Earlier today the Begich campaign held a press conference where Mark expressed his strong support for Senator Jim Webb's efforts to pass a new G.I. Bill for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Begich is currently a candidate for US Senate from Alaska. Webb and 56 other senators have signed on in support of this legislation, which seeks to provide educational benefits for our veterans in line what veterans of past wars have received.

Joined by students and veterans at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, Begich called on Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) to join him in honoring the service of returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and other areas of conflict since Sept. 11, 2001. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has already signed on to the bill. Begich said:

"When our veterans come home from Iraq, Afghanistan, or other areas, we want them to have the same educational opportunities as those who served before them in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. To support anything less is wrong."

"This is not complicated. Our veterans have sacrificed for America and we owe them this opportunity. I urge Sen. Stevens to join me in providing veterans the full cost of a college education, like he received after World War II, thanks to the G.I. Bill."

From the diaries. If you've called, call again. If you haven't, now's the time - Todd

The Senate Judiciary Committee is going to mark up the FISA reform legislation tomorrow. They had originally scheduled to do it last Thursday, but we expect it to happen this time, though it's not clear that the SJC will complete mark up tomorrow.

The bottom line is that now is the time to call the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask them to oppose retroactive immunity for telecom companies that helped the Bush administration spy on Americans without warrant.

We want the Senate to hear your voice on this issue -- we think it's so important that we're paying for you to do the calls. Call today - and the Dodd campaign will do the dialing for you, making it free for anyone calling for a hardline to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Four Senators on the Judiciary Committee have already said they oppose retroactive immunity. We need just six more Senators to oppose retroactive immunity to kill it in committee.

Visit http://chrisdodd.com/immunity to take action now!

Christy Hardin Smith also brings up basket warrants and Emptywheel brings up minimization as other key issues that the FISA legislation needs improvement on.

Call now and report the results back:

http://chrisdodd.com/immunity

Cross posted at Blue Hampshire, Bleeding Heartland, My Left Nutmeg, My Silver State, and the Dodd Blog.

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that California Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein will support retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. This puts the official tally at two votes in favor and four votes opposed to telecom amnesty. We still need to convince six more Senators on the Judiciary Committee to oppose retroactive immunity to ensure that it is killed in Committee and doesn't reach the floor of the Senate.

This means one of the "nay" votes has to come from a Republican member of Committee, which does not seem incredibly likely. The Republican who we'd previously targeted as most likely to vote the right was was Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Since Specter has also introduced a proposal that would indemnify the telecom companies by making the federal government sole defendant in all of the pending cases against the industry. This proposal - retroactive immunity by another name - makes it look unlikely that Specter will oppose other forms of immunity.

There are two paths from here:

First, we must continue to call all members of the Senate Judiciary who aren't currently opposed and ask them to oppose retroactive immunity. Everyone is not opposed needs to hear from the public on this issue - even conservative Republicans - because the Constitution and rule of law are not partisan issues, nor should they be.

Second, if you're feeling discouraged by the increased chances of amnesty for telecoms making it out of the Judiciary Committee, remember that Senator Dodd has vowed to stop any such legislation from becoming law, either through a hold or by filibuster if necessary. Dodd will stand up for the rule of law. He will defend the Constitution.

Now is the time to take action, though. Chris Dodd won't wait until 2009 to lead and we shouldn't wait until 2009 to stand up for what we believe in.

Call the Senate Judiciary Committee - we'll do the dialing for you through our Citizen Generated Whip Count calling tool: http://chrisdodd.com/immunity

Disclosure: I proudly work for Chris Dodd's presidential campaign.

Tomorrow morning the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin marking up FISA reform legislation. What we don't yet know is what changes they will make to the bill passed out of the Senate Intelligence Committee. That's why we have to keep calling and make sure all of the Judiciary Committee members know that retroactive immunity needs to be stripped from the bill.

So far, four senators have said they will oppose retroactive immunity. We need six more to ensure that we'll win this fight. Coincidentally, there are still six Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee that have not said how they will vote on retroactive immunity (Schumer, Feinstein, Durbin, Kohl, Whitehouse, and Leahy). Arlen Specter has also expressed his concern over retroactive immunity, but has not yet made clear where he stands.

The good news is that we've just launched a new function in the Citizen Generated Whip Count that makes calling the Senate much, much easier for you.

We've built a direct calling feature on our Whip Count tool that connects users to Senate offices over the internet. It allows you to enter your phone number in our widget, we then call you while simultaneously connecting you to the Senate office you're trying to reach. Your phone will ring, the Senate office phone will ring, then you ask them to oppose retroactive immunity. Nice and easy.

Oh, and the Dodd campaign is footing the bill for your calls if you're calling from a land line.

To start calling, visit http://chrisdodd.com/immunity.

Disclosure: I proudly work for Chris Dodd's presidential
campaign.

Cross posted at Daily Kos.

Though the UStream recorded version of yesterday's health care plan roll-out in Marion, Iowa has been online since the event took place, I wanted to upload the better quality video, broken down into the three parts of Thursday's events. The process of this conversation is incredibly important, in my opinion, because health care is probably the paramount issue that confronts American families around their kitchen tables. The Dodd plan was introduced through a conversation that most of us know very well -- talking about the hardships, the fears, and the risks associated with health care and health coverage costs with our family and close friends around a kitchen table. It's a place for candor and seriousness befitting the intimate relationship we should have, safe in our home. But too often we're not safe, because we're not covered for when the worst happens or we can't receive the care we need or we're simply not sure of when we'll cross the point when we can no longer to afford to make decisions with our checkbook when thinking about our health.

In Marion, Iowa Senator Dodd listened to these concerns and stories first; then answered how he thinks we can best overcome the challenges facing us; and lastly, answering questions that people have about how his plan will work and why it's the best solution to the health care crisis.

Skyrocketing health care premiums have made health insurance unaffordable for too many families and American businesses. America deserves a health care system that provides universal, affordable coverage through responsibility shared by employers, individuals, insurance companies and the government. Under Chris Dodd's leadership, every American will have affordable health coverage, regardless of their employment status, health status or income level.

Part 1 - Chris Dodd listens to the concerns of working Americans about health care.

One of the largest reasons I joined the Dodd campaign and why I think Chris Dodd is the best candidate for the presidency is his leadership on restoring the Constitution and protecting the right of habeas corpus for all Americans. He fundamentally understands that our moral authority is tied into our ability to lead and our security.

Habeas corpus is an unfortunately isn't an issue that's talked about a lot in American politics. It is a right enshrined in the US Constitution to ensure that when the government detains a person, that person must be brought before a court and be tried or released. Habeas corpus is a hallmark of what protects our republic from the creep of tyranny. The right of habeas corpus was gutted by the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a law whose bland name belies its pernicious character.  A New York Times editorial in September, 2006 documented the extent of the MCA's reach beyond habeas and into our relationship with the Geneva Convention, how we treat enemy combatants, how our courts weigh secret and coerced evidence, how the MCA limits review by our independent judiciary, and a definition of torture that is so narrow as to exclude rape from being included.

At some point, hopefully quite soon, the Iraq War will be over. Patriotic, courageous leaders will bind up our nation's wounds and we, as a nation, will move on as best we can. Hopefully we will be able to remember the mistakes that surrounded the Bush administration's policies before and during the Iraq War. But we will remain Americans and we will work together to restore our standing in the world.

But habeas corpus and the rights enshrined in our Constitution that depend on it to have meaning are a part of our national DNA. And unless it is restored soon, we risk fundamentally altering who we are as a people and what we stand for in the world.