Democrat Traitors

With the Senate ONCE AGAIN failing to stand up for the rule of law today, the ball goes back to the House's court if the SSCI bill passes.

What we are facing is a crisis of leadership and character from the people we elect to be leaders.

The Republican party is more interested in protecting the Bush Presidency from scrutiny and, thus, it's own party from factually sustained criticism than standing up for the rule of law.

The Democratic party does not have enough members with stiff enough spines to withstand the GOP screechfest that would follow any factual assault on the Bush/Cheney illegal overreaches on legal and ethical grounds.

And the numbers in both the House and Senate are so close that the votes are not there without a break in those ranks among the GOP and Blue Dogs somewhere to put the rule of law first.

In short, we are stuck in some sort of heinous purgatory wherein the interests and needs of the bush administration come ahead of the pleas of Americans to stand upright against a unilateral executive power grab.

What we need are more people in Congress who put the rule of law ahead of their own political careers and their party interests. Elected leaders who are willing to stand up for what is right instead of what appears to be politically expedient in the moment.

I am asking Americans everywhere to call their member of the House. You can find contact information for the House at http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml.

Talking points are:

1. Vote NO on any spying bill with telecom immunity. Lawsuits must be allowed to proceed or we'll never know the truth about what laws were broken and how many Americans rights were violated.

2. Vote NO on any spying that allows the government to spy on Americans without getting a warrant. America doesn't need a bill that needlessly expands the President's ability to spy on innocent Americans without a warrant.

3. Don't let the Senate or bush steamroll the House of Representatives. Any bill to regulate spying on Americans must respect the Constitution and must not let phone companies off the hook for warrantless spying.