Sunday Funnies

Of FISA and diverticula

The BooMan with the executive summary:

Paraphrased (and disguised) from a Capitol Hill source:

1. There will be no FISA votes before recess.

2. We will have the FISA vote on Tuesday July 8th, which will feature an up or down vote on Dodd/Feingold amendment to strip out retroactive immunity.

3. Senator Dodd will be controlling the 2-hour debate time leading up to the debate on the Dodd/Feingold amendment with Senator Leahy getting 10 mins.

4. Following the votes on amendment(s) there will be another cloture vote.

5. Prior to the cloture vote, there will be up to 60 minutes for debate equally divided and controlled between the Leaders or their designees, with Senator Leahy controlling 10 minutes. Senator Feingold will control an additional 30 minutes and Senator Dodd will control an additional 15 minutes.

Between now and July 8th we must work a miracle. We have won a temporary reprieve. Now is not the time for complaining but for organizing. Suggestions?

Well, Tuesday July 8th is my 50th birthday, so my suggestion is that we all celebrate it this way:

So here's a fantastic opportunity to talk to your Senators, when they're home for the most patriotic of all holidays, about what this bill means to you as a constitutent. If they're having town meetings, please attend and bring up the bill, or try to schedule individual meetings with them.

Senator Tamaulipeca Jacket -- 202-224-2934 -- and Senator Perjury Technicality -- 202-224-5922.

In other 50-year-old news, I had my colonscopy yesterday morning, causing me to miss the TexBlogPAC event, complete with VIPs. (Had I attended I would've urged Chris Bell to run for state Senator.)

But instead I enjoyed a little Demerol -- it really relieved the lingering pain in my shoulder from the adhesive capsulitis I have been suffering from -- and looked at teevee pictures of the inside of myself. The colon (well, mine, anyway) is not gray or blue but actually orange, which is why, as part of the preparations for the event, I was instructed not to eat anything red or orange in color. It's bad enough being limited to clear broths, but green Jell-O? The grape popsicles were good though.

Because my maternal grandfather died of colon cancer, in his sixties -- he passed away three weeks before I was born, which if you've been keeping up is almost precisely fifty years ago -- it's been a good idea for people in my family to have this routine screening performed, as suggested by the medical advisors, at age 50 and at subsequent intervals thereafter as determined. Sure enough, I had one small polyp which was removed and two diverticula, which earned me a scolding about fiber in my diet. I'll call in about a week after they biopsy the polyp for results.

The most painful thing was actually the MoviPrep taken before and the bloating immediately after. The procedure itself was unremarkable.

We're good to go for the Red Sox-Astros this weekend, and the special Boston buffet being served at the ballpark. It's going to take a lot of eating to refill that 23 feet of lower intestine, after all.

Now go back and click on all those links up there, and read them each thoroughly.

Revealed: Texas' most endangered Republican

Vince:

What makes John Davis the most endangered Republican in the Texas House? It's a good question, and we've got the answer.

John Davis is out of touch with HD 129, a district that includes El Lago, Nassau Bay, Seabrook, Shoreacres, Taylor Lake Village, and Webster and parts of Friendswood, Houston, La Porte, League City, Pasadena, and Pearland -- all in Harris County.

A common misconception is that HD 129 is a "silk stocking" district full of wealthy folks. That's not true, however. While a majority of families do have an annual income of over $50,000 according to the 2000 Census (the most recent numbers broken out by House District), the population of HD-129 is more middle-class than anything else.

And Davis' voting record is pretty shoddy when it comes to the needs of middle-class families.

Davis voted for tuition deregulation. It doesn't take a genius to tell you that middle-class families have been impacted significantly by the Legislature's decision in 2003 to deregulate college tuition. It has become very difficult for middle-class families to afford to send their kids to college because tuition costs are skyrocketing. Clearly, tuition deregulation is not a middle-class value that the people of House District 129 support. Davis has even put the interests of one of his big supporters, Houston home builder Bob Perry, above middle-class students who want a college education when it came time to cast votes on the Appropriations Bill on the House floor!

He's for dirty air. Once again, it doesn't take a NAS scientist to tell you that the air quality in Harris County is lacking. Heck, even the American Journal of Epidemiology has taken note of the fact that lung cancer mortality in Harris County is high--and that isn't because more people in Harris County enjoy the occasional Marlboro, either. Yet John Davis -- time and time again -- has voted against improving the air quality in his own district. Here is some of what Davis actually has to say about this topic:

"It's much cleaner than it was 20-30 years ago. I believe we are on the right track. I don't want to choke off industry.

You can watch a YouTube of Davis actually making that statement here.

Davis also voted for raising taxes on small businesses. Even though Republicans are typically pro-business, Davis is surely no friend of small business. Even others in his own party call the tax John Davis supported an "abject failure." Taxing small businesses out of business isn't exactly a middle-class value, either.

And there is plenty more where that came from: Davis voted to disenfranchise minorities and the elderly (Voter ID), to waste taxpayer dollars on state-funded lobbyists (more than once), and even allowing the state to seize homes of Medicaid patients (HB 2922).

Does Davis share his district's values? We think not.

Davis' failure to reflect the values of his district alone, however, doesn't make him endangered. It is, rather, a variety of factors.

One of the key factors that makes Davis terribly endangered is the quality of his Democratic opponent, Sherrie Matula, and the campaign she is running down in HD 129.

Sherrie Matula is one of my favorite Texas House candidates this cycle, and you can meet her in person at tomorrow's TexBlogPAC function.

Some local events to attend this week

-- TexBlogPAC is holding another Houston soiree:

Please join host Mustafa Tameez

and sponsors:
State Representatives Ellen Cohen, Jessica Farrar, Armando Walle,
and Ana Hernandez
Democratic Candidate for U.S. Congress Michael Skelly
Democratic Candidate for State Senate Joe Jaworski
Democratic Candidates for State Representative Carol Alvarado, Sherrie Matula, Joel Redmond and John McClelland
Houston area bloggers Martha Griffin and Charles Kuffner
and many more…as we come together to take back the Texas House
Join us at a
TexBlog PAC Event

with special guest
State Representative Garnet Coleman

Thursday, June 26, 2008
5:30 to 7:30 pm
Rice Lofts, Room 203
909 Texas Avenue
$25 Contribution Suggested

Sponsorships available at the following levels:
$500 $250 $125 $50

Please make all checks payable to:
TexBlog PAC
501 E. Stassney Lane, Ste 1010, Austin TX, 78745

or contribute online by visiting:
http://actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18185

for more information, or to RSVP, call Charles Kuffner at
713-825-0013 or email: kuff at offthekuff dot com

I won't be in attendance, since I am 50 this year I happened to have scheduled my routine screening colonoscopy that same morning. Politicians, bloggers, colonoscopy... don't jump to conclusions, okay?

-- Several of the politicos above are going to have a busy evening on the 26th:

LAWRENCE V. TEXAS CELEBRATION: Join City Controller Annise Parker, City Council member Sue Lovell, and Texas Representative Garnet Coleman on Thursday, June 26, at the Lawrence v. Texas Celebration, the event hosted by the Houston GLBT Community Center marking the fifth anniversary of the 2003 Supreme Court decision in the landmark case. That historic ruling overturned anti-gay sodomy laws in the state and across the nation. When the decision was announced, Lambda Legal, the national gay-rights organization whose attorneys argued the case before the high court, called Lawrence "a legal victory so decisive that it would change the entire landscape for the LGBT community."

The Lawrence v. Texas Celebration will take place at Bering & James art gallery, 805 Rhode Place #500 (77019). The 6:30-9 p.m. event will include remarks by John Lawrence, one of the co-petitioners in case; Mitchell Katine, the attorney for Lawrence and fellow petitioner, the late Tyrone Garner; and Ben Leal of Lambda Legal.

Poet and entertainer A.C. Coleman will open the event with a poem of celebration. Representatives of Mayor Bill White and state representatives Ellen Cohen and Jessica Farrar are also scheduled to attend the event.

========================================================

From Peace Corps to Harvard Business School to Renewable Energy to…

Please join

Joaquin Altenberg, Anna Rotman, Bryan Sanchez

Marlon Castillo, Collin Cox

Seth Kretzer, Adrian Patterson

for a private reception to send

Michael Skelly

Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives
7th District of Texas to the U.S Congress

Learn firsthand about Michael’s unique experiences, successes and obstacles. Network with other young leaders in Houston’s business, legal and non-profit sectors.

Thursday, June 26, 2008
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.

At

Pub Fiction, 2303 Smith, Houston, Texas

(Open Bar and Hors d’oeuvres provided)

Sponsor $500 Host $250 Friend $50

NO REQUIRED MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION

=========================================================

Brent Coon & Associates

and

Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels & Friend

Invite you to join us for

a reception for

JUSTICE

of the 13th Court of Appeals

LINDA YANEZ

Candidate for Supreme Court of Texas, Place 8

Thursday, June 26, 2008

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Brent Coon & Associates

Houston Pillot Building

Penthouse Suite, 300 Fannin, Houston, Texas 77002

RSVP to Sherry Boyles at sherrtx@gmail.com or 512.619.4997

-- One of my favorite judicial candidates has an event downtown tonight (and you don't want to miss his events, trust me):



-- And there's also the Harris County District Attorney Democratic candidate's event this evening, with his Dallas County counterpart joining him:

Join us on Wednesday, June 25, at 6:00 p.m. in Midtown at Open City (located at 3416 Brazos) to support our good friend and former Chief of Police C. O. "Brad" Bradford for Harris County District Attorney. Brad is the most qualified and experienced candidate for Harris County District Attorney. Brad will restore honesty and integrity to the District Attorney's office by obeying the law, respecting the principle of justice and pursuing the truth.

Honorary Chairs for the event include The Honorable Chris Bell, Senator Rodney Ellis, Senator Mario Gallegos, The Honorable Ron Kirk, Senator Royce West and Senator John Whitmire. We are also pleased to have The Honorable Craig Watkins, Dallas County District Attorney, as our very special guest. Craig is the first African American District Attorney elected in the State of Texas. His outstanding work and dedication to righting the wrongs of the past and freeing innocent men from prison has earned him praise and media attention around the world. Craig was recently featured on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes."

-- On Friday the AFL-CIO is going to make a public statement about the out-of-control gasoline prices:

Harris County AFL-CIO Council
GAS HEAT
Gas Prices Out of Control
John McCain Offers More of the Same
Working Families hit hard with extreme gas prices

Almost $4 a gallon & tax cuts for Big Oil!

It just doesn’t make any sense. McCain proposes tax breaks for Big Oil while working families are trying to figure out where they will get the money to pay for their next tank of gas.

Come join us on Friday, June 27, 2008, 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Shell Plaza Building - across from City Hall – 900 Smith St.). Let’s let the public know that we need to boost the economy by investing in jobs and energy independence. We will hold signs that say, “Bush and McCain love Big Oil” and “It’s Time to Turn Around America.” We will also distribute information about “McCain Revealed” an AFL-CIO national campaign.

www.mccainrevealed.org

http://tx.aflcio.org/harriscounty/

If you like the gas prices, go on home.

If you don’t like them, join us at the rally.


Date: Friday, June 27, 2008

Time: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Place: Shell Plaza - 910 Smith St. (across from City Hall) -Houston, Texas 77002

Overnight FISA developments

-- Feingold and Dodd will filibuster, and Reid will support it. Their allies include Boxer and Wyden as well. The majority leader likewise supports their efforts to strip the bill of its retroactive immunity provision.

-- Reid has also indicated that the bill may not come up before the Independence Day recess, a very minor victory in itself:

Anyone watching C-SPAN? Senator Reid just informed his colleagues that, because of all the other bills in the queue (like the housing bill, and the Iraq supplemental), FISA may not get a vote until after the July 4 holiday recess.

This is honestly the best we can hope for with this bill. Sens. Dodd, Wyden and Feingold are ready to filibuster and gamely trying to get colleagues to do the same (Sen. Dodd's speech tonight was a bravura performance), but realistically there aren't the numbers to stop cloture. However, that could change if the delay continues. And getting this to the recess means being able to get in a lot of Senator's faces on their trips back home. In addition, there's going to be a very short window in August where a ton of must-pass bills have to get through Congress, and throwing FISA in with that mess means that anything can happen.

Operative word above is 'may'. It could get pushed through and done by Friday. Lots of fluidity regarding the Senate 's calendar and pending legislation.

-- If you care to know why Texas Democrats Al Green, Gene Green, "Zero" Rodriguez, rumored vice-presidential candidate Chet Edwards, and ninety other House members chnaged their votes on FISA, well ... just follow the money:

On March 14 of this year the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity for phone carriers who helped the National Security Agency carry out the illegal wiretapping program without proper warrants. Ninety-four House Democrats voted in favor of this measure--rejecting immunity--on March 14, then ‘changed’ to vote in favor of the June 20 House bill--approving immunity.

“Why did these ninety-four House members have a change of heart?” asked Daniel Newman, executive director of MAPLight.org, “Their constituents deserve answers.”

MAPLight.org's research department compiled PAC campaign contributions from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint and correlated them with the voting records of all House members who voted on last week’s FISA bill. (The analysis used data from CRP; contributions were from January 2005 through March 2008). Here are the findings:

Comparing Democrats' Votes (March 14th and June 20th votes):

Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging: $8,359 to each Democrat who changed their position to support immunity for Telcos (94 Dems)

$4,987 to each Democrat who remained opposed to immunity for Telcos (116 Dems)

88 percent of the Dems who changed to supporting immunity (83 Dems of the 94) received PAC contributions from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint during the last three years (Jan. 2005-Mar. 2008). See below for list of these 94 Dems.

I'll leave this topic be until the vote takes place. Obama's leadership still appears to be MIA. But perhaps he is working behind the scenes and outside of my view. If I learn something to that effect I would be very pleased.

FISA vote tomorrow

Sen. Russ Feingold, on the pending FISA bill:

“I do think this is a total farce with regard to the immunity [for telecommunications companies]. It basically guarantees the immunity,” Feingold said. “It doesn’t simply have the impact of potentially allowing telephone companies to break the law. It may prevent us from ever getting to the core issue … which is the president ran an illegal program that could’ve been an impeachable offense.”

firedoglake:

===========

Telcom immunity means we will never find out what happened in the PAST. OK, that's bad. Cases that can't be used as precedent can, over a long period of time, erode the legal system as we know it. That's bad, too.

But changing the definition of who can be surveilled under a basket warrant to remove any requirement that the surveillance subject be a spy or a terrorist or any kind of bad guy--that's way beyond bad.

My personal guru for all things FISA, David Kris, has two posts up over at Balkinization. The first one has some definitions and basic premises. The second, made my blood run cold.

Here's the money quote:

It is interesting to compare the pending legislation to the TSP as it may have been implemented just prior to, and just after, the January 2007 FISA Court orders. There appear to be two main differences. First, the pending legislation applies only to targets located abroad, while the January 2007 orders may have allowed surveillance of targets in the U.S. (as long as they were making international calls). Second, more importantly, the pending legislation focuses only on the target’s location (or the government’s reasonable belief about his location) not his status or conduct as a terrorist or agent of a foreign power. In other words, there is no requirement that anyone – the FISA Court or the NSA – find probable cause that the target is a terrorist or a spy before (or after) commencing surveillance. [emphasis mine]

Read the whole article. And then call your senators.

============

Recapping: every Senator that votes for this bill is wiping his or her ass with that "goddamned piece of paper" called the Constitution, specifically the Fourth Amendment.

Call Barack Obama's Senate office -- 202-224-2854 -- and tell him he needs to vote NO as well as support a filibuster.

Harry Reid has indicated he would "try" to strip retroactive immunity from the bill, but we saw how hard he tried the last time the Senate approved a bill like this. Dodd and Feingold and a few others will stand up for the rule of law but how hard a fight we can manage is to be determined.

Today is the day. Tomorrow is probably too late. Make a phone call.