So Cantor was just being an idiot? What's the point of this besides some stupid "Gotcha!!" nonsense?

The dems should simply pack their bags and go home. They have failed and they will pay for the failure next year.

Nadler says "the ability to get a warrant after the fact." They already had 72 hours in the original FISA bill. Big whup. Maybe billjpa has it right.

...accusing the GOP of pushing an amendment that is "proposing language already provided in the bill"....This is all about writing music for the Mighty Wurlitzer. The mouthbreathers are already convinced that anyone to the left of Attilla the Hun is cheering for Bin Laden. This will be presented that the Dems in Congress are terrorist sympathizers and must be replaced by good, dependable Republicans. I can hear it now..."The Democrats dropped their FISA bill when this brave Republican tried to make sure the Administration had the authority to listen to terrorists and protect you! They stopped work on the bill...and now it's lapsed. Those dirty Dems have made out intelligence agencies deaf, and now they're all coming to kill us! Those traitors!...." Sigh..
We need to throw the present leadership out and replace them with competent people. The only ones who hung around during the GOP years are the second raters who need a map and compass to think their way out of a paper bag! And of course, the bought and paid for.

I am becoming concerned about the Democratic leadership in Congress. While they were in the minority, for the most part, all they did was wring their hands and complain while the Republicans did what they wanted. Now, when they have a majority albeit a slim one, they allow the minority party cart blanche to stop anything they want and manipulate the rest. They seem gun shy. How about a little Harry Truman.

“Amendment IV: Warrants and searches.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Write, email or call your Congressman/woman or Senators right away and say NO to the Blanket Immunity for relief carriers. They need to know that if they mess up and don’t follow the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, they can and will be indicted in the court of law.

READ MORE.....Coonsey's View
(recently talked about by Donna Brazile)

Look, all the Repubs have are their terrible voting records. Don't give them some thing else to run on.

"Just to clarify: It's the procedural method by which this amendment was to be introduced..."

Greg,

Could you please explain exactly what the "procedural method" was?
And why it force the bill back to committee? And why it would languish for an undetermined amount of time if were?

Notice how the AP calls the ACLU the left

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/10/house_surveillance_bill_stalle.php

and fails to acknowledge criticism on the right on civil liberties grounds. Both the CATO Institute and the Constitution Project Liberty and Security Committee (which while more non-partisan, includes the likes of Grover Norquest) have found problems with the Protect America Act. Here's what the latter said October 4.

On October 4, 2007, a Statement on the Protect America Actadvises Congress that "many of the amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) contained in the recently enacted Protect America Act (Pub. L. 110-55) are unnecessarily overbroad, undermine our constitutional system of checks and balances, and fail to sufficiently protect the privacy of the communications of Americans."

http://www.constitutionproject.org/libertyandsecurity/article.cfm?messageID=427&categoryId=6

For the CATO- see its scholar Tim Lee:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/08/06/more-on-the-spying-bill/

Also see:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa443.pdf

Timothy Lynch, director of Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, wrote in "Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Preserving Our Liberties While Fighting Terrorism,"

"This cycle of terrorist attack followed by government curtailment of civil liberties must be broken--or our society will eventually lose the key attribute that has made it great: freedom. The American people can accept the reality that the president and Congress are simply not capable of preventing terrorist attacks from occurring. Policymakers should stop pretending otherwise and focus their attention on combating terrorism within the framework of a free society."

Oh, and then there's opposition from the John Birch Society, which wrote on passage of the PPA:

"Some readers may wonder how a law that violates the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against "unreasonable searches and seizures," was able to pass both houses of Congress with barely making a blip in the news world. But an FBI investigation has been launched to learn who leaked the news of this expanded surveillance program to the public in the first place. Ironically, the plan to "protect America" was intentionally withheld from the American citizens in an effort to ensure its passage. How is that for Doublespeak?"

http://www.jbs.org/node/5057

For an article on the original passage of the PAA, see:
http://www.llrx.com/extras/nsa.htm

"billjpa wrote on October 17, 2007 7:34 PM:
The dems should simply pack their bags and go home. They have failed and they will pay for the failure next year."

Think much, billjpa?

If warrantless wiretapping was about finding terrorists, Bush would proudly get a warrant. And announce it in the papers. This is about power. Information is power. wiretaps allow them to compromise political leaders, reporters, editors, enemies and friends [does he have real fiends?] It's also about wall street inside information. You can't go to a court with a tape of information that moves stocks if you profitted from it.

It seems like the Dems are too busy doing other things like fundraising to learn parliamentary procedure.

Otherwise, why weren't they using these tactics constantly from 2000-2006???

So frustrating.

How do those Republithugs get anything added to anything when they are in the minority???? The Democrats need to hire Tom Deny Delay to coach them on how to marginalize the Republithugs like he did the Democrats. The Democrats would NEVER be able to add anything to a Republithug bill when the Republithugs were in control.

These Republithugs are just evil. They hate America and only want more money. I will NEVER vote for a Republithug for any office, including dog catcher. They have proved they are unAmerican.