I just listened to Dianne Feinstein’s floor speech on the FISA bill being debated in the Senate today.  As you may know, Sen. Reid ignored 230 years of Senate custom and Chris Dodd’s hold to proceed on FISA legislation that included immunity for those telecom companies which illegally acted to help the government spy on Americans without a warrant.  Reid pushed through the motion to proceed, which was agreed to on a 76-10 vote (Feinstein voted to proceed; Boxer voted against it).  Sen. Dodd has vowed to hold a real-deal filibuster, taking the floor and refusing to yield except for questions.  Sens. Feingold and Kennedy have agreed to help him on this, and Sen. Boxer has yielded some of her time to Sen. Dodd so that he can take the floor.

This filibuster has not begun.  And so Sen. Feinstein took the floor.  She offered two amendments to the bill and said she would have a hard time voting for the bill without the amendments’ passage.  The first amendment concerned “exclusivity.”  She’s asking that the FISA court be the exclusive authority for gathering intelligence for electronic surveillance.  That’s fine.  Her claim is that if the President’s program was always under FISA , we wouldn’t have any of the problems we have now, because there would be judicial review.

Next, she said  “I voted for telecom immunity in the committee.  I am not inclined to vote for it without this amendment.”  She’s trying to say that immunity is actually not what it seems, and the companies are prevented from making their own defense, and that as long as they got a written statement from the Attorney General saying everything they did was OK, then we should let them off the hook.  She’s claiming that all of this happened after 9/11 when that’s not true (and Sen. Kennedy just pointed that out).  “This Administration, not the companies… made a flawed legal determination.”  Oh, these poor telecom officials.  They apparently don’t have a staff of lawyers.  “The amendment I will submit would put before the FISA court whether the telecom companies should receive immunity before the law.”  She wants an en banc panel of the FISA court to make the determination.  Once again, that would keep the entire case of domestic spying secret.  This would preserve judicial review.  Feinstein admits “I can’t say whether (the telecoms) met the iummunity provisions or not.”  So she voted for immunity when she didn’t know if the law allowed it.  Great.

This is the key point.  Feinstein’s default position is to trust the President.  As long as members of the executive branch write on a piece of paper that what the telecom companies did was legal, apparently all existing statutes should be waived.  There is a supercomputer on Folsom Street in San Francisco that is sweeping up practically every communication that goes through AT&T’s switcher.  Given all of this, Feinstein’s default is to immunize the telecoms.  When she gets pushback, she decides that a secret court should make the determination beyond public view whether or not the telecoms are liable for illegal spying.  A determination of this in public view is all that stands between this country and a surveillance state.

What do you think of the Senator’s remarks?

(also up at Daily Kos.  full disclosure: I work for Courage)

Bradley Whitford, better known to many of you as Josh Lyman on The West Wing, took time out of filming a movie in Calgary to shoot this video for the Courage Campaign on the importance of opposing retroactive immunity for telecom companies.  Go watch the video and then do as he says, call your Senators.

Telecom immunity is scheduled to be brought up this week, last I heard Thursday.  It is extremely important that all of our Senators hear from us and hold the line against retroactive immunity.

Senator Dodd has promised to filibuster any bill that lets the phone companies off the hook for passing on our private information to the government without a warrant.  But we need 41 votes to sustain the filibuster and we need your help to get us there.

Here are Senator Feinstein’s phone numbers.  Report back on your call here.

202-224-3841 (Washington, DC)

310-914-7300 (Los Angeles)

415-393-0707 (San Francisco)

619-231-9712 (San Diego)

559-485-7430 (Fresno)

Courage Campaign teamed up with CREDO Action (from Working Assets) to send a message out to all of our California members today. (email after the jump)

Dear Julia,

Remember when President Bush looked you in the eye and told you there was no such thing as a warrantless wiretap?

Turns out President Bush was wrong. But Congress has failed to hold him accountable.

Remember when pundit Joe Klein recently told four million TIME magazine readers that Democrats were granting “terrorists the same rights as Americans” by attempting to restore the previous checks and balances provided by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)?

Turns out Joe Klein was wrong. But TIME has failed to hold him accountable.

Here’s the good news. It’s not too late to hold President Bush and telecom companies accountable for wiretapping Americans without a warrant and trampling on the Constitution.

The Courage Campaign and CREDO Action (from Working Assets) are teaming up with Bradley Whitford (“Josh Lyman” on The West Wing) to spread the word from coast-to-coast before it’s too late. Brad took time out of a film shoot in Canada to record this special YouTube video for the Courage Campaign. Will you take time out today to support his call-to-action?

Click here to watch Bradley Whitford’s new YouTube video. Forward it to your friends. Then ask Senator Dianne Feinstein to support Senator Chris Dodd’s promise to filibuster any Senate bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecom companies that violated our privacy rights:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster

As Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, said in a commentary on NPR recently:

“You’d think anyone who remembered J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and Nixon’s CIA, the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 — let alone the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution — might be concerned about the government illegally snooping on Americans. But executives at the nation’s biggest telecoms didn’t blink an eye when the NSA, America’s biggest spy agency, came knocking. You want records of domestic phone calls? Sure, help yourself. Emails? Yeah, we got tons — they’re yours.

… (The telecom companies said) they were only following orders. Only following orders? What if the government told telecoms to use their technologies to spy on American bedrooms, or turn over our bank accounts, or our personal photographs, home videos, anything else we store on computers or transmit through cables or over the Internet? The “only following orders” excuse would make telecoms extensions of our spy agencies.”

Now, the telecoms and President Bush want Congress to let them off the hook by granting them amnesty for breaking the law. For violating our privacy. For spying on us. For violating our fundamental constitutional rights as Americans.

It’s time to take a stand. That’s why the Courage Campaign is teaming up with CREDO Action (from Working Assets) to broadcast Bradley Whitford’s YouTube video across America. Together, we are calling on Senator Feinstein to support Senator Dodd’s potential filibuster against retroactive immunity for telecom companies. Will you join us?

http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster

This week, a Senate Intelligence Committee bill re-authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) will likely come to the Senate floor. This bill includes amnesty for telecom companies guilty of wiretapping Americans without a warrant.

Why amnesty? As our friends at CREDO Action explain:

“(President) Bush wants retroactive amnesty for the telecom companies to thwart civil liberties lawsuits that threaten to expose his own violations of the original FISA law. If these lawsuits aren’t allowed to go forward, we may never know the extent of the Bush administration’s illegal efforts to spy on American citizens without the required warrants.”

That’s just one reason why Senator Dodd, supported by Senator Russ Feingold and other Senators, is promising a filibuster. However, it takes 40 votes to uphold a filibuster, and Dodd will need every vote he can get — including Senator Feinstein’s support. Without it, the Bush Administration and telecoms may never be forced to reveal the scandalous history behind their sordid spying.

With our Fourth Amendment privacy rights hanging in the balance, there’s no time to waste. That’s why Bradley Whitford and the Courage Campaign filmed this special YouTube video. Courage and CREDO Action (from Working Assets) would like you to watch it, forward it to your friends, and call Senator Feinstein to ask her to support Senator Dodd’s potential filibuster today:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster

Why is Senator Feinstein’s support for Senator Dodd’s filibuster so important?

It’s not just about standing strong against telecom immunity. It’s about standing strong against President Bush’s “unitary executive” theory of power. Keep in mind that Senator Feinstein’s pivotal Judiciary Committee vote made it possible for Michael Mukasey to become Attorney General, even though Mukasey supports the interpretation of executive branch power that President Bush has used to wiretap and spy — without congressional approval or judicial review.

While Senator Feinstein voted to confirm Attorney General Mukasey, she can still do the right thing on FISA, the law the Attorney General is supposed to enforce.

Does Senator Feinstein have the courage to hold the Bush Administration and telecoms accountable by supporting Senator Dodd’s potential filibuster? Watch the YouTube video from Bradley Whitford and the Courage Campaign today. Then join Courage and CREDO Action (from Working Assets) in taking action:

http://www.couragecampaign.org…

When corporate executives know government orders to spy on our phone calls and emails are illegal, they have a duty stand up for the Constitution and force the Bush Administration to obtain that information through FISA, a minimum level of judicial review. If these telecom companies fail to take responsibility, Americans need the legal option to sue them and — if these huge corporations are found guilty — force them to pay financial damages.

Otherwise, without the threat of serious financial liability, they will spy again. It’s as simple as that.

Thank you for taking action today. And a special thank you to all the Courage Campaign supporters who made Bradley Whitford’s YouTube video possible by responding to our call for financial contributions last Thursday. With your ongoing support, we can hold President Bush and the telecoms accountable.

Rick Jacobs

Chair

P.S. Last week, we asked Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, to use his political and moral capital to persuade Senator Feinstein on telecom immunity, since he said it was an issue that was “very important” to him. Even though he represents Democrats across California and may be one of the few individuals who can convince Senator Feinstein to support a filibuster, as of today, he has not responded to your calls for accountability.

While we hope Chairman Torres takes the time to call Senator Feinstein before it’s too late, we can’t wait for him to respond. It’s up to you. Take action now by calling Senator Feinstein to ask her to support Senator Dodd’s filibuster:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster

(full-disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Ok, so the attempt to censure Senator Feinstein failed, but it sure changed the conversation.  Everyone from the New York Times editorial board to Fox News chimed in.  Over 35,000 people and over 40 grassroots groups, clubs and organizations joined in.  It really hit a nerve and catalyzed a new discussion about what it means to be a Democrat.

Now it is time to do something positive and continue the conversation.

Next week the Senate will again take up the re-authorization of FISA.  Immunity for telecom companies will be a major battle within the larger re-authorization bill.  Senator Dodd has promised to put a hold and filibuster the bill to prevent the attempt to let the telecommunications companies off the hook for following Bush’s orders to break the law and spy on Americans without a warrant.  Heck, the bill as written would not even let us even look into what exactly they did and who they spied on.  Senator Feinstein has indicated that he will join this effort.  CDP Chair Art Torres said that this issue was “very important” to him and one that he discussed with Senator Feinstein.  Two Senators does not a sustainable filibuster make.  They need some friends.  We must hold the line together.

So today the Courage Campaign sent out an email to our members (available below the fold) asking people to sign on to a letter to Chairman Torres requesting that he convey the message to Senator Feinstein to stand strong in opposing retroactive immunity for telecom companies.  Will you join us?

Full text of the email that went out an hour ago.

Dear Julia,

“What does it mean to be a Democrat?”

Over 1,000 of you have sent the Courage Campaign your passionate responses to this vital question, continuing the conversation catalyzed by your grassroots movement to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her regrettable Judiciary Committee votes supporting Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Judge Leslie Southwick.

While the California Democratic Party used parliamentary procedure to prevent a discussion or vote on the censure resolution, your 35,031 signatures succeeded in fundamentally changing the conversation inside the party.

The mainstream media is also taking notice of this unique grassroots and netroots movement for accountability, as exemplified by the editorial board of the New York Times:

“The censure motion may have failed, but Feinstein’s critics say they are not going away. Rick Jacobs, the founder of the Courage Campaign, vowed that if Ms. Feinstein continues to vote the wrong way, as his group sees it, ‘we’ll be back.'”

Senator Feinstein failed us all by not standing strong against the condoning of torture, homophobia and racism. To hold her accountable, we rallied the California progressive community in support of a censure resolution authored by Mal Burnstein, Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus, and subsequently supported by 40 other Democratic Clubs and progressive organizations, including MoveOn and Progressive Democrats of America.

Now, we are concerned that Senator Feinstein will fail us all again on one of the most important issues currently facing the Senate — a likely floor vote next week on an Intelligence Committee bill re-authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This Intelligence Committee bill includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies guilty of wiretapping Americans without a warrant, a violation of our fundamental constitutional rights.

“What does it mean to be a Democrat?” As many of you wrote to us, it means standing up for the Constitution and standing strong against retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. If you agree, please click here to send a letter to California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, perhaps the only person in California capable of convincing Senator Feinstein to stand strong in opposition to retroactive telecom immunity:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/standstrong

Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Russ Feingold and several other Senators have recently said they will filibuster any legislation that contains retroactive telecom immunity.

However, to date, Senator Feinstein has failed to indicate that she will support such a courageous stand in defense of our Constitution.

Fortunately, California Democrats have a potential friend in California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres. He may not agree with us on censuring the Senator but he does agree with us on retroactive immunity for telecom companies. In a passionate speech defending Senator Feinstein at the CDP Executive Board meeting last week, the Chairman expressed his sincere opposition to censure and reported a conversation he had with the Senator about granting telecom companies retroactive immunity, indicating that it is an issue that is “very important” to him.

In the spirit of catalyzing an open dialogue about what it means to be a Democrat, the Courage Campaign would like to highlight the YouTube video of the Chairman’s speech, as posted by the California Democratic Party. Please click here to watch it and then sign our letter to Chairman Torres encouraging him to represent California Democrats in asking Senator Feinstein to stand strong in opposition to telecom immunity:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/standstrong

As Chairman Torres said in his speech, “if we don’t have transparency in our rules, if we don’t have open discussions, and if we don’t argue with each other, we’re not the Democratic Party. We’re the Republicans.”

He’s absolutely right. And that’s exactly what many of you said last week when we asked you: “What does it mean to be a Democrat?” Over 1,000 of you responded with heartfelt, passionate statements expressing your core values as Democrats, progressives and Americans, including John W., who said:

“I don’t even want to talk about what it means to be a Democrat; I want to talk about what it means to be a good American who supports the Constitution and wants our country to act with integrity…”

“What does it mean to be a Democrat?” Click here to read the rest of John’s comment as well as other eloquent statements we’ll be sending directly to Chairman Torres. Then take just a few seconds more to sign the letter to the Chairman encouraging him to represent California Democrats in asking Senator Feinstein to stand strong against immunity for telecom companies:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/standstrong

The New York Times isn’t the only media outlet taking notice of your activism in collaboration with the Courage Campaign. From the Los Angeles Daily News and Fox News to the Huffington Post and community blogs like Calitics and Daily Kos, your movement to hold the Senator accountable has fundamentally changed the conversation.

But we can’t be satisfied with just changing the conversation. We also need to change the direction of California and our country. That means standing up for core American values that keep our nation strong, starting with the Constitution itself.

Please encourage the Chairman and the Senator to stand up for our Constitution and stand strong against telecom immunity today.

Thank you for taking action to keep America free and safe.

Rick Jacobs

Chair

P.S. The Courage Campaign does more than just hold our elected representatives accountable. From working to block Blackwater’s plans to build a mercenary base on the California border to our “NoDirtyTricks.com” campaign to stop the Republicans from stealing the White House, we are fighting for you on multiple fronts.

To build a people-powered progressive California, we need to build progressive infrastructure today. Please join with us in common cause by making a contribution to the Courage Campaign, in whatever amount you can afford:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/contribute

If you didn’t already know, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out a FISA bill yesterday that does not grant immunity to telecom companies for participating in the illegal spying on Americans in George Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.  It’s convoluted, but there were basically two bills, a Title I and a Title II.  Title I had no immunity; Title II did.  Russ Feingold tried to strip immunity from Title II, but he failed, and DiFi voted for immunity.  But at the end of the day, only Title I got reported out.

This is NOT a total victory.  First of all, Harry Reid could decide to bring the Intelligence Committee’s bill, which has immunity, to the full floor.  And there will almost certainly be an amendment calling for immunity on the floor, even if an immunity-free bill is called up for vote.  So the Judiciary Committee basically punted.

But this James Risen article untangling what happened yesterday has an interesting little nugget halfway down the page.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the panel, is pushing a plan that would substitute the federal government as the defendant in the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies. That would mean that the government, not the companies, would pay damages in successful lawsuits.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said in an interview after the vote Thursday that he would support a compromise along the lines of the Specter proposal.

Mr. Whitehouse was one of two Democrats who voted against an amendment proposed by Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, that would have banned immunity for the companies. “I think there is a good solution somewhere in the middle,” Mr. Whitehouse said.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who also opposed Mr. Feingold’s measure, pleaded with Mr. Leahy to defer the immunity issue because she wants more time to consider several compromise proposals.

(I was under the impression that Herb Kohl also voted against the Feingold Amendment -ed.)

Feinstein had no need for compromise earlier in the week.  She was gung-ho for telecom immunity.  Clearly the pushback in the Senate amped up the desire for compromise, even if Specter’s is a fig leaf that would still get the telecoms off the hook while effectively stopping lawsuits through an expected invocation of state secrets.  But I have to assume that the heat Feinstein is taking from the grassroots back in California is driving her thinking as well.  If Leahy passed out immunity she would be seen as the biggest cheerleader for it – AGAIN, after Southwick and Mukasey.  It would be the last straw.  So she’s trying to get out in front and take credit for some kind of compromise that will eventually come.

So the progressive movement can take a little credit for winning this battle, as DFA did in a hyperventilating email last night.  We have not yet won the war, and there will absolutely be a floor fight and a bullshit centrist compromise to work against. 

This isn’t over.

(Also the rest of the bill is pretty good, and has things that the Bush Administration has vowed to reject, always a good thing.  But will the Congress cave?  That’s the big question.)

UPDATE: This DKos post notes that Harry Reid is going to bring up the Intelligence Committee bill as the main bill, with the Judiciary Committee bill as a substitute.  That’s the exact opposite of what he said yesterday.  This is very fluid and there’s likely to be shenanigans.

Hey all,

Congratulations! Thanks to your 2399 calls to Sen. Reid's office in the past 36 hours to hold Senator Feinstein accountable, she just voted with the rest of the Democrats for a FISA bill WITHOUT telecom immunity. There'll be a floor fight in the Senate, but tonight we celebrate our victory.

Below is the email DFA's Political Director Charles Chamberlain just sent out.

Thanks,

Ilya 

Dear DFA Member,

I don't normally send out an email at the end of the day, but something incredible just happened.

This evening, the Senate Democrats finally stood up to President Bush. And it was all because of DFA members like you.

Senate Democrats are now refusing to let Bush get away with his latest egregious abuse of power. They voted unanimously for a bill WITHOUT retroactive immunity to the major telecom companies who broke the law.

Everyone expected Dianne Feinstein to vote with the Republicans, but because of your work Senator Feinstein did the right thing and voted for the bill without retroactive immunity.

DFA stepped in. We sent a call to action, and you stepped up. With over 175 calls per hour totaling 2,399 reported calls to Senate Majority Leader Reid, DFA members across the country put the pressure on Democrats to do the right thing. And we won!

DFA stands up to Democrats who align themselves with Bush. But we can't do it without you. Contribute $15 today so we can keep the pressure on.

http://www.Democracy…

Now, because of your action, Bush's allies in his illegal war against our civil liberties will be held accountable. Because of you, the law will apply to everyone — without special exceptions for Bush's corporate buddies.

And most importantly, together, we stood up to a Democrat who too often forgets which party she belongs to. And we won!

Whether it's defeating Republicans or holding Democrats accountable, your contribution of $15 gives DFA the tools to take our country back.

http://www.Democracy…

Thank you for taking action to hold the Bush Administration accountable. Tonight we celebrate; tomorrow we get back to work.

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain
Political Director

(full disclosure: I am working for Courage Campaign.  x-posted on daily kos))

Serious question here.  Dianne Feinstein seems unreachable.  No matter how many calls, emails, petitions, letters, smoke signals (well honestly we have not tried that yet) we have sent to her there is no response.  She seems unaccountable.

Earlier this week it was Mukasey.  Tomorrow will be FISA.

It’s enough to make you throw your hands in the air and give up.  But you know what.  We have a moral obligation not to.

What I want to know is do you have an idea on how we can get through to her?  How do we hold her accountable for her actions?

Those are the questions we posed to Courage Campaign members in an email we sent out earlier today, crowdsourcing ways to hold Senator Feinstein accountable.

Dear Julia,

“You are leaving this country — and all of us — to the waterboards, symbolic and otherwise, of George W. Bush.”

That’s what MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann said to Senator Dianne Feinstein Monday night about her pivotal Judiciary Committee vote to approve Judge Michael Mukasey — the U.S. Attorney General nominee who refuses to admit that “waterboarding” is torture.

Olbermann’s “Special Comment” highlighted the heroic actions of Daniel Levin, President Bush’s former Acting Assistant Attorney General, an astonishingly patriotic man who subjected himself to waterboarding to personally determine if it was, indeed, torture — and then was fired for concluding the obvious.

As Olbermann says, instead of standing up for fundamental human rights and civil liberties that Americans used to take for granted, Dianne Feinstein is allowing George W. Bush to waterboard America and the world.

Click here to watch this amazing must-see “Special Comment” by Keith Olbermann and then take action to hold Dianne Feinstein accountable:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/feinstein

Have you had enough?

From waterboarding and wiretapping to Iraq and Iran, we’ve had enough. Enough caving. Enough capitulation. Enough Republican-lite triangulation.

Unfortunately, condoning torture is just the ugly tip of a very dangerous iceberg. Judge Mukasey also is willing to grant George W. Bush executive power carte blanche to ignore the law. And now, with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act up for review by the Judiciary Committee Thursday morning, Senator Feinstein stands at the precipice of history again.

If you care about protecting the Fourth Amendment and stopping warrantless wiretapping, call Senator Feinstein about FISA right now at 202-224-3841.

Of course, just like us, you’ve probably tried everything in your power to reach her before. Phone calls. Emails. Faxes. Petitions. Protests. Smoke signals. And nothing seems to work. It seems that Dianne Feinstein, much like George W. Bush, is walled off from the rest of us in a Fox News-warped world in which torture is acceptable and the rule of law is ignored.
So, here’s the big question: In the wake of her vote to condone torture, what will it take to get Feinstein’s attention? We need your brainpower and creativity. Can you take a few seconds to click here and send us your best ideas on how to make Dianne Feinstein accountable to Californians?:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/feinstein

As your comments come in, we’ll take direct action as soon as possible on at least one idea brainstormed by the Courage Campaign community.

What was Senator Feinstein’s spin for why she failed to stand up for core American values? “First and foremost, Michael Mukasey is not Alberto Gonzales.”

Well, Senator Feinstein, you are no Daniel Levin. Or Russ Feingold. Or even John McCain, for that matter. As Senator McCain, someone who understands the brutality of torture, has said: Waterboarding is “a horrible torture technique… How can we condone this sort of stuff?”

On some of the most important issues of our lifetime, Senator Feinstein is giving political cover to regressive politicians like Rudolph Giuliani — even though she represents a blue state. A blue state that does not support torture. Or wiretapping Americans without a warrant. Or funding an endless war in Iraq. Or giving aid and comfort to George W. Bush as he seeks to provoke a new war with Iran.

It’s time to blow up the box of political expediency — to hold blue-state “Democrats” like Feinstein accountable. Right now, you can tell us what the Courage Campaign should do — what you would do — to trigger the conscience of Senator Feinstein:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/feinstein

If you send us your thoughts right now, we will take direct action ASAP on at least one idea from our people-powered community.

In email after email, we are witnessing the deep disappointment of grassroots and netroots supporters — a rising tide of frustration with Dianne Feinstein, her actions, and her lack of accountability.

If Senator Feinstein cares about nothing else, she cares about her legacy. At this moment, whether she knows it or not, Senator Feinstein’s place in history has been soiled by a decision that she will likely later regret, if only because it is catalyzing a movement to hold her accountable.

You are at ground zero in this movement. While this people-powered project may not create the desired outcome, we won’t know unless we try something new. Something different. Something from you.

As the always eloquent Keith Olbermann says in signing off his broadcast and channeling the ghost of Edward R. Murrow,… “Good night, and good luck.”

Eden James
Managing Director

P.S. With the unprecedented support you just gave us on ActBlue, the Courage Campaign continues to build a movement to stop the Republicans from stealing the White House, block Blackwater’s base on the California border, and hold Senator Feinstein accountable.

Last week, we asked the Courage Campaign community to help us meet a mission-critical goal within one week — 1,000 “No Dirty Tricks” donors on ActBlue — a goal you blew past in less than 48 hours. And now, unbelievably, we’re at 1,243 “No Dirty Tricks” donors on ActBlue and counting.

We need to keep up the momentum. Can you help the Courage Campaign reach 1,500 donors ASAP so we can lead a grassroots and netroots-driven movement to make politics in California people-powered and progressive?

http://www.couragecampaign.org/actblue

Here is the Olberman “Special Comment”

Feel free to leave your suggestions below.

We have not had an open thread in a little while here, so here ya go.  I dunno about you, but I have had a crazy busy week and am looking forward to the weekend. 

If you have not already pushed DiFi to oppose immunity for the telecom companies in the FISA bill take action now.  Courage Campaign sent out an email to the list today, partnered with Working Assets, so join in the fun (full disclosure: I’m working for Courage).  Given the uproar over Dodd’s hold and Reid’s response, it is crucial we put pressure on her to do the right thing.

Oh and I have gotten my personal blog Ruck Pad up and running again, so feel free to link up and grab the RSS feed.  All sorts of random posts from me there, mostly stuff not California politics.  Still need too learn how to tweak the CSS though.

Bonus video below the fold.

This is José González – Down The Line.  I totally scored the other week when my bro left a  mix cd in my car.  This was on it.  I wanted to put up Loretta Lee Jones by Langhorne Slim, but no YouTube.  This is more chill, fitting for a Friday afternoon.

There is a huge fight right now to fix the FISA bill, with a new one called “The RESTORE Act” (H.R. 3773).  Two big issues: 1) Will they include language that let’s the FBI issue blanket, rather than targeted warrants? 2) Will they give immunity to the phone companies who broke the law because Bush told them too?  The bill is up in the House and the final language is a moving target.  It is the crucial time to get in touch with people who might be persuaded to ensure good language goes to the floor for a vote.

Here is the latest from the ACLU:

The bill caves in to Bush’s fear-mongering in a major way: it does NOT required the government to get an individual warrant before wiretapping Americans’ phones and emails. Instead, it allows for program or basket “warrants,” which aren’t really warrants at all. They’re the modern-day equivalent of allowing government agents to sit in our living rooms, recording our personal conversations. Only they’re more frightening, because the government now has the capacity to monitor us remotely and without our knowledge, and to save the information in a secret database forever.

One good thing is that the bill doesn’t yet include immunity for telecom companies that broke the law by handing over Americans’ private communications to the government, but we’re hearing immunity could be added back to the bill at any time.

Here are a few folks I know need to hear from you.  Give them a ring.  It is much more effective than sending email, though you can do that too.

CA-29  Adam Schiff  Schiff  2022254176
CA-14  Anna Eshoo  Eshoo  2022258104
CA-27  Brad Sherman  Sherman 2022255911
CA-28  Howard Berman  Berman  2022254695
CA-39  Linda Sanchez  Sanchez 2022256676
CA-35  Maxine Waters  Waters  2022252201
CA-01  Mike Thompson  Thompson  2022253311
CA-08  Nancy Pelosi  Pelosi  2022254965
CA-16  Zoe Lofgren  Lofgren 2022253072