We’re seeing a real separation of those on the side of justice and those on the side of cover-ups in the FISA fallout.  On the side of justice, for example, is Patrick Leahy:

But after months of negotiations, the House today unveiled a new FISA bill that I cannot support. While I applaud the fact that this legislation includes some of the important surveillance protections we wrote into the Senate Judiciary Committee bill last year, it fails to hold the Bush-Cheney Administration accountable for its illegal wiretapping program.

I will oppose this new FISA bill when the Senate votes on it next week. We must do everything we can to protect Americans from the Bush-Cheney Administration’s erosion of our civil liberties and callous disregard for the rule of law — and this new FISA bill fails that test.

Of course, he was cut out of the decision-making on this “deal.”

On the side of cover-ups is Nancy Pelosi (over):

Tomorrow, we will be taking up the FISA bill.  As you probably know, the bill has been filed.  It is a balanced bill.  I could argue it either way, not being a lawyer, but nonetheless, I could argue it either way.  But I have to say this about it: it’s an improvement over the Senate bill and I say that as a strong statement.  The Senate bill is unacceptable.  Totally unacceptable.  This bill improves upon the Senate bill.  

But you probably know that.  What you may not know is that it’s improvement over the original FISA bill as well.  So it makes progress in the right direction.  But these bills depend on the commitment to the Constitution of the President of the United States and of his Justice Department.  So while some may have some complaints about this, that, or the other about the bill, it is about the enforcement, it is about the implementation of the law where our constitutional rights are protected.  

But I’m pleased that in Title I, there is enhancement over the existing FISA law.  Reaffirmation, I guess that’s the word I’d looking for.  A reaffirmation that FISA and Title III of the Criminal Code are the authorities under which Americans can be collected upon.  It makes an improvement over current law and the Senate bill in terms of how you can collect on Americans overseas.  

It’s an improvement over the Senate bill in terms of – the Senate wanted to say, “Okay, we will agree to exclusivity,” which is, in my view, the biggest issue in the bill, that the law is the exclusive authority and not the whim of the President of the United States.  They said, “We will agree to exclusivity, but only a narrow collection of things will fall that that category.  Under the rest, the President has inherent authority under the Constitution.”   That’s out.  That’s out, thank heavens.  

And it is again in Title II, an improvement over the Senate bill in that it empowers the District Court, not the FISA Court, to look into issues that relate to immunity.  It has a strong language in terms of an Inspector General to investigate how the law has been used, is being used, will be used.  

So that will be legislation that we take up tomorrow.  We will have a lively debate I’m sure within our caucus on this subject and in the Congress.  It has bipartisan support.

She’s out of her mind.  She says that the problem was with implementation of the bill, yet the bill lets the White House off the hook for 7 years’ worth of illegal implementation of warrantless spying.  She won’t say that the District Court will assuredly immunize the telecoms because they are empowered only to see if the President gave them a piece of paper which said “this is legal.”  She thinks exclusivity is the most important part because that’s what Feinstein told her, but if the President can hand over a piece of paper and make the illegal suddenly legal, there’s nothing exclusive about FISA.

Before Pelosi became the Minority Leader in 2003 she was the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee.  She was briefed on these activities and knew at least the colors of what was taking place, if not the details.  She’s protecting her capo Steny Hoyer and protecting herself.  This is what Nancy’s allowing to go forward:

Reports of the newest FISA compromise indicate that, on telecom immunity, a federal court would be compelled to grant the telecoms immunity if there was substantial evidence that the Bush administration assured them that the warrantless surveillance program was legal. Doesn’t that actually endorse and extend to private actors the Nixonian view that if the president says it’s legal, it’s legal, regardless of what the law says and the Constitution says? Wouldn’t that set an awful precedent that an administration could get private actors to do whatever they wanted including breaking the law?

Despite authorizing a monarchy today, Pelosi managed to swear in Rep. Donna Edwards, a real progressive that tossed out her telecom-money-besotted chum Al Wynn, and actually used the words “Do you solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States?”  

To which I would have said, “I don’t know, Madam Speaker.  Do you?”

…incidentally, we’re hearing that Sen. Obama’s staff is reviewing the FISA issue.  His staff has known what was about to happen for some time.  He can still end this tomorrow.  He can make sure this never sees the light of day in the Senate.  I know it would be terribly partisan to stand up for the rule of law and the Constitution, but it’s well within his capacity.  We’ll have that test of his conscience in the coming days.

People have a funny way of adapting.  They know that the oil companies are as far from committed to lowering gas prices as possible, so they’ll look to lower the cost of commuting rather than search for useless answers to drop gas prices like offshore drilling, which would do absolutely nothing.  The Metrolink rail system in LA isn’t perfect and doesn’t work for everyone, but people are making it work more than ever before.

Commuter rail ridership broke an all-time record this week, and Caltrans reported a dip in freeway traffic as commuters across California struggled with record gas prices.

Metrolink recorded its highest number of riders in a single day ever Tuesday – 50,232 – a 15.6% increase over the same amount of business last year on June 17. Metro Rail ridership last month shot up 6 percent over May 2007, said Dave Sotero, a Metro spokesman.

Meanwhile, Caltrans officials said today that traffic on California freeways dropped 1.5% compared with last year – or the equivalent of a billion fewer miles traveled, said spokesman Derrick Alatorre.

Just that miniscule drop is the difference between gridlock and a relatively smooth ride.  Not to mention the fact that hundreds of thousands of gallons of gas are being saved.  Between all that and not having to be constantly confronted by idiots driving while holding their cell phones, the LA commuting story is a little less bleak.

This is all happening under a BROKEN transit system.  Imagine what could happen with a little investment.

The handshakes have been made, the contribution checks have been written, and the telecom industry and corporate shill Democrats have joined forces to immunize lawbreaking and undermine the rule of law.  This time, for real.

A final deal has been reached on a rewrite of electronic surveillance rules and will be announced Thursday, two congressional aides said.

The aides said the House is likely to take up the legislation Friday….

As of Wednesday, sources said the new bill would allow a federal district court to decide whether to provide retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies being sued for their role in the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program….One source said the federal district court deciding on retroactive immunity would review whether there was “substantial evidence” the companies had received assurances from the government that the administration’s program was legal.

Absolutely absurd.  Not only does this bill still allow for mass surveillance on American citizens, but according to its provisions, if the Attorney General wrote a “get out of the Constitution free” note to its telecom partners, which we alrady know they did, then they are allowed to violate federal statutes.  The telecoms don’t have any lawyers who can provide their own analysis, apparently.  I guess all the money goes into lobbying.  This is total amnesty without any way of discovering who broke the law and when.  The entire point of telecom immunity was to shut down any investigations into spying on Americans.  Democrats are cupable for having not spoken up to stop this when they had the chance and the Hoyer-Rockefeller axis wants to just bury the bodies.

This will come up for a vote as soon as TOMORROW in the House, despite being just released today.  Your representative needs a call.  Joe Baca is a Blue Dog who supported the good FISA bill, the one without amnesty.  He in particular needs some attention.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif. — Phone: (202) 225-6161, Fax: (202) 225-8671

When this reaches the Senate, it will be another accountability moment for Dianne Feinstein.  She has tried to duck this debate repeatedly, but she can tell us by her vote where she stands – with corporate execs and lobbyists, or with the rule of law and the right to privacy.

When I first heard the reports of John McCain’s flip-flop on offshore oil exploration and consequent back-up from the President, I knew there was one person to call for comment: Debbie Cook.  In addition to being the Mayor of Huntington Beach, Cook sits on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) and is an expert on energy issues.  She just sent me this statement (on the flip):

Democratic Congressional Candidate Debbie Cook’s statement on proposals to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling:

“There has been a lot of talk in the last couple of days about lifting the ban on drilling for oil along the coast.  Dana Rohrabacher, John McCain and today President Bush have joined in a chorus of “drill, drill, drill,” as if that will solve our energy problems.

“Time is not on our side, and continuing to divert our attention away from the real problem is a disservice to our citizens and a failure of leadership.

“World oil production has been flat for three years. America’s oil refineries are configured to refine light sweet crude and are currently operating at 88% capacity and paying a premium for this short supply. There is no point for the Middle East, the only region that may have spare capacity, to increase production of heavy sour crudes until new refineries are built or existing refineries have been modified.

“Three fourths of the world’s oil and gas wells have already been drilled in North America.  Our continent is so heavily explored that it looks like swiss cheese.  Eighty percent of the oil available on the Outer Continental Shelf is already open to leasing and drilling.  Will opening the remaining 20 percent make any difference when it takes 5-10 years to bring any new oil discoveries to market?

“Perhaps we should just call the President’s bluff, sell off the leases and then get on with the real work ahead of us, leaving fossil fuels before they leave us.

“The world economy depends upon the flow of oil, not the oil that remains in the ground. The fact is, more than 50 nations are now past their peak in oil production:  Mexico, Norway, UK, USA, Russia, perhaps even Saudi Arabia to name a few. If you use ExxonMobil’s estimate for the decline rate from these existing wells (-6%), then from now until 2017, we need to find and develop 37 million barrels per day of additional crude production just to stay even with what we consume today. That assumes no growth in demand for oil. That is the equivalent of finding FOUR Saudi Arabias. Does anyone think we have overlooked resources of that size and quality?

“George Bush and Dana Rohrabacher’s failure to understand the fundamental economics and geology of oil and gas production is matched only by their failures as leaders.

“The true solution to our energy problems starts with conservation efforts, and investment in alternative and sustainable energy sources, which will create new American industries and jobs and jumpstart the sluggish economy.”

I want to add to this that oil companies have millions of acres of land with supposed oil deposits and untapped wells already under their control, but they’re not rushing to drill or explore them.  Why?  Because tracts that show up as “untapped oil reserves” are more profitable if they remain untapped.  They inflate the stock price, the result of which goes directly into the execs’ wallets.  And the corporations use them as an asset without having to actually see whether or not there is any oil in the deposits.

Bush and McCain say they want more drilling, but the oil companies don’t.  They want more untapped reserves so they can pump up their balance sheets.

In the first day A.M. (After Marriage), amazingly enough not every couple in California spontaneously divorced as a result of city clerks handing out licenses with “Party 1” and “Party 2”.  There actually are still married people out there, and now they’ve been joined by thousands of LGBT couples.  And here are some of the highlights from today:

• It seems like every couple has an accompanying news article chronicling their wedding, but I think it’s a good thing for now (though I long for the day when this is unexceptional and not a news event).  Putting a human face on what can often be an abstract discussion about legal rights seems to me to be vital.  There’s a great series of videos featuring couples in the LA area at this link.

• There are of course detractors, although most of them are staying quiet for now.  One group who isn’t is the LA Archdiocese, which posted a statement denouncing “redefining marriage, which has a unique place in God’s creation.”  Maybe this is just me, but after the events of the last decade, I don’t think the Catholic church should be making any statements about sexuality whatsoever.

• True Majority and The Human Rights Campaign are but two of the organizations delivering petitions in support of marriage equality.  I expect many more.

• In Bakersfield, where Kern County clerk Ann Barnett has halted her office from officiating all weddings, an under-the-radar recall campaign has commenced.  By the way, there’s nothing new about such actions; historian and author of “Nixonland” (which you all need to read) Rick Perlstein reminds us that this is exactly what school districts in the South did after the Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka decision, shutting down entire school systems rather than integrating them.  They called it Massive Resistance.

Of course, the people who thought like that then-here’s an excellent article on one of them, Lester Maddox-are now looked upon as history’s losers, as monsters, as embarrassments, and have no defenders. Now, every conservative claims to have always been on the opposite side of the Lester Maddoxes of the day. The people who think like this now will look just as bad to history as Maddox did then. I try to mention this every time I speak to a conservative audience: that I pity them. They should take care to stay off the record when they oppose basic human rights, because it will eventually come back to bite them on the ass.

But ultimately, I’m not worried about them (though if I were a Christian, I’d worry for their immortal souls), because, twenty years down the road, most will successfully maintain they were for marriage equality all along. Moral relativism has its advantages.

• Finally, this is the video of the day (h/t AmericaBlog)

I don’t particularly think that the House of Representatives should be making resolutions like honoring the life of Tim Russert when there is so much business to be done.  But if they’re going to do it, the least that members can do is exhibit the bare minimum level of decorum.  In other words, not do what Darrell Issa did today.

ISSA: We are going to miss Tim Russert when it comes to the people on both sides of the issue of why we have $5 oil – $5 gasoline and $135 oil. I think Tim Russert would have been just the right guy to hold people accountable, who would talk about the 68 million acres that are, quote, inactive, while in fact 41 million are under current lease and use and are producing millions of barrels of oil and natural gas a day. […]

So, Madam Speaker, I am going to miss Tim Russert because this debate is too important not to have a fact-oriented, unbiased moderator who could in fact bring to bear the truth that we need to have.

You stay classy, guy who uses a journalist’s death to pimp for oil exploration.

Robert Hamilton is Issa’s Democratic opponent this year.

UPDATE: (Bob) Congratulations Darrell Issa, you won today’s Worst Person in the World award by Keith Olbermann. It’s like a free Maserati, only it wasn’t stolen.

It’s hard to describe fully how stupid this is:

John Doolittle, the retiring congressman who is under investigation for his ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, appears likely to campaign for state Sen. Tom McClintock, the Republican nominee for Doolittle’s Roseville-area seat.

“We’re talking about doing a couple of events and we’re putting them together,” said Doolittle spokesman Dan Blankeburg. Blankeburg declined to provide any further details, adding that the two sides had only talked in what he called “conceptual terms.” […]

Stan Devereux, a spokesman for McClintock, confirmed that the campaign had set up a meeting to discuss Doolittle’s support for McClintock.

Doolittle was running 20 points behind Charlie Brown in the polls before dropping out of the race.  Southern Californian McClintock may not know the rules up in the Sierras, but political common sense dictates that this is a guy you run screaming from in the other direction, not WITH.

Looks to me like McClintock hasn’t locked down the “gimme gimme” base of Doolittle’s support, those who received political favors and giveaways from him.  Brown was undoubtedly going to tie the two together based on their shared radical ideology – apparently McClintock wants to make that easier by sharing the penchant for using government as a profit-taking machine.  Maybe Doolittle can introduce ol’ Tom to Jack Abramoff.