Some bad news, some possible good news that depends on you

First the bad news. The Senate is expected to vote for telecom amnesty and warrantless eavesdropping today. Glenn Greenwald, who blogs at Salon.com comments on this ignominious erosion of democracy, "Amnesty for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms." Read it and grieve for our country.

Now the good news. According to Democrats.com, House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers appears to be open to calling for the impeachment of Cheney. What will it take? Last Thursday, Conyers met with two members of Code Pink. At that meeting, Conyers expressed his concerns about what might happen following an impeachment, the danger of installing a Bush replacement or losing an election. But he said he's listening to several advocates for impeachment, including former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman and David Swanson of Democrats.com. He hinted he could be swayed by a convincing argument, leaning out of his chair for dramatic effect.

So it’s up to us. Democrats.com provides a plan of action: So let's help Chairman John Conyers decide! We know Conyers agrees with all of us on the legal grounds for impeachment because he made this case himself in his 2006 book, "The Constitution in Crisis." Where Conyers needs persuasion is on the politics of impeachment, so we have addressed his concerns here.

We'd like you to email Conyers (and other Judiciary Committee Democrats) with the link above, but please don't stop there. Contact information is available here (scroll down).

1. Call his office at 202-225-5126, or use the toll free capital switchboard, 800-828-0498, and say you would like him to begin Cheney impeachment hearings immediately. Tell him the hearings must be on impeachment because that's the only way to force the White House to comply with Congressional subpoenas. The phone in his office was reportedly ringing once every second, 60 times per minute, all day long on Monday. Let's ring it faster on Tuesday.

2. Print our petition and fax it to Conyers at 202-225-0072 with your name and address at the end. Or you can send two free faxes per day by going to FaxZero.

3. Urge your Representative and Senators to sign onto Congressman Robert Wexler's letter to Conyers (which he plans to deliver on Friday) here.

We know we're asking a lot, but we're not alone - our friends from Code Pink are fasting for impeachment and meeting with Conyers on Tuesday to discuss opening Cheney impeachment hearings.

Want to do more? Start planning now to visit your congress member's office when they're back in their district between February 16th and 24th. Find ideas here.

Join (or create) your Congressional District Impeachment Committee here.

(exclamation points: Behance)

Action Alert: Call your Congressional representatives TODAY to stop passage of the warrantless eavesdropping law

This morning I received the People's E-mail Network urgent message to contact my representatives TODAY to stop passage of the “Protect America Act.”

From PEN: Please AGAIN call all your members of Congress, toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-614-2803 or 866-340-9281, and submit the No Immunity of Any Kind Action Page to back that up with an email message. 1) Tell them NO immunity and YES to making FISA the exclusive means or surveillance.

Here are my FAQs:

Question: Why shouldn’t the telephone companies be granted immunity if they acted in “good faith” by turning over all our phone and e-mail records to the government when asked?

Answer: “Good faith” is not a sufficient defense to violating laws. None of us could get away with it.

On January 17th, Glenn Greenwald posted ""Lawbreaking telecoms still conniving to obtain immunity from Congress." Excerpts: “Manifestly, retroactive immunity is something available only to the largest, lobbyist-using corporations, and is not something that ordinary Americans would ever even get a hearing on. ....

“...[I]mmunity would be a complete evisceration of the rule of law, bizarrely protecting telecoms from the consequences of their lawbreaking and putting an end to any real hope for investigating and obtaining accountability for years of illegal spying on Americans by the Bush administration. When you put all of that together, telecom immunity embodies every form of lawlessness and corruption which are destroying our political culture….

“In fact, the ability of the rich and well-connected to obtain immunity from lawbreaking is one of the hallmarks of corrupt oligarchy, one of the surest signs of the breakdown of basic justice.”

Question: Isn’t our safety from terrorist attacks threatened if the “Protect America Act” isn’t extended?

Answer: No. The FISA bill that the Protect America Act would replace is still in place. It allows for emergency (warrantless) electronic surveillance when the Attorney General determines that it’s necessary. Then, within 72 hours of the AG’s authorization, he/she must obtain a judicial order issued by the FISA court. That’s our protection, folks.

(Cartoon: Image Shack)

Action Alert: The Senate switchboard need to be swamped with calls from constituents who oppose warrantless eavesdropping and telecom immunity

It appears that the Senate will vote this Monday, February 4th, on extending the "Protect America Act," which will give the government carte blanche to listen to our phone calls and read our e-mails. The bill will also grant the telecoms immunity from prosecution for illegally turning our records over to the Bush Administration.

Any immunity offered to telecoms is binding, whether or not the “Protect America Act” is ever revoked by a future Congress and president.

What you can do: Go to The Democratic Activist.

1. Watch Senator Russ Feingold’s 30 minute video clip, “Trust Us.”

2. Follow the simple instructions on how to contact your senators.

3. Send the link to The Democratic Activist to at least 10 friends.

(photo: Banderas News)