John Edwards:


"In Washington today, telecom lobbyists have launched a
full-court press to win retroactive immunity for their illegal eavesdropping on American citizens.  Granting retroactive immunity will
let corporate law-breakers off the hook and hamstring efforts to learn the truth about Bush's illegal spying program. 

"It's time for Senate Democrats to show a little backbone and stand up to George W. Bush and the corporate lobbyists.  They should do everything in their power -- including joining Senator Dodd's efforts to filibuster this legislation -- to stop retroactive immunity. 
The Constitution
is not for sale at any price"."


Well...yes.  And that includes
candidates, you know, leaving the campaign trail to do their jobs.  Which Obama and Clinton can -- and should -- do.  South Carolina is only an hour and a half plane ride away. And if they don't; then we'll all know where their real sympathizes lie!


Get thee to DC and filibuster, Senators. 





Free traffic exchange


 




http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/safefree/mellmansurvey_jan2008.pdf



TO: American Civil Liberties Union


FROM: The Mellman Group



DATE: January 18, 2008


RE: Voters Vigorously Oppose Warrant less
Wiretaps, Blanket Warrants, And Immunity For Telecom Companies



This analysis represents the findings of a national survey
of 1000 likely 2008 general election voters. Interviews were conducted by
telephone January 11 to January 15, 2008.


To insure an unbiased sample, random-digit-dialing
techniques were used and respondents screened for being likely voters.


The margin of error for this survey is +/-3.1% at the 95%
level of confidence. The margin of error is higher for subgroups.



While Americans surely want to protect the
country from terrorism, they also insist on protecting our constitutional rights. Opposition to key elements of the Bush Administration’s FISA agenda--
warrantless wiretaps, blanket warrants, and immunity for telecommunication companies that may have broken the law—remains quite strong. In fact, large majorities across almost every demographic subgroup of voters oppose all three of these proposals. Opposition to the Administration’s FISA agenda is as strong or stronger today than it was three months ago. As a result, Members of Congress who stand in defense of constitutional rights have little to fear from their constituents.


VOTERS STRONGLY SUPPORT REQUIRING THE GOVERNMENT TO GET
WARRANTS BEFORE WIRETAPPING CONVERSATIONS U.S. CITIZENS HAVE WITH PEOPLE
ABROAD



Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters favor
requiring the government to obtain a warrant from a court before wiretapping
the conversations U.S. citizens have with people in other countries—a figure
quite consistent with the 61% opposition we found in October.


 


An outright majority of voters (55%) “strongly” supports requiring warrants. Only one-third (33%) support warrant less wiretaps of Americans’ international conversations, with fewer than 1-in-4 (24%) strongly supporting warrant less wiretaps.


 


A Majority Continue To Strongly Support Requiring The
Government To Get A Warrant Before Wiretapping Americans’ International Calls