This is a non-partisan issue. Left-wing and Right-wing groups have come together in support of this effort, hence the name, “Strange Bedfellows”.

Please visit Accountability Now PAC and sign up for your pledge on August 8th, 2008. Even $5.00 will make a difference, so do not think that any amount is too small to give.

August 8, 2008—this is the date for our Strangebedfellows MONEYBOMB on behalf of constitutional rights and civil liberties in America. Let’s remove from power the key enablers of the tyrannical and lawless FISA ‘compromise;’ we can end the Patriot Act—and so much more. Join with us by pledging now—right here at AccountabilityNowPAC.com. Become a part of our transpartisan alliance of freedom lovers! Be a Strangebedfellow!

Who Are The Strangebedfellows?
Strangebedfellows is a unique and diverse left–right coalition which has come together to put a stop to the eradication of civil liberties in America. Modeled on a similar group in Britain, the initial Strangebedfellows group encompasses Ron Paul supporters (BreakTheMatrix.com, Rick Williams and Trevor Lyman), leading bloggers from the left (Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com, Jane Hamsher of firedoglake.com) and many more who share the view that warrantless surveillance, telecom immunity and other such outrages of the lawless surveillance state MUST END—AND END NOW.

Our group of Strangebedfellows is organizing a moneybomb on behalf of AccountabilityNowPAC, and we’re reaching out to friends and colleagues from across the political spectrum who believe in the Bill of Rights and freedom in America. So join us– become a Strangebedfellow! Add your name and group to our list of backers, and enter your pledge today to donate to AccountabilityNowPAC. Let’s reverse these police state sellouts by our political leaders—FOREVER.

Here’s What We’re Asking You To Do
Strangebedfellows has retained BreakTheMatrix to serve as our moneybomb organizer and service provider for a massive donations collection effort on behalf of AccountabilityNowPAC. Remember the giant moneybombs from the Ron Paul presidential campaign? Well Trevor Lyman was the man behind those efforts, and he and his BreakTheMatrix colleagues are the leading experts in the world in online moneybomb fundraising. Here’s how it works:

You enter your pledge today—RIGHT NOW– by clicking the “Pledge” button on the side of this website screen. This pledge becomes your commitment to contribute (maximum donation $5000) to AccountabilityNowPAC on August 8, 2008—the moneybomb collection day.

Visit our website often over the next month to watch the pledges mount and to learn about the growing array of supporters and groups who are choosing to become Strangebedfellows with us. Then the key event—you COME BACK on August 8, 2008, and make your actual money contribution through our online collection service right here at www.AccountabilityNowPAC.com. The force and power of a moneybomb is simple and straightforward.

We all donate on the SAME DAY, and working together we send our political leaders (Democrat and Republican) a freedom message they will never forget. So help us make it work. Pledge today; then come back and donate on the 8th. Let’s show our leaders once and for all that there is a POWERFUL movement here that will settle for nothing less than constitutional governance in America.

Why August 8th?

That is the day in 1974 when Richard Nixon was forced to resign from office for his lawbreaking and surveillance abuses. That day illustrates how far we have fallen in this country in less than 35 years, as we now not only permit rampant presidential lawbreaking and a limitless surveillance state, but have a bipartisan political class that endorses it and even retroactively protects the lawbreakers.

Accountability Now PAC | StrangeBedfellows.

Early next week the U.S. Senate will vote on an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with a few small amendments intended to immunize telecommunications corporations that assisted our government in the warrantless and illegal wiretapping it has grown to love.

That such a gutting of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution even made it out of committee is yet another stain on the gutless and seemingly powerless Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

That a majority on both sides of the aisle — not least of them the presumptive nominees for president of both political parties — intend to vote for such a violation of Americans’ right to privacy and of the sanctity of their personal communications is a stunning surrender to those who want us to live in fear forever.

We are living in a time when the right of habeas corpus — which simply put is your right to be brought before a proper court of law where the government is made to prove that there is good and legal reason to detain you — recently survived by a margin of only one vote at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now these bad actors are prepared to set aside your right to privacy — written into the Constitution as a key part of our Bill of Rights — with hardly a nod in the direction of the true patriots who rebelled against an English king and his army to guarantee those rights.

That they will do this while the last empty phrases of the political windbags at the Fourth of July celebrations are still echoing across a thousand city parks and the bright red, white and blue bunting and blizzard of American flags still flap in the breeze is little short of breath-taking.

How dare they?

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 07/03/2008 | Commentary: How dare they rip the Fourth Amendment?.

Here is an excerpt of his take on the weak effort by Obama to justify his support of FISA.

Barack Obama has issued a new statement on FISA in response to the growing number of his supporters objecting to his position. Genuine credit to him for being responsive this way and for having his site be a forum for disagreement among his supporters and himself. Providing a forum for those sorts of debates is a sign of a secure and healthy campaign.

Despite that, the statement contains many dubious claims and, in a couple cases, outright misleading statements. Worse, Obama’s statement only addressed the objections to the telecom immunity provisions of the bill, while ignoring the objections to the (at least) equally pernicious new warrantless eavesdropping powers the bill authorizes. Taking Obama’s claims in order:

“It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush administration’s program of warrantless wiretapping. This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That’s why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.”

Obama says he will vote to remove immunity from the bill but knows full well that this effort will fail, and that the final bill will have telecom immunity in it. The bottom line is that he will nonetheless end up voting for this bill with immunity in it even though he previously vowed to support a filibuster of “any bill” that contains retroactive immunity. Put another way, Obama claims he opposes telecom immunity but will vote for a bill that grants it.

“But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year.”

Whether it’s better than the Protect America Act (PAA) is irrelevant. The PAA already expired last February. If the new FISA bill is rejected, we don’t revert back to the Protect America Act. We just continue to live under the same FISA law that we’ve lived under for 30 years (with numerous post-9/11 modernizing amendments). So whether this bill is a mild improvement over the atrocious, expired PAA is not even a coherent reason to support it, let alone a persuasive one.

UT Documents: Obama’s new statement on FISA.

There is no Telecom Constituency. There is no Telecom Immunity movement. There is no Telecom Immunity voting block.

Here is Chris Dodd’s statement regarding the move to consider the FISA legislation:

“I am deeply disappointed that the Senate has voted to move forward with the consideration of this misguided FISA legislation. If passed, this legislation will ratify a domestic spying regime that has already concentrated far too much unaccountable power in the president’s hands and will place the telecommunications companies above the law.”

“I stand ready to offer an amendment that strips the retroactive immunity provision out of the bill. I implore my colleagues to support of the rule of law and join me in voting against retroactive immunity.”

The President of the United States has only one oath, and that is to protect and defend the Constitution. Everything else is secondary. Everything.

Senator Obama, you know you will not get the Telecom Immunity stripped from the FISA bill. Your statements in the past say that passing a bill like the current FISA legislation would be wrong.

Senator Obama, will you vote for a bill you yourself said was wrong?

By the way, we are way too knowledgeable to be hoodwinked by generalizations like “this is an improvement over the Protect America Act”. That does not make it okay to gut the Fourth Amendment. FISA has worked and will continue to work, without these proposed changes. You said so yourself.

Here are your words from January 28, 2008:

“I strongly oppose retroactive immunity in the FISA bill.” “Ever since 9/11, this Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand.”

“The FISA court works. The separation of power works. We can trace, track down and take out terrorists while ensuring that our actions are subject to vigorous oversight, and do not undermine the very laws and freedom that we are fighting to defend.”

“No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people — not the President of the United States, and not the telecommunications companies that fell in line with his warrantless surveillance program. We have to make clear the lines that cannot be crossed.”

“That is why I am co-sponsoring Senator Dodd’s amendment to remove the immunity provision. Secrecy must not trump accountability. We must show our citizens - and set an example to the world - that laws cannot be ignored when it is inconvenient.”

Talking Points Memo has the complete rundown on Obama’s changing positions on FISA. It is well worth reading.

People ask, what is the big deal about FISA?

Without every part of the Constitution intact, we do not have a representative government. We have at best a benevolent dictator, who can change his intentions on a whim, if he so chooses.

Why are we reacting to the prospect of Barack Obama voting for FISA?

In Barack Obama’s own words:

“I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe in yours.”

Well, too bad for you Senator Obama, we believe.

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who oppose my decision to support the FISA compromise.

This was not an easy call for me. I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn’t have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush’s abuse of executive power. It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush Administration’s program of warrantless wiretapping.

This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That’s why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.

But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court.

In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited. As I’ve said many times, an independent monitor must watch the watchers to prevent abuses and to protect the civil liberties of the American people. This compromise law assures that the FISA court has that responsibility

The Inspectors General report also provides a real mechanism for accountability and should not be discounted. It will allow a close look at past misconduct without hurdles that would exist in federal court because of classification issues. The recent investigation uncovering the illegal politicization of Justice Department hiring sets a strong example of the accountability that can come from a tough and thorough IG report.

The ability to monitor and track individuals who want to attack the United States is a vital counter-terrorism tool, and I’m persuaded that it is necessary to keep the American people safe — particularly since certain electronic surveillance orders will begin to expire later this summer. Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I’ve chosen to support the current compromise. I do so with the firm intention — once I’m sworn in as President — to have my Attorney General conduct a comprehensive review of all our surveillance programs, and to make further recommendations on any steps needed to preserve civil liberties and to prevent executive branch abuse in the future.

Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I’m happy to take my lumps on this side and elsewhere. For the truth is that your organizing, your activism and your passion is an important reason why this bill is better than previous versions. No tool has been more important in focusing peoples’ attention on the abuses of executive power in this Administration than the active and sustained engagement of American citizens. That holds true — not just on wiretapping, but on a range of issues where Washington has let the American people down.

I learned long ago, when working as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago, that when citizens join their voices together, they can hold their leaders accountable. I’m not exempt from that. I’m certainly not perfect, and expect to be held accountable too. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country. That is why we have built the largest grassroots campaign in the history of presidential politics, and that is the kind of White House that I intend to run as President of the United States — a White House that takes the Constitution seriously, conducts the peoples’ business out in the open, welcomes and listens to dissenting views, and asks you to play your part in shaping our country’s destiny.

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That’s ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have. After all, the choice in this election could not be clearer. Whether it is the economy, foreign policy, or the Supreme Court, my opponent has embraced the failed course of the last eight years, while I want to take this country in a new direction. Make no mistake: if John McCain is elected, the fundamental direction of this country that we love will not change. But if we come together, we have an historic opportunity to chart a new course, a better course.

So I appreciate the feedback through my.barackobama.com, and I look forward to continuing the conversation in the months and years to come. Together, we have a lot of work to do.

It’s nice to know that I am not alone in my concern about Barack Obama’s betrayal of his pledge to filibuster Telecom immunity and expansion of warrantless wiretapping.  Consider joining yourself and give Barack Obama’s campaign an earful about his double-dealings on FISA.

I wonder what Chris Dodd has to say about this FISA reversal, since Barack Obama spoke in no uncertain terms about his position against Telecom immunity when receiving Chris Dodd’s endorsement?

The Nation’s Ari Melber has more:

Protesters are storming Barack Obama’s website. But they all support Obama.

A grassroots group of activists has been organizing on MyBo, Obama’s official social networking portal, to protest the Senator’s recent decision to back controversial legislation granting the President more spying powers. The effort hit a big milestone on Tuesday afternoon: It is now the largest self-organized group on Obama’s website, topping networks that were launched over a year ago. The spying protest, “Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity – Get FISA Right,” launched last week. (See Obama Network Organizes and Revolts Over Spying, The Nation.)

Membership spiked to about 8,900 people on Tuesday, edging out a student group with roughly 8,600 members, and one organizer estimated that the growth rate reached a rapid four percent during the daytime. The group initially spread through the Obama network, since the site’s platform instantly connects members through a dedicated email listserve.

On Monday, for example, over 200 emails shot across the wire, reaching the roughly 2,300 members who opted to receive individual messages. The exchanges ranged from policy debates, like whether immunity was acceptable if the telephone companies acted in good faith, to organizing strategies, such as promoting the group on sharing sites like Digg.

Then some activists open-sourced the project, creating a wiki-hub for additional actions — from calling Obama’s office to urging Keith Olbermann to promote the group — and launched partner groups on other sites like Facebook.

It is reminiscent of the same bad judgment that Nixon used when going after the Democrats, when he could have done nothing, literally, and been re-elected easily.  No - he couldn’t let that remote possibility remain even a possibility, so Nixon pursued the events that lead to the Watergate cover-up and his resignation.

Does Barack Obama have the same bent for self-destruction?  Is he trying to pull defeat from the jaws of victory?  Millions of people have been shocked over his FISA betrayal.  Perhaps Obama has just calculated that these supporters of his would never vote for McCain.  After doing the math, Obama may have just said, let’s go for the crossover Republicans and Independents and support FISA.

I hope he has plenty of other donors lined up.  I was actually concerned that I would be reaching my donation limit too soon before the November election.  He will not get one thin dime from me ever again.

Talking Points Memo has some interesting video:

Ahem… Sorry. Just a little unbridled joy at learning that my Senator (mine and mine alone) just got FISA and Telecom Immunity post-poned. Doesn’t having a Senator like Russ Feingold make you want to move to Wisconsin?

From TheHill.com:

Leaders had hoped to finish both measures this week, in addition to an emergency war-spending bill and a Medicare bill, before lawmakers return home by week’s end. Both bills have wide support, but in each case, individual senators have refused to let the measures speed through the chamber. As a result, they were forced to lower the bar for this week’s action.

Democrats also threatened to keep the Senate in session through the weekend if Republicans didn’t agree to move quickly with the Medicare bill.

Objections by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) will push back an overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) until after lawmakers return in July, Democratic leaders said Thursday. Feingold is strongly opposed to language that would likely give telephone companies that participated in warrantless surveillance retroactive immunity from lawsuits.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of taking up the FISA bill this week. “Sen. Feingold wants additional time and would like to postpone it until after the Fourth of July.”

TheHill.com - Housing bill, FISA delayed until after July recess.

For those of us who thought the days of the weak, co-dependent Democratic politicians were coming to an end, Barack Obama has not only resurrected that rotting corpse, but he plans to parade around Washington D.C. with it for the next four years.

I hear some people saying that this was a politically savvy move. What is politically savvy about cheating on those to whom you have made a vow, and they in return?

Barack Obama just jumped in bed with a woman who cares nothing about him, leaving the one he went to the altar with in tears. Can it be forgiven? Yes. Do things ever return to the way they were before the infidelity? No.

So, all this support from the Democrats that care about the Constitution has just been thrown away. And for what? Approval of the Republicans that *might* cross-over and vote for him? The shameful behavior of Democrats seems to never end. They never fail to disappoint.

Even now, the Republicans are laughing at this once principled man, and taunting him like some Republican bully in the school-yard. From the Huffington Post:

In a press conference call this morning, John McCain surrogate Sam Brownback (R-KS) pointed at Barack Obama and essentially called him a spineless panderer — and welcomed it, saying he expected Obama to cave in on Iraq withdrawal next. McCain senior policy adviser Randy Scheunemann, with tremendous self-assurance, described Obama’s support for the FISA bill — a bill McCain also supports! — as an example of Obama’s supreme commitment to his own “political fortunes” above all else. And then, to underscore how weak they now consider Obama to be, the McCain campaign then issued an “In Case You Missed It” press release with a transcript highlighting these statements.

In other words: it’s not just MoveOn.org and others on the left who are questioning Obama’s principles over the FISA flap; even his opponents are pointing the finger and laughing at him for being such a panderer and accommodationist. And Obama hasn’t even voted on the bill yet!

Brownback said Obama’s spinelessness on the D.C. gun ban, campaign funding, and, most importantly, on FISA, meant he probably would eventually cave in on Iraq. Brownback even “set down a marker” — dared Obama — to concede on Iraq just like he’s said he’ll do on FISA.

M.S. Bellows, Jr.: Republicans Taunt Obama As Spineless Over FISA Reversal - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post.

Here’s how it all went down. Over the weekend, Barack Obama announced that — although not in favor of the idea of retroactive immunity for the shady corporatations that helped our own government spy on us — he supports the FISA legislation that the Senate is about to pass that will magically make all the illegal wire-tapping that the White House did legal after all.

But it’s all alright, because he super double-dog swears that, as president, he won’t take advantage of the power to watch over all of America like Big Brother…

“Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as president, I will carefully monitor the program,”

Obama said in a statement hours after the House approved the legislation 293-129.

Oh, well, he seems like a nice man. How can you mind surrendering your Constitutional rights to someone so charming?

Anyway, uber-lib Glenn Greenwald over at Salon was quick to get all “Waa waa waa, I don’t want the Constitution torn to shreds” on Obama’s ass…

It is absolutely false that the only unconstitutional and destructive provision of this “compromise” bill is the telecom amnesty part. It’s true that most people working to defeat the Cheney/Rockefeller bill viewed opposition to telecom amnesty as the most politically potent way to defeat the bill, but the bill’s expansion of warrantless eavesdropping powers vested in the President, and its evisceration of safeguards against abuses of those powers, is at least as long-lasting and destructive as the telecom amnesty provisions.

The bill legalizes many of the warrantless eavesdropping activities George Bush secretly and illegally ordered in 2001. Those warrantless eavesdropping powers violate core Fourth Amendment protections.

And Barack Obama now supports all of it, and will vote it into law. Those are just facts.

Isn’t it just like a liberal to want to conserve our inalienable rights and keep the federal government from amassing too much power? F—ing predictable.

Barack Obama vs. Barack Obama Supporters | Indecision2008 | Comedy Central.

To hear Hoyer tell the story, one would think that he fought the battle of the Alamo, and survived! In reality, Hoyer was one of the men who left the Alamo before the battle began, accompanying the women and children who were also unable to fight.

Except that Hoyer was able to fight. Instead, he chose not to.  Hoyer willingly failed to stand up for the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

As they have done so many times before, the Democrats have rubber-stamped Bush’s law-breaking by making every crime he has committed “legal”.  It is still unconstitutional behavior, no matter how Hoyer wants to portray it. The United States does not have just have a “Bush problem”.  We have a “Democratic enabler” problem as well, and these enablers are 100% as guilty (or more) as the Bush crime syndicate.

Glenn explains that the nature of a compromise, is, well… compromise – not total capitulation to the other side’s demands (emphasis mine):

Regarding Pelosi’s claim that the Democrats won “significant concessions” — a claim repeated by Hoyer in the Politico article — Ponnuru says: “If that’s what they want to tell themselves, fine. It sure looks like they got rolled.”

It looks that way because that’s what happened. Who exactly do Pelosi and Hoyer think they’re fooling with these self-glorifying claims that they stood down the Republicans and extracted concessions? Dick Cheney couldn’t wait to endorse the bill and GOP leaders and right-wing polemicists haven’t stopped boasting about how completely Democrats capitulated on what had been one of the most scandalous aspects of the Bush administration — the fact that he got caught breaking the law when spying on Americans.

Doesn’t it rather obviously compound, rather than mitigate, the Democrats’ humiliation to try to pretend this was some great victory when everyone can see how absurd — pitifully so — that claim is?

The Politico article (which, incidentally, misquotes this post of mine completely) also says this:

Despite those efforts, liberal activists were furious at what they view as a sellout by House Democrats on FISA, particularly on the retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

Two liberal groups, Blue America PAC and ColorofChange.org PAC, ran a full-page ad in The Washington Post spelling out their displeasure with Hoyer. But Hoyer has been targeted by the left in the past — MoveOn.org has run radio ads against him — but he was reelected with nearly 83 percent of the vote in 2006, and he’s never drawn less than 65 percent of the vote.

“I am aware of it,” Hoyer said of the loud criticism from progressive groups of the FISA agreement. “When you try to reach a compromise, the people on one side or the other are not pleased.”

Hoyer has this backwards. The nature of a “compromise” is that neither side is happy with the outcome. Where, as here, one side is ecstatic and the other side is furious, that, by definition, is not a “compromise.” It is, as Russ Feingold correctly says, a full-scale “capitulation.” Hoyer’s bill gives the two gifts the administration most wanted — the power to engage in “vacuum-cleaner” surveillance of communications over U.S. telephone and email networks with no warrant requirement (and no required connection to Terrorism) and a guaranteed end to the telecom lawsuits.

Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com.

Friday the House approved a FISA bill that would expand the warrantless wiretapping of the Bush administration and basically allow them to sweep up any communication that they like with only a cursory review by the courts.  Next, the Senate takes up the bill, where it almost guaranteed to pass.

Senator Russ Feingold issued this statement:

The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation. The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home.

Allowing courts to review the question of immunity is meaningless when the same legislation essentially requires the court to grant immunity. And under this bill, the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power.

Instead of cutting bad deals on both FISA and funding for the war in Iraq, Democrats should be standing up to the flawed and dangerous policies of this administration.

Unless some miracle happens, the Democratic Senate will give the Bush Administration and the Telecoms everything they want and more. 

Senator Kit Bond gloated over the Republican victory on FISA, saying that,

I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get.

In other words, the Democratic members of the House gave up even more of our civil liberties than were even being reasonably being asked for by the White House.

Barack Obama’s endorsement of the legislation was an extreme disappointment.  Just days ago, Glenn Greenwald said this about Barack Obama’s position on FISA:

“One last point: Barack Obama has, in the past, emphatically opposed warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty. In response to emails his campaign has received over the past couple days, he has been sending out an email containing the following statements:

‘I have consistently opposed this Administration’s efforts to use debates about our national security to expand its own power, whether that was in regard to the conduct of the Iraq war or its restrictions on our civil liberties through domestic surveillance programs or suspension of habeas corpus. It is time to restore oversight and accountability in the FISA program, and rejecting this unprecedented grant of retroactive immunity is a good place to start.’

‘Giving retroactive immunity to telecom companies is simply wrong. Thankfully, the most recent effort to pass this legislation at the end of the legislative year failed. I unequivocally oppose this grant of immunity and support the filibuster of it. I have cosponsored Senator Dodd’s proposal that would remove it from the current FISA bill and continue to follow this debate closely. In order to prevail, the proponents of retroactive immunity still have to convince 60 or more senators to vote to end a filibuster of this bill. I will not be one of them.’

‘This Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. When I am president, there will be no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens; no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime; no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. Our Constitution works, and so does the FISA court.’”

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

Now, we learn that there is going to be a cursory effort to remove Telecom immunity, but that is just a formality before the bill passes entirely with Telecom immunity alive and well, and the rule of law in tatters.

This is so sad, especially coming on the heels of our celebration of the Supreme Court decision to reinstate Habeas Corpus.  What is being voted into law is clearly unconstitutional, and amounts to giving the President the authority to break the law.  As Richard Nixon said, “If the President does it, it is not breaking the law.” 

Giving immunity to someone for committing a crime simply because they were ordered to do so by their government was an idea that was firmly rejected during the Nuremberg trials.  These trials removed the defense that someone could commit atrocities and be excused because they were “ordered to do it” by their government. 

I know that once Barack Obama is president, many things will change, but they are providing for this law to be in effect until 2012.  If we don’t stop it now, Barack Obama may not have a lot he can do, although I am hoping that he will put a stop to all of the excesses and abuses of the Bush Administration.  However, until that time comes, just like provisions against torture and illegal detention, our Fourth amendment rights will lay at the bottom of some Orwellian cutting room floor.

Please contact your Senators and Representative and let your voice be heard against warrantless wiretapping and retroactive telecom immunity.

Unless some miracle happens, the Democratic Congress will give the Bush Administration and the Telecoms everything they want and more.

Glenn Greenwald says this:

“One last point: Barack Obama has, in the past, emphatically opposed warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty. In response to emails his campaign has received over the past couple days, he has been sending out an email containing the following statements:“

‘I have consistently opposed this Administration’s efforts to use debates about our national security to expand its own power, whether that was in regard to the conduct of the Iraq war or its restrictions on our civil liberties through domestic surveillance programs or suspension of habeas corpus. It is time to restore oversight and accountability in the FISA program, and rejecting this unprecedented grant of retroactive immunity is a good place to start.’

‘Giving retroactive immunity to telecom companies is simply wrong. Thankfully, the most recent effort to pass this legislation at the end of the legislative year failed. I unequivocally oppose this grant of immunity and support the filibuster of it. I have cosponsored Senator Dodd’s proposal that would remove it from the current FISA bill and continue to follow this debate closely. In order to prevail, the proponents of retroactive immunity still have to convince 60 or more senators to vote to end a filibuster of this bill. I will not be one of them.’

‘This Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. When I am president, there will be no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens; no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime; no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. Our Constitution works, and so does the FISA court.’”

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

Glenn Greenwald has been following this issue as closely as anyone. There are also diarists at the DailyKos.com and FireDogLake.com who have been following this as well, and trying to raise money to fund opposition to this bill.

This is so sad, especially coming on the heels of our celebration of the Supreme Court decision to reinstate Habeas Corpus.

What is being voted into law is clearly unconstitutional, and amounts to giving the President the authority to break the law. As Richard Nixon said, “If the President does it, it is not breaking the law.” Giving immunity to someone for committing a crime simply because they were ordered to do so by their government was an idea that was firmly rejected during the Nuremberg trials.

I know that once Barack Obama is president, many things will change, but they are providing for this law to be in effect until 2012. If we don’t stop it now, Barack Obama may not have a lot he can do, although I am hoping that he will stop all of the excesses and abuses of the Bush Administration.

Please contact your members of Congress about this. Attention to the upcoming FISA vote needs to be escalated, fast.

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