OK, this is my first "blog post" and I admit I'm doing it somewhat in haste.  Just hoping to get the word out.  If you agree that the word needs to get out, please rec.

After the craven House vote last week, the fight on the national surveillance state legislation (a/k/a the "FISA amendments act") moves to the Senate.  The odds are long and the time is short.  But as Glenn Greenwald says:

Christy Hardin Smith at FDL has all of the key information for pressuring swaying Senators to keep amnesty out of the FISA bill this week. Personally, I think the only remotely plausible pressure points are demanding that Obama complies with his filibuster promise and doing the same with Chris Dodd, and by "remotely plausible" I mean "something that is, in theory, not absolute zero." Still, even battles that are almost certain to end in a loss are worth waging until the bitter end.

As described elsewhere (noted below) by  Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake, Digby, Glenn Greenwald, and others, this is truly horrible legislation, and completely unnecessary, either for security, or even to ensure Democrats' electoral chances in November.  So, while there's any chance at all, anyone who respects the Constitution really must keep the pressure on in the Senate.

Herewith a plethora of links, for action and background.

Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake on turning up the pressure:

http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/23/fisa-turning-up-the-pressure/

Among many other things, the post contains several toll-free numbers for contacting Congress, and the names and direct numbers of the (dozens of) Senators that need to be contacted.

And then as Christy notes:

<blockquote>And, for extra bonus points, here is contact information for the Democratic presidential candidate:

Sen. Barack Obama:

Phone: 312-819-2008 Toll Free: (866) 675-2008 FAX: 312-819-2088</blockquote>

McJoan at Kos on the same topic:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/22/115325/671/841/540213

McJoan's post also quotes Glenn Greenwald in saying that emailing Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, and demand that Obama uphold his pledge to filibuster:

bburton@barackobama.com

MoveOn.org (which, you recall, endorsed Obama early in the primary season) is urging a campaign focused on Obama:

 http://pol.moveon.org/immunity/080621obama.html

Don't forget to contribute to the campaign targeting those Democrats who are most responsible for selling out the Constitution:

http://www.actblue.com/page/fisa

(Almost $311,000 raised so far.  They're targeting HO-yer, Carney and Barrow (for whom Obama, pathetically, just cut an ad).  The first salvo is a full-page anti-Hoyer ad to run in the Washington Post this week.  Greenwald has more details.)

You can also email your Senators with this link:

https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=975&page=UserAction

If you agree that this issue needs your work and support, read no further.  The links above give you pretty much everything you need to do for the time being.

For those who think that this bill is Just Swell, Reasonable, a Bipartisan Compromise, the Best We Could Get, Necessary In An Election Year, Necessary for Fighting Terrorism, and all those other tired excuses we hear over and over and over from capitulationist (or collusionist) Democrats and their supporters -- well, sorry, you're just going to have to read a little.

Ryan Singel at the Wired Threat Level blog does his usual good analysis:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/dems-agree-to-e.html

(He is, however, wrong in repeating uncritically the claim that Hoyer was bowing to pressure from Blue Dogs.  Digby and others have made it quite clear that Hoyer and Pelosi were eagerly pushing this through on their own.)

One of several analyses from Glenn Greenwald, this one from late last week.  He's done a lot of good writing; if you want to consider yourself informed, scroll through his blog posts, especially this past week.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/19/telecom/index.html

ThinkProgress analysis:
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2008/06/pr20080623

Sen. Russ Feingold's list of what's awful about the bill:
http://feingold.senate.gov/issues_fisafacts.html

ACLU's analysis:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/35731res20080619.html

Greenwald on how this move is not only unnecessary, but counterproductive and near-suicidal for Democrats:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/02/15/poe/index.html

Similar analysis from Tim Lee at Ars Technica:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080312-analysis-firm-stance-on-fisa-pays-big-dividends-for-dems.html

Julian Sanchez's analysis:
http://www.juliansanchez.com/2008/06/20/another-dodgy-dossier/

An astonishing post from Wired's Ryan Singel reveals that Pelosi doesn't even remember her oath of office:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/house-grants-te.html

More from dday at Digby:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/bill-of-rights-okd-for-destruction-by.html

On why we should care, and just how craven a move this is:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/21/44652/2407/423/539606

Please do your part  -- unless, of course, you <i>like</i> living in a National Surveillance State.