August 8, 1974 v. July 9, 2008

[Fumesucker]

Almost 35 years ago, a U.S. President was forced to resign due to lawbreaking and surveillance abuses. This week, the U.S. Congress will act to cover-up and protect far worse lawbreaking.

A great Glenn Greenwald column.

Someone who is actually trying to *do* something about the FISA abomination.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/08/accountability/

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

K & R
This needs 500 recs.

[KharmaTrain]

2. The Difference...Repugnicans With A Conscience

Ahhh the memories...sitting in my apartment with some friends watching Nixon's resignation and still not believing it was real. That night in Carbondale, Illinois the party was on. People were out in the streets cheering and for a brief moment all in the world felt good.

The difference was that you had people like Barry Goldwater who had the stones to walk into the Oval Office and tell Nixon he was toast. We had Independent prosecutors who but the law above partisanship. We had a John Dean step forward to connect the dots of the cancern that was growing...and even a bipartisan investigation that brought forward the crimes so that there was no question about what was going on. No one could spin away what Nixon had done.

Glenn has done a great job on this story and I am beyond outraged to think about what is going to happen in the Senate today. It shames me that Democrats need to fear the corporate media and the beltway power elite as if trading away more civil liberties and privacy for political expediency is a worthwhile trade-off.

[electropop]

6. And Dems with a conscience.

We only have a couple of those left now. Soon they will succumb to threats of anthrax or wiretap blackmail, and we can turn out the lights on the American Experiment.

[slipslidingaway]

3. Just reading this piece...so K&R. Vote is tomorrow...

"The votes in the Senate on various amendments to the FISA "compromise" bill and to the underlying bill itself were originally scheduled for today, but have been postponed until tomorrow (Wednesday, July 9) to enable Senators to attend the funeral of Jesse Helms. Rejection of the amendments -- including the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment to strip telecom immunity from the bill -- is all but certain, and final passage of the bill (with the support of both presidential candidates) is guaranteed..."

[TexasObserver]

4. In 1974, we had more Republicans with a soul and more Democrats with a backbone.

Bush has done far worse than Nixon, and it's not close.

[babylonsister]

9. "In 1974, we had more Republicans with a soul and more Democrats with a backbone."

Great line, and so true. The times are different, and there's no comparison between the blivet and Nixon.

[TexasObserver]

11. Words cannot express my disappointment in Reid and Pelosi.

In the face of the worst president in our history, in the face of outright violations of the constitution, they did nothing.

And forget Republicans of conscience. There haven't been any.

[DearAbby]

5. K&R

[malaise]

7. Kick n/t

[longship]

8. K&R

:kick:

Go Glenn, Go!

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. k&r&pledged to contribute to Strangebedfellows on August 8th! n/t

[proReality]

12. K&R n/t

[bertman]

13. EXCELLENT. I wish we could have gotten those ads in newspapers across the country last week.