Month: January 2008

FISA Fight Continues in Senate Today

The Senate is set to resuming debating warrantless wiretapping reform legislation this morning at 9:30 AM Eastern.

The first vote will likely be on the Leahy Amendment, which is a conversion of the Senate Judiciary Committee bill, which has very good minimization standards and stops blanket warrants. The Leahy Amendment also includes no retroactive immunity for the big telecoms that helped the Bush administration spy on Americans. Sadly, the Leahy Amendment is expected to fail.

Other amendments will be offered. The notable ones will be the Dodd/Feingold Amendment, which would strip retroactive immunity from the underlying bill (the Intelligence Committee bill). We expect this amendment to only get about 20 votes.

The Specter Amendment would substitute the federal government as the defendant in the cases against the big telecoms; the cases would otherwise be allowed to proceed but any liability would be paid by the US taxpayers. This amendment will probably lose.

The Feinstein “good faith” Amendment would move the cases against the big telecoms out of the regular judicial system and into secret intelligence courts. Robert Cruickshank of Courage Campaign continues to do great work analyzing Feinstein’s amendment. He’s updated the post I linked to last night with looking at the procedure laid out in Feinstein’s “good faith” amendment and comes to this conclusion:

…”good faith” would be sufficient for FISA to grant immunity.As described above, we already knew that this amendment was unacceptable because it gave a secret court, which the public has no ability to access, the power to determine whether our basic legal rights will be upheld. Now we learn that under Feinstein’s amendment it will be very easy for the FISA court, which virtually never turns down a government wiretap request, to grant telecom immunity. The telecoms will have every reason to claim they acted in good faith, and we know that the Bush Administration will back them up. This amendment is a recipe for immunity through the back door – or more accurately, through a secret court.

It’s my understanding that the Feinstein “good faith” Amendment has a chance of passing, though it would not have the support of some of the most liberal members of the Senate.

At some point, when the course of the legislation seems clear, the expectation is that Senator Chris Dodd will filibuster the bill, in the hopes of stopping retroactive immunity. He won’t have to do this if the Leahy or Dodd/Feingold amendments pass, but they are not expected to.

I’ll keep you posted with updates – the debate is starting shortly. For now, please contact your Senators and ask them to oppose retroactive immunity and stop warrantless wiretapping.

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.

Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking.

Al Gore Speaks Out for Marriage Equality

http://current.com/e/88817757

Pam Spaulding has the transcript at Pandagon:

I think it’s wrong for the government to discriminate against people because of a person’s sexual orientation. I think that gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women to make contracts, have hospital visiting rights, and join together in marriage.

I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage to allow it for gays and lesbians. Shouldn’t we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one partner regardless of sexual orientation? Because if we don’t do that, then to that extent you are promoting promiscuity and promoting all the problems that can result from promiscuity. And the loyalty and love that people feel for one another when they fall in love ought to be celebrated and encouraged and shouldn’t be prevented by any form of discrimination in the law.

This means that Al Gore, who won the popular vote for President in 2000, an Oscar, and a Nobel Peace Prize but is not a candidate for President this year, has a more progressive position on gay marriage than any major Democratic candidate who is currently in the race or has already dropped out. Hopefully Clinton, Obama, and Edwards are paying attention to Gore and can adopt some of his language and positioning.

Courage Campaign Looks at Bad FISA Amendments

Robert Cruickshank has a great, in-depth post at the Courage Campaign looking at the expected amendment to be offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California and why progressives should reject it. Feinstein’s amendment would have the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court determine if companies like AT&T and Verizon should be granted immunity; the FISA Court would make this decision behind closed doors. Cruickshank also addresses the Specter amendment which would substitute the federal government in the pending cases against the big telecom companies, finding adequate reason to reject it as well. Cruickshank’s post is definitely worth a read.

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.

Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking.

Dodd Will Filibuster

Senator Chris Dodd just released this statement on the pending warrantless wiretapping and retroactive immunity fight, via Tim Tagaris at Daily Kos.

“Few things are more detrimental to this country than the erosion of and attack on the civil liberties we enjoy. This isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue; this is an American issue. If after debate, the Senate appears ready to pass legislation granting telecom providers retroactive immunity I will use any and all legislative tools at my disposal, including a filibuster, to prevent this deeply flawed bill from becoming law. More and more, Americans are rejecting the false choice that has come to define this administration: security or liberty, but never, ever both. For all those who have stood with me throughout this fight, I pledge, once more, to stand up for you.”

Dodd’s filibuster would likely happen on Thursday.

Dodd has been the Senate’s consistent leader in this fight and I think it’s safe to say that he’s a real ally to the CREDO community that doesn’t want to see big telecom companies get away with breaking the law and helping the Bush administration spy on American citizens without warrant.

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.

Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking. 

Mastermind

Martin at Scholars & Rogues has a great post up on what’s happening in the FISA debate and how people can get involved. It’s made even better by calling me a “mastermind.”*

I’m going to go sit in an overstuffed black leather chair while stroking my white cat and gazing at my wall-sized map of the world.

*He actually wrote “But as Matt Browner-Hamlin (who’s masterminding the CREDO campaign) points out…”, but I’m not comfortable taking that much credit for myself and prefer the noun over the verb.

Here Comes the FISA Debate

Well, it now the word out of Washington is that the FISA debate will begin in the Senate tonight, though currently it doesn’t look like votes will take place until tomorrow. My former coworker from the Dodd campaign, Tim Tagaris, has a post up at Open Left explaining the likely legislative process on FISA.

First order of business will be the Judiciary Bill as a substitute to the horrific Intelligence version. That will probably get tabled by Republicans (per Harry Reid’s helpful suggestion) and go away with an overwhelming vote.

Then we’ll go to amendments, including Dodd/Feingold that would strip Title II (Retroactive Immunity) from the bill. There are other amendments, including ones that will substitute liability from the telecoms to the Administration. Dodd is opposed to this, to the best of my knowledge.

There is also a Feinstein amendment that is the big wild card. That would let the FISA court determine whether lawsuits can go forward. That could conceivably pass.

And when we know what a final bill looks like, we’ll know if a filibuster is going to have to happen.

I wouldn’t bet on Dodd backing down if a bill contains retroactive immunity.

I’m sad to say it, but this is outlook means that we can’t give up now, we have to redouble our efforts to make sure that our voices in opposition to retroactive immunity and in opposition to warrantless wiretapping are heard in the halls of the Senate.

Contact your Senator now and ask them to stand against warrantless wiretapping and against retroactive immunity.

And if it comes to it, they need to know that YOU want them to stand alongside Senator Dodd during a filibuster.

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.

Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking.

FISA Developments…

There’s a lot going on related to FISA today. For starters, while it remains a possibility that the Senate will begin to address FISA tonight, tomorrow is looking more likely.

We’re also starting to get a clear picture of what we can expect from the Senate debate on retroactive immunity and it isn’t looking good. Senate Majority Leader is set on making it as hard as possible…to stop retroactive immunity.

CREDO members sent Senator Reid over 30,000 faxes this past December, calling on him to do everything in his power to bring legislation to the floor that did not include retroactive immunity. Sadly, he hasn’t listened.

Via Glenn Greenwald, here’s Senator Reid, laying down the law on how he will proceed with the FISA legislation:

We have to finish FISA this week. Everyone should be aware of that point. We have to finish it this week. I know there are important trips people want to take. We have the very important economic conference in Davos that Democrats and Republicans alike would like to go to.

…

Now, it is possible we could finish it fairly quickly. We are going to work from the Intelligence bill, and if amendments are offered that people don’t like, I would suggest they move to table those amendments. Because if people think they are going to talk this to death, we are going to be in here all night. This is not something we are going to have a silent filibuster on. If someone wants to filibuster this bill, they are going to do it in the openness of the Senate. [Emphasis added]

There you have it – the priorities are getting to have a weekend in Switzerland and making Chris Dodd stand on his feet all night to block retroactive immunity, unlike the unprecedented number of painless Republican filibusters of good Democratic legislation.
Also, Reid is sticking with the Intelligence Committee bill, which includes retroactive immunity and is weak on privacy issues. It allows basket warrants, making it legal for the government to get warrants not for individuals on a case by case basis, but whole groups at a time. The Intel bill also fails to include adequate provisions for minimizing the number of people getting accidentally swept up in surveillance. This is the same legislation that Dodd and others successfully delayed last December and unless it is substantially amended, it remains a bad bill.

Elsewhere, Emptywheel takes a look at the words of Vice President Cheney, out shilling for the big telecom companies before Congress. She rightly identifies the focus of immunity talk as something protects the Bush administration more so than something done to protect the poor multi-billion dollar corporations.

Rather, any immunity is immunity for those who decided it was a swell idea to illegally wiretap Americans. And that list of people begins with Dick Cheney.

It’s quite simple, really. The Bush administration has used executive privilege and state secrets to resist oversight by Congress and the courts. They’ve even gone so far as to flatly ignore congressional subpoenas when it suites them, as Glenn Greenwald reports. Retroactive immunity is just as much a security blanket for the Bush administration as it is a Get Out of Jail Free card for the big telecoms like AT&T and Verizon.

There are many, many other good posts on FISA worth reading today. Here’s a few of my favorites:

When you’re done reading, take a moment – if you haven’t already – to contact Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain and ask them to leave the campaign trail to help stop retroactive immunity and a bad FISA bill. And you can your Senators in an action alert here.

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.
Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking.

Huge Participation Brings Big Results

This is remarkable: CREDO Action members have sent so many emails to the presidential candidates in such a short period of time that we’ve shut down the Obama campaign’s email servers!

At last count, over 56,325 68,421 emails have been sent through yesterday’s action alert, which called upon presidential candidates and sitting Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama to leave the campaign trail and help stop retroactive immunity and bad FISA legislation from becoming law.

Don’t let up now! We’re making the people who want to be President know that we expect them to lead right now.

Keep the pressure on by emailing Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama now, and telling your family and friends to do the same.

Click here to take action!

Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.

Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking.

FISA Promises & Big Telecom Money

Last December Chris Dodd, alone among presidential contenders, led a fight to stop retroactive immunity for big telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon from becoming law. Dodd came off the campaign trail to stand in the well of the Senate for almost eleven hours, arguing against retroactive immunity and for accountability for the violations of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. Dodd was prepared to filibuster, but his tactics succeeded in stopping the FISA legislation from proceeding without going that step. However, he was alone when he should not have been.

Other Democratic senators made pledges to be there beside Dodd in the event he had to filibuster bad FISA legislation. Here’s what Barack Obama’s campaign had said about his willingness to support a filibuster:

To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. [TPM: Election Central, 10/24/07]

And here is what Hillary Clinton said herself:

As matters stand now, I could not support it and I would support a filibuster absent additional information coming forward that would convince me differently. [TPM: Election Central, 10/23/07]

Senator John McCain has not said that he will support a filibuster to stop retroactive immunity.

Keep in mind that when Chris Dodd took to the Senate floor in December, the assumption was that a filibuster was about to take place and it did not only because other procedural measures were deployed that forced Harry Reid to pull the bill.

So, if Clinton and Obama would not hold themselves by their word, how are they reaching this decision? According to Center for Responsive Politics, Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama are by far the top three recipients of telecom industry cash in the 2008 cycle, including tens of thousands of dollars each from AT&T and Verizon. Here’s the breakdown:

Telephone Utilities: Top 20 Recipients 2008 Cycle:

1. John McCain $176,800

2. Hillary Clinton $106,300

3. Barack Obama $87,236

AT&T:
2. Obama, Barack (D-IL) $43,483

3. Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $43,400

5. McCain, John (R-AZ) $23,700

Verizon:
1. Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $24,850

2. Obama, Barack (D-IL) $22,753

5. McCain, John (R-AZ) $19,350

Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama are all seeking the presidency and have spoke about their desire to change how Washington works. The opportunity to do that now, in 2008, is right in front of them — leave the campaign trail and do what the big telecom companies are hoping they won’t: stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law.

Contact Clinton, McCain and Obama through this Credo action alert: Call on them to get back to DC and protect our civil liberties.

Cross posted at CREDO Blog

Disclosure: I have joined the CREDO Mobile team to stop the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program and hold the telecom companies accountable for their lawbreaking.

Bad Fish

As a New Yorker who loves sushi and eats quite a lot of tuna, this article in the Times on the high levels of mercury in tuna found in NYC sushi restaurants is pretty troubling. I don’t think I currently approach the danger levels cited for tuna consumption, but if I ate as much sushi as I want to, I certainly would have to worry.