Encouraging Signs, Pt. I

Encouraging news that warrantless wiretapping may not make it to full passage just yet...

From the AP-

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the [warrantless wiretapping] bill on a party-line vote Wednesday, but it is stalled in the House amid opposition from Democrats and some Republicans concerned that the program violates civil liberties.

And Glenn Greenwald has good news from Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid-

Sen. Reid stated flatly and unequivocally -- and I'm paraphrasing -- that the Specter bill was not going anywhere, that it would not be enacted. I then asked him how he could be so certain about that -- specifically, I asked where the 51 votes against the Specter bill would come from in light of the support it enjoys from both the White House and at least some of the ostensibly "independent" Republicans...

...When I asked him expressly whether the Democrats are committed to filibustering the Specter bill if doing so is necessary to defeat it, he said he thought that would not be necessary, but repeated that they would make sure the Specter bill did not become law. He was unequivocal about that a second time...

Let's hope his efforts, at the least, renew a national debate on this important matter.