...with immunity for the telcos.

He might be an ass for slipping in that micro-reporting for transaction processors, exceeding $200 per year, but he's still spot on the FISA struggle.

Post-facto legislation is a travesty of the law and our system of government. We let the President give people a pass, but we hold him accountable for his own actions, otherwise it's a free no holds barred power trip.

The founders knew better, as should we.

At the time these taps were done, it was illegal, AND we had the FISA court and it's very permissive accountability rules so that Presidents could do what they needed to do, really only leaving a public record.

If this immunity gets past, not only will we have established the idea that the ends can justify the means into our body of legal decisions --and that's a goddamed crime if I ever saw one, but we will also deny ourselves the ability to ever know what happened.

Think those Nixon tapes on a much larger scale.

The Bush administration has packed the courts illegally, destroyed evidence illegally, lied, pardoned conspirators, and other perversions of the law that we have known, established case law telling us why that's not ok.

We also have history telling us why that's not ok.

These are the battle lines. Either we are a nation of laws, or we just aren't. How can any of us sit back and give the terrorists this big of a win!

And it's a win folks, should this pass.

The one Telco that actually groked this was Qwest, and they got hammered in federal court for it! Imagine that!

We can deal with terror as Americans, or we become something different. Are you ready for that? Has anybody made the case that we are less safe following our law, particularly when it's been demonstrated that we can easily adapt the law, as needed, to handle what comes up, given we are told why?

I've not seen it and neither has Dodd, Feingold and Wyden. (YES Wyden)

FISA is in the Senate right now. Please make your calls. This matters and will define this nation for a good long time.

And you conservatives, supporting this for whatever reason, ask yourself this:

"Who would Obama tap?"

This is not a partisan thing, even though it's being framed that way. This is an American thing --a defining thing that we all have an interest in.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/25/senator-chris-dodd-constitutional-champ ion/

I know it's Crooks and Liars, but it has nice video...