Senator Obama, do not vote for FISA!

image from stonefruit.blogspot.com

Yes, count me as one of the many Obama supporters who do NOT support his intention to vote for the amended FISA legislation. I had pledged to send in some money every month until the general election -- BUT I WILL NOT SEND A PENNY -- if he votes for FISA.

If you want to read a summary of why this is not a good bill, you can go to a web page put together by Senator Russ Feingold. Here's an excerpt from that page:

No Prohibition on Bulk Collection

The bill does not include a prohibition on bulk collection – the collection of all international communications into and out of the U.S. to a whole continent or even the entire world. Such collection would be constitutionally suspect and would go well beyond what the government has says it needs to protect the American people. This protection was in the Senate Judiciary Committee bill, and it garnered the support of 37 Senators on the Senate floor.

And here's an excerpt from the email I sent to Senator Obama's web site:

... if Senator Obama votes for FISA ... that's it ... no money from me. If he does, he's showing me that he's like all the other politicians:
-- will do anything to get elected
-- spineless Democrat

And a month ago I had such hope.

Senator Obama, you are ruining your image of "I"m different" -- DO NOT VOTE FOR FISA.

From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:

Cowardice asks the question is it safe?
Expediency asks the question is it politic?
Vanity asks the question is it popular?
But conscience asks the question is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right.

Want to send Senator Obama a message? Go here.

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B.A.D. Featured Bloggers

Update: Well, poo. We wuz wrong about DiFi. It looks as if she voted against the telco immunity. Sorry about that, folks. Leapin' Stupids Disease appears to be out of remission. Apologies, Senator Feinstein. We still disagree with you more than half the time on your votes, but we were wrong on this one. We'll take our medicine like a cat: snarling, hissing, running away, and hiding (oh, wotthehell, Archy, a few scratchings for good measure).

Over at his Soapbox, Ted sounds as if he's set to become an adoptive parent to a high-needs child. Congrats, Ted.

Casa de Los Gatos believes in adoption, as opposed to reproduction. With 6.x BILLION FUCKING PEOPLE (and we do mean fucking people, or we wouldn't be up to 6.x billion) on the planet, there is absolutely no need for more "mini-me's," y'awl. Whatever your particular genetic signature, chances are it's already out there in teh pool. In fact, the gene pool could stand a hearty dose of chlorine.

Adopting children, on the other hand &mdash that's a mitzvah. Those tykes &mdash especially the high-needs kids &mdash they could use your help. Consider the life of a child in the foster-care system, which is where unwanted children go in the U.S. of A, and you will agree that abortion ought to be a sacrament. No one should have the right to throw another sentient creature away, like these children are thrown away. Abandoned, unwanted, bullied, beaten, they are ground through the system and on their 18th birthday, kicked out with little more than the clothes on their backs. And then it's life on the streets, drugs, prostitution, petty crime, and back into the system, except this time it's the jail and prison end. Anybody who sincerely believes this is better than a quick suction job is deluded or insane or both, and desperately in need of a retroactive abortion themselves.

Ted, you're a mensch. I hope things work out with the kid, and for you overall.

Over in Wyandotte, Michigan (eww, cold!), a group of very courageous people are meeting weekly to protest the disgusting war of occupation in Iraq. They blog about it at Wyan.blog, which Casa de Los Gatos discovered thanks to the efforts of Lizzy, who lives with 922 cats (and kittens!). You can see them standing out there all bundled up against the cold, bravely holding their signs every week. Kudos, Wyans. We wish we could be there with you in the flesh, but our flesh is, regrettably, falling off our damaged bones these days. We're with you in spirit, though.

We have not blogged the Senate's criminal position on the telco immunity aspect of the FISA bill because we knew everyone else would do it and do it better and require fewer psychoactive meds. And sure enough, Batocchio over at Vagabond Scholar puts the boot in nicely and tells us what to do next.

Is Dianne Feinscum your Senator? Find out who's running against her, throw your support to the candidate most likely to beat her overprivileged ass to pulp, and flood her office daily with calls, faxes, email, letters, and postcards. Casa de Los Gatos should not need to warn you to maintain a civil and respectful tone regardless of your current state of mind, whether utter hopelessness or despair.

Here's the list of Democratic Senatescum who voted to give the telcos retroactive immunity, thereby insulating them forever from the consequences of breaking the law and crapping all over the Constitution:

• Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
• Evan Bayh (D-IA)
• Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
• Tim Johnson (D-SD)
• Herb Kohl (D-WI)
• Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
• Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR)
• Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Ken Salazar (D-CO)
• Tom Carper (D-DE)
• Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
• Jim Webb (D-VA)
• Ben Nelson (D-NE)
• Bill Nelson (D-FL)
• Kent Conrad (D-ND)
• Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

You can safely assume that the majority of Rethuglican Senatescum voted to grant immunity.

A significant number of those on the preceding list are "Blue Dog" Democrats, that is to say, scumsucking pigs willing to give their constituents and principle the rigid digit if they think they'll get a little lobbyist money out of it. But La Casa de Los Gatos once had great respect for Claire McCaskill and Jim Webb, and thought Barbara Mikulski was on the side of the people. Folks, please write to your legiscum - our democracy only works if we all participate, whether by writing letters or making phone calls or visiting these people and talking to them. Please make an effort, do your part, get them to hear that two out of every three people in this country do not want retroactive immunity for the telcos.

This has been your daily roundup of B.A.D. bloggers. Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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Politics: Your Tax Dollars At Work

Do you suffer from chronically low blood pressure? Feel dizzy when you stand up or get out of bed too quickly?

Now, there's a cure that doesn't require trips to the (unaffordable) doctor, expensive (unaffordable) medication, or even a (unaffordable) health care plan! Yes, even as the economy, national and personal, swirls around the toilet bowl of the Bush years, you can safely raise your blood pressure while planning &mdash and possibly even ensuring &mdash that tropical vacation you've always longed for! A paradise of fully taxpayer-funded health care and regular meals with plenty of privacy awaits you at Guantanamo Bay!

What, you ask, does this selling of snake oil on our part entail? Simple. Your taxpayer dollars are making it possible for the spy agencies of America to spend lots and lots of time on &mdash MySpace, YouTube, and the blogosphere.
Nice job, huh? Spend the whole day surfing the net, get health care, benes, a pension &mdash all at the expense of the very same people you're (probably) spying on. Let's face it, al Qaeda or some other loony terrorists might smuggle an occasional video clip on to YouTube, or put up a blog or set up a MySpace page, but quite honestly? We think they're way too busy schlepping explosives about, drawing up plans for the next site or person to bomb, putting their recruits through their paces, et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseam.

Mind you, the spy agencies are the same schmucks who want to set up a vast biometrics database that will cost $1 billion in taxpayer dollars (which if each of us got some of that sweet cash, we could afford, oh, maybe a half-caf decaf soy latte)?

"Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.

We just hope this putz is not in any way related to the vast horde of other bushes who have been stealing the American public blind lo these forty years or so.

In the world's first large-scale, scientific study on how well face recognition works in a crowd, the German government this year found that the technology, while promising, was not yet effective enough to allow its use by police. The study was conducted from October 2006 through January at a train station in Mainz, Germany, which draws 23,000 passengers daily. The study found that the technology was able to match travelers' faces against a database of volunteers more than 60 percent of the time during the day, when the lighting was best. But the rate fell to 10 to 20 percent at night.

Nice to know, eh?

Mind you, these are the same dumb schmucks whose failure to cooperate with each other jeopardizes the very taxpayer whose pockets they're vacuuming.

Finally, here's a look at the FBI's IT system. It is to larf.

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Politics: The Puppet-Master

Pic of The Dick courtesy of wingtv.net

Anybody who believes for one moment that Chimpy McStupidson is in charge of the White House or the U.S. government is either insane or seriously self-deluded. Here, the true ruler - the autocratic despot, the mad tyrant, the feculent bag of stench that rules the nation reveals once again his Machiavellian hand:

Vice President Dick Cheney prodded Congress on Wednesday to extend and broaden an expiring surveillance law [...].

"We're reminding Congress that they must act now," Cheney told the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The law, which authorizes the administration to eavesdrop on e-mails and phone calls to and from suspected terrorists, expires on Feb. 1. Congress is bickering over terms of its extension.

The fact of the matter is, it authorizes the Cheney Misadministration to spy on emails and phone calls without judicial oversight, and "suspected terrorists" is a term that is defined solely by the Cheney Misadministration.

Given their track record so far, do you trust them not to spy on you and your family and friends? How about your business deals? Your patentable inventions? Your conversations with your lover?

Meanwhile Harry "No-balls" Reid is showing yet again that he has a spine made of straw:

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to extend the stopgap Protect America Act without expanding it, raising stakes for an expected showdown in the Senate later this week on a new version of the law.

Now we owe our gratitude to the Rethuglicans for inadvertently protecting us from the consequences of this shameful piece of legislation.

The article adds that administration allies in Congress want this law to be made permanent, with retroactive immunity for the telcos who aided illegal government eavesdropping.

Well, the ACLU decided to ask Americans how they feel about retroactive immunity for the same worthless father-fucking mother-raping sister-sodomizing dog-blowing pieces of shit - sorry, the telcos - who cut the spying efforts off the minute the government missed a payment deadline. Clearly, their concern is not with the dangerous spies and terrorists, but with lining their own pockets. They don't want to pay huge fines when we find out how many times they broke the goddamned laws.

Well, guess what? No, c'mon. Take your best shot. You think Americans want the law expanded and made permanent? With retroactive immunity for the telcos?

Fuck, no. Here's what your fellow-citizens have to say on the topic:

Majorities of voters on both sides of the political spectrum oppose key provisions in President Bush's proposal to modify foreign surveillance laws that could ensnare Americans, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The survey shows nearly two-thirds of poll respondents say the government should be required to get an individual warrant before listening in on conversations between US citizens and people abroad. Close to six in 10 people oppose an administration proposal to allow intelligence agencies to seek "blanket warrants" that would let them eavesdrop of foreigners for up to a year no additional judicial oversight required if the foreign suspect spoke to an American. And a majority are against a plan to give legal immunity to telecommunications companies that facilitated the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping.

"Across the board, we find opposition to the administration's FISA agenda," pollster Mark Mellman said Tuesday.

No shit. Pardon our language, but we're so furious, we're in danger of a cranial infarct from explosion.


Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to contact your senate slimebucket and INSIST that your voice be heard on this issue. NO spying, NO retroactive immunity, goddammit, or your senator's ass is out come the next election. Pass it on, and mark your calendar for whenever the worthless gobshite who purports to represent your will and the will of the two-thirds of us who don't want these bloodsucking Big Brother types to own us, body and soul, is up for re-election, or appearing in your hometown, or whatever.

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2008 Elections: FISA Bill

Well, Chris Dodd did his bit for us and for the Constitution. Now it's our turn to do our part. That's what the words "a government of, by, and for the people" mean, folks. It's of us - we have to take office or vote into office those whose political positions make sense to us. It's by us - we have to educate ourselves on every issue and keep an eye on those we elect, so that we remove any incentive on their part to lie to us, hoodwink us, and rob our treasury. And it's for us - it's made up of the people that we elect and appoint and get to know and talk with, to act in our best interests. Not theirs. Not the lobbyists'. Not the corporations. Us. The People.

That's you and your family and your friends and your neighbours, and their families and friends and neighbours and so on unto the very last man, woman, and child on these shores. But to make it real, we all have to work. We have to read, and listen, and watch, and educate ourselves.

Chris Dodd did his part, but the FISA bill is only in temporary reprieve. Harry Reid will bring it back to the floor of the Senate next year. You have these intervening months to find out what that bill really means. What it means for you - can they listen in to every phone call you make or receive? Can they read every single email or web click?

To find out more, visit Firedoglake, where the ever-inspiring bloggers have, with Glenn Greenwald, put together a petition to let Harry Reid know that his craven compliance with the Misadministration's surveillance of Americans is unacceptable and to request him to join with Senator Chris Dodd in crafting and passing amendments that protect the civil rights of Americans.

If you don't have a subscription to Salon, consider getting one as a Christmas present to yourself - it's worth it for the pleasure of reading Glenn Greenwald.

And now, a word of thanks to those of you who helped, from Senator and 2008 Presidential candidate Chris Dodd:



Thank you, sir! Wanna say "Thank you, Senator Dodd?" Go here.

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2008 Elections: Dodd For President!

By gum, he did it. And all of you who called your Senators helped.

Chris Dodd has succeeded in denying retroactive immunity to the telecoms companies.

YAY!!!!

Senator Dodd, you are my hero. A million thanks.

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Politics: Who Will Stand With Chris Dodd Against Cloture on FISA?

Image from Raw Story

Looks like the Republicans all want to give the telecoms companies retroactive immunity so they can keep spying on the American people and whine, "But the NSA told me to! I was only following orders!" - also known as the Nuremberg Defense - when they finally get busted for their misdeeds.

As for the Democrats, none of the top tier is bothering to get involved in this issue. Is this what we want from our next president? More illegal surveillance of Americans? The utter destruction of the Fourth Amendment's guarantee of

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Looks like Chris Dodd is the only presidential candidate to speak out against retroactive immunity. The only one who cares about the constitution.

Senator Clinton, where are you? Senator Obama? Senator Biden, goddammit?

In all fairness, John Edwards and Romney, Giuliani, and Huckabee can't be there to filibuster this worthless piece of dreck bill.

But why isn't Senator McCain, self-proclaimed Defender of the Constitution, doing anything about this?

Watertiger has the list of politicians with the guts to stand with Chris Dodd against this despicable attempt to circumvent the law. To the endless shame of the Republican Party, they're all Democrats.

We'd spit on the gutless worms who won't stand with Chris Dodd on this, but it would be a waste of spit. Right now, Chris Dodd is looking more presidential than the lot of the rest. If your Senator isn't on the list, call their office now, dammit, and demand that they vote NO on cloture of the FISA bill.

And, to elevate your naturally low blood pressure, this exciting tidbit:

Dodd, a dark-horse candidate for the Democratic presidential nod, tried to put a "hold" on any FISA update with telecom immunity, but that request apparently has been ignored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Thanks a lot, Harry Reid, you miserable traitor. You had no problem honoring the Tom Coburn (Repulsive-OK?) hold on the Emmett Till bill which passed overwhelmingly in the House, did you? But that was a civil rights bill, designed to benefit victims of injustice. Whereas this is a bill designed to benefit big corporations that have repeatedly broken the law, using the Nuremberg Defense, and want to get off scot-free. You pathetic schmuck.

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Politics: FISA Passes, No Immunity

Wow. How much good news can I take before my head explodes? I'm a little under the weather today, so maybe this will keep me from getting sick before a long plane journey.

At any rate, Raw Story tells us that the House of Representatives passed the FISA bill requiring judicial oversight (yay! No more warrantless wiretaps! We hope.) and told the telcos that they've squeezed enough out of the ratepayers to afford their own goddamned lawyers. Yes!

On a 224-192 vote, largely along party lines, the House adopted its proposal to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The measure, known as the RESTORE Act, would replace a temporary FISA update approved in August.

The bill does not include a provision to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that the Bush administration has demanded and it restores the role of the FISA court in approving surveillance methods used by the National Security Agency that could ensnare Americans.

In other news, the Senate is debating the bill currently, and their bill does grant immunity to the telcos, grrr. The only Senator who seems to ever stand up for the people, Russ Feingold, is planning to strip the telcos' immunity, but I'm sure Dianne "Brought My Own Lube, George" FeinSTAIN and Joe "Should I Bend Over And Spread 'Em Now, George?" LIEberwhore will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the people's rights get trampled in the rush to give the telcos whatever they fucking want. God I hate those two losers.

The vote was entirely along party lines, and man, am I glad we put more Democrats into office in 2006! Just looking back at the preceding six years and the plethora of civil rights abuses, corruption, scandal, rubberstamping - EESH!

Raw Story is working on the story right now, so pop by to toss them some dosh and catch the latest details.

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Politics: Senate Reconsidering Telecoms Immunity

The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing the FISA bill that grants retroactive immunity to the telecoms companies that allowed the Misadministration to spy on Americans without a warrant, Raw Story reports. However, the Committee has not yet clearly stated that they will strike down the retroactive immunity provisions, so we can relax and assume that they're weaseling as usual and will give the Chimperor everything he wants, including the right to physically rip our guts out before our loving families' eyes, if he requests it.

The Judiciary Committee meets today to consider the bill.

Senators on the panel will only consider one-third of the bill today, delaying consideration of the retroactive immunity provision for at least a week, a Judiciary Committee spokeswoman said.

[...]

National Journal's CongressDaily, a subscription-only newsletter, reports that a key Democrat on the committee may now be wavering in her support for immunity.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who sits on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, said she is re-evaluating her support for retroactive legal immunity. She voted to approve it as part of the Intelligence Committee bill. "I did support [immunity] in the intel bill and I'm giving it further thought," she said. (Republican Sen. Arlen)Specter said he does not know if there will be enough votes on the Judiciary Committee to strip the immunity provision.

Keep the pressure up on Di-Fi, folks. Her behaviour in confirming racist judge Leslie Southwick and professional frog-impersonater Mukasey, and her stance on this bill have been utterly disgraceful. She needs to hear from her constituents.

As for Specter:

On Wednesday, he proposed a compromise in which the government would become the defendant in lawsuits aimed at the telecoms.

“I think it’s very important that the courthouse not be closed so there can be a judicial determination to see if there have been any violations of privacy rights,” Specter told The Hill. “I think the telephone companies were good citizens, and should not suffer from what they did. And my idea is to have the government substituted as the party.”

All he's really saying is, let the taxpayer who has been illegally spied on now pay any damages resulting from lawsuits against the telecoms who participated in the illegal spying.

Talk about sticking it to the people! Arlen, you're a schmuck. Step down. Isn't there a decent progressive somewhere in Pennsylvania, someone who will respect the rights of the people and the Constitution, who will run for this putz's seat?

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Politics - Buncha Gutless Worms

Yup, that's our Senate - the spineless bunch of mothafuckas who can't get their lips offa li'l Boots' boots and stand up straight like people.

They just rolled over on the Telecommunications companies' immunity under FISA. All that remains between The People's constitutional rights and the vultures of this misadministration is Senator Chris Dodd. Lemme tellya, he's looking pretty damn good right now.

Hey, senators! Get a big ol' fuckin' clue. Take a look at Pete Stark. He's not buckling under to anybody. Why don't you guys learn to do the same?

Chris Dodd, we hearts youse. And as for you, Lamar Smith, and the rest of your Republican colleagues?

Republicans who support telecom immunity say that companies were doing the nation good.

"They deserve our thanks, they don't deserve to be hit with a flurry of frivolous lawsuits," House Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Lamar Smith (R-TX) told Dow Jones.

Get down on your knees and just fucking kiss my ass, you worthless cockrings.

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Politics - Updated FISA Act

Bruce Fein nails it again, dammit. The former Reagan Administration official points out (via Raw Story) that the updated FISA Act

"... really does nothing with regard to trying to restrain the president's unfettered exercise of authority to gather foreign intelligence, ... ."

Fein told MSNBC host Keith Olbermann that the president still claims "inherent constitutional power to flout any law that Congress enacts."

Because, goddammit, the only thing that will "restrain" this hapless boob and his coterie of misbehaving thugs is the fear of jail time. If he is not impeached, if impeachment is "off the table" in the words of Nancy Pelosi, why the fuck should he listen to anyone?

Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Reed, he must have pictures of you in a three-way with fainting goats, or something, because if he isn't flat-out telling you that he thinks you can kiss his saggy, flabby, wrinkled spotty ass, I don't know what else you can interpret his behaviour as. You're a pair of idiots who deserve to be voted out of office ASAP.

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Praise be to YearlyKos! Pop Pop!

I'm so very excited!!

And I was so very bummed out today while listening to that horrible news about Bush winning his victory with the new version of the FISA law (Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act). Basically, the Bushie scumbags can monitor your communication if they suspect that you are in communication with a foreign spy. And we know how fast and loose the Bushies will define "suspect" and "spy" ... and, who knows, maybe even "foreign."

Here's an excerpt from Slate's website:

... the new law obliges phone and Internet companies to create back doors for eavesdroppers; if they don't comply, they can be held in contempt. And best of all, there's no longer an audit of abuses by the DoJ's inspector general. Instead, Congress will receive an update on that twice a year from none other than the attorney general—the very individual who, even as this legislation was being prepared, was exposed as having denied, under oath, the existence of surveillance abuses by the FBI.

So, I was just in a bad mood all day. Furious. Ready to rumble. Ready to deck a few spineless Democrats ... who were so brave after the election ... and now? Et tu, Brute? But, I'm generally a peacenik so no rumbling.

I came home and turned on the tube and surfed to C-SPAN and lo and behold ... they were broadcasting a panel discussion from the YearlyKos convention! Joy! The panel was moderated by Adam Green from MoveOn.org and panelists were:

• S.R. Sidarth, campaigner for Jim Webb, has worked on many campaigns, is best known for being taunted by George Allen and Allen calling him a macaca
• Lane Hudson, the person who posted emails created by that hypocrite Mark Foley
• Mike Stark, blogger for CallingAllWingNuts.com

Progressives ... talking like real progressives!! On TV!!!!!

Praise be to C-SPAN.

Praise be to YearlyKos. I joined YearlyKos just a few moments ago.

Folks, you can check out the convention. There's lots of good stuff that you can hook up to. Here's their site.

I had a small dream start floating around in me wee brain ... PolCat and me (and others?) going to the convention sometime in the near future ... next year, perhaps?

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