Well, I think Chris Dodd should have a solid shot at Majority Leader this next cycle. He's absolutely spot on right about this matter.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/24/1023/89672?detail=f

Yeah, I know it's Kos, but it's got the phone numbers to call right there!

Notice Ron Wyden is on the list of supporters too! Sweet.

Forget all the other stuff. This is a root issue. Either we honor the process, or we do not. If we don't, we are in for big trouble. Hell, we might be in big trouble, but it's just gonna take a while to really manifest.

Quest, stands alone among telcos for not engaging in an illegal act. And that's the issue right there.

The President can't just authorize an illegal act, without congress. That is for kings to do, not American Presidents.

If you've some time, make your call, please. This one matters a lot. Edit: Put another way, the law can be changed or adapted to make it legal, but such a change must be justified and defensible. That's why that check is there.

Without it then, our body of law becomes something arbitrary, meaningful to those of lesser means, not so meaningful and or binding for those of greater means. That's a violation of our core principle of equality under the law, and again that differentiates dictators and kings from American leaders.

Here's Dodd, "gettin' after it", as Ed Schultz would say --love that phrase.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Senator_Dodd_renews_call_against_Telecom_0123.html

Defending the Constitution is where it's at people. Once we marginalze an element of it, we almost never get it back. This is a big, big one!

Essentially, should this pass, Congress then is saying, what Nixon tried to say; namely, "If the President does it, it's not illegal."

It sounds like the House has passed a very different bill that doesn't give retroactive immunity to the Telco companies:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012403454. html

(it's on the 2nd page of the article.)

Andrew