Impeachment is too good for them.

He could read all the laws, or as many as needed, pertaining to the NSA, and/or the transcripts of all court cases concerning illegal searches, wiretapping etc. That should do it.

Dear Senator Dodd,

In 1980, I was giving money to the Republicans and G.H.W. Bush, back when his son was still acting "young and irresponsible," as he phrased it. But now I have grown up and I am going to be voting in the Democratic Primary out here in Arizona. I believed strongly in the U.S. Constitution back in 1980, and I believe in it more strongly than ever, now.

What makes the US different from middle-eastern dictatorships is not our security measures, but our reliance upon principles of law and fairness in justice.

The US Bill of Rights became part of our Constitution in this week, in the year 1791. All true Americans accept and revere and support our Constitution and its Amendments. Our leaders and military have sworn oaths to protect and defend them.

The fourth Amendment states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, pa-
pers, 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 describ-
ing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

To be an American is to respect and support this ideal, which clearly means that there should be no warrantless wiretapping.

I don't yet know which Presidential candidate I will be supporting next month. But I know it will be someone who agrees with you about supporting the US Constitution, including the Fourth Amendment.

I trust that the Honorable Majority Leader, Nevada Senator Harry Reid, will also recall that he supports the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment, as we do. Senator Dodd, you have my strongest respect and admiration, and my appreciation for standing up for the true values of all Americans.

Best wishes,
Dr. Bruce Martin
Arizona

Senator Dodd,

I have to admit that what are you doing is being well received by those who care enough to not stand idly by as their government molests their civil liberties. I want you to know, in a polite manner, that you are not the candidate that I intend to support for President in 2008, but the action you are taking today gives you many points in the honor and respect departments. This shows that you WILL fight for what is right in this nation and that you WANT to make a positive impact on this nation.

While I find your move to be honorable, this doesn't change much in the grand scheme of things. Your ONE POSITIVE action that you are taking is still masked by the many errors that this Congress has made in the past and DOES NOT shed the light of hope that we need to feel comfortable with our government once again.

This is a small step in the right direction, but it's too late. We can't expect real progress from this Congress until 2008. It's not about not having enough Democrats to make a true majority or Republicans stonewalling. It's about the backbone that is missing from the people who should be standing up to this corrupt administration, being the 535 elect, and you're losing. While this one moment is actually a moment of respect in your direction, I know it will be forgotten when this sentence is finished and you will go back to passing more and more legislation that will lower your approval rating further.

I challenge you, prove me wrong. Show me that 2008 will be a positive year for America. Perhaps if Congress moved into the 21st century and read the SOURCED and CITED articles that we read about our government on the internet, maybe they'll keep a job into 2009.

Dear Senator Dodd,

I'm what used to be an ordinary middle-class person. I come from a line of people who were farmers, small business owners -- and if anyone thinks that makes people rich, it usually doesn't. It might make you loved in your community, for the services you offer, but it doesn't make you rich. Of course, plenty of us have worked various places owned by other people, management, teaching, writing, many different careers.

So we're decent people, creative people, hard-working people -- who used to feel we could get ahead in this country by working hard and following the rules.
One of my aunts who'd lived in Europe for decades told me, 20 years ago, "America is becoming more a country with two classes. The middle class is being wiped out." I had no idea what she , meant.

I do now.

I cannot believe the piles of laws the current administration has ignored, changed, trampled. I am appalled by the (quote) signing statements (unquote) of President Bush, no doubt usually crafted by Richard Cheney and/or David Addington. Those two men who love hiding in the shadows while they turn this country into some version of the nightmares that must inhabit their own brains.

I can't believe the direction this country is going -- or, wait. I can believe it, because I have no choice. I know far too much. I've been spending far too much time reading about politics since the year 2000. And make no mistake about it, I'm far from isolated. There are hundreds of thousands, indeed, there are millions upon millions of citizens of this country who are VERY AWARE OF, and EXTREMELY APPALLED BY, SICKENED BY the increasing lawlessness, the trampling of our constitution, carried out by this Republican administration.

And what is the Democrat-controlled Congress or Senate doing to rein in these lawless thugs currently in power? To return us to a rule of law? With few exceptions, nothing. Nothing!

It would appear that you all in the Senate and Congress have decided that we do not know, and we do not care. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would appear that you have decided that WE DO NOT COUNT -- and while that may indeed be true today, IT SHOULD NOT BE TRUE!

The will of the majority of the American people is to have this country continue to uphold the ideals upon which it was founded, and that should matter. We should go no further down this path of becoming a rogue nation, stomping around the globe attacking nations who have never attacked us, launching "pre-emptive wars".

We should immediately reverse the recent insane tax laws, which now funne welalth upwards from over 90% of our citizens to a tiny percentage of individuals at the top -- who careen along with an apparently insatiable need for tawdry power and wealth.

Political self-service is the name of the day for these people who are incapable of caring for the health of their country as a whole. They are incapable of caring for anything except increasing their ability to rule over others unchecked. Their brand of politics makes a mockery of political service.

Most ironic of all, these power-crazed leaders, too, will lie one day in their graves, and the number of homes they owned, the number of dollars they wrested from those who could ill spare them, will not help warm them then.

The number of people they impoverished, the nation they gutted for temporary gain, these things will be remembered about them. The glory they hope for? That will not be how they are remembered.

Millions of American people are waiting with bated breath for SOMEONE in the Senate, SOMEONE in Congress, to stand up to those currently in power in our country. Billions of people around the world are watching also. Waiting to see the rule of law returned to our country. Wondering how far we will slide towards the abyss.

We ordinary citizens wonder, "How bad will our futures be?" "How bad will the futures of our children be?" "What new restrictions will be placed on our freedoms next?" "Which laws will they break next?"

For heaven's sakes, in this great nation, we now have people DEBATING whether or not we should torture. Who would have believed that 20 years ago? That we could sink so low.

And we wonder if anyone in the Senate or Congress will stand up for us against these barbarians who lead us ever further into the dark. Are they threatening to blackmail you, is that why you are not standing up to them? Threatening something worse than blackmail?

Well, life can be hard, get over it, stand up for us anyway.

And if that isn't it, what on earth is it?

As an ordinary citizen I ask you, WHEN are you going to stand up for us? WHEN will you say the damage has been enough?

You MUST rise now -- not next year when it suits your schedule -- to do what you can to stand up in this one case. Start somewhere. Start here.

Start now.

Thank you for reading this for me, Senator Dodd.

Senator Dodd might find many of Granny D's speeches to be a good fit for this time and place. Here are a few of them:
http://grannyd.com/speeches.html

When she was 96 she wrote me that she'd stopped buying green bananas.

Likewise anything from the testimony of the whistle-blower who broke open the wire-tapping equipment in place at the hub in CA.

Thank you, Senator Dodd. It's extremely shameful that fighting for rights so essential and central to our nation's founding puts you in the minority. On the other hand, I find your actions extremely inspiring.

The current situation pains me, because there's very little real question of what's right here. Privacy is no small thing. The Constitution is no small thing. Why have other senators lost perspective? Are they just out of touch with the privacy concerns of average citizens? Are they too beholden to the telecom industry? Do they really believe it's impossible to fight crime and terrorism and follow the law at the same time? (It's not.) Have they forgotten the core values of our country, and why we have a Fourth Amendment in the first place?

Why won't Senator Reid forward the Senate Judiciary Committee version of the bill instead? Why not honor the wisdom of his colleagues on this matter? Why honor a Democratic hold? Telecom amnesty is the wrong thing to do, and the politics are bad as well. Won't the Democratic leadership please take a stand?

How can any responsible lawmaker say, "We don't even know what was done, but we're sure it was okay anyway"...? Why not at least find out what was done first? The recent Iran NIE is simply the latest reminder that "just trust us" is not the way to deal with the Bush administration. Abandoning oversight and bypassing investigation into this essential matter is also a dereliction of duty.

Senator Dodd, please never doubt that what you're doing is important, and know that it's very much appreciated. Public polls, the law, morality and basic common sense are all on your side. I hope more of your colleagues join it as well. We'll do our best to make sure that happens. Thank you once again.

(And Bruce, what Nicole said.)

Dear Senator Dodd,

I want to thank you for your efforts in opposing the FISA/telecom immunity measure that is pending in the Senate. The lasting damage to this nation's civil liberties, which lie at the core of our democracy, will be incalculable in my view if this bill passes and becomes the law of the land.

As an attorney in private practice for 17 years, I have watched with dismay as the Bush Administration has heedlessly and unnecessarily compromised our Fourth Amendment rights to be safe from unreasonable search in the name of national security. While I agree that it is in our national interest to be vigilant against future terrorist attacks, and to take appropriate investigatory measures to detect and prevent those attacks from occurring, I am concerned that the current approach of this Administration and its supporters in Congress to employ measures that effectively amount to quite literally spying on our own citizenry has all too willingly surrendered that which terrorist groups like Al Queda reportedly seek most to undermine -- our liberty.

While to some it may seem a regrettable but necessary step to compromise this country's hard-won Constitutional freedoms in order to protect ourselves against an unseen enemy, the bargain, I fear, is a Faustian one and could lay the groundwork for future administrations to unravel those freedoms altogether. In the event of a future crisis, who is to say that the tools that are now being claimed as necessary in the so-called war against terror could not be used by those in a position of power to gain political advantage or even worse?

The telecommunications immunity measure likewise would do great harm to nation's system of protecting our civil liberties by creating, in effect, a safe harbor for corporate involvement in governmental abuses of power. To place beyond the reach of our civil justice system the conduct of those telecommunications companies who knowingly participated in the disclosure of information about their customers, and over which those customers clearly had a reasonable expectation of privacy, is foolhardy and smacks of collusion to an extent repugnant in any democratic society.

Let us not sacrifice on the alter of fear and suspicion of one another the very foundation of this country's astoundingly successful experiment in self-government. Yes, we must be vigilant against those who would seek to attack us, but we must also be vigilant of protecting our own identity as a people governed by laws, not by men who are prone to the many weaknesses that history has taught us come with unbridled power.

Please continue in your efforts to oppose this legislation.

Respectfully,
Steven Humphreys
New Jersey

War and Peace, Its long and has a message. Hopefully Cheney will leave the building screaming in the middle of it.

Also he could read the transcript of the Nuremberg trials.

Dodd should read Orwell's 1984 from the Senate floor. Expose the template of Bush's vision-thing for destroying the US.

Nearly 1,300 words into Sunday's New York Times article revealing new details of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, the lawyer for an AT&T engineer alleges that "within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

In a New Jersey federal court case, the engineer claims that AT&T sought to create a phone center that would give the NSA access to "all the global phone and e-mail traffic that ran through" a New Jersey network hub.

The former AT&T employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Times said he took part in several discussions with agency officials about the plan.

"The officials, he said, discussed ways to duplicate the Bedminster system in Maryland so the agency “could listen in” with unfettered access to communications that it believed had intelligence value and store them for later review," Times reporters Eric Lichtblau, James Risen and Scott Shane wrote. "There was no discussion of limiting the monitoring to international communications, he said."

“At some point,” he told the paper, “I started feeling something isn’t right.”

"Two other AT&T employees who worked on the proposal discounted his claims, saying in interviews that the project had simply sought to improve the N.S.A.’s internal communications systems and was never designed to allow the agency access to outside communications."

AT&T's spokesman said they didn't comment on national security matters, as did a spokesman for Qwest, which was also approached but apparently rebuffed the plan. The lawyer for the engineer and others in the New Jersey case says AT&T's internal documents would vindicate his clients.

“What he saw,” Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told the Times, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/washington/16nsa.html?ei=5065&en=03d7b...

Dear Senator Dodd,
Thank you for taking the lead in this fight to keep me, my family and my future family safe. When our Constitution is treated as irrelevant, our rule of law ignored and our elected officials place politics and greed over country, We the People are no longer safe from tyranny, despotism or autocrat rule.

This is a democratic republic where the job of the President and Congress is to protect our country and all its people, not just the rich or the "connected," all the people. The government providing protection for the telecoms is like the mob providing protection for the people who help further their crimes.

If I could stand next to you and help you filibuster I would, proudly. You, sir, are what this country once believed in, and for the sake of our future what we must believe in again.

Thank you for your bravery, courage and love of this country,

Faxed Senator Dodd my letter just now.

Thank you for standing up for us, Sen. Dodd!

Joe Lieberman is gonna announce his support for John McCain as president today in New Hampshire.

after the reading the Constitution, reading the complete transcripts of all of Keith Olberman's "special Comments" should be interesting and informative, and after those gems, a reading of select pieces from Jon Stewart's, 'Daily Show' should add information with humor to keep the attention all in attendance, of course he'll need a hand held "bleeper" to mask some of the words used. Then after that, reading the names of all the Republican party office holders that have been arrested or indicted along with the crimes they been accused of would fill the next few hours. Then the names of those wounded and killed in Iraq.

I sent mine yesterday on the first post. I basically told him that in a nation of laws it is critical that we hold everyone to the same standard and not just turn a blind eye when it's a telecom company that's "just obeying orders", there were certainly some companies who knew better and did not give in to the pressure coming from a corrupt White House, the ones who did give in should be held to account, as well as the criminals in our government who ordered this surveillance.

Mr. XXXX @ 28:

Joe Lieberman is gonna announce his support for John McCain as president today in New Hampshire.

And to think he thought himself good enough for the Dem. V.P. candidate.

"Turncoat Joe" so shall he be known for the various colors he dawns to suit his mood.

I'm personally waiting to know what Congress defines as a High Crime and Misdemenor. Does Pelosi's obstruction of Justice count, too?

.

The senate just shot down Dodd's filibuster. Voted for Cloture.

Clearly we have to do this ourselves.

Dear Senator Dodd, Dear Senators;

I am glad, I am privileged to add my one voice to the choir of thousands who support this filibuster. I am disheartened that America has come to this that We the People must fight more than 200 years later for what our founding fathers so clearly established for the people. Certain rights and expectations come with your office, dear Senators. You must protect our liberties. You are duty and honor bound to protect our liberties. You must not legislate away accountability for those who tread on our liberties and mock the Constitution and laws that make our nation great.

I note with distressing irony this filibuster corresponds with the sale of the Magna Carta at Sotheby's. This document began to forge a seemingly inherent notion into a grand reality: No man, no woman, no king, no legislator is above the law. The Constitution made this idea a reality for Americans. No company, being so much less than an individual human life, is above the law either. Gentlemen, Gentlewomen, will you sell out and sacrifice the birthright of the American People? Will you? Has patriotism become so jaded in the atmosphere of fear-mongering that loyalty to the 4th Amendment is cast aside?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures remains paramount to the American people. Why would the Senate violate the trust of the American people with a bill that places Telcomm companies above the law? These companies have done nothing that should put them outside the parameters of legal accountability. Are they greater than a single life or a single liberty? Are they greater than the creation of the 4th Amendment? The American standard was sealed more than 200 years ago. It should not, must not, be violated.

We the People, and our children, expect you to uphold the ideas and laws we cherish, not to dismantle them, not to mock or invalidate them. We elect you to uphold our ideas and laws. We elect you to legislate in a manner that preserves the virtue imbued in our Constitution. We expect you to honor the heritage that makes an American. This is your contract with We the People; this is your promise and your covenant made with our votes. You exercise your power at the pleasure of the American people. If you choose to violate our trust and unmake our most sacred traditions, we will nullify our covenant with you. You will lose the power we gave you at the polls.

Here in the year 2007, we are in the throes of a soulful, intellectual, and heartfelt revolution. I say Revolution because revolution implies a victory. We Americans do not trade off freedom for security. Frightened by September 11, 2001, we experienced the temptation of valuing safety more. That is done. We live free or die. That makes us American. That is how we press forward. We live free or we die. We are far too fierce in spirit to live any other way. No man, no woman, no senator, no President or Vice-President fancying himself a king, can make an American live any other way. We know our laws, our traditions, and heritage. We embrace our Constitution. We seek justice if a person or government official or a company acts outside of the law, places himself, itself outside the law.

Senators, honor the people, the tradition of our American justice system, and your office all at once by rejecting a bill that provides immunity to those who may have so completely violated our nation and its ideals.

I write you from one little corner of America. My home in Alabama. My children will come home from school soon, and we'll tell each other what we did this day. I'll tell them I wrote to you and why. Their identities as Americans will be reaffirmed. I hope you will not disappoint us, but know we will be paying attention.

Respectfully,

Melissa King

Senator Dodd,

Thank you for remembering and reminding the Senate what the United States is all about. Since we became a 'Homeland' in 2002, the country of my birth seems to be disappearing a little at a time. As I have written to Sen. Reid more than once, if no crime was committed, no immunity is required. If a crime was committed and immunity is granted, we send a horrible message to the world, and especially to our children. How does one reinforce values of honesty and responsibility when the top levels of business and government refuse to acknowledge their mis-deeds.

Please feel free to read this as part of your filibuster. And give a shout out to Sen. Wyden from an Oregonian.

My letter to Senator Dodd:

Dear Senator Dodd,

At last! One of our elected Democratic Senators has come forward to pay more than lip service to the assault on our Constitution and civil liberties. There is a point where bi-partisanship and compromise must become secondary to the exercise of good legislation. The SIC version of the FISA bill further erodes the guarantees of civil liberties provided by our Constitution by, in effect, granting amnesty to those large Corporations, who rather than challenging potentially illegal directives, simply rolled aver and went along with the program. While it may appear to be patriotic to acquiesce without question to our government’s demands, and while it may appear to be politically expedient for the Democratic Party not to rock the boat prior to elections by allowing this bill to come to the floor for debate, it can only encourage further assaults and continued deterioration of our Constitutional rights given the appalling precedent it will set. We elected a Democratic majority to Congress in 2006 in order to get this Country back on a progressive course. While there have been some small victories, I for one feel that the Party, and especially its Congressional leadership, has let me down. If the Democratic Party allows this bill to pass I will consider it the ultimate act of political cowardice. May your filibuster provide the incentive needed to open the minds of the majority to the proper course of action. You have earned my admiration and vote.

Kennedy's never need to bone up on the Constitution, they breath it. He even used woprds I sent him in a letter for his speech against Mukasey.

If they let the telecom industry off the hook, then they must also allow any customers of these companies to terminate their contracts with these companies without being charged the early disconnect fee.

I suggest this: if the founding fathers were able to come to this point in time, they would be in the streets leading a violent revolution against the government that has been absconded by greedy thugs and large corporation pirates. Bush is a fool if he thinks history will give him respite.

crazytown @ 357:

The senate just shot down Dodd's filibuster. Voted for Cloture.

Clearly we have to do this ourselves.

Wait? Are you talking about the original 76-10 vote or did the filibuster itself just get shot down? This parliamentary stuff is confusing to me.

TimV @ 370:

crazytown @ 357:

The senate just shot down Dodd's filibuster. Voted for Cloture.

Clearly we have to do this ourselves.

Wait? Are you talking about the original 76-10 vote or did the filibuster itself just get shot down? This parliamentary stuff is confusing to me.

There's a great procedural flowchart at Daily Kos. So far I haven't been able to get the link to work but it's worth checking out.

Senator Wyden just made a hell of a speech. He was privileged to read the documents pertaining to how the administration justified these wiretaps. He said the senators would be amazed at how "flimsy" the legal justification was.

The problem with all these fine speeches is that the entire senate is not there listening to them. They should be as concerned as we all are and make an effort to hear both sides of this argument.

Oh please, not McConnell. They really do believe in torture.

I think it's time to rename Washington DC to "Crazytown, DC".

C'mon...let's be honest. In a fair debate...the GOP is totally unarmed. There is no gray matter there at all.

They're still spewin' the same slogans from two years ago.

At least the Dem Senators are capable of independent thought.

Dear Senator Dodd
Thank you for standing up for the Constitution.
Sincerely,
Michael Strasser
Ambridge, PA
15003

I think the Democratic leadership should really punish the Republicans.

CANCEL THE CHRISTMAS VACATION!!!

"Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping."

it looks like it paid off. rockefeller sells out the country for cheap. cheap democratic whore.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/washington/23nsa.html

Is anyone else watching CSPAN 2? If Dodd doesn't tone it down a bit, when he gets to the filibuster he will have already lost his voice.

and hillary clinton...

"The telecommunications industry is a case in point. Despite Clinton’s recent championing of Net Neutrality – a policy that would bar companies like Comcast and Verizon from controlling the speed at which various kinds of data is delivered from the Internet – the sector continues to pour more money into her campaign than that of any other political candidate."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Despite_Claims_of_Focus_on_Senate_1002...

Mindfire13 @ 2:

Impeachment is too good for them.

We need to roto rooter the CFR and the other masters of the universe types out. I'm not suggesting violence but perhaps we could have honest elections.

Smgumby @ 35:

What else can we do?

Call Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and ask them why the hell they are still in the midwest! It is time to get themselves to D.C. and support our constitution!

Barack is not a bad guy but he is basically backed by the Chicago machine. Patrick Fitzgerald is currently ramping up efforts to root out corruption in the windy city that will lead to Mr. Obama. It will be mostly guilt by association . . . an unfortunate by product of "playing the game".

I also like the idea of reading significant passages from Orwell's 1984. He could also throw in some stuff about torture, you know just some reminders as to why we don't do it and why it doesn't work. Goodness, there's just so much. This fillibustering is such a great way to enlighten and educate. They should look at is a an opportunity. It provides a great platform for airing grievances.

Dear Senators,
I was at a good friends house last night and he showed me an article titled: Magna Carta Copy may auction for over million dollars. I had heard of the Magna Carta but did not really know what it is so I read the article with interest. Turns out that the Magna Carta was used among other writings by our Founding Fathers to form the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Magna Carta was originally written in the early 1200s in England. The final copy was written over 85 years later. It was written by Englishmen who were fed up with the tyranny of the English Kings, in particular, starting with King John and finishing with his grandson King Edward I. The Magna Carta had many valuable ideas like the right to face one's accusser, the right to a trial by ones pears, no taxation without representation, among others. The lowest grade of English nobility, the barons, made it happen. The barons insisted on the Magna Carta and the final version has the stamp of King Edward I on it. The barons had all got together and said, "I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!" It must be that despite the Magna Carta the upper royalty did not ultimately relent in their oppressive ways because by the 1600's many English were heading to America to get away from the English government. And when the English government started to oppress these people with the same vigor here in the US that they had back in England, well, we had a revolution and threw the English out on their asses! And we wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, still using the Magna Carta as a basis since it had so many good ideas in it. My friend was particularly interested in this because his great grandfather 8 generations old owned a factory that made guns to fight the British in the Revolutionary War and again in the war of 1812. Now, here we are over 200 years later and we have forgotten!! We have forgotten what our families fought so hard for those many years ago. Fought and died for! They had been fighting the oppressive royalty for 400 years, since the 1st Magna Carta, even left England and come here to find freedom. Over 100 years later they fought the Revolutionary War. Now, here we are 200 years later and we are still fighting for freedom. Here in our own country we must again fight for our Freedom from Tyrrany! We cannot ignore the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta! We must remember what it means to be an American! It may have been 200 years since we fought the British but it has only been 60 since we fought the Nazis. Please, let us not slip down any further the slippery slope toward tyrrany. Stand up! Do your duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America like the Oath says! This is your primary job and you are failing if you do not allow for the punishment of people and entities who allow the Constitution to be ignored. This is a dangerous precident to protect those who fail to protect the Constitution. Those who uphold the Constitution should be lauded, those that do not should be subject to legal sanction. Teach them a lesson! Remind them what it means to be an American.

Check out my user link . . . there is an interesting interview with a guy who knows alot about the council on foreign relations.

Senator Dodd,

In addition to heartfelt thanks from one American to another, may I say that I'm glad that you will stand by your word!

When you need some shorter works to break cadence and keep interest alive, I suggest some poetry. Words tend to stick in memory when they have meter or alliteration as supports, and these are powerful words, applying fully to our government today. Here are snippets, and links to the full poems for you.

Time will not treat this era well. To be destroyed from without is disgrace enough, but for a government to crumple-up from fear and cowardice and destroy the country it governs? To secretly spy on its own people? To foster fear in order to gather absolute power? And then to deny even a hope of justice by pardoning criminals and extending immunity to those who profit from crime?

****************************

Auden's muse was the muse of history, so he'd be a good starting place. He was watched and interrogated as a possible spy, merely through association with friends, but nothing was ever proved except that he hated and feared the trappings of a police state and what sort of people, no longer human, could survive under the deadening of tyranny.

THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES
W.H.Auden

A plain without a feature, bare and brown,
No blade of grass, no sign of neighborhood,
Nothing to eat and nowhere to sit down,
Yet, congregated on its blankness, stood
An unintelligible multitude,
A million eyes, a million boots in line,
Without expression, waiting for a sign.

Out of the air a voice without a face
Proved by statistics that some cause was just
In tones as dry and level as the place:
No one was cheered and nothing was discussed;
Column by column in a cloud of dust
They marched away enduring a belief
Whose logic brought them, somewhere else, to grief.

...
What their foes like to do was done, their shame
Was all the worst could wish; they lost their pride
And died as men before their bodies died.

http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/99/jrieffel/poetry/auden/achilles.html
***********************

Some people forget that before the stork, there was a log.... Aesop would have known that "codex" (book) was derived from "caudex" (log), and this modern poet might also have considered massive legal codes as authoritarian as a dictatorship.

THE FROGS WHO WANTED A KING
Joseph Lauren

The frogs were living happy as could be
In a wet marsh to which they all were suited;
From every sort of trouble they were free,
And all night long they croaked, and honked, and hooted.
But one fine day a bull-frog said, “The thing
We never had and must have is a king!”

So all the frogs immediately prayed;
“Great Jove,” they chorused from their swampy border,
“Send us a king and he will be obeyed,
A king to bring a rule of Law and Order.”
Jove heard and chuckled. That night in the bog
There fell a long and most impressive Log.
...

http://holyjoe.org/poetry/lauren.htm
************************************

Piet Hein invented a pithy form called Grooks while his native Denmark was under Nazi occupation. Insight doesn't have to be long-winded. Here are two:

MAJORITY RULE
Piet Hein

His party was the Brotherhood of Brothers,
and there were more of them than of the others.
That is, they constituted that minority
which formed the greater part of the majority.
Within the party, he was of the faction
that was supported by the greater fraction.
And in each group, within each group, he sought
the group that could command the most support.
The final group had finally elected
a triumvirate whom they all respected.
Now, of these three, two had final word,
because the two could overrule the third.
One of these two was relatively weak,
so one alone stood at the final peak.
He was: THE GREATER NUMBER of the pair
which formed the most part of the three that were
elected by the most of those whose boast
it was to represent the most of the most
of most of most of the entire state --
or of the most of it at any rate.
He never gave himself a moment's slumber
but sought the welfare of the greater number.
And all people, everywhere they went,
knew to their cost exactly what it meant
to be dictated to by the majority.
But that meant nothing, -- they were the minority.

DEFENCE WANTED

In International
Consequences
the players must reckon
to reap what they've sown.
We have a defence
against other defences,
but what's to defend us
against our own?

http://www.chat.carleton.ca/~tcstewar/grooks/grooks.html
****************************************

THE HAND THAT SIGNED THE PAPER
by Dylan Thomas

The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.

The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder,
The finger joints are cramped with chalk;
A goose’s quill has put an end to murder
That put an end to talk.

The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand that holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.

The five kings count the dead but do not soften
The crusted wound nor stroke the brow;
A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;
Hands have no tears to flow.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178635
***********************************

what does Senator Dodd need from us? let's offer the kind of help he requires to do this. That may mean forcing other senators to filibuster or we will have begun the institutionalized spying on every aspect of our lives.
do you want this as a result of a deal between cheney and oil companies and countries? gotta keep us third world little shits down or they can't work their plan to move the world bank to the UAE.

what a disgusting thing seeing the senators vote to help treason. I will never trust one that voted for it again. They have voted their hatred of our country and directly violated the oath of office. what more do you need?

thanks to those of you senators that did vote to protect the people. All 10 of you.

oldtree @ 392:

what does Senator Dodd need from us? let's offer the kind of help he requires to do this. That may mean forcing other senators to filibuster or we will have begun the institutionalized spying on every aspect of our lives.
do you want this as a result of a deal between cheney and oil companies and countries? gotta keep us third world little shits down or they can't work their plan to move the world bank to the UAE.

what a disgusting thing seeing the senators vote to help treason. I will never trust one that voted for it again. They have voted their hatred of our country and directly violated the oath of office. what more do you need?

thanks to those of you senators that did vote to protect the people. All 10 of you.

Start calling ALL the Senators offices. GOP and DEM. ALL OF THEM. While this is happening. Let them know the country is watching...and GIVES A SHIT.

Telephone Utilities:
Top 20 Recipients

1 McCain, John (R) $176,800

2 Clinton, Hillary (D) $106,300

3 Obama, Barack (D) $87,236

4 Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) $47,450

5 Rockefeller, Jay (D-WV) $44,500

6 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R) $38,150

7 Pryor, Mark (D-AR) $25,450

8 Romney, Mitt (R) $25,200

9 Terry, Lee (R-NE) $24,500

10 Stevens, Ted (R-AK) $23,900

11 Pickering, Charles "Chip" Jr (R-MS) $22,500

12 Thompson, Fred (R) $21,950

13 Baucus, Max (D-MT) $21,000

14 Durbin, Dick (D-IL) $20,350

15 Edwards, John (D) $18,761

16 McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $16,250

16 Boehner, John (R-OH) $16,250

16 Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $16,250

19 Dingell, John D (D-MI) $16,000

20 Paul, Ron (R) $15,102

http://opensecrets.org/industries/recips.asp?Ind=B08&Cycle=2008&recipdet...

Samson- @ 396:

Telephone Utilities:
Top 20 Recipients

1 McCain, John (R) $176,800

2 Clinton, Hillary (D) $106,300

3 Obama, Barack (D) $87,236

4 Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) $47,450

5 Rockefeller, Jay (D-WV) $44,500

6 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R) $38,150

7 Pryor, Mark (D-AR) $25,450

8 Romney, Mitt (R) $25,200

9 Terry, Lee (R-NE) $24,500

10 Stevens, Ted (R-AK) $23,900

11 Pickering, Charles "Chip" Jr (R-MS) $22,500

12 Thompson, Fred (R) $21,950

13 Baucus, Max (D-MT) $21,000

14 Durbin, Dick (D-IL) $20,350

15 Edwards, John (D) $18,761

16 McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $16,250

16 Boehner, John (R-OH) $16,250

16 Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $16,250

19 Dingell, John D (D-MI) $16,000

20 Paul, Ron (R) $15,102

http://opensecrets.org/industries/recips.asp?Ind=B08&Cycle=2008&recipdetail=A&Mem=N&sortorder=U

oops, i forgot to add that those stats are for the 2008 election cycle...

get corporate/industry money out COMPLETELY of government, or our dying democracy is unsalvageable. overturn santa clara county. stop the govt-corporate revolving door.

[Off topic]

Hatch thinks way more of himself than anyone else does. When he opens his mouth with his Mr Superior attitude, you know some bush butt kissing is going to begin.

Dear Senator Dodd,

I am embarrassed for my country and embarrassed for you, that you have to filibuster to prevent the inclusion of retroactive telecom immunity for carriers who knowingly broke the law in the FISA Bill.

Please continue to stand strong until all of us can vote against the politicians who want to reward criminals who co-conspired with a criminal administration to violate FISA restrictions. If there are no consequences for illegal actions, we are headed for the end.

Thanks,

Spencer

We desperately need a new thread just for commenting on what's happening on the Senate floor. This one is getting so long.

Margaret Vathis @ 179:

Following is a small quote from the wonderful play and movie "A Man For All Seasons":

More: And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the law!

Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's laws, not God's - and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

This is an extremely important issue: the granting or immunity provisions to the telecom companies retroactively for surveillance of communications of US citizens. We must not surrender even more of our civil liberties. We need to follow the constitution, the bill of rights and the rule of law. So much has been lost through the Bush administration. We must begin to put a stop to this.
Margaret Vathis

this quote was put up earlier by a friend of mine. Im watching Senator Dodd and at 330 est he used this quote. I want to congratulate Margaret for getting to Senator Dodd. This is how American Should Work.

It would be great if someone would post a video of things that Dodd uses from the blogs. My friend is going to be so excited when she finds out.

Hatch is now showing a chart that corporations are citizens just like you and me. Lie. Their citizenship is special, they have a thousand times the representation and none of the responsiblity.

I'd reluctantly agree to immunity from civil actions if and only if everyone responsible for violating the privacy of US citizens serves time in jail.

I don't watch C-Span that often, but this debate has been fascinating. It's as if all we got in the senate is Dodd and Teddy at this point. So many so-called "dems" fighting for the phone companies. This has been one of the saddest days I have ever seen in politics. Reid completely sold us right down the river. All the hope we had over a democratic senate is dead now. Pelosi, in the house, and Reid, in the senate - good riddances. I hope someone either challenges there authority soon, they step down or the democrats loose in the next election. Damn it, look at what is happening. You've got Dodd forced to filibuster against THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP!

Cantor de Mambo @ 411:

I'd reluctantly agree to immunity from civil actions if and only if everyone responsible for violating the privacy of US citizens serves time in jail.

Paris Hilton time or significant time?

Is anyone else having this problem. For some reason the comments page doesn't remember my info like name, email, and website. I have to type these in each time I comment. Is this happening to anyone else. I didn't clean out my cookies or do anything today to my computer.

There is also Animal Farm, which has plenty of illustrations on how language can be made meaningless by politicians. When the law of the land is perverted the way this FISA law has been by this administration, language loses its utility.

"Some pigs are more equal than other pigs"--perhaps a commentary on the utlities' being above the law?

Thank you Senator Dodd!!!
I am an expat living in Japan. I would like my beautiful country to still be a democracy when I return. Please keep fighting for our democracy! If all of Congress had your courage America would be in much better shape. Maybe you can read transcripts of Japanese Prime Minister Tojo's war crimes trial. Tojo's crimes and his arguments in his defense might sound familiar.

After reading Orwell, Dodd should read The Patriot Act aloud. It would be the first time most people had heard a word of it - including congress. Then Dodd should spend the rest of the evening comparing and contrasting the two.

He should read "A People's History of the United States, 1492-Present" by Prof. Howard Zinn.

He might learn something, the others might learn something, and hopefully it would go into the Federal Register or official record.

After that, maybe "Mastering the Art of French (Freedom?) Cooking" by Julia Child.

Senator Dodd,

Amnesty is the institutionalized version of Forgiveness.

Forgiveness is only possible when the individual seeking that forgiveness clearly identifies the particular offenses which needs to be forgiven.

This has not been done by those seeking this amnesty.

The individual seeking Forgiveness must also acknowledge the specific hurt and pain their transgressions have caused.

This has been studiously avoided by the Telcoms seeking amnesty.

The individual seeking Forgiveness must make an apology and make restitution when possible.

None has been forthcoming from the amnesty seekers.

No. What the Telcoms seek is not forgiveness but the legal equivalents of risk management and risk minimization. Their concern is for their legal and financial liability.

In league with Administration official, these corporations have trampled the Rule of Law and the civil rights of an unknown mass of American citizens.

For the Senate to grant these companies immunity without informing the American citizenry of the specific wrongdoing which has been committed against the public will make the Senate complicit in their wrongdoing and contempt for the American electorate.

"Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever." --Lord Chesterfield

The people of the United States will not soon forget the contempt this measure, S. 2248 shows for their Constitutional civil rights.

A list of 35 Questions that must be asked about the Iraq War! This is an excellent opportunity to ask the questions that must be answered!

Our representatives do not exist in a vacuum. They are born by loving parents into a happy family and raised through many years of school into adulthood. They find love, friendship, and overcome adversity. And through decades of hard work, they find themselves doing what they love most: helping to represent their fellow man.

This is how government should work. A collection of the best and brightest in our nation working for the best interests of the common man because their hearts and their minds compel them to. I must ask you; how does spying on the citizenry of the United States, a nation whose founding principle is a government that trusts in doing the will of its people, help the people? How is spying on everyone in line with the fundamental principle of "innocent until proven guilty"? Since when did the government decide its citizens are an untrustworthy liability instead of the greatest asset this nation has to offer?

One may argue that this infrastructure only actively spies on questionable content. But one must consider that this infrastructure is created and maintained by men who may be of questionable moral stature. What is the security analyst wants to see what his ex-girlfriend Jane Smith is saying? Is she talking about him? What about her family? Surely it can't hurt to see if she's talking about him, right? Wrong. I highly recommend the film "The Lives of Others", a film about an East-German intelligence officer who decides to intervene and the irreparable damage it causes.

Telecoms want immunity for a simple reason; THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID WAS WRONG AND THEY KNOW THEY WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. The idea that a crime can be committed knowingly against an entire nation and the government will make sure that the criminal is protected from being held to account by the victim goes against every sense of fair play and justice anyone can have. How did this happen? How can a 7-year reign of an imperial president who believes himself to be above all laws, above all checks and balances, and above the people who (unfortunately) elected him into office, how can this tinpot president and those who mindlessly follow him due to either blind admiration or fear allow this to occur? They don't have to. That is why the democratic party was elected in such sweeping numbers in 2006. It wasn't to continue giving the administration whatever it asks for. It wasn't to continue the downward spiral of cronyism and big business cowtowing. It was TO GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT. We want out of this war of imperialism where our soldiers and innocents are dying in a war that is accomplishing nothing. We want accountability for the actions of traitors in this government who feel loyalty trumps responsibility to the public. We want freedom from the noose of corporate control. We want to stop the snowball poisoning of this planet before it is too late. But perhaps most fundamentally, we want our government to listen to us.

So hear this:

A vote for telcom immunity is a vote against the people, and when re-election time comes around, WE WILL REMEMBER YOUR BETRAYAL.

Sincerely,

Christopher L
Alpharetta, GA

This from Glenn Greenwald..

UPDATE: Chris Dodd is leaving the campaign trail in Iowa to travel to Washington tomorrow to lead an old-fashioned filibuster on the Senate floor against the telecom amnesty bill, an action necessitated by Harry Reid's reprehensible refusal to honor his "hold" and also by Reid's conniving to maximize the prospects that the Senate bill will contain both amnesty and vast new warrantless surveillance powers. Two other Senators at least -- Feingold and Kennedy -- have committed to being on the floor to enable Dodd to take periodic breaks by asking questions.

Despite issuing prior statements claiming they would support Dodd's filibuster, none of the other presidential candidates in the Senate -- Clinton, Obama or Biden -- have indicated that they will do so tomorrow.

** So there you have it. Hillary and Barack are WORTHLESS. Its perfectly fine to them to let the 4th amendment die. They both want the government to spy on you FOREVER without a warrant. This should immediately disqualify both of them for running for President.

There were over 500 comments to this thread yesterday. I challenged Hillary and Barack supporters to DEMAND their candidate join the filibuster. Not one single person responded. I want to know how they can find this even remotely acceptable?

Dear Senator Dodd,

I am very pleased that you have taken a firm stand against the FISA amnesty bill, I wish more of our elected officials had the guts and honor to stand up for what they say. That you are taking time away from the presidential campaign to honor your pledge of duty to the people who you represent in the Senate is inspiring. Sir, thank you very much.

I have been very much disturbed by the descent toward fascism we have witnessed over the past 7 years. It saddens me that my country is not being governed so much as bullied. Voices of reason and temperance are called out as unpatriotic – a vile characterization of an inherent Right as an American citizen. The taint of such a charge has silenced many voices and I find it absolutely ridiculous that our executive branch behaves so childishly. The petulant, small-minded, power grabbing must end and those responsible must be held accountable.

We were led by falsehoods into a costly war. Our free speech has been impeded. Our president speaks only with carefully screened audiences. Dissenters are arrested or otherwise removed from such gatherings. Offense is taken if criticism is offered by anyone and the remark dismissed in favor of “swift-boating” the offender. The executive branch and the crony-‘hood’ that surrounds it threaten anyone who threatens their clutch on power. Universities where students such as Monica Goodling are groomed to be obedient minions of the regime are suppressing thought. News outlets are controlled by party loyalists. Real reporting has to be gleaned from tidbits here or from overseas agencies as we are spoon-fed only approved sound bites.

I find I am often in a position of having to try to explain our country’s policies to international visitors. I cannot. There is no reason to any of it beyond the greed and cronyism of those in power. It is time to take back that power and let the balance of government swing back toward the legislative houses where the people have a more direct impact.

Sir, I applaud your filibuster. I encourage you to speak up against tyranny.

Sincerely,

Karen xxx
xx etc

[Edited-Sitemonitor]

Scarecrow over at Firedoglake on Senator Dodd's efforts
http://firedoglake.com/2007/12/17/13846/
Who Will Stand with Chris Dodd for the Constitution?
By: Scarecrow Monday December 17, 2007 5:00 am
Constitution gutted

Gutting the Constitution

Sometime today, Chris Dodd will take the floor in the US Senate and begin talking -- a filibuster -- and what he has to say touches on the most important issues facing this country. The immediate topic will be a bill to provide retroactive immunity to telecom companies who violated the law by helping the Bush Administration illegally spy on Americans. But the larger issue is whether Congress will ever hold a lawless executive branch responsible for its criminal behavior.

Senator Dodd will not be alone; a handful of Democratic Senators -- including Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy -- will be there to support him, and for those who promised to help, this is the time. They have to help him because their party's so-called leadership has failed, again, in an all too familiar pattern of ineptitude and enabling.

Dodd and friends know how important it is to stop the atrocious Intelligence Committee bill, a bill that in addition to granting the telecoms immunity, does far too little to repair the damage Congress did last August to the 4th Amendment, individual liberty and privacy when they passed the dishonestly named Protect America Act (PAA).

But these few Democrats will not be enough to stop this travesty, and the question is: who will be there to help them? They need help, our help, the media's help and the help of every Senator and Representative who still believes in the Constitution's principles of accountable government and civil liberties. Those principles have been gravely damaged by a lawless Administration and a cowardly Congress, and it is long past time to stand up to this withering, unending assault on the Constitution.

The genius of our system is the principle of accountable government through three separate but equal branches, along with Constitutional limits on government's power to invade individual liberty and privacy. These core principles are under relentless attack by this Administration. In the last week alone, the Administration told Congress, a co-equal branch in our Constitution, that neither the Justice Department nor the CIA will cooperate with Congress in its efforts to conduct lawful investigations into apparent lawbreaking. AG Mukasey's DoJ told federal courts that this Administration does not have to obey court orders to produce documents, that it does not have to comply when judges ask whether they have relevant evidence to reveal, and that if prosecutors are caught dissembling, they cannot be held accountable. The Administration refuses to honor lawful Congressional subpoenas for the appearance and testimony of executive branch witnesses; and if Congress holds such individuals in contempt -- as it should -- the Administration arrogantly refuses to enforce Congress' subpoenas. It is no surprise that the Administration's lawless conduct is spreading unchecked.

The Administration's guiding belief is that it is accountable to no one, that no other branch has the right to investigate its conduct, even when it acts against the Constitution. The Bush Administration has been concealing criminal, inept or unethical behavior from Congress and the courts, while denying the right and duty of the other two branches to hold the executive branch accountable. If the executive can act without accountability, we have a dictatorship -- there is no other word for it, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.

It's time for our media and every member of Congress to wake up and take this matter seriously. The country's founding principles are in grave danger, and saving the country demands their undivided attention to stand up against the onslaught. Nothing that is happening in Iowa or New Hamshire is nearly as important.

The leading Presidential candidates are under the illusion that the most important thing facing the country is to elect a new President next November. That can wait. The nation's laws and constitutional framework are under attack now, and by next November, further irreparable damage could be done to that framework.

The time for leadership is now, not January 2009. We need all hands on deck, starting with Senators Obama, Clinton, and Biden. You want to be our leader? Leadership begins by standing with Senator Dodd.

Senate phone numbers are here; we should focus first on the 14 Senators who promised to help Dodd. Here are their fax and phone numbers:

Name

Fax

Phone
Feingold (202) 224-2725 (202) 224-5323
Dodd (202) 224-1083 (202) 224-2823
Obama (202) 228-4260 (202) 224-2854
Sanders (202) 228-0776 (202) 224-5141
Menendez (202) 228-2197 (202) 224-4744
Biden (202) 224-0139 (202) 224-5042
Brown (202) 228-6321 (202) 224-2315
Harkin (202) 224-9369 (202) 224-3254
Cardin (202) 224-1651 (202) 224-4524
Clinton (202) 228-0282 (202) 224-4451
Akaka (202) 224-2126 (202) 224-6361
Webb (202) 228-6363 (202) 224-4024
Kennedy (202) 224-2417 (202) 224-4543
Boxer (415) 956-6701 (202) 224-3553
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58 Responses to “Who Will Stand with Chris Dodd for the Constitution?”
RevDeb December 17th, 2007 at 5:03 am
1

It’s time for the people we supposedly elected to do their jobs and be true to their oaths of office. Any takers?

Perhaps he should read the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 14th amendments, followed by the Decision in Us v US District Court

Dear Senator Dodd:

The Constitution is not a dead document. It is not a dusty scrap of parchment.
 
It is a set of principles, forged by those who put greater good above personal gain and idea of country above local benefit. The ideas of people who were deemed dangerous rabble would be today's Bush dissenters.

They placed the rule of law above the rules of men.

Today I implore you to remind your colleagues in the Senate, in the House, in the judicial branch and those who occupy the executive branch of those very ideas. Implore them to remember their oaths of office and to finally uphold them.

The United States is now only a shadow of a democracy. It is in large part a farce, having been torn asunder over the past seven years by a few men and women who spit on the Constitution, who wantonly broke laws and hid their actions, and who subverted the Constitution for their personal gain.

We the people demand a full restoration of the legacy that is ours: the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States of America.

If that is lost, then we are lost.
 
If those principles are abandoned, subverted and stolen, then the states have no reason to continue united. Every one to his own way. Every one to claw in the free market at the expense of neighbor, at the expense of ethics, at the expense of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

What you must do is to be the living line in the sand to defend and to protect the constitution against domestic enemies.

The domestic enemies include your colleagues who do not support, protect and defend each and every one of the precepts of the Constitution. They include every single elected and appointed official at every level of government who treads on our Constitution.

You stand between the Constitution and those who will do it irreparable harm.

These are perilous times indeed.

We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately.

Thank you, Senator Dodd, for hanging with we, the people.

Annie

Senator Dodd,

This is a letter of strong, no THE STRONGEST, support for the stand you are taking. I urge as many of your collegues in the Senate to stand with you. The course the country is charting is shredding the fabric of our Constitution. We are writing to let you know we stand with you and are proud and angry enough to WILLINGLY suspend my anonimity to sign on you. Thank you, one American to Another.

George Chacona
Seattle

So why is Harry Reid making Senator Dodd do a real filibuster instead of a procedural one? He doesn't do this to the Republicans.

Senator Dodd could remind the world of a couple of issues that caused The dems to take the House and Senate in a landslide:

http://www.lfchosting.com/sportsfem/peace/bloggingbitch.html

Too much to ask?

Senator Dodd: Thank you for doing your job.It seems that Politicians like you are in short supply these days.With all this admin has done to undermine Democracy,It's about time someone took a stand.This admin has run a muck and have attacked the very fabric that makes this country great.I'd like to continue with this letter but I have to go to work.......gotta pay those taxes.What your doing today is needed....in the worst way.We're talking about AMERICA...The once greatest nation on the planet....right this wrong and put the country back on track.We can still return America to it's greatness....Thank You Sir.............respectfully.......Gerad Devanny.

Senator Dodd,

Thank you, and thanks be to other senators supporting your filibuster.

This is yet another issue that extends beyond party lines.
You either believe in the Constitution, or you don't.
You either believe that the Fourth Amendment must be obeyed, or you don't.
You either understand your responsibility as a representative of the people, or you FAIL YOUR OATH OF OFFICE.

This bill would make complicit every single senator with the administration's wholesale lawlessness, and establish a principle of CORPORATE immunity for illegal actions taken on behalf of the government.

If senators aren't chilled by that consequence, then they are either not paying attention, or are far too cynical to remain in office. And those are only the most charitable readings of their motivation.

This nation is starving for representation that defends the Constitution and the principles which made America the inspiration of the world. Opposition to this bill is a patriotic act, yes, but it is also part of what we the people expect from our senators.

Thanks again, Senator Dodd.

D Gold

DODD '08

Thank you, Senator.

just open up a dictionary and start reading. filibuster complete.

Dear Senator Dodd,

Thank you standing up for our constitution and our country. I would like you to ask your fellow senators to look at themselves and ask if they are too compromised to serve with integrity anymore. If they are voting against our country and even against their own statements (Senator Graham's anti-torture statements come to mind), then it looks to the rest of us out here in the real world that they are being pressured by somebody. That pressure can only mean greed or blackmail. It is time for the American people to demand accountability and to demand that we adhere to the laws that were made by rational people--not those reacting out of fear.