How to be on the “Far Left”, from the paper of record

According to the New York Times, an American is on the “far left” if they are angry over Obama’s support for the FISA bill.  Or, in other words, if an American is vocal about defending their civil liberties, that puts them in the fringes of politics — the outcasts wandering around...

FISA and Journalists

Chris Hedges — one of my favorite writers — has an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times about the chilling effect the new FISA law will have on journalists and their sources: This law will cripple the work of those of us who as reporters communicate regularly with people overseas, especially those in...

Profiles in Courage

Blue America has come up with a way, going beyond words, to thank the people who opposed compromising the Constitution with the rewritten FISA that became law this week. But first, here is Digby to remind us that democracy runs on the honor system. She starts out with this quote from the father of our...

Lawbreaking Is Now the Law

The Senate earlier this afternoon passed the so-called “compromise” FISA bill, 69-28. Obama voted yes; Hillary Clinton voted no. Obama and Clinton also voted yes and no, respectively, on the vote to invoke cloture (which ended debate on the legislation and allowed the Senate to vote on the bill...

Obama: National Security Trumps Accountability for Telecoms

Turns out “Change You Can Believe In” is “Business As Usual You Can Bet On“: At a presser today, Obama weighed in again on the FISA cave, and suffice it to say that what he said won’t make opponents any less unhappy about Obama’s position than they were already. Asked...

Chris Dodd Gives Hope To Constitution Advocates

I’m listening to the audio of Chris Dodd’s speech on the Senate floor last night about why immunity for telecoms is such a terrible idea. This is a take-no-prisoners speech. One of the best things Dodd does is tie together all the other constitutional crimes committed by the Bush administration,...