Please do not recommend this diary, please recommend the LiveBlog Mothership here.

The Senate Intelligence Committee version of the FISA bill that includes immunity for the telecoms got  through the cloture  vote today.  Drational has the background on closing the cloture vote here.  Roll call here.

Senator Dodd has promised a filibuster. Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold have promised to help in this effort so far.  Boxer yielded an hour of her time to him, and his aides were also approved for some time.

CALL YOUR SENATORS now to ask them to support Dodd, and vote for the Senate Judiciary version that does not include immunity.

As an American living abroad, this issue is very, very real for me and anyone I call.  

We know the administration has broken the law with regard to wiretapping, but that wasn't enough to provoke a massive outcry amongst Americans, the MSM, or Congress.  We know that Bush refused to discuss whether he authorized the hospital visit to Ashcroft, choosing to trot out national security concerns and the inability to discuss it once again.

But did the hospital visit and ensuing conversation with Ashcroft actually violate national security?  Constitutional experts think it may.  There are laws regulating the location of such discussions, because it is easy for adversaries to use electronic surveillance themselves to pick up conversations at insecure locations, public locations, i.e. hospitals.

More after the flip

When Bush said "Bring it on!"l, they did.  Terrorism experts Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank, both
Research fellows at the Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law, conucted the most in-depth analysis of terrorist activity since the Iraq War began.

From Bush, to Rumsefeld, to Negroponte, we've heard over and over that there is no proof Iraq had any influence on terrorist recruiting.  That's patently false, but here's a great study to prove it. Here's the study to prove it.

The president’s argument conveyed two important assumptions: first, that the threat of jihadist terrorism to U.S. interests would have been greater without the war in Iraq, and second, that the war is reducing the overall global pool of terrorists. However, the White House has never cited any evidence for either of these assumptions, and none appears to be publicly available.

This is a purely social thread, meant for us to enjoy each other and maybe move beyond supermetaoverload 5.0.

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day?  What are you appreciating right now?

I'm finally changing my iTunes account over to my new computer, which is not really so new anymore.  I'm listening to some kickass electrohouse by dj bene, as well as transferring my beloved Moby.  Funnily enough I met Moby at a party in the early 90's and we exchanged mutual snippiness and purity troll standards, now I adore him musically and politically.  Who could have known?

For me, it's late, and I am dancing up a storm in between typing this.  I'll fess up to a couple of glasses of Frascati wine ; )  I'm getting Moby transferred over now, Porcelain is such a lovely song, though truth to tell I am more into dj bene and a more energetic beat at the moment

We've got a month to prepare ourselves for the 110th Congress.  I'm certainly not expecting much bi-partisanship and cooperation from those about to be investigated into reality, but let's have a look at one of the new Republican leaders.
 
Thaddeus McCotter, a Republican from Michigan's 11th district, was elected as Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee.  He's little known, yet this is the fourth highest leadership position in the Republican House Caucus.  As the Policy Committee Chairman, he'll be responsible for pulling Republicans together on issues, as if they had experienced a problem with lockstep legislating so far.

But McCotter is billing himself as a disgruntled backbencher recently promoted by the all-new, no longer corrupt Republican Party out to save the day.  

"We have nowhere to go but up," said McCotter.

Thaddeus McCotter has a weirdly mixed reputation.  Make no mistake, that is no joke.  I call him the nowhere man.  George W. Bush calls him "the rock and roll dude", fair enough.  McCotter's press pages feature several trips to Iraq, where his band, The Second Amendments, have entertained our troops.  

Think about that for a minute, the Second Amendment--you know, the right to bear arms.  They must have been a smash hit because 60% of Iraqis recently polled agree with the right to bear arms against your oppressor.

His last trip to Iraq was in July 2006.  Aside from the photo, you would never have known he was there.  He's one of Boehner's boys, quiet, steady, often in the background.

But very, very scary.  This is  diary of pulling at a thread all day, and what I found.  It is long, but it needs to be.  Read, recommend, but please also go listen to Tony Trupiano tonight on Laura Flanders talk about why we need to raise money and get Thad McCotter out of office.

Out of all the election race diarying going on, I'm adding my bit to encourage you to donate to Tony Trupiano in MI-11.  

MI-11 is a swing district, Bush took it with 53%, his numbers now are just at 30%.  McCotter isn't even scheduling public events because they just seem to get him in trouble.  His photos from previous events are from 2003 and 2004.  He's got a lot of money though.  

Tony Trupiano does not.  But he's got game, an outstanding ground-game, so your donations can be put to good use.  His record justifies broad-based, progressive support from anyone who wants to put their money where their mouth is.

More after the flip.

Hayden has just been confirmed.  The vote was 78-15.  

Already it's being spun as support for further violations on our Constitutional liberties.  From Reuters:

The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA director in a vote that gave a broad bipartisan endorsement to the architect of President George W. Bush's domestic spying program.

I haven't seen this posted yet, sorry if it's old news.  From Yahoo:

Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden's nomination as CIA director won the endorsement of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, setting the stage for his formal confirmation by the full Senate later this week.

The committee voted 12-3 to approve Hayden's nomination after about an hour of closed-door discussion. Eight Republicans and four of the panel's seven Democrats backed him.

More after the flip.

This isn't a surprise but Reuters is reporting that Bush will present his proposal for line item veto power.

President George W. Bush will soon make a formal request to Congress for a line-item veto -- authority that would give him power to cancel specific spending items in budget bills, an administration official said on Sunday.

More after the flip.

From today's WaPo. "Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying".

Not like we didn't suspect this was true given all of the extreme word hedging in his testimony, but here we go.

Here's the transcript of the Feb. 6 hearing.

Here's Open Thread VII from the hearings, if you want to wade through all of them.  We told you so!

This has been MurkyGate from the beginning.  At last/least Scotty's losing chunks of flesh and the water is bloody.  And today more "leaks" on/from/via/about Rove, or something like that.  But I don't want to lose track of a few things.  

First, we know enough now to know Rove deserves to be fired.  To do less is a further betrayal.  And we know enough to think this goes higher.  This is more than who did Rove talk to, it's also who talked to Rove.  And if he got caught holding the hot potato of the WH.  Let's review what Wilson has to say, and keep MARCH 2003 in mind.

Amazing how much of the last few frenzied might not matter too much after all.