UPDATE: Two Democratic Senators actually fighting against the FISA bill -- Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd -- succeeded in blocking a vote in the Senate until after the July 4 recess (the vote is now scheduled for July 8). Jesselyn Radack -- the DOJ lawyer who became the whistleblower concerning the Bush administration's treatment of John Walker Lindh -- writes here about this success. It's only a temporary reprieve, but delays of this sort can enable further opposition to build and/or allow unanticipated events to intervene.
There is a surprisingly vigorous feud among three of my favorites over the future of FISA. Glenn Greenwald and Keith Olbermann are going at it over Senator Barack Obama's unwelcome support for a bad FISA bill. Former White House Counsel John Dean is also in the middle of it. In my opinion, the disagreements are not so much over the back and forth criticisms between Greenwald and Olbermann over Obama's FISA stance, as they are about a general frustration due to the country's inability to stop the FISA bill's apparent momentum to passage. Empty Wheel weighs in with some helpful insight into this whole bizarre controversy. We all want the same things out of Congress on this matter; we just disagree on how to get there. Congress needs to exercise vigorous oversight over a law-breaking Executive. It needs to defend the Constitution. And it needs to stop caving in to the nasty tactics of Republicans.
View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.
This day in history: Constitution Convention, July 1, 1787. Washington called Rhode Island's absense from the convention "scandalous."My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics fisa domestic surveillance congress
2 comments:
When KO seemed to support the folks that accepted the so-called FISA compromise..I was aghast. I couldn't believe it.
Evidently KO got over that..and he is now calling out Obama to think it through as well..Good luck my prince..I feel we all lose at this point.
thank you for posting about this Carol..you are awesome.
FYI..I am puttig this up on Sirens ok?
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