Dear Senator Feinstein,

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself!" Because of the fear mongering by the adminsitration, and its supporters, including you, what we have to fear here is fascist tyranny!

Your eagerness to preserve police-state surveillance methods at any cost came at a very dear cost indeed!

"Congress has no more authority to suspend an article of the Constitution by majority vote than the president has to do the same with a signing statement or a declaration of unfettered war powers. The insidious part of this tyranny is that both claim their actions to be in defense of constitutional freedom. The simple truth is that the Democratic congress has now become a full-fledge enabler and co-conspirator of executive criminality in the guise of democracy." -sulphurdunn on Buzzflash.com

In another critical vote, you once again aid the move towards fascism.

"IN A TRAGIC, SHAMEFUL AFFRONT TO THE US CONSTITUTION, THE
SENATE APPROVED THE FISA AMENDMENTS ACT passed by the House
last month. The bill radically expands the president's
spying powers and grants immunity to phone companies that
cooperated in the illegal warrantless wiretapping program.
Many senators courageously opposed telecom immunity, and
several amendments were offered in an attempt to remove or
modify the immunity provision, but they failed." -EFF

It's a shameful affront to the citizens of California that you weren't among the senators who courageously opposed telecom immunity.

AP "journalist" Pamela Hess says it all in her headline: Senate bows to Bush, approves surveillance bill. "Bows to Bush." As a commoner would bow to a purple-draped, jewel encrusted head of a despotic monarchy. The Nixon era remains one of the most progressive eras in US history Why? The Congress actually acted like the primary branch of government, as the Constitution intends it to be. Have you heard that Congress' approval rating is in the SINGLE DIGITS? The lowest EVER? Today's Congress is nothing but a pack of sycophants.


I can't adequately express my disgust.

KENNEDY ON FISA

Think about what we’ve been hearing from the White House in this debate. The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity. No immunity, no new FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he is willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies. The President’s insistence on immunity as a precondition for any FISA reform is yet another example of his disrespect for honest dialogue and for the rule of law.

It’s painfully clear what the President’s request for retroactive immunity is really about. It’s a self-serving attempt to avoid legal and political accountability and keep the American public in the dark about this whole shameful episode.

- Senator Edward M. Kennedy