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Wednesday news & views from Gerry~FISA~for starters, again
Wednesday~
****************round of articles about our domestic ‘issues’~July 9, 2008
FISA Bill in Congress delayed till today!
Amendment Would Put Spy Lawsuits, Amnesty on Hold Pending Investigation
http://www.truthout.org/article/amendment-would-put-spy-lawsuits-amnesty-hold-pending-investigation
Will the Democrats Ever Learn?
Democratic leaders -- and Barack Obama -- appear poised to let George W. Bush off the hook on his warrantless wiretaps without even letting the American people know what abuses were committed.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/070808.html
August 8, 1974 v. July 9, 2008
by Glenn Greenwald
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/08/10215/
Bush's Secret Army of Snoops and Snitches
By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive
http://www.alternet.org/story/90829/
Are you familiar with these folks??? Please consider signing up and
Helping them with their ‘agenda’…several ‘take action’ items..
Quick and organized format…!
The American Freedom Campaign Agenda
http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org///index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=42
In case you missed the FISA coverage on Countodown…
Madow interviews Jonathan Turley…NOT to be missed!!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25594262
Dan Abrams (MSNBC) also covered the FISA issue…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25594680#25594680
or CALL CONGRESS (again!!!)…THE VOTE DELAYED from yesterday…
A reminder of an ‘action’ opportunity….let’s approach ‘them’ from all sides…
FISA Bill in Congress Wednesday
The revelations in December 2005 that the Bush regime had broken the laws against surveillance by the government, then lied about it, then bragged about it, made millions the regime as illegitimate. Now, they have succeeded in getting the law changed to increase their ability to spy on people. The new FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) bill being debated tomorrow. The bill includes immunity to phone companies who co-operated with the government's illegal spying. Senators Obama and McCain plan to vote for it.
Hear what Daniel Ellsberg has to say, and then raise your voice against the police-state spy bill.
Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime
Forwarding from Charles Chamberlain (DFA), in case you missed his email:
(thanks Charles!)
Call Senator Reid right now and demand he pull the FISA "compromise" bill which will lead to retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies who spied on Americans.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid-Washington DC: 202-224-3542
If the DC number is busy - Try reaching his district offices:
Reno Office: 775-686-5750
Vegas Office: 702-388-5020
CLICK HERE TO REPORT YOUR CALL
And/or…
Submitted by Bob Fertik on July 7, 2008 - 10:46pm.
The Senate will cast its final vote on warrantless wiretapping late Tuesday or Wednesday, so we need to flood Congress with petitions and calls demanding a no vote on the FISA bill.
Sign our petition for impeachment, not immunity:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/141?ad=d1
Call your Senators through the switchboard at 202-224-3121 or dial direct
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
or let BlueAmerica connect you for free:
http://tools.advomatic.com/7/fisa
And/or…from Friends of Chris Dodd
Do you remember the excitement when we first stopped retroactive immunity in the Senate last year? We earned that moment together -- both the victory and the feeling that we had made a difference. That hard-earned success felt so good because collectively we made our voices heard in the well of the Senate and in offices across DC.
On the eve of another vote, it's time for us to speak up again.
Please use the call tool created by our friends at Firedoglake and ask your Senators to vote "YES" on the Dodd-Feingold Amendment to strip retroactive immunity from FISA
What Obama Should Be Saying About FISA
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/335373
Thanks to John (Democracy for Cincinnati) for this from Velvet Revolution…
Please watch our the YouTube Videos:
Part One:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aVOEsipQy1g
Part Two:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NsWS6SVyf6A
And then…CALL CONGRESS
Rove has been subpoenaed to testify on July 10th but his attorney last week informed the Judiciary Committee that he will not comply. Siegelman wants you to let Congress know that Rove must face the consequences of his actions. Please contact your Congress Members -- 202 224-3121.
Copied over from yesterday’s news scan…
this another forward from DFA…with thanks to Pam Miles!!!
Pam says!
I have firm confirmation that Nancy Pelosi is urging the Judiciary committee
NOT to go forward with contempt against Rove.
Congressman John Conyers and the Judiciary staff are battling for it but this has become an infight among dems.
Time to burn up the phone lines. 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887
or 800-614-2803 toll free to congressional switchboard
PLEASE CALL. House Judiciary Committee:
Here are the direct phone #'s of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.
They're all democrats, and they're all congressmen:
All their phone numbers begin with 202, next three digits are 225. I will
list only the last four digits, to save time:
John Conyers, Michigan - 1-202-225-5126-Howard Berman, California - 4695
Rick Boucher, Virginia – 3861-Jerrold Nadler, New York - 5635
Bobby Scott, Virginia – 8351-Melvin Watt, North Carolina - 1510
Zoe Lofgren, California – 3072-Sheila Jackson, Texas - 3816
Maxine Waters, California – 2201-Bill Delahunt, Massachusetts - 3111
Robert Wexler, Florida – 3001-Linda Sanchez, California - 6676
Steve Cohen, Tennessee – 3265-Hank Johnson, Georgia - 1605
Betty Sutton, Ohio – 3401-Luis Gutierrez, Illinois - 8203
Brad Sherman, California – 5911-Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin - 2906
Anthony Weiner, New York – 6616-Adam Schiff, California - 4176
Artur Davis, Alabama – 2665-Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida - 7931
Keith Ellison, Minnesota – 4755-
Baker & Christopher’s new revision…will it work??
Call to curb US leader's war powers
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/07/20087921137810623.html
OR will it make perpetual war even easier??? Just put the hawks in the committee…
Panel calls for new war powers legislation
http://current.com/items/89084674_panel_calls_for_new_war_powers_legislation
in their own words… would it be an improvement?
Only IF we were to have fewer wars…no?
Put War Powers Back Where They Belong
By JAMES A. BAKER III and WARREN CHRISTOPHER
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/opinion/08baker.html?ref=opinion
Plan Offered to Revamp War Powers Act
http://www.truthout.org/article/war-powers-resolution-1973-undermines-rule-law
New law is urged on war powers
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warpowers9-2008jul09,0,4964902.story
Fed Forecasts Economic Gloom
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080709_fed_forecasts_economic_storm_on_the_horizon/
RAGING WILDFIRE…McClathycy cartoon of the day:
Jim Morin / Miami Herald (July 8, 2008)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/215/index.html
Ex-EPA official: White House cut global-warming testimony
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/43469.html
take the MoveOn.org opinion survey….help them plan their agenda…
http://www.moveon.org/tellus/interest.html?id=13115-5739315-cO3Xd0x&t=1
Is Obama a Secret Catholic? Barack Obama's July 1 speech in Zanesville, Ohio, suggested a “secret” connection to Catholicism. I say “secret” because Obama has never fully explained his work for the Catholic Church’s Campaign for Human Development in Chicago. He did say that the experience “led me into public service.” Whatever the origins of his neighborhood work in Chicago, he has offered a theology of social activism consonant with Catholic teaching.
From Al Gore to John McCain
Riding the Colombia Gravy Train
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
All the oil news that's fit to print
By Nick Turse
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JG09Ak02.html
Bush lawyers told to speed Guantanamo detention appeals
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/43481.html
from and about ‘over there’
Free This Detainee
Ruth Marcus-Washington Post
background: CCR…who are they? What do they do????
Supreme Court: Guantánamo Detainees Have Constitutional Right to Habeas Corpus
CCR, Co-Counsel Win Landmark Case
http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/landmark-win-guantanamo-detainees!
Current Cases
http://ccrjustice.org/current-cases
Gorbachev Scolds Obama and McCain
According to Mikhail Gorbachev, John McCain and Barack Obama have more in common than they’d like to admit. Both have refused to address their country’s unprecedented military spending, which the former Soviet leader blames for America’s economic woes. Writing in a Russian newspaper, Gorbachev argued that the U.S. behaves “as if the Cold War were not a thing of the past, and the country were surrounded by enemies.”
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080708_gorbachev_scolds_obama_and_mccain/
Policemen killed at US Istanbul consulate
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/policemen-killed-at-us-istanbul-consulate-863220.html
'It's like living at the end of the world'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/09/israelandthepalestinians?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
Iran sends missile test warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7496765.stm
Holy Land Lost
by James Zogby
"As settlements grew (there are now almost a half million Israelis living in settlements in these occupied lands), not only did Palestinians lose ancestral lands and agricultural areas, they also lost freedom of movement, their way of life, and their hope for the future."
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/52738
Democracy Now roundtable on the Hostage ‘release’ and Farc!
As Freed US Contractors Speak Out, a Look at the FARC, Colombian Paramilitary Groups and the Generals Being Feted for the Hostage Rescue
Three American military contractors freed from the Colombian jungle have spoken out against their former captors, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell were among the fifteen hostages, including the French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, rescued in an elaborate military operation last week in a major blow to the FARC. We host a roundtable discussion with Mario Murillo, author of Colombia and the United States; Michael Evans of the Colombia Documentation Project; and Manuel Rozental, a Colombian physician and human rights activist living in Canada following several threats on his life. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/8/as_freed_us_contractors_speak_out
the passing of history….
Meeting Spain's last anarchist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7420469.stm
http://www.truthout.org/article/oaxacas-government-land-grab
Peace and Solidarity
|
Paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people... |
Show: Expand All Reply
- Howard Dean is first! Censorship & Top Down 'Democracy' is last!
By Annilow on Jul 9, 2008 9:19 AM EDTOutstanding roundup Gerry -- I don't know how you do it. Especially since Judy's been on vacation, your roundup threads are great.
Tom on the 6am water closet, cites Morton Halperin's support of the FISA "Compromise"
As someone whose civil liberties were violated by the government, I understand this legislation isn’t perfect. But I also believe — and here I am speaking only for myself — that it represents our best chance to protect both our national security and our civil liberties. For that reason, it has my personal support.
Unfortunately, some constitutiona;l experts who aren't running for president disagree with Halperin
Professor Jonathan Turley spoke out forcefully against the legislation on Olberman's show last night, and reamed Obama for supporting it.
Then, of course there's Glenn Greenwald, who though despised by Tom, is a constituional Lawyer.
Daniel Ellsberg himself has spoken out in opposition to the Bill and to what he perceives as Obama's sellout of the Constitution.
Sorry Mort, your opinion just doesn't cut it.
Is that something you picked up on a taped phonecall? These types of whole cloth fabrications regarding the opinions of others detract from the credibility of other arguments you make.
What's equally as important, in my view, is that respected commentators have differing opinions about the usefulness of this legislation, including Halperin who, as I have stated I do, opposes the bill. No one's compelled to listen to them, but I'm not sold on the importance of either being exposed to, or accepting, the views of one side of the argument only, since this is obviously controversial law being discussed, and there are some serious compteting interests, legal and political, at stake in the vote.
- Charles had some points on the WC one click from the shredder worth a recall
By Phil Specht on Jul 9, 2008 9:43 AM EDT
+0 Rating
- I don't think we can argue
By Charles Chamberlain on Jul 9, 2008 1:05 AM
cause I pretty much agree. I think we need clean money for campaigns. If we pay for it, then electeds (democrat or republican) would no longer be on the lobbyist payroll.
Why does Obama change his vote on FISA if he doesn't take money from corporations like AT&T? Why would he flip?
We absolutely agree that the collusion between Bush Co and Congress is beyond disturbing and likely criminal.
Think about what we know already... while these guys are still in power... and it is amazing how much we know. We KNOW they broke the law to spy on Americans. We KNOW they tortured/torture. We KNOW they leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent (something which I still believe is treason). We KNOW they cooked the books to led us into war. Even more amazing is that this list goes on and on.
How much more is there? What don't we know?
clean money, ok. fair elections, ok. open softare, ok.
the "flip" on fisa is that it retains the "powers" he thinks the feds need. i disagree, btw. the bill doesn't protect the com guys from criminal prosecution, just civil. now, i think civil should be on the table, but the ptb don't think so, so either we let this be or elect another set of individuals.
where from here...
as to what "we" know...the american public isnt up to that challenge...they're sleeping in the dark, and rest asurred, they want to stay there....
oh, dreams where can i be
where can you take me
what am i supposed to be....
America sleeps while our leaders destroy us in so many ways. I think the Bush administration has a similar opinion of people however... it is their believe that Americans are afraid of everything that keeps them from telling us the truth about our relationship with Saudi Arabia for example.
So while I think they are asleep... I at least have some confidence that when we get our message heard, people DO wake up and change... the problem is getting loud enough to break through the zombie BS of modern culture. A culture that thrives on non-involvement. It gets back to -- if we ain't involved then no one notices who runs the show... and that will be true even if we have clean money.
I like Barack a lot. I have a lot of hope for what change will come. But I don't buy his reason for voting the wrong way on this new FISA bill. I think it is political bs and not forward thinking. That said, I plan to take him at his word that he will revisit the issues moving forward... with a strong Attorney General to investigate criminal changes.
America sleeps while our leaders destroy us in so many ways....
....and when America woke up it'll find instead another leaders who will stop destroying it any longer..., lol!
The audacity of Hope!
- Just wondering if you've enjoyed it - ever - in all of those years
By on Jul 9, 2008 1:14 PM EDTNo person, imo, who changed lifestyle from humans around to cars around, from city-lifestyle to car-lifestyle can ever enjoy it.
Killing/Suicidal lifestyle.
- I didn't think you would give me a straight answer but I can assume you don't like it here.
By Denise in San Mateo County on Jul 9, 2008 4:22 PM EDTI'm glad I do - sometimes overthinking stuff can make one miserable all by itself
I guess I'm bugged by things being dragged from the WC to the main thread -- we've had lots of good stuff on the WC -- I will be glad when the archive is set up.
Access denied when it was on the left. Let's see if it works on the right.
- Obama is like Kerry was on Vietnam--against it before he knew the whole plan
By Monica Smith on Jul 9, 2008 10:08 AM EDTNow that he's been told the truth about the grand scheme to dominate cyber space he agrees that it needs to be mapped so the U.S. knows where to attack. Besides, he never has committed to removing all the U.S. military--just the combat forces.
Iran is testing missiles that it got from China. Everybody's got surrogates in the region. Only the U.S. is so myopic as to think that Russia and China don't know what's going on. And the farce in the Czech Republic is still being played out. The papers called it a treaty. Wonder if the Senate is going to be reviewing the particulars.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0931985320080709
Wed Jul 9, 2008 1:35pm BST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday said Iran is a "great threat" and called for tighter sanctions after it test-fired nine missiles.
"Iran is a great threat...""....
---------------------
Is that what he believes in or is that what he has to say to get elected?
What is truth?
- might be just what he has to say to stop a war from going off halfcocked
By Phil Specht on Jul 9, 2008 10:36 AM EDT
- That's actually correct. Presumably, their missiles
By Monica Smith on Jul 9, 2008 10:46 AM EDTare aimed at the U.S. bases in Iraq. Moreover, if they are attacked, China and Russia might just find it worth "testing" their military hardware.
Interesting logic Monica..., lol.
What's is "actually correct"?
Who is threat to whom? US (as unlawfully occupying Iran's neighboring Iraq) is threat to Iran? Or what, other way around?
Monica, don't you see your logic loosing common sense, shouldn't that scare at least you if that's not scaring Obama himself? Or you think such logic may lead to something good? I doubt.
He may have been a realist and changed his mind about making Iraq a base for U.S. operations in the Indian Ocean region, he's never spoken truth about the agenda.
Monica, please show me politician who has "spoken truth about the agenda"?
It's their professional duty NOT TO..., lol.
- James Baker has oil leases in the Gulf and just might be not wanting to lose them in a conflagration.
By Phil Specht on Jul 9, 2008 10:45 AM EDT
- that region is going to get ten times more dangerous now that we have rekindled the old cold war rivalry as an arms race.
By Phil Specht on Jul 9, 2008 10:57 AM EDTRussia and China both might want a surogate to test their weapons systems in battle
Phil, they don't even need. It is enough to have millions ready to die, 'cause they BELEIVE we are not! Can't win.
things sound so dire, maybe I should just stay in Argentina! :)
things sound so dire, maybe I should just stay in Argentina! :)
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By Karen on Jul 9, 2008 9:21 AM EDTGood job with the news articles, Gerry. Must take you awhile to compile all these. :o)