FISA Cheers and Jeers

Here's a quote that should haunt Pelosi and Hoyer for their part in this debacle:

The proposal — particularly the immunity provision — represents a major victory for the White House after months of dispute. "I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get," said Senator Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican who led the negotiations.

Jeers to Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and 105 Democratic representatives, including Nancy Boyda, Mike Arcuri, and Tim Mahoney, all of whom I lauded on these pages in the past week for their previous principled stances in support of the Constitution.

On the other hand, cheers to you, all the people here at Daily Kos and throughout the blogosphere who made this vote difficult for them. Your efforts--phone calling, faxing, e-mailing and face-to-face meetings made this fight last as long as it has. You raised hell with our Democratic Congress, and as a result, we've got a clear list of who is going to stand with us and with the Constitution going forward. That's valuable information.

Just to solidify what our actions have meant since last August--when they snuck through the odious Protect America Act and promised to come back with more, with telco amnesty--here's George Washington law professor Jonathon Turley on last night's Countdown.

OLBERMANN:  Have the Democrats blinked or Mr. Feingold and Mr. Leahy are going to kill this in the Senate?

TURLEY:  Well, this is more like a one-man staring contest. I mean, the Democrats never really were engaged in this. In fact, they repeatedly tried to cave in to the White House, only be stopped by civil libertarians and bloggers. And each time they would put it on the shelf, wait a few months, they did this before, reintroduced it with Jay Rockefeller‘s support, and then there was another great, you know, dustup and they pulled it back.

I think they‘re simply waiting to see if the public‘s interest will wane and we‘ll see that tomorrow, because this bill has, quite literally, no public value for citizens or civil liberties.  It is reverse engineering, though the type of thing that the Bush administration is famous for, and now the Democrats are doing—that is to change the law to conform to past conduct.

It‘s what any criminal would love to do.  You rob a bank, go to the legislature, and change the law to say that robbing banks is lawful.

Cheers as well to Chris Dodd who started all this, and Russ Feingold, who called this bill what it really is, capitulation. They need to know that we will have their backs if they try to fight this through procedural means (against the odds since Rockefeller almost certainly has his 60 vote majority to force this bill through) because they are doing the right thing, trying to protect the Constitution. They need to hear from us, as does the entire Senate.

Particularly, Barack Obama and Harry Reid need to be held to their promise to strip amnesty from the bill.

But for now, for tonight, let me reiterate my how proud I am of what you, and everyone in the blogosphere, have done to keep this issue at the fore. You've done your job as citizens of this great country.

Open Thread and Diary Rescue

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are ybruti, PaintyKat, ezdidit, srkp23, Bent Liberal and joyful, with Got a Grip donning the Robes of Objectivity.

Today, the first day of summer, is a busy day in history. In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States. 55 years later Queen Victoria rose to the throne. Lizzy Borden was found innocent of axing her parents to death in 1893. Detroit saw race riots on this date in 1943, while Bugsy Siegel ate hot lead in 1947. The U.S. and Soviet Union agreed to set up the "red phone" in 1963, while this day in 1967 saw Muhammad Ali convicted of dodging the draft.

But the minions of irony want to share this little pearl. On June 20th, 2003, Scott McClellan was tapped by George Bush to be his new press secretary. Today, five years later, Scott McClellan gave testimony before Congress recounting wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Bush and assorted other officials and cronies.

Good times.....

• environmentalist suggests that improper land use contributed to the terrible Midwestern Flooding. THE WATER DID IT!! (joyful)
• Leftywingnut fills us in on BushCo's continued exploitation of public land, in Why Spoil Beauty? Rocky Mnts under assault. (srkp23)
• oscarsdad writes of the latest shenanigans of the religious right in, In Louisiana, "critical thinking" = Creationism. (BentLiberal)
• Shaviv reports in Mad Science Project of the Week 14: wherein the power of the mind is misunderstood that government investigations of parapsychology have not been fruitful. (ybruti)

• GreyHawk asks, "Where is the outcry?" over those dismantling the Constitution and Declaration of Independence in Words To Live By, And For A Nation, Die By. (BentLiberal)
• mpwife, who also took an oath to defend the constitution, looks at the FISA "compromise," concluding, And I Can Only Cry. (srkp23)
• First-time diarist lennysfo dashes off First Diary: Dear Speaker Pelosi ... (BentLiberal)

• RichardG details Further evidence of torture, focusing on humiliation and the use of gendered exploitation. (srkp23)
• Maura Satchell provides an update on Zimbabwe: Danger of another Darfur? (srkp23)
• IseFire contemplates policy "expert" Robert Kagan's essay on America's military interventions and expansions, and offers his own thoughts on US Foreign Policy Idealism. (joyful)
• In Where Have All The Fathers Gone? LogicaLizE describes a beautiful father-daughter relationship interrupted by war. (ybruti)

• terjeanderson notes how inappropriate it is when a US Ambassador to Canada campaigns for McCain and confuses his diplomatic role. (joyful)
• Megatron suggests we take a close look at The End All, Be All Obama VEEP Diary. (ezdidit)

Please feel free to use this as an Open Thread and to rescue and chat about your favorite diaries of the day!

John McCain's campaign bumper stickers

What is McCain's current slogan?

An American leader for America ready to lead Americans on Day One?

In any case, whatever it is he's currently using really does suck. So let's help him out and come up with some great slogans for his campaign. And bonus points if you can fit it on a bumper sticker!