but not FISA itself — expire on February 2 and, due almost entirely to the behavior of the White House and their GOP Congressional followers, it seems unlikely that a new law can be in place by that date. On Thursday, Mitch McConnell blocked votes on all amendments, all but forcing the Democrats to filibuster today in order to prevent a final vote before those amendments can be considered. And, after refusing for months to allow House members access to any documents relating to the programs they’re supposed to vote on, the White House announced last week — just days before the PAA expires — that they will finally allow Representatives to review tens of thousands of new documents. As a result of these GOP-caused delays, Congressional Democrats are seeking a 30-day extension of the PAA to give them time to pass a new law in a calm and deliberate manner. But after claiming that the PAA is oh-so-vital to our ability to remain alive, the President this weekend threatened that he would veto any such extension, thus allowing this Extremely Critical Law to expire, as reported by The Politico’s Mike Allen:

The White House told Democratic congressional leaders Saturday that President Bush opposes a 30-day extension of an expiring eavesdropping law and instead wants an expanded version to be passed by Friday. “The president would veto a 30-day extension,” a senior administration official said.

The administration explicitly admits that the President won’t allow an extension because he wants to repeat the success of last August — when Congressional Democrats capitulated to every Bush demand because they were told they had to act within a matter of days, i.e., before their recess, lest they cause us all to be killed by The Terrorists. “They need the heat of the current law lapsing to get this done,” said a senior administration official, courteously granted anonymity by The Politico’s Allen to issue these threats. This veto threat is one of the President’s most brazen acts ever, so nakedly exposing the fun and games he routinely plays with National Security Threats. After sending Mike McConnell out last August to warn that we will all die without the PAA, Bush now says that he would rather let it expire than give Congress another 30 days. He just comes right out and announces, then, that he will leave us all vulnerable to a Terrorist Attack unless he not only gets everything he wants from Congress — all his new warrantless eavesdropping powers made permanent plus full immunity for his lawbreaking telecom partners — but also gets it exactly when he wants it (i.e., now — not 30 days from now).

If the Democrats had even the slightest strategic sense and/or courage — just the slightest amount — this is a political confrontation they would be uncontrollably eager to have. Just imagine if they sustain the filibuster today and instead pass a 30-day extension of the PAA, and then Bush vetoes it, knowingly choosing to leave the intelligence community without the ability to Listen In When Osama Is Calling. It would be the height of political stupidity for Democrats to be afraid of that outcome.

* * * * *

That’s what is at stake today as Senate Democrats try to sustain a filibuster against the Republicans’ efforts to force a final vote on the truly pernicious Senate Intelligence Committee bill. Are there any limits at all on the willingness of Congressional Democrats to be bullied and humiliated by Republicans, even by the most transparently disingenuous tactics such as these? FDL has the contact information for calling and faxing the Senators who appear to be key for sustaining the filibuster, and Jane Hamsher reports that — almost certainly due to public pressure — both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama are going to be present for the vote today in order to vote for the filibuster. The vote is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. EST and I’ll be live-blogging the events today here.

The veto threat from the President is so unbelievably corrupt and manipulative that if our national press had even the smallest amount of critical faculties and understanding of the issues, that veto threat would be a major story. After all, how can the President possibly threaten the country that he will veto a law that he himself has claimed for months is indispensable for Protecting Us All?

But as has been true from the beginning of this scandal, reporters have been too slothful to learn the facts (or too willing to distort them), and administration officials have been easily able to convince them of all sorts of things that are patently false, which they then convey to their readers. Here, for instance, is what The Politico’s Allen wrote:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs surveillance of telephone calls and e-mail traffic of suspected terrorists, expires on Friday. After that, any monitoring that’s currently authorized could continue, but no new surveillance could begin.

Wow - that sounds scary. Come Friday, there’s no more FISA! And no new surveillance can begin! The Congress better act and quick! I can’t believe Congressional Democrats are playing games with our safety this way! Of course, all of those statements all wrong, factually false. FISA is the law that was passed in 1977 and updated repeatedly since then, including with post-9/11 amendments that caused Bush himself, at the time, to say about the newly amended FISA: it “takes account of the new realities and dangers posed by modern terrorists” and “will allow surveillance of all communications used by terrorists, including e-mails, the Internet, and cell phones.”

FISA does not expire on Friday, contrary to Allen’s gullible parroting of what his anonymous White House friend told him. It continues indefinitely even if the PAA expires. And under FISA’s long-standing provisions, the Government — just as Bush himself said back in October, 2001 — has all the power it needs to eavesdrop on The Terrorists provided it gets a warrant from the FISA court or, in cases of emergency, within 72 hours after it begins eavesdropping.

* * * * *

It has been a long, long time since Democrats contravened orders from the White House and Senate Republicans in any way (can anyone remember the last time?) A successful filibuster today would be an extremely mild step. It would not mean that they are rejecting telecom immunity. It would not mean that they are standing against new warrantless spying on Americans. Even with a filibuster and 30-day extension, they still have plenty of time to capitulate on those issues if they want to (although, as I argued on Saturday, even a short extension could be vital in marshalling public opposition to immunity and/or expanded warrantless spying powers).

At most, a sustained filibuster today would simply mean that they are demanding the right to vote (probably with futility) on their own amendments before passing Bush’s new law and demonstrating that there is at least some very weak limit on the administration’s ability to bully and humiliate them with the most transparently manipulative tactics imaginable. If they filibuster, Bush will undoubtedly attack them as Soft on Terrorism in tonight’s State of the Union speech, but nobody outside of David Broder, Joe Klein and the Super Tough Blue Dogs listens any more or cares about George Bush’s attacks.

Any rational person has long ago given up the hope that Congressional Democrats will stand for any actual political convictions, but the most basic sense of personal pride and human dignity — which one thought was an intrinsic part of human nature — would preclude their capitulation today. If they don’t stand up to the White House and Senate Republicans under these circumstances, one might as well accept that they never will do so.

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53 Comments so far

Jaded Prole January 28th, 2008 11:47 am

The repugs will spit.

The Dims will swallow.

keyinside January 28th, 2008 11:53 am

The democrats will cave, it’s what they do, it’s what they have always done.

Want strong leadership in congress that stands up to the neo-cons? Elect Green Party members, www.GP.org

holyb January 28th, 2008 12:10 pm

stop complaining - we have great, strong leadership: der wouuldbe furher says jump and everyone in Congress asks, “how high”. Americans want leadership, they’ve got it. On the other hand, McKinney seems to have a strong will and leadership qualities, and she’s a fighter, not a demo whimper.

ardee January 28th, 2008 12:12 pm

The cry of “wolf at the door” has echoed throughout the Presidency of George Walker Bush, since the events of 9/11 of course. This unscrupulous and unbelievably incompetent administration has used “uber patriotism” to railroad the Democrats into being little more than patsies in installing a neoconservative brand of creeping fascism on this nation. It is, in fact, the only form of competence shown in the seven years of the reign of the boy king.

In his lame duck year the time is ripe for democrats to remember that Bush cannot accomplish a thing, never has, never will, he had bin Laden cold in Tora Bora and let him free. Stand up to this stupidity NOW, SHOW SOME BACKBONE AT LONG LAST. Better yet, return to the real principles of the Democratic Party, better late than never.

jester January 28th, 2008 12:18 pm

keyinside makes a good point. It seems that a portion of CD responders decries the absence of a third party, and a roughly equal portion recognizes that there already is a third party.

The Green party may not have much ‘clout’ — but isn’t its apparently low profile due to the refusal of the MSM to cover its candidates and activities?

If the Democratic Party is one of the two right wings of the USA’s single corporate party, then maybe the Greens are well-positioned to become the second party we so desperately need.

Bill from Saginaw January 28th, 2008 12:31 pm

Hang in there, Glenn Greenwald. Thanks for giving us a plain English update on what’s going on in the Senate today, and a link to Firedog Lake to facilitate contating our elected representatives.

I’ve made my views forcefully known to my state’s junior Senator (Debbie Stabenow), and hope other CDer’s will take the time and effort to do the same. Now is the time for the Dems to call George Bush’s bluff on the veto threat once and for all.

The big issues in the background are of course the grant of immunity to the telecoms for wrongdoing that in some instances took place 6-7 months BEFORE the 9/11 attacks, and whether McConnell and the White House can once again, or perhaps indefinitely, terrify the Dems with the spectre of getting blamed for a domestic terrorist incident next week that (trust us! trust us!) certainly would have been averted, but for that damnable, pesky, cumbersome FISA warrant requirement that those Congressional liberals keeps fretting over.

If Congress extends the current law 30 days, Bush responds by vetoing the extension, and Osama then promptly whacks Detroit or Decatur by making a cell phone call from Islamabad that otherwise might have been intercepted, most of my neighbors are going to blame Bush for being pig headed, not those who voted to keep the existing surveillance in place for another month while the legislative process runs its proper course.

Bill from Saginaw

Nathaniel Heidenheimer January 28th, 2008 12:33 pm

Obama step up or shut up! I am tired of your using your anti-war vote from the free throw line (Il. State Leg) as the basis of your anti-war McIdentity.

What have you done since arriving in the big leagues? Nap time with Harry, Nancy and Hillary!!

kelmer January 28th, 2008 12:38 pm

Just wait for the headline saying the democrats cave in to Bush.

dreamertoo January 28th, 2008 12:51 pm

Maybe they’re not afraid for themselves, maybe they’re afraid for you; maybe they’re especially afraid for you because you’re so naïve.

sjc_1 January 28th, 2008 12:58 pm

I have not heard a compelling case for any of this. How many bad guys have they caught in exchange for 200 million Americans giving up their rights?

Republicans since Reagan have been talking about cost/benefit trade offs, so where are the benefits versus costs on this? We all know the costs to all of us, now show us some real benefits!

wobememn January 28th, 2008 1:07 pm

No more BU**SH**, the time has long passed and if there are Dems willing to shame themselves by allowing this to happen, they need to be removed from office.

The existing bill will continue to work fine.

This is about one thing and one thing only, retroactive immunity. The retroactive imunity that the telcom’s thought they had already purchased, we’ll see. The telcom that wouldn’t agree to turning over its records (Quest) had it’s CEO put in prison by one of the Fed Procecutors that wasn’t fired. What an amazing coincidence.

Doom n Gloom January 28th, 2008 1:57 pm

A bird with two right wings cannot fly.

Coyotita January 28th, 2008 1:58 pm

I agree with Greenwald, that this is a great opportunity for the Democratic Congress to end this fiasco of George W. Bush’s administration looking less than puppets than they have been.
GWB is so arrogant (evil is always arrogant and thus can be defeated) that this last “order” to a Congress who owes him nothing, but does owe the American Public representation in government, can be his downfall. Let us pray.

luckylefty January 28th, 2008 2:00 pm

Crime & Punishment. First they do the crime then they punish anyone who tries to interfere with their crime or later, to prosecute them for their crime. And exactly which Banana Republic are we talking about here? Isn’t that how the Oligarchy does business in Mexico or anywhere Oligarchies own the show? And most of you already know exactly what the Dims are gonna do AND THE EXCUSES THEY WILL USE: “If it weren’t fer all them Blue Dog Dims, all their fault, yu know the REAL Dims would help us if’n they kuud.” That’s Likud, to you stranger.

SMELL THE COFFEE. POTS & PANS IN THE STREETS TIME. PARTY’S OVER.

Jim Glover January 28th, 2008 2:26 pm

Wouldn’t it be great if the Dems who wanted to impeach got up and walked out during Bush’s speech tonight?

Like we are not goin’ to take this siting down anymore!

Chunga's Revenge January 28th, 2008 2:35 pm

Jim Glover - Yea big impact all 5 of Dem Dems cloud march out in a huff.

keyinside January 28th, 2008 2:47 pm

So, when all of you “liberals” here on this board go to vote for your congressional reps, are you going to blindly pull the democratic level, and then wonder why they never stand up to the republikans?

Cognitive dissonance anyone?

Jim Glover January 28th, 2008 3:15 pm

Well were gettin near time for the new Bush Coins.

http://blip.tv/file/520347?ref=patrick.net

Barn Burner January 28th, 2008 3:21 pm

Related to this is a letter Congressman Robert Wexler sent John Conyers laying out the details of “the need to impeach Cheney” and asking him to get the House Judiciary Committee on-board and act upon the legislation in their committee.
There were other signatories to the letter and I urge you to contact your Representative if his name is not on the following list and ask him “why not?”
Clarke, Yvette D., NY, 11th
Clay, Wm. Lacy, MO, 1st
Cohen, Steve, TN, 9th *
Farr, Sam, CA, 17th
Grijalva, Raúl M., AZ, 7th
Moore, Gwen, WI, 4th
Moran, James P., VA, 8th
Towns, Edolphus, NY, 10th
Wynn, Albert Russell, MD, 4th
Baldwin, Tammy, WI, 2nd *
Capuano, Michael E., MA, 8th
Gutierrez, Luis V., IL, 4th *
Thompson, Mike, CA, 1st
Wexler, Robert, FL, 19th *

NancyH January 28th, 2008 3:36 pm

The vote is in the Senate — please contact your Senators and tell them to vote no on cloture to keep the debate going on the Senate Floor. The list of Senators who support NO IMMUNITY FOR TELECOM COMPANIES is growing — why? Because there was a huge outpouring of citizen call-ins and e-mails from citizens telling them NOT TO SUPPORT IMMUNITY. Now is the time to let them know once again, we will not sit quietly and allow them to keep eroding our rights afforded under the Constitution. PLease call your senators now. They need to hear from you directly and loudly — albeit respectfully when you call or write. DO IT NOW.

whatfools January 28th, 2008 3:58 pm

I have (politely) told both my senators that I will NEVER vote for either one of them should the telcoms get immunity for any reason.

O roe January 28th, 2008 4:09 pm

CALL
PLUS THE 12 DEMS THAT VOTED YEA,Bayh[D-IN], Carper[D-DE], Inouye[D-HI], Johnson[D-SD], Landrieu[D-SD], McCaskill[D-MO], Mikulski[D-MD], Nelson[D-NE], Nelson[D-FL], Pryor[D-AR], Rockefeller[D-WV], Salazarl[D-CO].
If you email, not call they will send you a mail to contact YOUR Senator.
800-828-0498, ask for each Senators office. DO IT!

terryb January 28th, 2008 4:41 pm

GREEN!
NOW!

commonscience1 January 28th, 2008 5:13 pm

Wol , wolf wolf, no no no The sky is falling the sky is falling with Iranin Microbs shelled with atomic lies. Get a grip !!!!!

backbone January 28th, 2008 5:23 pm

See Photo of Giant Backbone being delivered to DNC Headquarters here: http://backbonecampaign.org/slideshows/DCAction/BackboneComesTo/DSC04130.htm

Use Spine Cards and Spineless Citations here:
http://backbonecampaign.org/page.cfm?id=64

Our tools are free for all to download and use.

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Backbone Campaign
http://backbonecampaign.org
206-408-8058

seriousprofessor January 28th, 2008 5:32 pm

Are there any among us who cannot foresee the obvious outcome?

dreamertoo January 28th, 2008 5:48 pm

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!

Spike January 28th, 2008 6:12 pm

The greatest threat of terrorist acts against the USA comes from within the Whitehouse.

It seems passing strange that the binBush branch of the binLaden family have never felt the sting of loss from their sick avaricious actions.

bbr-001 January 28th, 2008 6:30 pm

I’d love to know who Cheney wants to spy on. Maybe he’s into Britney and Lindsay. Nah. Probably just the Democratic Leadership. Maybe some Haliburton competitors. His mother-in-law? Who knows?

Jim Glover January 28th, 2008 6:31 pm

This just in from Jim Dean at Democracy for America info@democracyforamerica.com

Jim–

We just had a huge victory. Grassroots action forced the Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing.

Earlier today, DFA members made over 1,000 calls an hour to our Senators. And they heard our voices loud and clear.

Tonight I’ll be watching President Bush give his final State of the Union. As usual, he will be fear-mongering and pushing his radical agenda on the American people.

Thanks to your work today, we flipped the vote and forced Senate Democrats to have a backbone.

Jim

homeward-angel January 28th, 2008 7:01 pm

NancyH-you are RIGHT ABOUT THAT!! The only way the government people will listen is if enough people speak truth to power. The willfulness of some democrates to capitulate to the repukes shows that america truly is a one party nation. I do believe it is time to drop the dems and go GREEN PARTY. the green party is the only party thats doing work for the causes that i would like to see happen to make our nation great once again. In 2006 the people went to the polls to show the leaders that they wanted real change in the direction of the country. The dems promised that but didnt deliver. it is time to hold them accountable for their pandering to the CORPO MASTERS.

willo January 28th, 2008 7:29 pm

If they are really interested in fighting terrorist’s congress should impeach Bush and Cheney get rid of the CIA NSA and FBI then quit themselves. 9/11 was an inside job.

whatfools January 28th, 2008 8:07 pm

We need a FISABUSTER!

ruiz562h January 28th, 2008 9:46 pm

If often boggles my mind when I hear the Bush administration crying wolf, “The Terrorists are coming, The Terrorists are coming!” and a swath of Americans actually believe this nonesense. Yet, it is these same Americans that proudly sing The Star-Spangled Banner stanza, “…The Home of the Brave.” (and actually believe that they are brave), yet are scared that, “The Terrorists are coming.” Hmmm.

Where is this American Bravado?

How come we never hear people respond to the Bush administration fear mongering, “We have to fight them over there, so we don’t have to fight them over here!”, by saying, “So what if we have to fight them over here. We’re Americans and there is NO fight tough enough for us, that we can not handle!”

xi_people January 28th, 2008 9:58 pm

My question is why anyone even pretends that a functioning gov’t is in place, with even a figleaf of pretense about ‘checks & balances.’ It just doesn’t exist, and the disagreements between the two parties are minuscule. I don’t foresee any third party gaining national traction, so it will be more of the same until the inevitable collapse.

RichM January 28th, 2008 10:32 pm

At 6:31 above, someone claims that “…We just had a huge victory. Grassroots action forced the Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing….
Earlier today, DFA members made over 1,000 calls an hour to our Senators. And they heard our voices loud and clear….Thanks to your work today, we flipped the vote and forced Senate Democrats to have a backbone.”

Nope. That’s not what happened. Glenn Greenwald wrote on his blog today, following the Senate action, that the only thing that kept Senate Dems from caving in today was their desire to protect certain institutional prerogatives. It had nothing to do with “grassroots” pressure, backbone, or principles. Here’s an excerpt:

…one can still praise Senate Democrats for refusing to capitulate fully (at least yet) — but it isn’t the case that Senate Democrats collectively took a stand here for anything more substantive than their own institutional customs. Many of the Democratic Senators whom you like today for voting against cloture will be voting soon enough in favor of telecom amnesty and for warrantless eavesdropping. The House is the real hope for stopping these measures…

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/28/fisa_debate/index.html

George C. Brown January 29th, 2008 12:23 am

When are we as a people stop being so gullible that we swallow the Administration’s, the neo-con’s the Military/Industrial Complexes lies, hook, line and sinker? The way things are going, we are rapidly moving to the point where Green is the color!

jungleboy January 29th, 2008 1:43 am

Yo! How did our senators get so stupid? I thought it was a tough thing to be a senator, like…thinking and shit! Our terrorist leader and his cronies who, with the help of all the big corporations and security organizations, are willing to terrorize and kill our senators who do no harm and protect us citizens. Are we under a dictatorship or what?! How can we think some senator with a minimal salary from past work and a corrupt corporate backed leadership can get along with murder and espionage being the only way to protect themselves? Who would win? The bush crime family has been sinking lures and bribes for decades into the corporations that they don’t already hold. We are being held hostage with threats and a blackmail-able carrot on a stick. Our local leaders are just like ourselves in the face of a non local, international racketeering mob union. Our president is just like the crime boss, yes he needs a dead horse head in his bed, but, it seems that is all he can give out. He would probably fukk it if he found it, its his favorite! Everyone else in the world can make the connection but our lowly senators. If the/a big one goes down, they all go down. A recession could only make things disappear for a while, under cover. A reorganization of power from the local networks to the corporations themselves is happening, now. It already shows its face to be the revival of slavery, based on economics instead of race, this time. Look at CHillary and Obumer and their messages of “we and us”, fools! Katrina, its all the message. You might call me a pessimist but I don’t see us going away from economic slavery anytime soon. I run my own small business. I see “turf” for what it is. I see the corporate “tunnel of love” most people fall into. Its easy to bend over. Its hard to stand up straight after a hard days work. You have to work hard and work harder at thinking, for your self! If the mob could wipe out your block with out the news covering it, wouldn’t you follow orders? Slave?

boy howdy January 29th, 2008 1:44 am

The time has come and gone when the Congress needs to stop believing the Administration’s line. These are professional, routine liars. Sure it takes some risk to deny these powers: a terrorist attack can occur and make Congress look irresponsible. But it is a necessary risk, because, as it is, they’re throwing away the bill of rights for these proto-fascists. I am far more alarmed and frightened by the PAA than by any terrorists.

And this is precisely why impeachment is so important: The telecoms got letters from the Administration assuring them the eavesdropping was all legal. Quest was the only one I’ve heard of that wasn’t buying it. It was a courageous stand. I mean, this is the President, and the Attorney General, falsely telling companies what is legal. This is all cockamamie!

weiji2001 January 29th, 2008 3:21 am

So what else is new? Fear of the invader has always been a powerful source of persuasion:

I remember my mom telling me how the news kept reminding people that Japan was imminently set to attack the West Coast. This message was drummed every day into the minds of the people, and also included nightly blackouts and bomb shelter drills.

How many of us baby boomers remember kissing our asses good-bye under our school desks in regular drills preparing for the imminent atomic bombs the Communists were about to drop on us?

The bogeyman gets us every time.

hedology January 29th, 2008 3:51 am

The sky is falling! The sky is raining terrorists! Well there are always people in a society who become sociopaths, and some of them intelligent and skilled manipulators of people. The most deceitful and tricky ones learn what signals to give to others to get status and their own way. All the chickens can be made to panic and run around in circles. The terrorists are coming! The Russians are coming! International Communism is approaching! The dominos are falling!

Meanwhile the racketeers and manipulators are in charge and winning. They do not want attention to themselves. What better distractions can they think of?

dreamertoo January 29th, 2008 7:24 am

Many who decry the bullying by the President proclaim the success of their own.

whatfools January 29th, 2008 8:31 am

Amid the controversy brewing in the Senate over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform, the Bush administration appears to have changed its strategy and is devising a bold new plan that would strip away FISA protections in favor of a system of wholesale government monitoring of every American’s Internet activities. Now the National Director of Intelligence is predicting a disastrous cyber-terrorist attack on the U.S. if this scheme isn’t instituted.

- www.alertnet.org

NancyH January 29th, 2008 9:22 am

RichM.

If you are right about the Salon.com article regarding DFA’s comments on Grassroots action forcing Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing, then the fight is not over on this matter. George Orwell was a true visionary. I’ve become a very cynical person without much faith in the common man, mainly because they’re so uninformed, ignorant, complacent, and don’t get the fact that one must be informed to make good decisions. Far too many U.S. citizens just don’t care and are too easily manipulated because of their own self enforced ignorance — to their own detriment, sadly. My two Masschusetts Senators have been voting against telecom immunity all along.

huckleberry January 29th, 2008 9:55 am

I certainly hope they are spying on me. I for one would be glad to know that they can hear me exercise my right to FREE SPEECH.

Let’s dismantle our disgraceful government and start over. In a democracy I have the right to advocate this.

Let’s HANG Bush & Cheney after their war crimes trial.

Please, republican Goon squad, come and arrest ME for speaking so I can spit in your face.

Republicans are a disgrace to humanity.

NancyH January 29th, 2008 10:01 am

Update on Illegal Wiretapping and Retroactive Immunity (by CREDO Action/Working Assets)

Thanks to your actions, we’ve been successful in preventing the Senate from passing a wiretapping bill that grants retroactive immunity to AT&T and Verizon.

Just a little while ago, the Senate rejected attempts to rush this bill to passage, keeping alive our campaign to remove the immunity provisions. But while we’ve won the battle today, what happens later this week will determine whether the Senate will do the bidding of the White House or stand up for the Constitution. Tonight, if you watch Mr. Bush in his last State of the Union speech, be prepared to hear the fruits of your labors described as helping the terrorists — but you know better.

Action Still Needed to Block Retroactive Immunity

The privacy-invading “Protect America Act” expires on February 1st. In coming days, the Senate will debate a series of amendments to the wiretapping legislation — some good, some bad, but all of them vitally important when it comes to preserving our Constitution and upholding the rule of law. Here’s what you can do.

The Senators listed below have been identified as swing votes on upcoming wiretapping amendments. If you have friends or family in the states below, please forward this email and ask that they contact their senators to oppose retroactive immunity, sweeping new powers for the Bush administration, and any new legislation that violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Below are the swing voters to be concerned about:

Arizona — John McCain, (202) 224-2235
Arkansas — Blanche Lincoln, (202) 224-4843; Mark Pryor, (202) 224-2353
California — Dianne Feinstein, (202) 224-3841
Colorado — Ken Salazar, (202) 224-5852
Connecticut — Joe Lieberman, (202) 224-4041
Delaware — Thomas Carper, (202) 224-2441
Florida — Bill Nelson, (202) 224-5274
Georgia — Saxby Chambliss, (202) 224-3521
Hawaii — Daniel Inouye, (202) 224-3934
Illinois — Barack Obama, (202) 224-2854
Indiana — Evan Bayh, (202) 224-5623
Louisiana — Mary Landrieu, (202)224-5824
Maine — Olympia Snowe, (202) 224-5344 and Susan Collins, (202) 224-2523
Maryland — Barbara Mikulski, (202) 224-4654
Michigan — Debbie Stabenow, (202) 224-4822
Minnesota — Norm Coleman, (202) 224-5641
Missouri — Claire McCaskill, (202) 224-6154
Nebraska — Ben Nelson, (202) 224-6551
New Hampshire — John Sununu, (202) 224-2841
New York — Hillary Clinton, (202) 224-4451
North Carolina — Elizabeth Dole, (202) 224-6342
Oregon — Gordon Smith, (202) 224-3753
Pennsylvania — Arlen Specter, (202) 224-4254
South Carolina — Lindsey Graham, (202) 224-5972
South Dakota — Tim Johnson, (202) 224-5842
Virginia — John Warner, (202) 224-2023
West Virginia — Robert Byrd, (202) 224-3954
Wisconsin — Herb Kohl, (202) 224-5653

petesfarm January 29th, 2008 11:33 am

should have dropped a bunker buster on the state of the union lies & stared with CHANGE & a True Bill based on the Republics Constitution. This is just broading the powers of the police state, swat teams & create a crime legislation-see how many of these r on the CFR & vote em out

Jim Glover January 29th, 2008 11:39 am

Thanks Nancy for the post… From most of the comments here it sounds like not many will do anything but complain.

But sometimes all it takes is a few good folks to keep the good fight goin.

Thank you all who do something active to improve our future.

greatbear215 January 29th, 2008 11:52 am

Every time Bush opens his mouth and yells, “Terrorist! Terrorists!” America craps its collective pants. Pavlovian. Never seen anything like it.

herbert r chersonsky January 29th, 2008 1:27 pm

“The U.S.Constitution is just a piece of paper,” so said our most infamous leader.

Just recently a group of Pakistani, alleged, terrorists, were arrested in Barcelona. The Cheney/Bush Team jumped on that as a prime example of a need to “Illegally Wiretap”. What they did not say was that the French had a contact inside the group who alerted the French and then the French alerted the Spanish Guardia Civil.

That was not illegal wiretaps, that was good police work with good sources. The only reason Cheney/Bush want the wiretaps is to know personal and private information about each and every one of us. Why would Dennis Kucinich give up his “Impeachment ” promise?

So far, 8 airmen who might have had knowledge of the movement of Nuclear Weapons from Minot AFB to Barksdale AFB, August 27,2007-August 29,2007 have died from mysterious accidents and suicides. How would you know if people were going to “Blow the Whistle” without illegal wiretaps?

So far, 10 microbiologists who might have had knowledge of the “Anthrax Threat” of 2001 have died from mysterious accidents and suicides. How would you know if people were going to “Blow the Whistle” without illegal wiretaps?

So far, 2 people have died or diappeared who were working on cases related to the “Palfrey Escort Service Scandal” and one woman committed suicide by hanging herself so that the daughter living with her and her grandchild would find her. (She had a PHD and no woman would have done that to her grandchild.) How would you know if people were going to testify without illegal wiretaps?

The “Fear” of Terrorists is worse than the fear of dying in a hospital where 48,000 to 100,000 people die every year because of mistakes made in hospitals.(”To Err Is Human” American Medical Institute Study 2000)

The “Fear” of Terrorists is worse than the fear of dying in a car accident in which more than 20,000 people die every year.

The “Fear” of Terrorists is worse than the fear of being killed by a terrorist with a gun and more than 15,000 people are victims of those terrorists.

Yet Bush/Cheney have sold “The Fear” for over six years because of 9/11 and yet there never was an independent investigation to connect the missing dots and why World Trade Center #7 was a pre-planned demolition with many SEC and CIA funding reports and investigation reports destroyed. (”La CIA y 11 de Septiembre” by Andreas Von Bulow)

The CIA, FBI, and the Executive Branch of the Federal Government have collaborated and destroyed evidence in several cases: The sale of Top Secret Nuclear Information by High Level U.S.Government Officials, The Illegal Rendition and Torture of Prisoners, The Political Removal of Eight U.S. Attorneys, Halliburton´s fraudulent contracts with the Department of Defense, Over 900 lies prior to the “Invasion” of Iraq addressed to the U.N. and Congress (”I did not have sex with that woman” and a blue dress cost the American people 58 million dollars.), and of course all documents dealing with the illegal wiretapping have been destroyed.

Jim Glover January 29th, 2008 1:36 pm

Greatbear,

You are correct… but I am old enough to realize that the Ruling Class controls the War Machine all thorough history by the same method… it’s almost as old as the hills.

Jim Glover January 29th, 2008 1:45 pm

Herbert You are correct but I don’t think Dennis gave up his impeachment effort, now that he has dropped out of the race which we all knew he wouldn’t really win, he is in a better position to push it harder in the House.

dreamertoo January 29th, 2008 9:10 pm

Thank you, NancyH! Well done!

Jaded Prole January 28th, 2008 11:47 am

The repugs will spit.

The Dims will swallow.
keyinside January 28th, 2008 11:53 am

The democrats will cave, it’s what they do, it’s what they have always done.

Want strong leadership in congress that stands up to the neo-cons? Elect Green Party members, www.GP.org
holyb January 28th, 2008 12:10 pm

stop complaining - we have great, strong leadership: der wouuldbe furher says jump and everyone in Congress asks, “how high”. Americans want leadership, they’ve got it. On the other hand, McKinney seems to have a strong will and leadership qualities, and she’s a fighter, not a demo whimper.
ardee January 28th, 2008 12:12 pm

The cry of “wolf at the door” has echoed throughout the Presidency of George Walker Bush, since the events of 9/11 of course. This unscrupulous and unbelievably incompetent administration has used “uber patriotism” to railroad the Democrats into being little more than patsies in installing a neoconservative brand of creeping fascism on this nation. It is, in fact, the only form of competence shown in the seven years of the reign of the boy king.

In his lame duck year the time is ripe for democrats to remember that Bush cannot accomplish a thing, never has, never will, he had bin Laden cold in Tora Bora and let him free. Stand up to this stupidity NOW, SHOW SOME BACKBONE AT LONG LAST. Better yet, return to the real principles of the Democratic Party, better late than never.
jester January 28th, 2008 12:18 pm

keyinside makes a good point. It seems that a portion of CD responders decries the absence of a third party, and a roughly equal portion recognizes that there already is a third party.

The Green party may not have much ‘clout’ — but isn’t its apparently low profile due to the refusal of the MSM to cover its candidates and activities?

If the Democratic Party is one of the two right wings of the USA’s single corporate party, then maybe the Greens are well-positioned to become the second party we so desperately need.
Bill from Saginaw January 28th, 2008 12:31 pm

Hang in there, Glenn Greenwald. Thanks for giving us a plain English update on what’s going on in the Senate today, and a link to Firedog Lake to facilitate contating our elected representatives.

I’ve made my views forcefully known to my state’s junior Senator (Debbie Stabenow), and hope other CDer’s will take the time and effort to do the same. Now is the time for the Dems to call George Bush’s bluff on the veto threat once and for all.

The big issues in the background are of course the grant of immunity to the telecoms for wrongdoing that in some instances took place 6-7 months BEFORE the 9/11 attacks, and whether McConnell and the White House can once again, or perhaps indefinitely, terrify the Dems with the spectre of getting blamed for a domestic terrorist incident next week that (trust us! trust us!) certainly would have been averted, but for that damnable, pesky, cumbersome FISA warrant requirement that those Congressional liberals keeps fretting over.

If Congress extends the current law 30 days, Bush responds by vetoing the extension, and Osama then promptly whacks Detroit or Decatur by making a cell phone call from Islamabad that otherwise might have been intercepted, most of my neighbors are going to blame Bush for being pig headed, not those who voted to keep the existing surveillance in place for another month while the legislative process runs its proper course.

Bill from Saginaw
Nathaniel Heidenheimer January 28th, 2008 12:33 pm

Obama step up or shut up! I am tired of your using your anti-war vote from the free throw line (Il. State Leg) as the basis of your anti-war McIdentity.

What have you done since arriving in the big leagues? Nap time with Harry, Nancy and Hillary!!
kelmer January 28th, 2008 12:38 pm

Just wait for the headline saying the democrats cave in to Bush.
dreamertoo January 28th, 2008 12:51 pm

Maybe they’re not afraid for themselves, maybe they’re afraid for you; maybe they’re especially afraid for you because you’re so naïve.
sjc_1 January 28th, 2008 12:58 pm

I have not heard a compelling case for any of this. How many bad guys have they caught in exchange for 200 million Americans giving up their rights?

Republicans since Reagan have been talking about cost/benefit trade offs, so where are the benefits versus costs on this? We all know the costs to all of us, now show us some real benefits!
wobememn January 28th, 2008 1:07 pm

No more BU**SH**, the time has long passed and if there are Dems willing to shame themselves by allowing this to happen, they need to be removed from office.

The existing bill will continue to work fine.

This is about one thing and one thing only, retroactive immunity. The retroactive imunity that the telcom’s thought they had already purchased, we’ll see. The telcom that wouldn’t agree to turning over its records (Quest) had it’s CEO put in prison by one of the Fed Procecutors that wasn’t fired. What an amazing coincidence.
Doom n Gloom January 28th, 2008 1:57 pm

A bird with two right wings cannot fly.
Coyotita January 28th, 2008 1:58 pm

I agree with Greenwald, that this is a great opportunity for the Democratic Congress to end this fiasco of George W. Bush’s administration looking less than puppets than they have been.
GWB is so arrogant (evil is always arrogant and thus can be defeated) that this last “order” to a Congress who owes him nothing, but does owe the American Public representation in government, can be his downfall. Let us pray.
luckylefty January 28th, 2008 2:00 pm

Crime & Punishment. First they do the crime then they punish anyone who tries to interfere with their crime or later, to prosecute them for their crime. And exactly which Banana Republic are we talking about here? Isn’t that how the Oligarchy does business in Mexico or anywhere Oligarchies own the show? And most of you already know exactly what the Dims are gonna do AND THE EXCUSES THEY WILL USE: “If it weren’t fer all them Blue Dog Dims, all their fault, yu know the REAL Dims would help us if’n they kuud.” That’s Likud, to you stranger.

SMELL THE COFFEE. POTS & PANS IN THE STREETS TIME. PARTY’S OVER.
Jim Glover January 28th, 2008 2:26 pm

Wouldn’t it be great if the Dems who wanted to impeach got up and walked out during Bush’s speech tonight?

Like we are not goin’ to take this siting down anymore!
Chunga's Revenge January 28th, 2008 2:35 pm

Jim Glover - Yea big impact all 5 of Dem Dems cloud march out in a huff.
keyinside January 28th, 2008 2:47 pm

So, when all of you “liberals” here on this board go to vote for your congressional reps, are you going to blindly pull the democratic level, and then wonder why they never stand up to the republikans?

Cognitive dissonance anyone?
Jim Glover January 28th, 2008 3:15 pm

Well were gettin near time for the new Bush Coins.

http://blip.tv/file/520347?ref=patrick.net
Barn Burner January 28th, 2008 3:21 pm

Related to this is a letter Congressman Robert Wexler sent John Conyers laying out the details of “the need to impeach Cheney” and asking him to get the House Judiciary Committee on-board and act upon the legislation in their committee.
There were other signatories to the letter and I urge you to contact your Representative if his name is not on the following list and ask him “why not?”
Clarke, Yvette D., NY, 11th
Clay, Wm. Lacy, MO, 1st
Cohen, Steve, TN, 9th *
Farr, Sam, CA, 17th
Grijalva, Raúl M., AZ, 7th
Moore, Gwen, WI, 4th
Moran, James P., VA, 8th
Towns, Edolphus, NY, 10th
Wynn, Albert Russell, MD, 4th
Baldwin, Tammy, WI, 2nd *
Capuano, Michael E., MA, 8th
Gutierrez, Luis V., IL, 4th *
Thompson, Mike, CA, 1st
Wexler, Robert, FL, 19th *
NancyH January 28th, 2008 3:36 pm

The vote is in the Senate — please contact your Senators and tell them to vote no on cloture to keep the debate going on the Senate Floor. The list of Senators who support NO IMMUNITY FOR TELECOM COMPANIES is growing — why? Because there was a huge outpouring of citizen call-ins and e-mails from citizens telling them NOT TO SUPPORT IMMUNITY. Now is the time to let them know once again, we will not sit quietly and allow them to keep eroding our rights afforded under the Constitution. PLease call your senators now. They need to hear from you directly and loudly — albeit respectfully when you call or write. DO IT NOW.
whatfools January 28th, 2008 3:58 pm

I have (politely) told both my senators that I will NEVER vote for either one of them should the telcoms get immunity for any reason.
O roe January 28th, 2008 4:09 pm

CALL
PLUS THE 12 DEMS THAT VOTED YEA,Bayh[D-IN], Carper[D-DE], Inouye[D-HI], Johnson[D-SD], Landrieu[D-SD], McCaskill[D-MO], Mikulski[D-MD], Nelson[D-NE], Nelson[D-FL], Pryor[D-AR], Rockefeller[D-WV], Salazarl[D-CO].
If you email, not call they will send you a mail to contact YOUR Senator.
800-828-0498, ask for each Senators office. DO IT!
terryb January 28th, 2008 4:41 pm

GREEN!
NOW!
commonscience1 January 28th, 2008 5:13 pm

Wol , wolf wolf, no no no The sky is falling the sky is falling with Iranin Microbs shelled with atomic lies. Get a grip !!!!!
backbone January 28th, 2008 5:23 pm

See Photo of Giant Backbone being delivered to DNC Headquarters here: http://backbonecampaign.org/slideshows/DCAction/BackboneComesTo/DSC04130.htm

Use Spine Cards and Spineless Citations here:
http://backbonecampaign.org/page.cfm?id=64

Our tools are free for all to download and use.

Bill Moyer
Backbone Campaign
http://backbonecampaign.org
206-408-8058
seriousprofessor January 28th, 2008 5:32 pm

Are there any among us who cannot foresee the obvious outcome?
dreamertoo January 28th, 2008 5:48 pm

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!
Spike January 28th, 2008 6:12 pm

The greatest threat of terrorist acts against the USA comes from within the Whitehouse.

It seems passing strange that the binBush branch of the binLaden family have never felt the sting of loss from their sick avaricious actions.
bbr-001 January 28th, 2008 6:30 pm

I’d love to know who Cheney wants to spy on. Maybe he’s into Britney and Lindsay. Nah. Probably just the Democratic Leadership. Maybe some Haliburton competitors. His mother-in-law? Who knows?
Jim Glover January 28th, 2008 6:31 pm

This just in from Jim Dean at Democracy for America info@democracyforamerica.com

Jim–

We just had a huge victory. Grassroots action forced the Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing.

Earlier today, DFA members made over 1,000 calls an hour to our Senators. And they heard our voices loud and clear.

Tonight I’ll be watching President Bush give his final State of the Union. As usual, he will be fear-mongering and pushing his radical agenda on the American people.

Thanks to your work today, we flipped the vote and forced Senate Democrats to have a backbone.

Jim
homeward-angel January 28th, 2008 7:01 pm

NancyH-you are RIGHT ABOUT THAT!! The only way the government people will listen is if enough people speak truth to power. The willfulness of some democrates to capitulate to the repukes shows that america truly is a one party nation. I do believe it is time to drop the dems and go GREEN PARTY. the green party is the only party thats doing work for the causes that i would like to see happen to make our nation great once again. In 2006 the people went to the polls to show the leaders that they wanted real change in the direction of the country. The dems promised that but didnt deliver. it is time to hold them accountable for their pandering to the CORPO MASTERS.
willo January 28th, 2008 7:29 pm

If they are really interested in fighting terrorist’s congress should impeach Bush and Cheney get rid of the CIA NSA and FBI then quit themselves. 9/11 was an inside job.
whatfools January 28th, 2008 8:07 pm

We need a FISABUSTER!
ruiz562h January 28th, 2008 9:46 pm

If often boggles my mind when I hear the Bush administration crying wolf, “The Terrorists are coming, The Terrorists are coming!” and a swath of Americans actually believe this nonesense. Yet, it is these same Americans that proudly sing The Star-Spangled Banner stanza, “…The Home of the Brave.” (and actually believe that they are brave), yet are scared that, “The Terrorists are coming.” Hmmm.

Where is this American Bravado?

How come we never hear people respond to the Bush administration fear mongering, “We have to fight them over there, so we don’t have to fight them over here!”, by saying, “So what if we have to fight them over here. We’re Americans and there is NO fight tough enough for us, that we can not handle!”
xi_people January 28th, 2008 9:58 pm

My question is why anyone even pretends that a functioning gov’t is in place, with even a figleaf of pretense about ‘checks & balances.’ It just doesn’t exist, and the disagreements between the two parties are minuscule. I don’t foresee any third party gaining national traction, so it will be more of the same until the inevitable collapse.
RichM January 28th, 2008 10:32 pm

At 6:31 above, someone claims that “…We just had a huge victory. Grassroots action forced the Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing….
Earlier today, DFA members made over 1,000 calls an hour to our Senators. And they heard our voices loud and clear….Thanks to your work today, we flipped the vote and forced Senate Democrats to have a backbone.”

Nope. That’s not what happened. Glenn Greenwald wrote on his blog today, following the Senate action, that the only thing that kept Senate Dems from caving in today was their desire to protect certain institutional prerogatives. It had nothing to do with “grassroots” pressure, backbone, or principles. Here’s an excerpt:

…one can still praise Senate Democrats for refusing to capitulate fully (at least yet) — but it isn’t the case that Senate Democrats collectively took a stand here for anything more substantive than their own institutional customs. Many of the Democratic Senators whom you like today for voting against cloture will be voting soon enough in favor of telecom amnesty and for warrantless eavesdropping. The House is the real hope for stopping these measures…

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/28/fisa_debate/index.html
George C. Brown January 29th, 2008 12:23 am

When are we as a people stop being so gullible that we swallow the Administration’s, the neo-con’s the Military/Industrial Complexes lies, hook, line and sinker? The way things are going, we are rapidly moving to the point where Green is the color!
jungleboy January 29th, 2008 1:43 am

Yo! How did our senators get so stupid? I thought it was a tough thing to be a senator, like…thinking and shit! Our terrorist leader and his cronies who, with the help of all the big corporations and security organizations, are willing to terrorize and kill our senators who do no harm and protect us citizens. Are we under a dictatorship or what?! How can we think some senator with a minimal salary from past work and a corrupt corporate backed leadership can get along with murder and espionage being the only way to protect themselves? Who would win? The bush crime family has been sinking lures and bribes for decades into the corporations that they don’t already hold. We are being held hostage with threats and a blackmail-able carrot on a stick. Our local leaders are just like ourselves in the face of a non local, international racketeering mob union. Our president is just like the crime boss, yes he needs a dead horse head in his bed, but, it seems that is all he can give out. He would probably fukk it if he found it, its his favorite! Everyone else in the world can make the connection but our lowly senators. If the/a big one goes down, they all go down. A recession could only make things disappear for a while, under cover. A reorganization of power from the local networks to the corporations themselves is happening, now. It already shows its face to be the revival of slavery, based on economics instead of race, this time. Look at CHillary and Obumer and their messages of “we and us”, fools! Katrina, its all the message. You might call me a pessimist but I don’t see us going away from economic slavery anytime soon. I run my own small business. I see “turf” for what it is. I see the corporate “tunnel of love” most people fall into. Its easy to bend over. Its hard to stand up straight after a hard days work. You have to work hard and work harder at thinking, for your self! If the mob could wipe out your block with out the news covering it, wouldn’t you follow orders? Slave?
boy howdy January 29th, 2008 1:44 am

The time has come and gone when the Congress needs to stop believing the Administration’s line. These are professional, routine liars. Sure it takes some risk to deny these powers: a terrorist attack can occur and make Congress look irresponsible. But it is a necessary risk, because, as it is, they’re throwing away the bill of rights for these proto-fascists. I am far more alarmed and frightened by the PAA than by any terrorists.

And this is precisely why impeachment is so important: The telecoms got letters from the Administration assuring them the eavesdropping was all legal. Quest was the only one I’ve heard of that wasn’t buying it. It was a courageous stand. I mean, this is the President, and the Attorney General, falsely telling companies what is legal. This is all cockamamie!
weiji2001 January 29th, 2008 3:21 am

So what else is new? Fear of the invader has always been a powerful source of persuasion:

I remember my mom telling me how the news kept reminding people that Japan was imminently set to attack the West Coast. This message was drummed every day into the minds of the people, and also included nightly blackouts and bomb shelter drills.

How many of us baby boomers remember kissing our asses good-bye under our school desks in regular drills preparing for the imminent atomic bombs the Communists were about to drop on us?

The bogeyman gets us every time.
hedology January 29th, 2008 3:51 am

The sky is falling! The sky is raining terrorists! Well there are always people in a society who become sociopaths, and some of them intelligent and skilled manipulators of people. The most deceitful and tricky ones learn what signals to give to others to get status and their own way. All the chickens can be made to panic and run around in circles. The terrorists are coming! The Russians are coming! International Communism is approaching! The dominos are falling!

Meanwhile the racketeers and manipulators are in charge and winning. They do not want attention to themselves. What better distractions can they think of?
dreamertoo January 29th, 2008 7:24 am

Many who decry the bullying by the President proclaim the success of their own.
whatfools January 29th, 2008 8:31 am

Amid the controversy brewing in the Senate over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform, the Bush administration appears to have changed its strategy and is devising a bold new plan that would strip away FISA protections in favor of a system of wholesale government monitoring of every American’s Internet activities. Now the National Director of Intelligence is predicting a disastrous cyber-terrorist attack on the U.S. if this scheme isn’t instituted.

- www.alertnet.org
NancyH January 29th, 2008 9:22 am

RichM.

If you are right about the Salon.com article regarding DFA’s comments on Grassroots action forcing Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing, then the fight is not over on this matter. George Orwell was a true visionary. I’ve become a very cynical person without much faith in the common man, mainly because they’re so uninformed, ignorant, complacent, and don’t get the fact that one must be informed to make good decisions. Far too many U.S. citizens just don’t care and are too easily manipulated because of their own self enforced ignorance — to their own detriment, sadly. My two Masschusetts Senators have been voting against telecom immunity all along.
huckleberry January 29th, 2008 9:55 am

I certainly hope they are spying on me. I for one would be glad to know that they can hear me exercise my right to FREE SPEECH.

Let’s dismantle our disgraceful government and start over. In a democracy I have the right to advocate this.

Let’s HANG Bush & Cheney after their war crimes trial.

Please, republican Goon squad, come and arrest ME for speaking so I can spit in your face.

Republicans are a disgrace to humanity.
NancyH January 29th, 2008 10:01 am

Update on Illegal Wiretapping and Retroactive Immunity (by CREDO Action/Working Assets)

Thanks to your actions, we’ve been successful in preventing the Senate from passing a wiretapping bill that grants retroactive immunity to AT&T and Verizon.

Just a little while ago, the Senate rejected attempts to rush this bill to passage, keeping alive our campaign to remove the immunity provisions. But while we’ve won the battle today, what happens later this week will determine whether the Senate will do the bidding of the White House or stand up for the Constitution. Tonight, if you watch Mr. Bush in his last State of the Union speech, be prepared to hear the fruits of your labors described as helping the terrorists — but you know better.

Action Still Needed to Block Retroactive Immunity

The privacy-invading “Protect America Act” expires on February 1st. In coming days, the Senate will debate a series of amendments to the wiretapping legislation — some good, some bad, but all of them vitally important when it comes to preserving our Constitution and upholding the rule of law. Here’s what you can do.

The Senators listed below have been identified as swing votes on upcoming wiretapping amendments. If you have friends or family in the states below, please forward this email and ask that they contact their senators to oppose retroactive immunity, sweeping new powers for the Bush administration, and any new legislation that violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Below are the swing voters to be concerned about:

Arizona — John McCain, (202) 224-2235
Arkansas — Blanche Lincoln, (202) 224-4843; Mark Pryor, (202) 224-2353
California — Dianne Feinstein, (202) 224-3841
Colorado — Ken Salazar, (202) 224-5852
Connecticut — Joe Lieberman, (202) 224-4041
Delaware — Thomas Carper, (202) 224-2441
Florida — Bill Nelson, (202) 224-5274
Georgia — Saxby Chambliss, (202) 224-3521
Hawaii — Daniel Inouye, (202) 224-3934
Illinois — Barack Obama, (202) 224-2854
Indiana — Evan Bayh, (202) 224-5623
Louisiana — Mary Landrieu, (202)224-5824
Maine — Olympia Snowe, (202) 224-5344 and Susan Collins, (202) 224-2523
Maryland — Barbara Mikulski, (202) 224-4654
Michigan — Debbie Stabenow, (202) 224-4822
Minnesota — Norm Coleman, (202) 224-5641
Missouri — Claire McCaskill, (202) 224-6154
Nebraska — Ben Nelson, (202) 224-6551
New Hampshire — John Sununu, (202) 224-2841
New York — Hillary Clinton, (202) 224-4451
North Carolina — Elizabeth Dole, (202) 224-6342
Oregon — Gordon Smith, (202) 224-3753
Pennsylvania — Arlen Specter, (202) 224-4254
South Carolina — Lindsey Graham, (202) 224-5972
South Dakota — Tim Johnson, (202) 224-5842
Virginia — John Warner, (202) 224-2023
West Virginia — Robert Byrd, (202) 224-3954
Wisconsin — Herb Kohl, (202) 224-5653
petesfarm January 29th, 2008 11:33 am

should have dropped a bunker buster on the state of the union lies & stared with CHANGE & a True Bill based on the Republics Constitution. This is just broading the powers of the police state, swat teams & create a crime legislation-see how many of these r on the CFR & vote em out
Jim Glover January 29th, 2008 11:39 am

Thanks Nancy for the post… From most of the comments here it sounds like not many will do anything but complain.

But sometimes all it takes is a few good folks to keep the good fight goin.

Thank you all who do something active to improve our future.
greatbear215 January 29th, 2008 11:52 am

Every time Bush opens his mouth and yells, “Terrorist! Terrorists!” America craps its collective pants. Pavlovian. Never seen anything like it.
herbert r chersonsky January 29th, 2008 1:27 pm

“The U.S.Constitution is just a piece of paper,” so said our most infamous leader.

Just recently a group of Pakistani, alleged, terrorists, were arrested in Barcelona. The Cheney/Bush Team jumped on that as a prime example of a need to “Illegally Wiretap”. What they did not say was that the French had a contact inside the group who alerted the French and then the French alerted the Spanish Guardia Civil.

That was not illegal wiretaps, that was good police work with good sources. The only reason Cheney/Bush want the wiretaps is to know personal and private information about each and every one of us. Why would Dennis Kucinich give up his “Impeachment ” promise?

So far, 8 airmen who might have had knowledge of the movement of Nuclear Weapons from Minot AFB to Barksdale AFB, August 27,2007-August 29,2007 have died from mysterious accidents and suicides. How would you know if people were going to “Blow the Whistle” without illegal wiretaps?

So far, 10 microbiologists who might have had knowledge of the “Anthrax Threat” of 2001 have died from mysterious accidents and suicides. How would you know if people were going to “Blow the Whistle” without illegal wiretaps?

So far, 2 people have died or diappeared who were working on cases related to the “Palfrey Escort Service Scandal” and one woman committed suicide by hanging herself so that the daughter living with her and her grandchild would find her. (She had a PHD and no woman would have done that to her grandchild.) How would you know if people were going to testify without illegal wiretaps?

The “Fear” of Terrorists is worse than the fear of dying in a hospital where 48,000 to 100,000 people die every year because of mistakes made in hospitals.(”To Err Is Human” American Medical Institute Study 2000)

The “Fear” of Terrorists is worse than the fear of dying in a car accident in which more than 20,000 people die every year.

The “Fear” of Terrorists is worse than the fear of being killed by a terrorist with a gun and more than 15,000 people are victims of those terrorists.

Yet Bush/Cheney have sold “The Fear” for over six years because of 9/11 and yet there never was an independent investigation to connect the missing dots and why World Trade Center #7 was a pre-planned demolition with many SEC and CIA funding reports and investigation reports destroyed. (”La CIA y 11 de Septiembre” by Andreas Von Bulow)

The CIA, FBI, and the Executive Branch of the Federal Government have collaborated and destroyed evidence in several cases: The sale of Top Secret Nuclear Information by High Level U.S.Government Officials, The Illegal Rendition and Torture of Prisoners, The Political Removal of Eight U.S. Attorneys, Halliburton´s fraudulent contracts with the Department of Defense, Over 900 lies prior to the “Invasion” of Iraq addressed to the U.N. and Congress (”I did not have sex with that woman” and a blue dress cost the American people 58 million dollars.), and of course all documents dealing with the illegal wiretapping have been destroyed.
Jim Glover January 29th, 2008 1:36 pm

Greatbear,

You are correct… but I am old enough to realize that the Ruling Class controls the War Machine all thorough history by the same method… it’s almost as old as the hills.
Jim Glover January 29th, 2008 1:45 pm

Herbert You are correct but I don’t think Dennis gave up his impeachment effort, now that he has dropped out of the race which we all knew he wouldn’t really win, he is in a better position to push it harder in the House.
dreamertoo January 29th, 2008 9:10 pm

Thank you, NancyH! Well done!

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