Thank you for standing up for Civil Liberties.
Thank you for leaving the campaign trail and coming to Washington to fight for our Constitution.
Thank you for representing America and Americans against those who would take away our freedom.
Thank you for being a leader, and for demonstrating the qualities that make me proud to be a Democrat.
And thank you Russ Feingold for being a consistent defender of our Civil Liberties.
Thank you Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell, Benjamin Cardin, Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin, John Kerry, Bob Menendez and Ron Wyden for voting against cloture on December 17, 2007. Your votes were the opening salvo in a long fight against those who disrespect the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
And thank you Wisconsin, California, Ohio, Washington, Maryland, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachussetts, New Jersey and Oregon for having elected those who continue to stand up for our Constitution.
Thank you Chris Dodd for refusing to give in to Harry Reid's request for unanimous consent on the 60 vote Supermajority rule. You forced the GOP to have to stage a REAL Filibuster to block amendments that strip TelCo amnesty from FISA reform. This helped topple the possibility of shoving the debate and vote through before Christmas. Turns out the GOP and the pro-amnesty Dems did not want to risk being seen as the hypocrites they are when they fight solely to protect the phone companies.
Thank you Barbara Boxer, Sheldon Whitehouse, Ted Kennedy, Ron Wyden, Ben Cardin, Bill Nelson, Russ Feingold, and Sherrod Brown for standing up and speaking during the debate on motion to proceed about the attack on Civil Liberties and the repugnance of amnesty for TelCos that violated law. And of course, thank you again Senator Dodd for shepherding the debate, for synthesizing the salient points, and for not backing down.
And even you too, Mr. Reid, thank you for listening (or at least for recognizing that carrying the Administration's water on FISA update might have consequences)- thank you for withdrawing the onerous SSCI bill from further debate until January 15, 2008. You had everything set up for this bill to be shoved down our throats; If you come back with the SJC version as the base bill on January 15, I will thank you (sincerely) again.
And thank you Glenn Greenwald, and Emptywheel, and all of the bloggers and commentators at Firedoglake for remaining interested, passionate and insightful about this issue.
And thank you Kossaks:
For supporting Chris Dodd's efforts.
For making this issue a priority.
For calling, writing, faxing, and emailing your Senators over the past few days.
For excellent tools, passionate diaries, and for following this issue more closely than anyone in traditional media.
For excellent organization and commentary in yesterday's Liveblogs.
With Chris Dodd Leading the way, we have indeed won a battle. But our work is only beginning. We must continue to apply pressure to our Senators and our Majority leader to reject the SSCI version of FISA update, to reject TelCo Amnesty, and to pass the SJC version of FISA update. We need a bill that gives our Intelligence Community the tools to fight terrorism, yet does not give our Government the unchecked power to violate our Civil Liberties, nor give amnesty to private corporations that violated the law.
Continue the Push
Contact your Senators.
Sign the Petition written By Glenn Greenwald and Firedoglake Bloggers.
Donate to Chris Dodd's efforts.
UPDATE
Chris Dodd Thanks YOU for your hard work. h/t bumblebums