The relationship shared between a journalist and their source is a tenuous one. Without this legislation -- in this day and age -- that relationship will cease to exist at all.

The Bush regime is trying to deliver the coup de grâce to the rule of law as we know it by making sure there are no anonymous sources to report it.

Ok, anytime the current inhabitants of the White House go to the trouble of making a website, trying to gin up support for/against something, you can bet your bottom dollar that "something" is bad for democracy, and by extension... the American people.

This website is no exception...

On every day of the year we can find anniversaries of notable events, deaths of notable people, births of people we admire.

Today is special.  It is the birthday of three current and notable liberal lions.

Today we celebrate these birthdays

Barney Frank of Massachusetts, 68.

Pat Leahy of Vermont, also 68.

And Albert Gore, Junior, Nobel Peace Laureate, 60.

This diary offers brief homage to each.

Short diary...Updated 9am

On Vermont Public Radio this morning, Senator Leahy called for Senator Clinton to withdraw from the Presidential race.

Senator Leahy, who endorsed Obama in January, said "There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination. She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama".  

He also pointed out that "John McCain, who has been making one gaffe after another, is getting a free ride on it because Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have to fight with each other. I think that her criticism is hurting him more than anything John McCain has said. I think that's unfortunate."

Woohoo!  One of my favorite senators, liberal champion from Vermont, Patrick Leahy is going to endorse Senator Obama today!

From TPM:

The Obama campaign has been touting a mystery "major endorsement," to be announced on a conference call today.

I've just learned from a source familiar with the decision that it's Senator Patrick Leahy.

That's a big endorsement for Obama -- he's a major liberal standard bearer who's been in the Senate for over three decades.

Relevant disclaim: I am Chris Dodd's Internet Director

Well, we scored a nice little victory today, didn't we?

Make no mistake about it, if it wasn't for our efforts, together, retroactive immunity would be well on its way to sailing through the Senate ... largely unnoticed.  But this is only one victory in a larger battle, in an even larger fight.  In a sense, our work has just begun anew.

Because information is just coming out fast and furious, it's important to note two things as the debate moves to the full Senate.

1.) Chris Dodd's hold / pledge to hold any bill that contains retroactive immunity remains operative as long as today's bill that passed Judiciary is only "most likely" going to be reported to the full Senate.

2.) Unlike Mukasey, those who would erode the Constitution will need SIXTY votes to pass any amendment that includes retroactive immunity, or any substitute that is immunity by another name.

Senator Dodd's statement below the fold.

PREFACE:

A group of distinguished intelligence and military officers, diplomats, and law enforcement professionals delivered an urgent message this morning to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to hold the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey until he takes a clear position on the legality of waterboarding.

Their message strongly endorses the view of former judge advocates general that waterboarding "is inhumane, is torture, is illegal.” The intelligence veterans added it is also a notoriously unreliable way to acquire accurate information.

They noted that the factors cited by the president and Mukasey as obstacles to his giving an opinion on waterboarding can be easily solved by briefing Mukasey on waterboarding and on C.I.A. interrogation methods.

Immediately upon ascending to the role of Speaker, Nancy Pelosi took Impeachment off the table.  Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution reads: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."  

The operant term here is "shall be removed" – not "may be removed," as the Speaker seems to suggest by her stubborn refusal to do her Constitutional duty. She and others cite two primary reasons for not pursing Impeachment:

1. The process would interfere with the ability of Congress to pursue other important work.

2. There would be an insufficient number of votes and too little time to achieve the intended result.

These are fair points; so let’s examine each one.

 Thanks to a daily briefing from theAFA,  just picked up news that Senator Patrick Leahy is on track to deal with several important National Guard issues, including repeal of last year's White House grab for power over the Guard at the expense of state governors. A press release from Leahy is here; Air Force magazine commented on the change that gave the President more control of the Guard here.

Keep an eye on this one. It matters.

My last diary on Vermont, which touched upon issues such as sprawl and urbanization in Vermont, apparently left a bad taste in the mouths of some people on here.

I totally understand though. I've had time to think about my positions and to try and get over my obsession with labeling out-of-staters as "flatlanders" or "carpetbaggers" (I am guilty of doing this sometimes).

I would however like to try and present a fair view of Vermont as I see it now.

I must add that my cat ran away yesterday. I'm hoping writing this diary will help me cheer up a little bit about things.

The cloture vote on the Leahy-Specter-Dodd amendment to restore habeas corpus will take place this morning at 10:30 AM Eastern. We need 60 votes to overcome the Republican filibuster of this crucial legislation. As you can see, we're closing in on the votes we need to take this first critical step towards restoring America's moral authority in the world. With almost 700 calls logged through our Citizen-Generated Whip Count tool at Restore-Habeas.org, we've watched the number of "Yes" votes steadily rise.

This is going to be a close vote. Almost every Republican office is punting on telling their constituents how they will vote. It seems most will announce whether or not they think America should continue to stand by the Great Writ of habeas corpus with their vote alone.

I won't belabor the importance of Habeas Corpus, "The Great Writ", except to point out that without it we have no rights because this is the only way a citizen can have their day in court to determine whether your rights have been violated.

There is no justice without it!

Right now the Habeas Restoration Act is being debated on the floor of the Senate and the current vote count is:

51 - Yea
7  - Nay
42 - Unclear