if this makes as much sense to me in the morning as it does now, i’ll expand on it a bit (if comments here are still open)… because i think it can explain some other things we found confusing (like when did dodd consider his filibuster to begin).

In nearly every terrorism argument DOJ makes now, or destroyed tapes argument, or lost records there is always that element that the Courts don’t lack jurisdiction via the Cheney-Addington expansive Article II (the Unitary Executive Article according to Cheney-Addington).

The decent info I’ve been able to garner has been from blogs like this one, or Kagro X over at Kos and their links.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..733/423374

Maybe there is that magic place that does a summary of Congressional actions out there with links to all relevant documents. If there is and someone knows, I’d appreciate learning them. But the articles in the main stream media before Dodd’s effort, and after, have been terrible.

2) Feinstein/Nelson’s amendment is a trainwreck as far as I’m concerned because it puts too many potential roadblocks between the public’s right to know what illegalities were committed by the Telecom carriers since 2000. I don’t want a FISA court or an FISC reveiw court anywhere near this Telco immunity situation for reasons that FDL and EW have been all over among many others including Glenn Greenwald and Kagro X, Digby, etc.

I believe, and I’m not the lone ranger that major criminal cooperation was launched between the Bush administration’s 6 figure attorneys, NSA’s, DOJ’s attorneys, and the Telco’s wiretapping attorney experts and there were a number of quid pro quos exchanged between the Bush camp, and the Telcos. We the people have every right to have this aired out–our information, phone conversations, medical records, and bank records are potentially part of so many damn matrixes that are being continually data mined now, it makes my head spin.

I want to know what how when and why my information and yours–domestic information on Americans who are law abiding and not terrorists has found its way into this data mining jungle.

If FISA is interjected fagheddaboudit. And as EW raises the question, what happens if a FISA court were to determine that there was illegal wiretapping activity and the Telco wasn’t eligible for said immunity? And remember this. As EW points out, look at all the language in there to enable the AG or his designees and possibly a State AG to okay the illegal wiretapping.

3) As to future activity, please read any version of S. 2248. It has sweeping language in it to allow the DNI or DOJ to determine what constitutes legal vs. illegal wiretapping. That to me is as bad as the immunity provision itself.

4) When ACLU was turned down last week by Judge John Bates, writing the opinion for the FISC, remember that DOJ contended that the FISA court didn’t even have jurisdicition to rule on this in their briefs.

Bates sought predicatable refuge in a ruling decorated in the trappings of State Secrets malarky.

It has become a knee-jerk reflex now in nearly all litigation that concerns wiretapping or destroyed evidence and tapes. DOJ’s attorneys always reach contend in motions that

1) The Judge has no jurisdiction for any of a number of reasons they make up–like the hearing before Judge Kennedy in D.C. tomorrow. Kennedy, DOJ says, has no jurisdiction because they rendered the victims to foreign soil. I’ll bet your bippy that DOJ is in District Court in D.C. tomorrow that they claim has no jurisdiction over them.

2) State Secrets gives them an out is another of their repeat claims now.

No jurisdiction and State secrets are the two coverup positions DOJ now regularly asserts.

It’s pretty much a cliche, although most Americans wouldn’t know the FISA court from Britney’s ass, that through the end of 2004, 18761 warrants were granted, while just five were denied by this Court.

If you look at almost all the rulings by the Federal judiciary that have balanced civil rights vs. security, civil rights has almost never gotten a favorable opinion in any of the federal trial or appellate courts in the last 6 years since Bush/Condi’s/FBI’s/FAA’s failure in 911.

Paradoxically, DOJ’s so-called terrorism prosecutions have a dismal trackrecord of fialure, but their many efforts to trample on human rights like the Judge Mukasey led material witness roundup in SDNY have been very successful.

And finally, the Feinstein/Nelsom Immunity amendment is full of vague language and the bottom line is it allows the scope of immunity behavior to become secret.

The only constructive thing that needs to happen Constitutional law-wise is that all Americans need to know what constituted the behavior of these Telecoms replete with rosters of 6 figure salary lawyers who had a never ending list of 400 plus attorney lawfirms on their team rosters.

These included lawyers who had spent their careers parsing the wiretapping statutes and got paid splendidly for it.

If Feinstein/Nelson’s amendment full of nebulous stilted non-specific, byzantine conundrums were to pass, you can kiss Telco accountability good-bye.