The democrats have shown exactly where they stand in regards to Bush's warrantless surveillence program. They are in favor of it. Now they are expanding the spying and eavesdropping on usa citizens and handing Bush another victory without a struggle. Is this what we elected democrats to do?

link

Democrats Scrambling to Expand Eavesdropping

By JAMES RISEN
Published: August 1, 2007

WASHINGTON, July 31 — Under pressure from President Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress are scrambling to pass legislation this week to expand the government’s electronic wiretapping powers.

Democratic leaders have expressed a new willingness to work with the White House to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it easier for the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on some purely foreign telephone calls and e-mail. Such a step now requires court approval.

It would be the first change in the law since the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants became public in December 2005.

In the past few days, Mr. Bush and Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, have publicly called on Congress to make the change before its August recess, which could begin this weekend. Democrats appear to be worried that if they block such legislation, the White House will depict them as being weak on terrorism.

“We hope our Republican counterparts will work together with us to fix the problem, rather than try again to gain partisan political advantage at the expense of our national security,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said in a statement Monday night.

Some civil liberties groups oppose the proposed changes, expressing concern that there might be far-reaching consequences.

“Congress needs to take its time before it implements another piece of antiterrorism legislation it will regret, like the Patriot Act,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The Bush administration clearly has abused the FISA powers it already has and clearly wants to go back to the good old days of warrantless wiretapping and domestic spying. Congress must stop this bill in its tracks.”

Actually, the majority of Democrats voted against the bill. 41 Dems in the House showed their 'true colors' while 181 Dems opposed this illegal, immoral legislation. 9 Democrats did not vote.

16 Democratic Senators voted for the legislation, 27 against it, 6 did not vote.

The law is up for renewal in six months. We have the power to overturn this through exerting pressure on the 72 Democrats who did not oppose it, and even the Republicans in the meantime.

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41 House Dems Tremble Before the Mighty Bush
by Meteor Blades

Published at the Daily Kos

Of the 41 House Democrats who voted today to roll over on the eavesdropping amendment that the White House demanded be added to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 26 30 were Blue Dogs. The bill, Orwellianly named the Protect America Act, passed 227-183, with 181 Democrats and two Republicans opposed.

These are the Dems who ... failed us. Who failed our country.

Jason Altmire (4th Pennsylvania)
John Barrow (12th Georgia) Blue Dog
Melissa Bean (8th Illinois) Blue Dog
Dan Boren (2nd Oklahoma) Blue Dog
Leonard Boswell (3rd Iowa)
Allen Boyd (2nd Florida) Blue Dog
Christopher Carney (10th Pennsylvania) Blue Dog
Ben Chandler (6th Kentucky) Blue Dog
Rep. Jim Cooper (5th Tennessee) Blue Dog
Jim Costa (20th California) Blue Dog
Bud Cramer (5th Alabama) Blue Dog
Henry Cuellar (28th Texas)
Artur Davis (7th Alabama)
Lincoln Davis (4th Tennessee) Blue Dog
Joe Donnelly (2nd Indiana) Blue Dog
Chet Edwards (17th Texas)
Brad Ellsworth (8th Indiana) Blue Dog
Bob Etheridge (North Carolina)
Bart Gordon (6th Tennessee) Blue Dog
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (South Dakota) Blue Dog
Brian Higgins (27th New York)
Baron Hill (9th Indiana) Blue Dog
Nick Lampson (23rd Texas) Blue Dog
Daniel Lipinski (3rd Illinois)
Jim Marshall (8th Georgia) Blue Dog
Jim Matheson (2nd Utah) Blue Dog
Mike McIntyre (7th North Carolina) Blue Dog
Charlie Melancon (3rd Louisiana) Blue Dog
Harry Mitchell (5th Arizona)
Colin Peterson (7th Minnesota) Blue Dog
Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota) Blue Dog
Ciro Rodriguez (23rd Texas) Blue Dog
Mike Ross (4th Arkansas) Blue Dog
John Salazar (3rd Colorado) Blue Dog
Heath Shuler (11th North Carolina) Blue Dog
Vic Snyder (2nd Arkansas)
Zachary Space (18th Ohio) Blue Dog
John Tanner (8th Tennessee) Blue Dog
Gene Taylor (4th Mississippi) Blue Dog
Timothy Walz (1st Minnesota)
Charles A. Wilson (6th Ohio) Blue Dog

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Here is the count in the Senate of Dems who voted for the legislation (from Senate.gov):

Bayh (D-IN)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Salazar (D-CO)
Webb (D-VA)

Yeah sure, many demos voted against it but by another of those little coincidences, it still passed. That reminds me of some crooked commisioners we had locally a few years ago. There were 3 of them on a 5 member commission. When they got paid off, they tried to make it look legit by some of them voting against whatever they had been paid to pass. If one of the honest ones voted in favor, then one of the crooks could vote against it knowing it would pass anyway. They finally got caught.

I mean seriously, is this what we elected demos to do, break ranks just enough so that Bush wins? Where were the party leaders threatening dire things if the rank and file jumped ship? I didn't hear anything about it. Now we have even more power handed to Bush and his successors and if the demos hadn't helped him he wouldn't have gotten it. Vote third party from now on!

1984 was an absolute prophesy.

I believe in third parties, too, Stoney, though I have not seen a viable one in my lifetime...yet. But my problem, and maybe you can help me think this through, is how to assure that the Bush crime family and its party is swept away in 2008.

I'm thinking the Dems in the White House and with a solid majority in the Congress will certainly be more centrist, if not liberal, they always have been, being the party of FDR, Truman, JFK, etc, and this will buy the net roots and progressive movement as a whole time to build the foundation of a breakaway party. I'm convinced the time for a real, effective third party is at hand. And a third will lead to a fourth, a fifth, a sixth. Which would be fucking fantastic.

What I foresee, to show my thinking best I can, is that the Dems will come into office, and either answer our demands for universal healthcare, return to the UN, restore taxes on the rich and use that money to help the poor...or they won't. They will make excuses, tell us to wait. Not yet.

Now the country as a whole may wait, but the net roots and the progressives will not. The honeymoon will be over by the end of 2009, and by then the calls for a third party will be loud and financed.

So, I agree with you, Stoney, but we have two steps to take:

1) Get Bush out of office
2) Either push the Dems to get shit done, or walk away.

My focus right now is on getting that lunatic out of the White House. He is an ongoing danger to the entire globe. But those are my thoughts toward third parties. I don't want another cult of personality like Perot or Nader. A viable third party will represent from the local to the state to the national level. It will foster a relation with progressive media. It will be well-funded but not by Corporate America. We'll see.

Thought of you when I read this...

That is some good thinking, cen. That may well be the way we break the grip of the two headed monster that runs things. The only part I'm not on board with is the thinking that this time around we have to support the lesser of the evils. That has been the strategy every single time going back decades if not centuries.

Bush is done, he can't run again so unless he pulls off a coup and declares martial law or something, he's out in 09. If the demos change course and do something between now and the elections, I might go along with it. But this latest deal and the blank check they gave him a few months ago to continue the Iraq invasion have me convinced they are no good bums.

If the demos stop the war in sept and show they mean business, then I'll agree with your strategy. Otherwise, it's just falling for the puppet show and voting for the lesser of the evils once again. No more of that for me. I'm voting third party I don't care if they only get 1% of the vote, it's a vote for change. The more votes they get the more funding they get and the better chance they have next time. Playing along with the puppet show means third parties will never get off the ground.

A lot does depend on what happens in the fall. I'm being careful in my support, and in if/when I decide to jump ship for a third party. I know Bush is done, at least I think he is done (another 911, anyone? martial law, anyone?), but I'm not convinced the Republicans are done as a party. All their candidates for president sound just as nuts as Bush, and they wouldn't have to start with the fascist shit from scratch, they could just build on his actions.

I don't think of the Democrats as the lesser of two evils because they have some members I genuinely admire. Russ Feingold, Jim McDermott, Dennis Kucinich...the problem is that people like this are not in the leadership. They are minority voices in the majority party, so to speak.

My thinking is that the progressive base and the net roots have been furiously pushing the Dems to the left. Like shoving a sleeping hippo, but the major candidates for president have been showing some signs of fight.

But back to September. The first thing is Gen. Petraeus's report on Iraq. He has some admiration as being a counter-insurgency maven. I don't know. My simple question is: does he buck the Boss and admit that the shit has hit the fan there and is sticking? Or does he do the shuck-n-jive for more time, more resources, more blah blah blah?

The next thing has to do with the military funding. The Congress funded the Occupation through the fall. What happens next? I don't know.

In truth, it could all turn very ugly. The progressive movement is feeling betrayed again and again. What I'm hoping, what I'm praying, is that the Dems finally say NO. They have the power of the purse. They can de-fund the Occupation, and fund the withdrawal.

If they don't, and roll over, Stoney, they may, they may not, but if they do, it could be the moment that sparks a third party, then and there. I don't know if it would be the best moment or not, but you might get your wish. There are enough people who have lost enough faith that the Dems leadership taking another deep one up the ass from Bush/Cheney would be the end point.

I don't know, man. It's a month or so away. We may end up in the streets together in October Ya ready?

I'm ready.

lw

I've been ready

What I don't think we'll get is a clear signal that they have sold out. They realize that people are thinking along these lines and what they have always done in the past is to throw up a big smoke screen. If they make a bunch of speeches against the war but a few "maverick" demos break ranks once again and give Bush another victory, that is the clearest signal you are going to get. We will see if you take to the streets or tell us "lets see what they do in the spring"

Do not count on the general's report. His boss is Bush, after all. Those people are politicians first and the report will try to cover his ass and not make his boss mad.

About that list of demos who voted with the repubs for the surveillence. do you agree they need to be thrown out? Or are they the lesser of the evils still? I'd rather see an out and out repub than a repub in demo's clothing. Vote third party.