USA PATRIOT Act Showdown

Okay, so, I've really been neglecting this blog, but I have reasons. Lots of stuff going on, and illness in which my temperature peaked at 102.6 degrees. Blogging for Feingold wasn't my top priority. But there's been a LOT going on lately.

So what's the story with Russ "The Lone Patriot" Feingold? Well, he went from being the only member of the Senate to vote against the PATRIOT Act in 2001 to being the leader of a bipartisan coalition to stop the PATRIOT Act in 2005.

RussForPresident.com has been following this very closely, and there are postings on the topic here, here and here. But the best source of information is Senator Feingold himself, right?

Isn't it nice that this week, he's been blogging over at TPMCafe Table for One? It's all worth reading. Senator Feingold, as always, articulates clearly and eloquently his reasons for opposing reauthorization of the Act as it currently is.

And before I forget, Jerry at New Jersey for Feingold tells us that Russ has been chosen to fill Gov.-elect Jon Corzine's seat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

So. He's leading the fight to protect civil liberties, is (hopefully) about to give the Bush Administration a major defeat on one of their most important pieces of legislation, and he's been given a spot on arguably one of the most important committees in the Senate (on top of already being on Judiciary, Budget, and Foreign Relations). Suddenly, I suspect a lot of people are going to think more seriously about going Forward with Feingold in 2008.

If you can, be watching C-SPAN 2 today from 10 to 11AM. Final debate on the PATRIOT Act reauthorization and the vote on cloture. I'll have another post then.