Never Say Die

True to form, the MSM did not see fit to spend any time covering the backhanded repeal of the 4th Amendment that Pelosi and Hoyer engineered this week through FISA. Although I’m no longer a big fan of Olbermann, at least he saw fit to bring some credentialed analysis to the subject.

Do you think I am being too dramatic? Watch Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley on Countdown here:



The response from the left blogosphere? Among those who’ve been slugging Obama koolaid like it’s last call at their favorite bar some have been silent, others merely posted Obama’s statement without comment, and some have actually joined in trying to help the campaign peddle this shit.

Others, both true progressives and the intellectually honest, are having a fit:

Hunter at Daily Kos

Glenzilla

And the Great O finally earns a Wanker of the Day from Atrios.

What a politician. Obama now says that although he “supports the compromise” he will try to strip the immunity provisions from FISA when it hits the Senate, knowing full well how next to impossible that will be. The Senate already approved that once and there is little hope that they will allow that to happen this time. But the Magic One says we need not worry about this assault on the 4th Amendment, because when he becomes President, he will monitor it very carefully.

Please…

Far be it from me to lecture a constitutional lawyer on our system of government, but the Constitution was put in place expressly so that “we the people” do not have to depend on a benevolent dictator to safeguard our rights.

We are not done with this.

Christy at FireDogLake points out that Obama’s chief foreign policy and national security advisor saw clearly, once upon a time, what was at stake. Oh, but I guess that was before he attached himself to an ambitious and calculating politician.

Is there anything left to do? You bet your britches. I’m asking people to do several things:

First we need you to take to the phones or the fax machine. Email is too easy for us, and thus for them to ignore. But when the phones and faxes start jamming, they know it’s trouble.

Contact Feingold and Dodd and urge them to keep their filibuster promise:

Feingold – phone: 202-224-5323; fax: 202-224-2725
Dodd – phone: 202-224-2823; fax: 202-224-1083

Contact Obama and Reid and DEMAND that they remove the immunity provisions and tighten future surveillance requirements:

Obama – phone: 202-224-2854; fax: 202-228-4260
Reid: -- phone: 202-224-3542; fax: 202-224-7327

And finally, if you are from Illinois, contact Durbin and tell him to hold tight to his opposition. His support of Obama may bring him to fold on this, and that can’t happen.

Durbin – phone: 202-224-2152; fax: 202-228-0400

Finally, if progressives and Democrats are EVER to have better representation, we must make them pay when they turn their backs on issues as important as this. FireDogLake and Glenzilla have created a punishment PAC through Act Blue that has raised over $300,000 since this issue re-emerged last week.

If you are already contributing to Obama’s campaign, please divert your contribution this week and let the campaign know where and why. If you were planning to contribute but haven’t yet, don’t. Spend your money defending the Constitution yourself instead of waiting for politicians – even smooth, bright and shiny ones – to do it for you.

Take them down. Now.