Tell Inouye, Akaka, Clinton and Obama to kill the immunity provisions in the FISA bill

Right now the Senate is debating the Bush Administration's efforts to grant immunity to the telecoms who broke the law by helping the Bush Administration spy on American citizens through warrentless wiretaps. And as CBS and Daily Kos report, the first effort to stop this granting of immunity was defeated -- because Democratic Senators Rockefeller, Bayh, Mikulski, Pryor, Salazar, McCaskill, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Carper, Landrieu, Inouye, and Johnson sided with the Republicans.

Senator Inouye is one of our heroes. But he's dead wrong on this issue. Granting immunity to the telecoms undermines the United States Constitution and the rule of law -- and exposes all of us to future violations of our civil rights and liberties. If you're a constituent of Senator Inouye's, please call or fax his office and ask him to reconsider his position. His phone number is 202-224-3934; his fax is 202-224-6747. As always, be polite, but firm as a rock.

And then contact Senator Akaka, who had earlier indicated he'd support Senator Dodd's filibuster of any bill granting immunity to the telecoms. Let Senator Akaka know you support him wholeheartedly and encourage him to do whatever is necessary to kill this terrible legislation. Akaka's phone is 202-224-6361; his fax is 224-2126.

Finally, contact Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. To his great credit, Senator John Edwards has already come out in support of Dodd's filibuster. Unfortunately, Edwards is no longer in the Senate and can't do much more than talk about the issue. But Clinton and Obama are sitting United States Senators. They could be leading this fight themselves, standing up to the Bush Administration alongside Senators Dodd and Leahy.

Politely but firmly, contact Senators Clinton (Phone: (202) 224-4451, Fax: (202) 228-0282) and Obama (Phone: (202) 224-2854, Fax: (202) 228-4260), letting them know that if they want your support in the primaries, they must step up and support the filibuster of the FISA bill and its immunity provisions.

UPDATE: Marjorie Cohn provides a good overview of the situation at her blog.