Bertalda, Assailed by Spirits – Theodor Von Holst
Wow! You are truly a student of the Bible! Some of the questions were difficult, but they didn’t slow you down! You know the books, the characters, the events . . . Very impressive!
I really should have done better than this.
I hate ants.
I hate ants.
I hate ants.
I hate ants.
I hate ants.
Protected: I have no idea why I think this is so funny.
ACLU poll: Majority opposes telecom immunity plan
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.
FISA overhaul spat moves from Capitol to campaign
The contentious debate over rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) may be over in the House, but it’s just starting to gain ground on the campaign trail.
Republicans want to make it a national security issue this November. Democrats think that argument is outdated. But the majority party does acknowledge a new onslaught from liberal activists, who, though usually sympathetic to Democrats, are now talking about challenging some candidates based on the recent FISA overhaul.
The FISA deal reached between Republicans and centrist Democrats proposes to change the nation’s spying laws and provide an avenue for telecommunication companies that participated in the Bush administration’s domestic wiretapping program to be immune from lawsuits. The bill passed the House 293-129 last week, with most Democrats opposing it and just one Republican voting against it.
The vote is evidence that the country is still in a “center-right position” when it comes to terrorist surveillance, said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).
“Democrats are desperately trying to take the terrorist surveillance issue off the table now that the election is within sight, but this doesn’t change the fact that many of them voted against the critical intelligence program at every turn,” Spain said. “Just because they caved to Republican pressure in the end doesn’t mean we won’t expose their abysmal records.”
The NRCC has already cited House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who brokered the deal, as a way to go after Democrats who opposed it.
(Please click on the articles’ titles for the full stories.)
…. aaaaaaand CREDO has set up another petition asking Obama to reconsider his support of FISA.
I was peeping around the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s web site, and I came across an interesting bit of information on the best ways to contact your representatives, along with search assistance, etiquette tips, and a killer list of do’s and don’ts. One of the things that surprised me was a bit on why its best to call your representatives, as opposed to emailing or snail mailing them:
Because of the post-9/11 security issues, it can take up to THREE MONTHS for postal mail and package delivery services to get through to legislators and their staffs. All incoming mail and parcels are subjected to thorough analysis for bombs, poisons and biological agents like anthrax. This means that sending physical letters is, in 2002 and for the forseeable future, practically useless for activism purposes. The same goes for sending mail to the White House.
The situation is not as bad for Federal agencies, nor for state and municipal government, but even in those cases, fax and e-mail will probably be more efficient and effective. What a turnabout from the 1990s, when most government bodies and legislators more or less ignored e-mail as a valid communications medium!
And why you should supplement emails with phone calls:
Presently, most legislators do not fully take e-mail seriously, but you may wish to e-mail them anyway. It can’t hurt, and it doesn’t take much time. Also, the more used to e-mail that Congress gets, the more seriously the medium will be taken. The White House, by contrast, already treats e-mail with at least some degree of respect and interest.
Consider e-mailing legislators an afterthought, however, until legislators are “up to speed” (2 years? 5? 10?), – something to do in addition to calling, faxing, writing or visiting.
The whole thing is extremely informative, and I strongly encourage everyone to give it a gander.
In April, a federal appeals court held that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) can search laptops, and even copy their entire contents, as a routine part of border searches. The ruling held that the CBP does not need probable cause, or even the lower standard of “reasonable suspicion.”
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Neil Gaiman also posted about this today, citing an article from the LA Times.
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Aaaaaaaaand with that, back to HR 6304.
No, I’m still not letting the FISA issue go. Its too goddamn important, and its shocking to me how little the American people seem to care about their Constitutional rights.
That said… Chris Dodd is, once again, my fuckin’ hero.
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) tonight voted against a Senate motion that would bring the FISA Amendments Act to the floor for consideration. Despite Dodd’s objection, the motion passed by a vote of 80 to 15. Dodd made the following statement after the vote:
“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 entirety of Dodd’s fantastic speech.
Chris Dodd’s speech and a glimmer of hope for stopping the FISA bill — commentary by Glenn Greenwald
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Chuck Schumer: another one of my fuckin’ heroes.
Chuck Schumer’s spokesman tells us that he’s going to oppose the current version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation, which immunizes telcom companies for past implementation of Bush’s requests and expands the government’s capacity to surveil without court approval.
If Schumer backs an effort to remove the immunity provisions, that could be a big deal. Obama has come out against those provisions, but Schumer is a strategic signal caller in the Senate. The key question: Will Schumer support a filibuster on removing immunity from the bill?
If the provisions come out, the compromise legislation could fall apart. But civil liberties advocates have mounted a strong campaign against the idea of Democrats retroactively approving Bush’s exercise of surveillance powers outside the FISA law’s statutory scheme.
No signal yet from Sen. Clinton on her position, and it’s not clear whether the Democrats will have enough votes to successfully attack the immunity issue. All of Long Island’s House members supported the bill with telcom immunity in it, except for Steve Israel.
Kick ass, Chuck! I knew you were a good man ever since I read Positively American.
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I have little love for Olbermann lately (ah, but I used to love you so much, Keith!), but yeah – I still TiVo Countdown. I’m still hanging onto the hope he pulls back from his seemingly imminent downward spiral into becoming the left’s answer to Bill Windbag Fucksack O’Reilly.
Yeah, I said it.
Anyway, his coverage of the FISA issue is worthwhile. Have a gander:
