Here's What I Said

Today at a press conference on the Patriot Act ...

There isn’t much of an opposition party in this country. Bush is breaking the law and the Democrats are driving the getaway car. Their giving in on the Patriot Act, at a time when Bush is enormously unpopular, is just the latest example.

This administration lied to the American people numerous times to force us into a war in Iraq. That war has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Americans, British and others and is costing us billions and perhaps ultimately trillions at a time when Americans are dying without healthcare and New Orleans residents with nowhere to go are being kicked out of hotel rooms. This administration has sanctioned torture and recreated the worst abuses of the Saddam Hussein regime in Abu Ghraib and in Guantanamo Bay, and continues to assert that the prisoners at these torture camps are terrorists but refuse to put their assertions to a test in any sort of legitimate courtroom. This administration is spying on Americans without court approval, and when confronted with this lawbreaking and gross violation of our civil rights, has the audacity to lash out at whoever leaked this top-secret program to the media. This administration forced the Patriot Act through Congress in the aftermath of 911 using fear of terrorism as its best lobbying tool and now seeks to extend that act, that has done little or nothing to keep us safe, and almost all of our Senators - Democrat and Republican - voted to conspire with the administration to rob our Bill of Rights of much meaning.

Feinstein said, "compromise and consensus require concessions and flexibility." Senator Feinstein, there should be no "concessions" in the battle over our civil rights. Senator Feinstein, Californians do not want leaders who "compromise" with an administration that is as arrogant and defiant as the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Gonzales cabal.
Californians deserve better.

We now have two new Supreme Court justices - Roberts and Alito - who will do a great deal of harm to human rights. I have no doubt that these two will work with the other right-wing justices to take power away from us and hand it to an already far too powerful executive branch. This enormous shift in our court system will affect abortion rights, privacy rights, rights against unreasonable search and seizure, speech, association and on and on. It is a historical shift in the wrong direction and most Senators chose to take their place on the wrong side of history. Feinstein, after speaking to the press about how pleaseant Samuel Alito was and how a filibuster was out of the question, eventually agreed to not oppose a filibuster. But, as her Green Party contender Todd Chretien has said, this was only after it became a meaningless gesture to do so. In other words, only after it was clear that the filibuster would fail did Feinstein take a stand to win a few points with her constituents.

It is no surprise, then, that Feinstein does not have the courage to stand with the only 3 Senators voting against the renewal of the Patriot Act. Californians deserve better, and I think there is a movement all across the country to make demands of our leaders and hopefully throw a lot of the bums out if not into jail. Lets get more people involved and broaden our movement so we can accomplish this. Thanks.