The Clinton Impeachment: An example of 'Shock Doctrine'

I believe that an overlooked but critical example of shock doctrine was the nationally humiliating and partisan impeachment of Bill Clinton for sexual misconduct.

As Americans were subjected to Kennith Starr, Monica Lewinsky and the sordid details unveiled in our national media, the word impeachment became unhooked from the prosecution of legal and criminal activity as evidenced during the Nixon Watergate Scandal. Instead, impeachment became associated with the shocking and distasteful outing of Clinton's sexual peccadilloes; behavior that was widely considered immoral, but is not related in any way to federal law.

Thus, impeachment became linked - in the minds of current democratic legislators - with the very lowest of partisan witch-hunting. This link was forged by shock; thus... shock doctrine at work.

When I wrote to my congressional representative two years ago and laid out the legal and constitutional arguments for the impeachment of Bush, his baffling response was that he 'wanted nothing to do with any partisan activity that would ruin his relationship with his republican colleagues.' I found it astonishing at the time that he would put his friendship with fellow republicans ahead of his oath of office to protect the Constitution, and before the defense of our 'rule of law, not men.'

It wasn't until recently (and after reading Naomi Klein's book 'The Shock Doctrine,') that I realized my representative had simply forgotten the the lessons of Watergate in the wake of a more recent - and shocking - use of the 'I word.'

Americans - and especially Democrats - were apparently shocked into inaction by lasting horror and embarrassment stemming from the Clinton impeachment. It appears that the Democratic party has confused the impeachment process itself with its partisan misuse by their GOP colleagues. Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi cling to the perception that impeachment is 'bad for the country.'

In actuality, the right to impeachment elected officials (designed by our nation's founders to keep executive ambitions in check) is a very necessary tool for the protection of democracy from executive overreach. We are now seeing the fallout of having no tool with which to keep any president from simply grabbing more and more power, breaking laws, attacking our Constitution and destroying the balance of power between the three branches of our Federal government.

The GOP effectively 'broke' impeachment in advance of their own party's rise to power... and I suspect that this mock impeachment was also useful as a facilitator of their political ascent.

Gossip and Victorian outrage hung like a dark cloud over the entire Gore campaign. It also lowered the bar of election dialog from discussion of real political and economic issues, to discussions of marital fidelity and Christian morality. Gore had an obvious advantage over Bush when it came to economic and political discussion, so the GOP simply lowered the level of dialog to give their candidate a chance.

It is likely - given the overall prosperity of the Clinton era - that Gore would have won handily and by a wide margin. Instead, many Americans were disgusted with Clinton's sexual escapades and the national embarrassment that they felt as a consequence. Gore never managed to crawl out from under the Clinton stain. Democrats everywhere came to blame impeachment itself - rather than its very partisan misuse by the GOP - for their loss of face.

Impeachment as political shock doctrine. Think about it.

As per Lincoln's words above: its time to sign

Let every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the revolution never to violate, in the least particular, the laws of the country and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of '76 did to the support of the declaration of independence, so to the support of the constitution and laws, let every American pledge his life, his prosperity and his sacred honor.

Let every man remember that to violate the laws is to trample on the blood of his fathers and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in the legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. In short, let it become the political religion of the nation.

- Abraham Lincoln

I have enormous respect for this man, Dennis Kucinich. And for the law. And for the sanctity of the Constitution: the piece of paper that guarantees our rights and our freedom.

And I have enormous respect and reverence for all of those patriots - everyday men and women who came before us - that risked everything they had to build this nation, this 'bastion of freedom' for future generations.

It is up to us to defend it now from rampant corruption; from the darkness that is closing in on it, and on us.

It's time to sign.

Sign the petition to put Impeachment on the table.

For the record: The 'Impeachment Hearing'

View it here on C-Span (click on the red 'flash video' button to view it for free.)

Or see the individual segments via YouTube below:

Kucinich enters hearing to cheers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2MWTh0QF40

Rep. Robert Wexler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T1ojrKhp6E

Rep. Steve King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eZxCloEbQk

Rep. Jerrold Nadler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL7259BAP9s

Rep. Dennis Kucinich:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRAcenaTVkQ

Bruce Fein:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80IphtHrFzg

Vincent Bugliosi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDAFozFn4kU

Bruce Fein:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXyDK2-p4fU

Vincent Bugliosi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q53p34yzZac

Vincent Bugliosi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7abu9a0xtNI

Lamar Smith:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epf0QpeFcag

Rep. Baldwin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFNmanXtZ9o

Maurice Hinchey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CHKV-7vvYk

Rep. Dan Lungren:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKc5e0oAvYM

Protesters ejected:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uosDxv1bjCc

Rep. Walter Jones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU5HKfes0cE

Congressman Steve Cohen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZezNyKmKF1M

Must-see TV

History will smile on this man.

Dennis talks about Impeachment

Slant me baby; gimme that yellow news!

The AP is really slipping. Or perhaps it 'slipped' long ago. But at times it is impossible to even read AP news alerts - the bias literally shrieks off the page.

Take this recent story about Russ Feingold's push to censure Bush.

Now we all know that if any administration EVER deserved to be censured, it is this one. American citizens are growing tired. We're not too fond of crime in high places, never have been, never will be. It's in our national DNA.

And while he cannot initiate impeachment -- that process has to start with John Conyers in the House Judiciary -- Senator Russ Feingold decided to act. After being pummeled three times out here with our impeachment comments, it appears that Senator Feingold heard our cries for justice and decided to censure Bush and Cheney.

Because this is something the Senate can actually do. Well that's the plan anyway.

Now for the AP's take on this:

Washington - Liberal Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold said Sunday he wants Congress to censure President Bush for his management of the Iraq war and his "assault" against the Constitution.

Oh AP editor: how do you really feel? Nice use of quotes to show your disdain. And of course, so relevant that Senator Feingold is 'liberal', and you must immediately point this out as the obvious reason for his unreasonable attack on poor president (24% rating) Bush.

But Feingold's own party leader in the Senate showed little interest in the idea. An attempt in 2006 by Feingold to censure Bush over the warrantless spying program attracted only three co-sponsors.

Bad, bad Senator Feingold. Always making waves! See? He tried this once before! And his own party leadership is against it! Crazy, crazy Senator Feingold.

Feingold, a prominent war critic, said he soon plans to offer two censure resolutions - measures that would amount to a formal condemnation of the Republican president.

And he's also against the war! I'm sure that is related!

The first would seek to reprimand Bush for, as Feingold described it, getting the nation into war without adequate military preparation and for issuing misleading public statements.

Yes, as Russ described it, they are being cited for attacking a sovereign nation on false pretenses. That about sums it up.

The second measure would seek to censure Bush for what the Democrat called a continuous assault against the rule of law through such efforts as the warrantless surveillance program against suspected terrorists, Feingold said.

Russ Feingold is a Democrat? Gosh - thank you for reminding us once again!

And actually -- I hate to bring this up -- but the issue isn't that the Bush administration is spying on terrorists. The issue is that they are illegally and unconstitutionally spying on us.

And now for the equally biased coverage of the opposing viewpoint:

At the White House, spokesman Trey Bohn said, "We realize that Senator Feingold does not care much for the president's policies."

Ya think? Forgetting of course, that only 24% of Americans (if that) actually DO care for the president's policies.

AP, AP... such an embarrassment to journalism. This isn't just Senator Feingold 'going off on his own.' Dig a little deeper, AP guys. Did you happen to see the way we (here on Daily Kos) beat the crap out of Senator Feingold last week for not endorsing impeachment? The man tries to represent the people, and gets... this predictable media disdain.

Bohn said Bush wants to work with Feingold and other Democrats on such matters as supporting U.S. troops, improving energy choices and securing health care and tax cuts for families. "Perhaps after calls for censure and more investigations, Congress may turn to such things," Bohn said.

You see? Once again, those lousy Democrats are impeding progress!

Senator Feingold... Russ... Bush wants to work with you! You just haven't noticed with all of the endless filibusters on these very issues. But really. He does. Really. If only you wouldn't waste everyone's time with such silliness as condemning a rogue presidency, we could get back to the daily obstruction games.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Feingold's proposals showed the nation's frustration. But Reid said he would not go along with them and said the Senate needs to focus on finishing spending bills on defense and homeland security.

Frustration? Harry, Harry... we're PISSED OFF. Get that through your head. We're outraged. We're freaking out.

And we've noticed how well your spending bills are going, yes we have. Damned well. That all-nighter resulted in real progress. I'm not blaming you for that one, just sayin. You have time... because you'll never get anywhere with this GOP filibuster-bluster, and you know it. Do something for us -- for the people. Just this once.

"We have a lot of work to do," Reid said. "The president already has the mark of the American people _ he's the worst president we ever had. I don't think we need a censure resolution in the Senate to prove that."

Oh yes, so much work to do. All of it more important than the Constitution, illegal wiretapping, lies, obstruction of justice, outing a CIA agent, more lies, more obstruction of justice, and an imperial presidency.

Senator Reid -- we don't need a censure resolution, that is true. We need impeachment.

As for the Senate's top Republican, "I think it's safe to say Russ Feingold is not a fan of George Bush. I think that's the best way to sum that up," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Senator Feingold, you're so mean. Why don't you like the president? Don't you love America?

The 'Russ Feingold' diaries

As many people know (by now,) Senator Russ Feingold regularly posts 'diaries' out on Daily Kos.

On July 13th, he posted a diary about Democratic progress in ending the war in Iraq. His diary was immediately 'hijacked' by loud and almost endless demands, pleas, and intelligent arguments for impeachment. I don't think a single comment was really about the diary itself. Russ came out to Kos, and he was immediately jumped: he was the one representative people hoped would listen.

Within the comment section, he responded at least once; saying that he didn't believe that impeachment was a 'good use of time'; that there was much work to be done, and that impeachment would be a lengthy process.

This of course, spurred even a greater flurry of angry, frustrated comments. People discussed precedent, the rule of law, danger to democracy, the destruction of our government, the destruction of our good name around the world, and mostly the gross illegality of this administration. The comments were at times amazing, and in total very consistent.

Hundreds of people came out of the woodwork to voice their concerns.

Later in the week, Russ came back. He posted a second diary, this one specifically addressing impeachment and again reiterating his thought that it wasn't a good use of the time remaining in this congress.

While some have pointed to Republicans’ decision to impeach President Clinton, I am also concerned about the over-use of impeachment. And I am conscious of the fact that I would have a specific role to play as a sworn, impartial juror should an impeachment be tried in the Senate. If charges come to the Senate, I will approach them and the trial with the same seriousness that I had when I participated in the Clinton impeachment trial. I would not prejudge the case one way or the other should it come to this.

I fully respect the anger and frustration many Americans feel with this Administration. I share much of it. But on balance, I think Congress’s time is much better spent ending the war in Iraq, conducting the oversight that was absent for the last six years, and advancing progressive legislation.

Once again, Kos posters came right back at him about the continual filibusters and obstruction by the GOP (implying that the Democrats weren't getting much accomplished anyway.) They also reiterated the continuing damage being waged on United States citizens, detainees, Iraq, and the climate by this 'unitary' executive branch (and no, I won't capitalize unitary - it is the antipathy of all that is American, a contradiction of our precious Constitution, and as such does not deserve to be acknowledged.)

The second diary filled up with fiery impeachment comments just as the first. There are, at this point 1889 comments posted. He apparently read all of the comments, and even added an update:

UPDATE: I know that many of you disagree with my approach to this issue, but I thought it was important to make it clear where I’m coming from and explain why I am not calling for impeachment.

I certainly do believe in holding this Administration accountable and upholding the Constitution and the rule of law. That’s why last year I called for the President to be censured for his authorization of the illegal wiretapping program. I thought that was the appropriate course because it would have put the Senate on record in condemning the President’s wrongdoing. I still think that the censure resolution played an important role in focusing the public and the media’s attention on the issue. And I am working to make sure that Congress finally exercises its oversight responsibility by holding hearings and demanding information about the wiretapping program, the U.S. attorney firings and other abuses of power.

Many of you also wrote that if I recognize that the President and Vice President may have committed impeachable offenses, than it is our responsibility to impeach. As I pointed out, it is the role of the House to impeach, and it is the role of the Senate to try impeachments. But the Constitution left it up to the judgment of members of Congress whether or not moving forward with impeachment is best for the country.

Please keep the comments coming. I’ll do my best to read them all. I very much appreciate your honesty and directness. This exchange is very important to me.

Yesterday, Russ came back out to Kos again, explaining his plan to censure Bush and Cheney:

The last time I posted on Daily Kos, it certainly generated a lot of interest, even though many people disagreed with what I had to say. I read all of the comments and I know many of you disagreed with me. As always, I appreciate how honest and passionate the Daily Kos community is about the issues that matter and even when we don’t agree it was important to have the civil exchange that we did.

After that last post, you really got me thinking. While I still am not convinced that Congress should pursue impeachment, you made some great points about how important it is to hold this administration accountable for its terrible misconduct. That includes tough oversight by Congress, but we should do more than that. The history books should show that Congress formally condemned this President, and others in the administration who have so brazenly misled the American people and undercut the rule of law.

Wow, imagine that. He was listening and thinking about our responses. And he came right out and said it publicly.

At this point, everyone was attacking him (they are still attacking him today,) declaring that he has betrayed the people and that he 'doesn't understand' the desire for impeachment and the reasons for demanding it.

There are now over 1000 comments posted to yesterday's diary.

Members of the Daily Kos community may be outraged and angry with Russ. And yet... just look what he has done. We now have three Russ Feingold diaries full of impeachment fury -- diaries that will stand for all to see, that will be seen, simply because they were posted by Senator Russ Feingold.

I may be out on a limb here, but the fact that he came back... well, I have a theory.

I do believe he is on our side. He is a brilliant man - he was a Rhodes scholar and he graduated Harvard with honors (law degree) I think we are pushing it, if we think Russ doesn't 'get it.' Russ gets it.

If you look at the other yahoos and bozos who somehow managed to get elected to our government -- Russ can think circles around them. And he's a completely ethical guy... he's our wizard (to put it in Hogwarts terms.) He may in fact be a little too clever for us, in our anger and frustration.

Think about his recent diaries. They generated a firestorm of impeachment comments - very well-thought out and fiery comments. Excellent comments. What a gold mine of impeachment fury.

After the first round, he came back yet again and egged everyone on, to produce still more fiery comments. Another gold mine. Another huge repository of great and insightful impeachment comments. And then he came back again yesterday, but this time he offered something... something that he, as a Senator, can actually deliver. And he gave everyone credit for making him think. He told everyone that he was listening. What he didn't say, but that everyone should contemplate... is that due to his diaries, there are now three repositories of impeachment arguments that are impossible to refute. It is impossible now for anyone in Congress to say that 'the people' do not understand impeachment, and that they do not support it. The comments show how smart the people actually are.

Russ can't initiate the impeachment process himself (it has to start in the House,) and he will have to serve as a juror if impeachment leads to a trial in the Senate.

Russ is helping us. He's even willing to be a lightning rod for the cause. Do we really believe that other congressmen and senators somehow missed Russ Feingold's diaries - and all of the comments they generated? Please. I even emailed the links to Bruce Fein, in case they might be useful.

Everyone is watching. And they know the American people are outraged. And thanks to Fox's O'Reilly (who blasted Daily Kos on several recent broadcasts) many conservatives are now reading the site as well. And they will see these arguments, and I suspect some of them - exposed to this information for the first time - will pause and think.

All because of Russ. No one would have bothered with anyone else's diaries, but because they are Senator Russ Feingold's diaries -- everyone is paying attention.

We never lost Russ. But at some point, we might stop attacking him... and go after the House. It has to start in the House.

Russ calls for censure of Bush and Cheney

False flag in the wind?

Former Reagan Administration officials are coming out of the woodwork, screaming bloody hell about Bush and Cheney. Former Assistant Treasurer to Reagan, Paul Craig Roberts (also known as the 'Father of Reaganomics,' wrote this breath-taking commentary for CounterPunch.

Thom Hartmann interviewed Roberts on Air America today and asked him about the piece - here is an excerpt:

Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and others suggest that Americans might expect a series of staged, or false flag, "terrorist" events in the near future.

Many attentive people believe that the reason the Bush administration will not bow to expert advice and public opinion and begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq is that the administration intends to rescue its unpopular position with false flag operations that can be used to expand the war to Iran.

Too much is going wrong for the Bush administration: the failure of its Middle East wars, Republican senators jumping ship, Turkish troops massed on northern Iraq's border poised for an invasion to deal with Kurds, and a majority of Americans favoring the impeachment of Cheney and a near-majority favoring Bush's impeachment. The Bush administration desperately needs dramatic events to scare the American people and the Congress back in line with the militarist-police state that Bush and Cheney have fostered.

Turns out Brzezinski testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this past February, and actually brought up the potential for a False Flag as provocation leading to war with Iran.

"A plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran involves Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks, followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure, then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the United States blamed on Iran, culminating in a quote-unquote “defensive” U.S. military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire, eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan."

There are some in the UK who believe that they were already used in a 'false flag operation' to try to gain their support in a wider war with Iran.

Perished from the earth

Over a hundred years ago, Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most stirring speeches in American history:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Surely the American Civil War as a time of much greater fear and terror than anything we have ever known in our sheltered, spoiled lifetimes.

And yet President Lincoln never demanded that the people BE AFRAID, never cut Congress out of the loop. He created a bipartisan cabinet of brilliant minds to guarantee that the best interests of the nation would be upheld, even at the cost of his own personal comfort (many of them hated him, and openly looked down on him because of his humble background.)

This was no rich men's pawn. This was a president. This man was one of us; and he believed in us.



Lincoln suspended habeas corpus when riots broke out in cities all across the North, and threatened the safety of the masses. (We citizens have never really liked our wars... have we?) And Lincoln later lifted it. We will find out today if our Senate thinks the current suspension of habeas corpus is worth lifting... without a single American city in flames, or even one lawless riot rampaging through our streets. Yes, we will see.

Lincoln was trying to save our nation... not destroy it for his own, personal gain. Lincoln believed in the dream of our nation's founders.

Democracy. Liberty. Justice.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

Yes, wars will do that. Quite a lot of 'testing' goes on during wartime. 58,168 Americans died in the Vietnam war. 54,246 Americans died in Korea. 407,316 Americans died in WWII. 116,708 Americans died in WWI.

558,052 Americans died in the American Civil War, in the course of only 4 years... out of a total national population of about 30 million (today we have a population of 300 million.) Imagine the impact on society, on towns, cities and farms all across America. And imagine... they didn't toss out the Constitution - and Lincoln still conferred with Congress before going to war.



The South fought to form their own, new Constitution; the Union fought to defend the current. Each side was, in their way, fighting for their vision of America... just as today, angry voices on the right and angry voices on the left all fight for their own vision, their own American reality.

We disagree on everything else, but we all do love our country.

Unfortunately for us, corporations do not love our country. They want to rule our country. They want ever more money, ever more power, ever more control. But no, they do not love anything... but money.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. - Thomas Jefferson

Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic. - James Madison

We were warned. We have been warned by everyone; from Jefferson to Eisenhower. We didn't listen. We were lured by trinkets and toys, and capitalism grew and grew, until at last it ate democracy.

But back to Gettysburg. Back to the battlefield.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

We are engaged, once again, in a war. But this war was never about freedom. This war was never about ideals; although the money powers spun it a way that would inspire yet another generation of idealistic, patriotic warriors to fight.

This war has always been about money.



We are daily met on a battlefield of a war. We just haven't yet awakened as a nation to the true nature of our war; and exactly who it is that has declared war on us.

We are misled, co-opted, enslaved... more and more, every day. Our freedom is being stolen from us at every turn by the money powers that lurk in the shadows; the powers that pay for our politicians, own our media, and call the shots. The money that wields the real power behind the scenes in Congress.

Do we think -- do we really think, for one moment, that anything we see is happening without their consent?

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

And how do we do that exactly? How do we end this 'perpetual war' that was declared against our will? This war... this endless war that will kill generation after generation of American and 'enemy' warriors alike, along with untold millions of innocent civilians...while destroying our very democracy in the process?

How do we resist this 'war beast' that is intent on killing us?

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Ah, father Abraham... that is the crux of the matter. That is the heart of everything. Because you see, we no longer are a government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people.' That government has indeed, as you once feared, perished from this earth. It happened in increments. It happened with a bill here, an amendment there, and many, many signing statements. It happened while we went to work, went to school, eat, watched TV and slept. It happened quietly and in back rooms.

All across this country, people are demanding justice, demanding the removal of this lawless presidency. For some reason, the Democrats - who we elected to 'make it right' and save our democracy - refuse to act. Most of them refuse to even listen to the voices of the people.

Even Senator Feingold who I have held in the very highest esteem and never once doubted - not for a moment - seems to believe that impeachment is not worth the time.

How can saving our Constitution and our balance of power in government, not to mention our own voice - the voice of the people - how can this not be worth the time?

Lincoln would have thought it worth the time.



Yesterday, Senator Feingold posted a diary on Daily Kos. He responded to the many angry impeachment comments that completely flooded his last diary on Kos. He restated that he feels that impeachment is not a good use of time.

I fully respect the anger and frustration many Americans feel with this Administration. I share much of it. But on balance, I think Congress’s time is much better spent ending the war in Iraq, conducting the oversight that was absent for the last six years, and advancing progressive legislation.

When I try to contact anyone about impeachment (congressman or senator,) I hear much the same... only unlike Senator Feingold, (who did approach us in good faith and is listening,) they speak to me as if talking to a small, confused child. It is as though I must be some left-wing radical to even broach the subject of impeachment. I have to tell them that I actually LEFT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OVER THIS before they stop and listen.

I will never belong to any party, ever again. I have lost all faith in parties. Party before nation? NEVER. I put the onus on the Democrats to restore that faith by doing something - anything - to save my country from slipping into a fascist dictatorship.

And perhaps the Democrats are satisfied to have a Democratic dictator rather than a Republican. Perhaps that is the deal that was brokered behind our backs. As long as the uniform is blue instead of red... and the right party 'wins.'



NO.

This was a government built on the rights and the voice of the people; and no one gives a damn about us anymore except when we're actually voting, excepting of course that our elections are now broken too.

And do you know why that is? Because lobbyists now outnumber lawmakers 24-1.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson

Why would Congress give a damn about us? We don't pay their way... the corporations do. Perhaps the money powers who own the candidates and the media (except for a couple of mavericks - the ones who are ignored by the media by some strange coincidence;) perhaps these king makers told the Democratic party that they will not receive any endorsements - any money - for next year's election if they push through with impeachment.

Has anyone considered this?

These corporations are growing fat on the Bush Administration's policies, on this contractors' war, on land giveaways, cutbacks on corporate oversight, plundering of the environment, union-bashing, corporate tax cuts... this is pig trough heaven for the corporate world. In fact, corporate lobby representatives now oversee every single oversight agency; and corporations now make the rules and 'police themselves.'



And that is why I now believe that we will never, ever get this back; this government of the people. The whole thing has already gone too far under Bush and Cheney; the corporations will never give up all of this power now. And no one in Congress (other than Dennis and a handful of others) has the courage to stand against them.

One of the starkest Lincoln quotes I've ever seen was written in a letter to an officer during the Civil War. Some people have insisted Lincoln didn't write it, but a historian tracked it down and verified. I was floored when I saw it. How could he have... forseen this? But since that day, I have read many other warnings, going all the way back to our founding fathers. This danger has been looming since the very beginning of our nation.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. - Abraham Lincoln

If even Senator Feingold says 'do nothing,' it must be because he cannot see any way that Democrats can win next year without keeping impeachment off the table. And what on earth... would make a man like Senator Feingold, who so obviously loves the Constitution and agrees that these tyrants deserve to be impeached; what would make him suggest that impeachment was a bad use of time?



Perhaps the threat of continuing, lawless Neocon rule.

The sad thing... is that if this is true, and it is all about campaign finance: the Democrats are being played.

The corporations will never allow the Democrats to take over Congress or the White House unless they agree to keep things just as they are now. The corporate world will never give up a single tool in their presidential toolbox. I had nothing at all against Hillary; nothing at all... until she became lost in Rupert Murdoch's shadow. And of course Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. And Times Warner. Why would Hillary concern herself with listening to me? I will never have that kind of money.

But I still doubt that they really want Hillary; they'd much rather have a greedy Neocon like Fred Thompson.

I'm imagining a different scenario. I expect they will tell the Democrats to toe that line just a little too long... until the people become increasingly enraged and disaffected.

Then they will toss the people an independent candidate to split the weakened, Democratic vote. And of course, the gravy train will go right on, as if nothing ever happened. Giuliani or Fred Thompson. Probably Thompson because he was a lobbyist. Who better for the new corpocracy?

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country. - Thomas Jefferson

Do I sound cynical? Machiavelli called this hundreds of years ago. Jefferson foresaw it during the birth pangs of our nation. Adams predicted that our fledgling democracy could not survive, but would eventually 'commit suicide.'

It must have leapt while we weren't looking.

If we've lost Senator Feingold, we've lost our Democratic Congress. And they were all we have to represent us in these dark, dark days.

We have no Lincoln... except the one with the tired, sad eyes, staring out from the dusty, faded pictures of our past. The man, the president of the people; who saw the future, and is perhaps still trying to warn us across time and space.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. - Abraham Lincoln

Bill Moyers Journal: Tough talk on impeachment

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Impeachment Panel Excerpt | PBS


Every time I think I have seen 'the best Bill Moyers Journal ever,' he raises the bar in his next weekly installment. Last night's discussion of impeachment was so far above the setting of any previous bar that it is in a category all it's own: must see TV.

If you watch nothing else this week, nothing else at all... make sure you watch this. Every American should see it; every school should show it to every American gradeschooler and especially high school student. Every congressman and senator should watch and learn.

Impeachment: Cure for Constitutional Crisis



This discussion is about the heart and soul of our democracy, the balance between the three (not four) branches of our Federal government, about why Dick Cheney's idea of a 'unitary presidency' is destroying our Constitution and stealing our freedom as Americans. It should also serve as a dire warning. If we don't restore the executive branch to the limits and boundaries established (for our protection) by our forefathers, we will live forever, from here on, under dictatorship.

Moyers spoke at length with constitutional expert Bruce Fein, and John Nichols from 'The Nation' magazine on the merits of impeaching Dick Cheney and George Bush. I have included a YouTube video (above,) but the entire show can be seen on Bill Moyers web site, and the entire transcript as well as supporting documents are also available online.

Why Impeachment of Cheney/Bush Is NOT Something to Fear



I encourage you to watch the entire show, whether on television or via the web. Yes, it is that important.

Senator Feingold deluged with demands for Impeachment

Yesterday, an amazing watermark was reached on Daily Kos.

Senator Russ Feingold (highly respected and an occasional blogger on Kos) posted a diary updating his efforts to end the war in Iraq. This in and of itself was not unusual. The comments (responses from the Daily Kos community) were unprecedented.

With only one or two exceptions (including Feingold's own comments) nearly every single response to his diary was an entreaty, demand or request for the impeachment of Dick Cheney and/or George Bush.

At one point Feingold responded to the impeachment avalanche by commenting:

As many of you have pointed out, articles of impeachment originate in the House, not the Senate. While I agree that the President has committed offenses right in the strike zone of impeachment (most notably with his illegal warrantless wiretapping program) and I share the outrage of many Americans at this President’s conduct, I am not sure multiple impeachment trials would be best for the country.

This comment did nothing at all to stop the flow of impeachment requests, but seemed to add fuel the fire. There are over 340 comments posted to the diary, and it is difficult to find any that aren't impassioned cries for impeachment. The arguments are intelligent, heartfelt and compelling. Take a look... and sit back and ponder.

There have been discussions about impeachment on Kos for months. Some argued pro, some con. There were reasonable and valid arguments made to support each point of view. In the last few weeks, and especially the last week, this has changed.

One by one, the opposition hardliners have had second thoughts. First the Libby 'get out of jail free' card. Then the refusal of the White House to turn over evidence. Then the refusal of the White House to allow Harriet Miers to appear before the Senate. Add to this the outrage over the Washington Post series on Cheney, news of the CIA 'Family Jewels,' and FBI abuses of the Patriot Act.

We have reached a pivotal moment, at least on Kos; in once voice, one collective scream, we are demanding that our government be rescued, the 'unitary executive' overturned, and our constitutional rule restored. And heaven help the congressman or senator who posts to the site these days, because he or she will be buried in impeachment demands. Democracy it seems is far from dead, and the people are determined to revive it to full strength.

In the end... we are American first. We want our country back.

Bushie accuses war protesters of 'not paying taxes'

Anti-war, pro-impeachment protesters heckled Nancy Pelosi as she attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for some boring, federal building. (OK, it was a big, expensive building and an obvious delight to the Neocon hosting the event. Nice that it was at least energy efficient.)

About a dozen people chanted "Impeach now!" as Pelosi spoke at the dedication of the $144 million, 18-story landmark office complex, which boasts cutting-edge energy efficiency features. The demonstrators also unfurled a large "impeach" banner that directly faced Pelosi and other speakers.

The protesters - kept well away from the action - were nearly loud enough to drown out Madam Pelosi; but she of course ignored them (and believe me, we're all becoming used to that treatment -- aren't we Nancy?)

Then the Bushie Neocrat-in-charge had the temerity to accuse the protesters, relegated to the outskirts of the ceremony, of 'not being taxpayers' like the important people who had been invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Ah, the sneering disdain of the 'upper class.'

Pelosi ignored the protesters, who were loud enough to compete with her remarks, but not loud enough to drown her out. The event was held outdoors, with invited guests kept outside a police barricade but well within shouting distance.

However, a Bush administration official fired back at the demonstrators, accusing them of not paying taxes. Peter G. Stamison, appointed by President Bush as the General Services Administration's top official for the Pacific Rim region, acted as master of ceremonies.

"I think we all as taxpayers—those of us taxpayers, as opposed to you people back there—are the ones that make this work," Stamison said of the government efforts that brought the new building to life.

"Excuse me, I pay taxes!" a protester yelled.

Roll that truck back. Did I hear that right? A Bushie accusing anyone (who obviously isn't in the multi-billionaire club) of not paying taxes?

Get out!

Someone should give this guy the memo... the only people who get a pass from paying taxes these days are neocons and oil companies.

The rich get the tax-cutsies and the tax-breaksies. Everyone else pays the taxsies - everyone. Future generations should have lots and lots of taxsies, because this administration has plunged our nation into debt for generations; all while making a tidy profiteering haul (all taxsie-free!) from this bloody oil war.

We're paying for it. We paid for the right to protest it, buddy.

That comment really takes the cake - and the ribbon from the ceremony (which someone should wrap around that bone-head's mouth.) The most idiotic Bush-brain comment of the day... and it didn't even come from Bush!

Fighting for democracy and the environment...

... every single day.

I'm tired. If I'm not posting a lot of new content out here, it is because I am once again engaged in an almost endless (and probably useless) letter-writing campaign to save Net Neutrality, Utah's gorgeous White River Canyon; berating my congressman (blue dog) for obstructing the impeachment investigation of Dick Cheney, and basically hurling myself against the brick wall of neocon government. Bruised and sore, I have little else to say when I come out here.

So, I guess I'll just share a few of my recent responses to my non-responsive government.

My recent letter to the head of the FCC, concerning Net Neutrality:

Now that our media has become 'corporate,' and covers nothing but Paris Hilton morning, noon and night, we have been driven to the Internet; not only for real news, but a chance to speak out and discuss that fading concept... democracy.

Remember democracy? Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost?" Or perhaps James Madison, who said "The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." Or perhaps Abraham Lincoln: "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

We don't get 'real facts' on television news these days. It's not as much what they say, as what they refuse to cover. We are subjected to an endless stream of mindless 'entertainment' and propaganda. Why? Because television news is 'owned' by someone who has a vested interest in controlling what we think.

Nor do we get anything close to a democratic discussion via television. We get exactly what Rupert Murdoch and others like him want to us know: no more, no less. And no one asks us what we want. No one asks us what we think.

There was a day when we managed to do OK for ourselves without the Internet. But in our current climate of rampant corruption, and the storming of our Capitol by corporate lobbyists, the Internet is the last place for the people to find out the real news, and discuss the current state of our nation and democracy. And as such a place of freedom and open discussion, I fully expected it would be next in the target sight of big corporations. How not? I've read Machiavelli.

Net Neutrality is essential to free speech, equal opportunity and economic innovation in America. Since the FCC removed this basic protection in 2005, the top executives of phone and cable companies have stated their intention to become the Internet's gatekeepers and to discriminate against Web sites that don't pay their added tolls. What a surprise, since this has already been implemented by the postal service (with no input by us, the 'people' I might add.)

This kind of corporate approach to controlling our mail is already putting a crunch on independent newspapers and magazines -- all to the benefit of the big corporations like Times Warner. By the way... how did Times Warner suddenly become so powerful that they were able to influence the operations of our postal service? Obviously our democracy is indeed on its last gasp.

This fundamental change to the Internet would end the open discussion of democracy as we know it. It would damage my ability to connect with others, share information and participate in our 21st century democracy and economy. The FCC must ensure that broadband providers do not block, interfere with or discriminate against any lawful Internet traffic based on its ownership, source or destination.

My letter to the BLM expressing my 'concerns' about oil drilling in the White River Canyon:

My God! I've hiked in those canyons... how dare you? That is GOD'S country, not another oil slick-in-waiting.

We entrust BLM to take care of our land! It is your responsibility to provide the highest level of protection for the White River Canyon area - not allow it to be trashed. We got rid of Pombo, and you're still at it. Appalling.

During its 1996-1999 wilderness inventory of this area, BLM found that over 16,000 acres of this area met all the requirements for protection as designated Wilderness. But I guess that was in the days when the BLM actually cared for the land - and protected it for future generations.

Your recent decision to allow 60 wells to be drilled within this area could sacrifice its wilderness values to oil and gas development, like so many other special places in the West that are irreplaceable. We need to get off of fossil fuel anyway -- and here you are, destroying what is left of our wild beauty so that another filthy rich oil company can get even richer. I am sick of this. BLM must reverse its course on this planning effort and commit to protecting the magnificent resources present in the White River Canyon area. This is OUR LAND. WE THE PEOPLE.

Do I sound angry enough? You have no idea.... no idea. You'd put an oil well or perhaps a coal mine in the Grand Canyon if you thought you could get away with it.

BLM needs to make the following corrections to its analysis before moving forward with this planning effort:

* BLM should prepare a comprehensive environmental impact statement (EIS). Without doing so, BLM will continue to fail to fully analyze the impacts of these gas wells on the many values present in the White River Canyon area.

* BLM must take into account the many new gas wells, roads, pipelines, and compressor stations recently constructed to the north, east, and west of the White River wilderness inventory area. BLM must study the combined and cumulative impacts of this existing development and the proposed new development.

* BLM must take a hard look at the proposed project's impacts to the area's outstanding opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation and its abundant natural quiet and overall naturalness of the area. The agency must then consider how best to protect these important public values.

The natural resources present in the White River Canyon are irreplaceable. And they belong to the people. Last I checked, that was us... not the oil companies or Bushies.

BLM's decision to discount its own findings about the wilderness character of the area and instead sacrifice yet another area for a small amount of oil and gas is a mistake and flat out WRONG. BLM must complete a full EIS, analyze the full impacts drilling will cause in this area, and fully protect the valuable wilderness qualities of this important area.

My comments when I signed yet another petition to impeach Cheney - comments going to my blue dog, no doubt:

I'm tired of asking. There is 'partisan' and there is LAW. We are a nation that purports to hold law and our Constitution above all else. PROVE IT.

Don't ever throw 'partisan' at me as an excuse for failing to defend my Constitution and my democracy from a tyrant - yes, we all know what he is - because I have already left the Democratic Party over this after a lifetime of 'party loyalty,' and I will side with a former Reagan administration official, a general -- anyone who is serious about saving my country, before I will bow to the cowering political weakness of any party.

I don't care how many lobbyists are demanding that you do nothing. I'm demanding that you defend us, defend the Constitution, defend the rule of law. Over 50% of Americans agree with me... at least that many, and the number is growing by the day, as we overcome the bias of the corporate media. If Democrats expect to 'sweep' into office in 2008, they damn well better do something to show they deserve that honor.

And yes, sorry I can't hide it any more, but I'm mad as hell. I don't quit a political party after a lifetime over nothing... only when that party betrays me, betrays our troops overseas, and betrays my country. I keep hearing that the 'blue dogs' are obstructing. If you aren't going to hunt, then get out of the way. Democracy, coming through... like a freight train.

Brave New Films: Impeach Cheney video

Gen. William Odom: Bush is destroying our army

In a searing indictment of the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq, Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.), former head of the NSA under the Reagan Administration, tells it like it is: the Iraq war is destroying our troops, and Bush’s obstinate refusal to admit defeat is causing the troops enormous psychological as well as physical harm.

The end of General Odom's piece is especially interesting, because he calls on Congress to press forward with impeachment if no other option is available, calling the squandering of military lives for personal gain a 'high crime':

The president is strongly motivated to string out the war until he leaves office, in order to avoid taking responsibility for the defeat he has caused and persisted in making greater each year for more than three years.

To force him to begin a withdrawal before then, the first step should be to rally the public by providing an honest and candid definition of what "supporting the troops" really means and pointing out who is and who is not supporting our troops at war. The next step should be a flat refusal to appropriate money for to be used in Iraq for anything but withdrawal operations with a clear deadline for completion.

The final step should be to put that president on notice that if ignores this legislative action and tries to extort Congress into providing funds by keeping U.S. forces in peril, impeachment proceeding will proceed in the House of Representatives. Such presidential behavior surely would constitute the "high crime" of squandering the lives of soldiers and Marines for his own personal interest.

New Poll: 54% favor impeachment of Cheney

And believe me, it's climbing. And this with only the Washington Post telling it like it really is.

Hats off to WaPo for doing the job other American journalists don't want to do: inform the citizens! Our nation's founders would be proud of you.

The rest of you corporate media pundits and your lame, insignificant news coverage (Paris Hilton, 24/7) are a blot on our democracy. What you don't cover, refuse to cover, makes you complicit.

Meanwhile, CNN has picked up the poll, but (typical MSM) ONLY the parts of the poll that dealt with the Scooter commutation. Can you believe that a poll exists showing a solid majority of American voters want the VP impeached, and the major news sources are going out of their way to ignore it? That, friends, is truly sad....

If you mainstream media talking heads wonder why so many of us have turned to the internet, the BBC and independent media news coverage, it is because you stopped providing it. If I want to be entertained by the news, I'll watch Jon Stewart (and actually learn something.)

Once upon a time we had Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Roger Mudd. They would have covered this. Once upon a time television news had integrity and credibility. Once 'news' actually meant real news, not propaganda or sensationalist drivel. Television media has been eaten up by Wallstreet and destroyed: you are now nothing better than a dramatized version of those gossip rags at the grocery store checkout counter.

You are a disgrace to journalism. An absolute disgrace.

POLL: ARG Pardon/Impeachment

A new American Research Group national survey of 1,100 adults (conducted 7/3 through 7/5) finds:

* 31% of approve of "President George W. Bush commuting the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby while leaving intact Mr. Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case;" 64% disapprove.

* 11% favor a complete presidential pardon for Libby; 84% oppose.

* 45% favor "the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush;" 46% oppose.

* 54% favor "US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney;" 40% oppose.

Original, from the American Research Group:

Question:
Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush?
7/5/07	Favor	Oppose	Undecided
All Adults	45%	46%	9%
Voters	46%	44%	10%
Democrats (38%)	69%	22%	9%
Republicans (29%)	13%	86%	1%
Independents (33%)	50%	30%	20%
3/15/06	42%	49%	9%
Based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults nationwide July 3-5, 2007. The theoretical margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time. Of the total sample, 933 interviews were completed among registered voters.

Question:
Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney?
7/5/07	Favor	Oppose	Undecided
All Adults	54%	40%	6%
Voters	50%	44%	6%
Democrats (38%)	76%	24%	-
Republicans (29%)	17%	83%	-
Independents (33%)	51%	29%	20%
Based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults nationwide July 3-5, 2007. The theoretical margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time. Of the total sample, 933 interviews were completed among registered voters.

McDermott to Cheney: ‘Resign or face impeachment’

From The Hill:

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) told Vice President Dick Cheney to “resign or face impeachment” Thursday night as three more House Democrats lent their support to a plan to impeach the vice president.

“The vice president holds himself above the law, and it is time for the Congress to enforce the law,” McDermott said in a floor speech. “For the good of the nation, the vice president could leave office immediately.”

McDermott was one of three House Democrats to come out in favor of impeachment Thursday, along with Reps. Keith Ellison (Minn.) and Hank Johnson (Ga.). Including the three lawmakers, seven members in June have shown new support for impeaching Cheney.

McDermott cited Cheney’s refusal to cooperate with the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which, pursuant to an order signed by President Clinton, oversees the handling of classified documents by executive agencies. McDermott denounced a 2004 claim that Cheney’s office is not part of the executive branch.

“When a sitting vice president claims that he is not part of the executive branch of government to which he was elected, it is time to remove him from office,” McDermott said.

Johnson also cited the refusal to submit to ISOO oversight in his decision to support impeachment.

McDermott, who was lambasted by conservatives for opposing the Iraq war, said he anticipates a barrage of attacks in response to his support for impeachment.

“The intent of this administration, and this vice president, has been to silence all dissent,” McDermott said. “Fear is what kept this administration in office in 2004, and fear is the only public discourse this administration understands — and practices.”

The articles of impeachment, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in April, have garnered support from 10 House cosponsors.

Ah... yes, finally. A few 'mainstream' Democrats awakening at last to that old, passe notion that "there is nothing to fear but fear itself." Which is, of course, the antithesis of all that is Bushie.

But for fear and national disaster, where would this constitutionally corrupt and morally bankrupt administration be today? Definitely not as wealthy.

Dear Congress...

Dear Congress, Madam Speaker:

Once upon a time, America was a shining beacon of justice, freedom and the rule of law. All of that has now been squandered by this administration, and repeatedly, solely for their own selfish interests.

The list of offenses is rather remarkable, if only that this has been allowed to continue, with so little opposition (from within government) for so long. The people have been watching and we have been tearing our collective hair.

We cannot get anyone in Washington to listen to us. I suppose our voices have been drowned out by the deafing choruses of lobbyists. But we love our country, and no, we are not going away, we will not shut up, and we will not stop demanding justice and a return to decency and the rule of law.

The impeachment proceedings against Clinton were partisan in every sense of the word, and no doubt intended to make a mockery of the very impeachment process. But your obvious fear that you will be seen to be conducting a 'partisan reprisal' isn't going to fly with us out here. Democrats and Republicans alike are screaming for justice. This time, it is not one group of partisans trolling for impeachment -- this is the collective voice of the people.

We want our government back.

In case it (somehow) isn't clear by now what grounds could be claimed for filing impeachment papers against Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, I will list for you the following:

1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our military personnel to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths.

2. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

3. Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.

4. Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.

5. Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.

6. Violating the Constitution by using "signing statements" to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress.

7. Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

8. Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.

9. Subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by asserting a "Unitary Executive Theory" giving unlimited powers to the President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
10. Gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina, in ignoring urgent warnings of an Al Qaeda attack prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and in increasing air pollution causing global warming.

You can add that Bush and Cheney have started nuclear escalations (something their purported hero Ronald Reagan worked hard to end.) They have made the world much more dangerous than it was when they took power; have ruined our reputation across the globe and actually fostered the growth of al Qaeda terrorism in Iraq.

They completely dropped the ball when it came to catching Bin Laden... and of course, there are Cheney's continued ties to war profiteer company Halliburton, his preferential treatment in giving them no-bid contracts (and the millions they have made from the war in Iraq - millions that he will share when he leaves office.)

You should also consider their promotion of the countless and lawless activities of other war profiteers they have unleashed on Iraq. And of course... they have squandered billions of dollars of our money, without our consent. An argument could be made that Blackwater is building a 'standing army' on our own soil; one that is not accountable to the government 'of the people.'

Our EPA is now infested with Bushie insiders that won't prosecute environmental law breakers; our FDA can't seem to keep our food safe, our DoJ is a lawless, lying travesty.

This is a disaster. You cannot fail to act, or we the people will hold all of you in contempt; and history will perhaps be an even harsher judge... assuming we live through these dangerous times.

Yes, I think its just a little past time that you took all of this seriously... don't you?

$#%@& Stop spinning me!

Warning: This is a rant, and I've been writing it for days... although due to a planetary convergence (and the outrageous gall of our commander-guy,) I am posting it at the apex of my fury. Because I started it several days ago, you will be spared much of my current vitriol. Know that it is there.

I am no longer asking... I am demanding impeachment. I am not kidding.

Master of Destruction

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. - Abraham Lincoln

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." --Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776.

Money for nothin

I keep receiving emails from the DCCC, asking for money.

This of course is no surprise; every day I am bombarded with requests for money from presidential candidates, environmental groups, independent progressive newsletters and advocacy campaigns. I try to support progressive candidates that I know will really step up and make a difference.

My trust in the Democratic Party, however, has worn quite thin. Quite thin indeed. The DCCC can get in line. The last few emails I've received illustrate perfectly the moral bankruptcy inherent in this money-based election system. Rather than governing, the party is focused only on the next election - a year and a half away.

Meanwhile, our democracy is falling apart before my eyes. Our morality as a nation - not RELIGION, but the basic morality of our grandfathers and ancestors who DID NOT TORTURE, honored HABEAS CORPUS, and who believed in THE RULE OF LAW, separation of church and state -- and simple REASON: all of this is disintegrating.

And the DCCC writes emails, singing about some upcoming election - shades of the emails I received less than a year ago, about another 'upcoming election' and how that one would rock my world.

Right. Tell that to some other sucker.

Perhaps I wouldn't mind as much - that the DCCC is already hanging around in my inbasket, daily begging for my money - if I could see that the Democrats really meant business: that they plan to clean up this disaster that once was our Federal Government.

But from what I heard in April - supposedly from Democrat staffers 'in the know' - they plan to investigate solely to draw attention to Bush and Cheney's mishandling of our government; then leave them untouched, so they can use these scandals to draw voters to the Democratic Party.

The reason we should all vote for Democrats? "Because we aren't as lousy as the neocons!"

Friday's DCCC email was supposedly from Rahm Emanuel, and entitled 'Dick Cheney':

According to Dick Cheney, everything we learned in school is wrong. Instead of three branches of government, there are now four – the legislative, the executive, the judicial, and Dick Cheney.

In an attempt to obstruct meaningful oversight and avoid being held accountable, the Vice President said he did not consider himself part of the executive branch.

We both know the power to hold Dick Cheney accountable belongs to Congress. Could you possibly think of a better reason to have a stronger Democratic Majority?

My reply?

"When you decide to actually use that power to 'hold Dick Cheney accountable' and file impeachment articles against him.... then I will donate."

In other words: We already GAVE you the majority you need to impeach. Now pay me what you owe me, by honoring your constitutional oaths of office, before you come back asking for money! (That, and give me a little time to get over my disappointment in your lack of performance after the last election... please...)

Stop spinning me! Damn it! I'm sick to death of this endless propaganda! I know what 'nothing' looks like - and you're giving me nothing!

The DCCC obviously thinks that I am really stupid (or they are hoping that I'm really stupid.) Because by the time Rahm's fellow congresscritters are elected, in theory, Dick will be out of office.

I say 'in theory' because of course, we cannot bank on that, can we? No, we cannot bank on that because no one will touch him, so it's really up to Dick whether he steps down... or not. Our Constitution has been thrown under the bus, and the Democratic majority is refusing to lift a finger to save it.

We daily read about amazing breaches of governmental law, accountability and Constitution, and still impeachment is "Off the table." That is so outrageous it is very nearly criminal.

Madam speaker, if I may respectfully remind you... you swore an oath to protect the Constitution! I intend to hold you to that oath, and I suspect a huge percentage of my fellow Americans concur.

For God's sake: FIND A TABLE!

Cheney is still in office; a very real, constant danger to our democracy and to the world. And in spite of their majority, the Democrats sit on their hands. They don't even use impeachment as a threat.

NO: I won't give you any more money for not representing me or honoring your oaths of office - sorry guys. I like some return on my investment. I'm sure the lobbyists got theirs, now I want mine.

I think what irritates me the most is that Rahm (or someone pretending to be Rahm) thinks he only has to mention the word 'Dick Cheney' and I will immediately pull out my checkbook - even though he doesn't plan to actually do anything about Dick Cheney and his rampant abuse of power. Is Dick Cheney now the DCCC's bestest-buddy fundraiser-helper? Say it isn't so!

Anyway - I refuse to play.

Saturday's email was entitled 'Bush's 15 million':

Midnight tonight is the deadline. We are just $65,000 away and just hours from our Million Dollar Challenge before the critical June 30th FEC deadline where we report our fundraising totals and the media and pundits will use them to judge our chances for success in 2008.

What the hell...? Now I am supposed you give you money because you are cowering about what the 'media pundits' will say?

Like hell!

You don't care about protecting the rule of law and democracy - you just want us to help keep the media off your backs. Could you not - perhaps - have taken a different tack, and requested our citizen contributions so that you wouldn't have to go crawling to big business for cash? I might have signed on for that, because then I would know you were truly accountable to me - the voter.

No - of course you didn't say that, because you plan to go crawling to big business anyway. You always do. And you represent them quite well, I might add. Tell them about Bush's millions. Don't bother me again until you plan to represent me.

It's this poll thing - this fear of the bully media, that motives you guys, not the interests of your base. The media is now nothing more than a giant, corporate bully club; used by corporations and their lobbyists to beat you, intimidate you, and keep you all in line. And of course, to keep you from actually doing anything on my behalf.

Sorry, I won't play.

No free lunch

I don't give a flying @&$*% what the media pundits say. Because you don't give a flying @(*$*% what I am saying right now. Damn it: FIX MY GOVERNMENT. Fix it right now, and get your eyes off the damn 2008 calendar. We just elected you!

Imagine if an employee was hired on the basis of his willingness to do a job, and several months later - after doing absolutely no productive work, including the job he was hired to do (get us out of Iraq) - came asking for a raise. He'd be tossed right out of the employer's office, and most likely find himself in the unemployment line. Think about that.

The future is promised to no one... and that is especially true right now. How do you know we won't be at war with Iran in 2008? You're taking a huge chance with our freedom, and with the safety of the world. These guys won't even take nukes off the table. Imagine what their hero Reagan would think of that... he'd think they are madmen.

You couldn't even do the one thing that we absolutely demanded you accomplish: get our troops out of Iraq. You couldn't manage to exercise your budget oversight and cut the gravy train - which was your job, not some scary option - and you did nothing to demand your lawful oversight for any planned attacks on Iran. Oh some smart progressives that we sent to Washington suggested this, but you wouldn't have it.

You totally caved.

And sure, Bush was going to say 'no' anyway. We all knew this. You could at least have stood your ground, don't you think? Once again, you were worried about what he would say about you, while you were out of town and on vacation.

Did you give UP your vacation to do the right thing? HELL NO.

Terrific representation and dedication to country! We have people dying for us in Iraq and Afghanistan - sent there by you - and you couldn't even give up your Memorial Day on their behalf? What a sick way to honor their sacrifices.

This president has one of the lowest approval ratings in history, and is breaking laws and issuing signing statements at a rate that puts Nixon to shame -- and you refuse to hold him accountable. Oh sure you are investigating... but to what end? Simply to win an election that is over a year away? What about responsibility for the future - setting a precedent that should have been set with Nixon? Yes, that national nightmare is back! That you refuse to impeach Bush and Cheney for behaving worse than Nixon... is mind-boggling to me.

Cheney is outright lawless... and you won't even support one of your own, Dennis Kucinich, who had the courage to move forward with impeachment seemingly on his own. Brave Dennis, the people's champion. He must drive you crazy. Always whipping out that Constitution. Well let me tell you -- I'd take an entire Congress full of Dennises right now! A Congress full of Dennises and a Senate full of Russes. That might do the trick.

Even angry Republicans are supporting you, hoping and praying that you would reign in their own party - and still you fold, repeatedly, like a cheap suit!

Last night at the Giant's game, as the National Anthem began some unidentified people unfurled a banner about 14 feet long and 5 feet high that simply said IMPEACH. They were up in the walkway above the bleachers so the majority of the fans could have seen it, though it would have been easy enough to miss.

Within a minute, stadium people were on the scene and the banner was taken down. I took a picture on my camera phone which isn’t great, but good enough.

Frankly you're worth neither my vote or my money without action.

As they say in business - and this is something you should understand: it's all about results. I'll pay you when I see a return on my last investment.

Right now, I'm losing - and losing big. I'm losing my Constitution, my Bill of Rights, my country's troops are still in Iraq, my Federal agencies of oversight have all been outsourced, my food - and my pets' food - is tainted, my planet is heating up, our jobs have been outsourced, our Federal coffers are being looted (and that's my Social Security money you're blowing, or should I say 'handing off to Halliburton.')

Leahy, Feingold, Conyers and Waxman are the exceptions to your party capitulation, along with a handful of other progressives that you label 'fringe' because they actually get it. Dennis Kucinich is an American hero. And do you intend to back them as they deal with this 'larger-than-Watergate' scandal in the Executive Branch?

All over the world, people are watching you... watching us. Watching this once great democracy, and beacon of freedom for the world flounder around like a gutted carp in a row boat. They are waiting to see what YOU WILL DO:

Vice-President Dick Cheney was personally responsible for American policies that subjected terrorist suspects to cruelty and denied them the right to a fair trial, according to revelations from senior US government officials.

The details have laid bare more than ever before the remarkable influence of Mr Cheney in shaping the prosecution of the war on terror which led to the scandals at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

You wring your hands and you cower - and secretly you think you can just leave Bush and Cheney there to draw our ire so that we will magically re-elect you with an even greater majority - all for doing NOTHING. You haven't even reigned in the war profiteers, and you gutted your own oil-gouging legislation. And you wonder why you're polling so low? You're polling low because you have betrayed us!

That dog won't hunt

My own 'Blue Dog' representative is a total disgrace; simply a lump in the system, clogging up the workings of democracy. He's not a Republican - and he certainly isn't a Democrat. He's a lump. Slightly better than a Joe Lieberman, and slightly better than the Republican he replaced. But that's about all.

That dog won't hunt; and both the DCCC and Moveon.org actually asked me to spend hours calling voters on his behalf, insisting he was part of this 'great and glorious Democratic majority' that would change the world (or at least reign in the Bush Administration.)

I'm quite sure - especially given the letter I received from him concerning impeachment of Dick Cheney - that he is one of the reasons impeachment is 'off the table.' He doesn't want to 'rile his Republican friends.' I'd recall him for failure to honor his oath of office if I could. He is no representative of mine, and as far as I am concerned -- he is an oath-breaker!

I will give what little money I can spare to progressive candidates - even if they're other people's representatives, because I obviously can't get any decent representation of my own. I will give to the online, independent media that keeps me informed while the corporate media talks about Paris Hilton. I will support the environmental causes that are fighting to save the places that I love, and I will do whatever I can to make a difference with my money. But I no longer trust Moveon or the DCCC to spend it wisely.

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. - Abraham Lincoln

A word of advice to this Democratic Majority: I'm not the only one that feels this way. You'd better wise up and start acting on those campaign promises - start defending our constitutional rights - or you're going to be very unhappy when the 2008 elections finally do roll around.

Paybacks are a mother.

All it will take is one credible Independent candidate... and people will start flocking to the banner. I know you think it can't be done, but you have completely misread the seriousness of this situation, and underestimated the wrath of the Democrat and Republican masses that feel entirely unrepresented out here.

We're pissed - no, we're MAD AS HELL - and we want results. We demand justice! This is a nation of law, of order. That goes from the 'lowliest citizen' to the highest official. No special favors, no double standard. With Liberty and Justice FOR ALL.

We want our Constitution protected, this Executive Branch reigned in and prosecuted for breaking the LAW, starting this ILLEGAL WAR, TORTURING PEOPLE and TAKING THEM HOSTAGE WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, and destroying everything this country once represented around the world... and yes, we want our government back.

WE THE PEOPLE. You may have forgotten, but I'll be damned if we have.

Oh... and if you do impeach these monsters? If you do come through for us? I'll personally walk all the way from Indiana to Washington D.C. and bring you cookies. Seriously. It will be well worth it.