http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/tag_rss/censure Today the New York Times reports on the continuing failure of the Michael Mukasey as Attorney General experiment . The short version is that Mukasey has not performed as promised...by a long shot. Back in November we at the Courage Campaign didn't much like the notion of an Attorney General Mukasey, but Senator Dianne Feinstein strongly disagreed. She got a lot of pushback and defended her case in an LA Times OpEd that she might want back at this point given the way reality has actually played out. Let's play point/counterpoint between Feinstein's argument in November and the New York Times today: Feinstein: During a long career in public service and private practice, Michael B. Mukasey has forged an independent path as a lawyer and federal judge. Sen. Arlen Specter: "I don't want to use the word 'disappointed,' but he hasn't provided the balance that I had hoped for" http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLqc http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLqc/commentary#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:47:45 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLqc Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLqc/ There's a lot of talk this year about more and better Democrats. Generally the "and better" part means primary campaigns and being selective in the candidates that we support with time, money and cyber ink. The other side of that is holding our representatives accountable in ways outside the ballot box, because sometimes we can't just wait for re-election to get responsive representation; too much happens. It's not always easy to find effective ways to get attention and movement, but passion and creativity can be combined into a potent mix. Last week Senator Dianne Feinstein voted to give away our 4th Amendment privacy protections and grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies who may have been illegally complicit in domestic spying on U.S. citizens. It was hardly the first time that Sen. Feinstein has given us reason for serious concern. Once before, her support of previous iterations of FISA legislation, Judge Leslie Southwick and now-Attorney General Mukasey inspired us to insist she pay attention to Californians. We asked you whether it was time to pursue censure again, and more than 12,000 of you responded with a clear message. Rick Jacobs sent an email this morning running through the results, explaining where we go from here, and asking you to help: http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLqt http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLqt/commentary#comments Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:15:10 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLqt Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 6 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLqt/ "A Heavy Heart." That was the subject of the email I received today from Senator Chris Dodd. After fighting tooth and nail for many months, with a coalition cobbled together on the fly, brought together by a fundamental drive to protect the Constitution, the Senate was finally able to force through a new FISA bill including retroactive immunity for telecom companies. A number of Democrats abandoned the Fourth Amendment to vote for immunity, including Senator Dianne Feinstein. It's been a relatively tough year for the Constitution when Feinstein's been faced with challenging votes, and this sadly was no exception. But it's important to hear Senator Dodd's words today: ...let us stand tall, knowing that by working together we were able to make wiretapping and retroactive immunity part of the national discourse these last number of months. We came together - all of you, Senator Feingold, bloggers like Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald, organizations like the EFF and ACLU, and untold hundreds of thousands of Americans who simply wanted to make sure that this one, last insult did not happen with ease. I'm sorry we weren't successful. And so Rick Jacobs put the challenge to Courage supporters today via email. What are we going to do about it? --------------------------------------- http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLq5 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLq5/commentary#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:11:21 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLq5 Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 3 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLq5/ (cross-posted from Crooks & Liars ) Let's start with the good news first, even though there is plenty of bad to come later, given the disgraceful behavior of California Democratic Party staffer Bob Mullholland, caught on video. In just five days, over 34,000 Americans, 90% or more Californians, joined the Courage Campaign call for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her pivotal votes to approve Judge Michael Mukasey as U.S. Attorney General and Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals. These Americans were joined by the Courage Campaign, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, and over 40 Democratic Clubs and progressive organizations from across California. With a week of non-stop organizing, this movement changed the conversation of the entire meeting of the CDP Executive Board. Party Chair Art Torres spent about half of his speech on Saturday praising Senator Dianne Feinstein, acknowledging that people within the Democratic Party are upset with a few of her crucial votes. Of course, these weren't just any votes. They were votes contrary to core Democratic (and democratic) values like opposing torture, racism and homophobia. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/BnX http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/BnX/commentary#comments Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:14:30 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/BnX Julia Rosen, Online Political Director Julia Rosen, Online Political Director 3 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BnX/ Things took a pretty nasty turn, unfortunately. I entered the California Democratic Party Resolutions Committee meeting room with Eden James, Courage Campaign's Managing Director, bearing our sign and easel. We found a free space at the front of the room and set up the sign. Almost immediately, Resolutions Chair John Hanna approached us, demanding that we remove the sign. Eden politely asked if there "was a rule" against signs in the meeting rooms. Hanna replied "yes." Kathy Bowler, CDP Executive Director, then calmly approached me, stating that the sign should be removed because the room was getting full and she had staff she needed to get into the room. John then grabbed ahold of one side of the sign, attempting to remove it from Eden's hands. Eden, maintaining his hold on to the other side, repeated the question to John about whether a rule existed against signs inside the meeting room. John said "yes"again and Eden asked to see the rule, saying that if there was an actual rule against signs inside the room -- he would respect it. Increasingly angry, John threatened to call security. Eden, surprised, calmly responded that John "should go ahead if that's what you want to do." Suddenly, Hanna then shoved his side of the sign and Eden at the same time, forcibly pushing Eden backwards. Eden held on. John shoved again, then pushed Eden's shoulder back with the palm of his hand. Stunned, Eden let go of the sign as John ripped it from his hands and threw it to the floor. An unknown person then picked up the sign and sprinted it out of the room, taking it to the staff room (according to Kathy Bowler). More below. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/Bnf http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/Bnf/commentary#comments Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:26:48 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/Bnf Julia Rosen, Online Political Director Julia Rosen, Online Political Director 14 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/Bnf/ This just went out to all of our members. Keep coming back. I will be as promised live blogging the event. Hi Julia, You have changed the conversation inside the California Democratic Party. 30,033 of you, to be exact. Last night, the Women's Caucus of the California Democratic Party approved your resolutions to censure Senator Dianne Feistein. Then, in a speech before hundreds this morning, Party Chair Art Torres immediately and directly addressed your movement to censure Senator Feinstein. This three-day event has been transformed by your activism. I am sitting at the meeting, with my computer on my lap, constantly refreshing the signature totals on the Senator Dianne Feinstein censure resolution. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/Bnz http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/Bnz/commentary#comments Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:41:47 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/juliarosen/Bnz Julia Rosen, Online Political Director Julia Rosen, Online Political Director 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/Bnz/