Robert Kennedy Jr. at Live Earth 2007

Robert Kennedy Jr. at Live Earth 2007

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of GoLeft.tv and Air America's Ring of Fire gives a speech at the 2007 Live Earth concert in New Jersey. An estimated 2 billion people viewed the concerts online and on television, and they featured performances from such acts as Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna, Jack Johnson, Lenny Kravitz, and Garth Brooks.

Friday Funny

Bush and Rove discuss Net Neutrality.

Crime Paid Off Big Time for Scooter Libby

Enjoy this Fourth of July because this may be our last.

This has been a horrible couple of weeks for Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam.

The Fascist Five have been dominating the Supreme Court in decision after decision, ignoring precedent and legislating from the bench so brazenly they have openly written about how they would do away with Roe v Wade "if they could" and how they think that forcing a school not to discriminate is somehow "a form of racism". They have overturned the standing opinion that "A student's right to free speech does not end at the classroom door." and have now said that a school officials right to discipline a student extends outside the classroom and have left gaping legal questions in their wake... "How far does a teacher's right to discipline a student extend? ...Into the home?"

I should also mention that Justices Thomas, Alito and Roberts are all guilty of Lying under Oath to Congress. They all said under oath that they would abide by Stare Decisis (precedent) during their confirmation hearings before Congress, but in four of their last five decisions they have purposely ignored precedent, thus putting the lie to their words.

And to top it all off, yesterday Bush commutes "Scooter" Libby's sentence because he said it was "harsh"...

Yes, this is the same guy who bragged about how many people he executed as governor of Texas.

Lets remember what Scooter was convicted of:

two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice in a grand jury investigation, and one of the two counts of making false statements to federal investigators

And lets remember what this case is ultimately about, the outing of an entire undercover operation run by the CIA that has cost an untold number of lives as the undercover operatives of Brewster Jennings were all left exposed and it severely damaged America's intelligence about nuclear proliferation worldwide and ironically, especially towards Iran.

What does Bush do with this guy who got caught covering up what should be one of the biggest scandals in American history?

He lets him walk.

Oh, he has to pay a "fine" of $250k...pocket change for a multimillionaire like Scooter and his friends.

He already has that covered with a very tidy profit on top of it.

Yes, crime certainly did pay for Scooter Libby.

I am forcibly reminded of Barbara Jordan's words:

James Madison, from the Virginia ratification convention. "If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached."

But it won't happen and we all know it. Why?

Because the Democrats only barely have control of Congress. They lack the seats.

And instead of seeing the "Checks and Balances" at work, we all get to witness as our system is perverted to benefit the privileged few right in front of our eyes... with more than impunity... with contempt.

And instead of seeing badly needed action to remedy these critical wounds to our Democracy, true Patriots like myself are left furious and frustrated this Fourth of July, wondering what happened to America and why we celebrate this holiday anymore anyway...

But enjoy this Fourth of July anyway, because we are only one disaster away from Bush instituting Presidential Directive 51 and ending the existence of the United States of America anyway.

Sunday Funny

The evidence continues to pile up... the investigations in Congress are showing a clear pattern of corruption from the GOP. This is the kind of stuff I would expect from Organized Crime, not a political party.


Source: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1362
Monday, June 18, 2007
Administration Oversight, White House Use of Private E-mail Accounts

The Use of RNC E-Mail Accounts by White House Officials

The Oversight Committee has been investigating whether White House officials violated the Presidential Records Act by using e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney ‘04 campaign for official White House communications. This interim staff report provides a summary of the evidence the Committee has received to date, along with recommendations for next steps in the investigation.

The information the Committee has received in the investigation reveals:

The number of White House officials given RNC e-mail accounts is higher than previously disclosed. In March 2007, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said that only a “handful of officials” had RNC e-mail accounts. In later statements, her estimate rose to “50 over the course of the administration.” In fact, the Committee has learned from the RNC that at least 88 White House officials had RNC e-mail accounts. The officials with RNC e-mail accounts include Karl Rove, the President’s senior advisor; Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff; Ken Mehlman, the former White House Director of Political Affairs; and many other officials in the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Communications, and the Office of the Vice President.

White House officials made extensive use of their RNC e-mail accounts. The RNC has preserved 140,216 e-mails sent or received by Karl Rove. Over half of these e-mails (75,374) were sent to or received from individuals using official “.gov” e-mail accounts. Other heavy users of RNC e-mail accounts include former White House Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor (66,018 e-mails) and Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings (35,198 e-mails). These e-mail accounts were used by White House officials for official purposes, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments and policies.

There has been extensive destruction of the e-mails of White House officials by the RNC. Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC e-mail accounts, the RNC has preserved no e-mails for 51 officials. In a deposition, Susan Ralston, Mr. Rove’s former executive assistant, testified that many of the White House officials for whom the RNC has no e-mail records were regular users of their RNC e-mail accounts. Although the RNC has preserved no e-mail records for Ken Mehlman, the former Director of Political Affairs, Ms. Ralston testified that Mr. Mehlman used his account “frequently, daily.” In addition, there are major gaps in the e-mail records of the 37 White House officials for whom the RNC did preserve e-mails. The RNC has preserved only 130 e-mails sent to Mr. Rove during President Bush’s first term and no e-mails sent by Mr. Rove prior to November 2003. For many other White House officials, the RNC has no e-mails from before the fall of 2006.

There is evidence that the Office of White House Counsel under Alberto Gonzales may have known that White House officials were using RNC e-mail accounts for official business, but took no action to preserve these presidential records. In her deposition, Ms. Ralston testified that she searched Mr. Rove’s RNC e-mail account in response to an Enron-related investigation in 2001 and the investigation of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald later in the Administration. According to Ms. Ralston, the White House Counsel’s office knew about these e-mails because “all of the documents we collected were then turned over to the White House Counsel’s office.” There is no evidence, however, that White House Counsel Gonzales initiated any action to ensure the preservation of the e-mail records that were destroyed by the RNC.

The Presidential Records Act requires the President to “take all such steps as may be necessary to assure that the activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of his constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties are adequately documented … and maintained as Presidential records.” To implement this legal requirement, the White House Counsel issued clear written policies in February 2001 instructing White House staff to use only the official White House e-mail system for official communications and to retain any official e-mails they received on a nongovernmental account.

The evidence obtained by the Committee indicates that White House officials used their RNC e-mail accounts in a manner that circumvented these requirements. At this point in the investigation, it is not possible to determine precisely how many presidential records may have been destroyed by the RNC. Given the heavy reliance by White House officials on RNC e-mail accounts, the high rank of the White House officials involved, and the large quantity of missing e-mails, the potential violation of the Presidential Records Act may be extensive.

There are several next steps that should be pursued in the investigation into the use of RNC e-mail accounts by White House officials. First, the records of federal agencies should be examined to assess whether they may contain some of the White House e-mails that have been destroyed by the RNC. The Committee has already written to 25 federal agencies to inquire about the e-mail records they may have retained from White House officials who used RNC and Bush Cheney ’04 e-mail accounts. Preliminary responses from the agencies indicate that they may have preserved official communications that were destroyed by the RNC.

Second, the Committee should investigate what former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales knew about the use of political e-mail accounts by White House officials. If Susan Ralston’s testimony to the Committee is accurate, there is evidence that Mr. Gonzales or counsels working in his office knew in 2001 that Karl Rove was using his RNC e-mail account to communicate about official business, but took no action to preserve Mr. Rove’s official communications.

Third, the Committee may need to issue compulsory process to obtain the cooperation of the Bush Cheney ’04 campaign. The campaign has informed the Committee that it provided e-mail accounts to 11 White House officials, but the campaign has unjustifiably refused to provide the Committee with basic information about these accounts, such as the identity of the White House officials and the number of e-mails that have been preserved.

Breaking News: Judiciary Committee votes to restore Habeus Corpus

This is great news! Putting the Democrats back in control of Congress is paying off! This is specifically because the Democrats now control the agenda. This would never have even been considered if the Republicans remained in power. The Nation has the story:

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an important bill to restore habeas corpus, the sacrosanct Constitutional right to challenge government detention in court, by a vote of eleven to eight.

Habeas corpus was revoked by last year's Military Commissions Act, which has been assailed as unconstitutional and un-American by leaders across the political spectrum.

Today's vote means the habeas bill can now be brought to the Senate floor at any time. One source with knowledge of the legislative plan said Majority Leader Harry Reid has committed to bringing the bill to a vote within the month.

The Republicans, who are politically reeling from the backlash to their draconian rule, are desperately trying to spin this to make themselves look better but they are insulting the intelligence of everyone who can remember past November 2006.

Today's habeas bill was backed by the Judiciary Committee's Democratic Chairman, Patrick Leahy, and its Republican Ranking Member, Arlen Specter. "The drive to restore this fundamental right has come from both sides of the aisle," said Sharon Bradford, an attorney at the bipartisan Constitution Project, in response to today's vote. "Restoring America's commitment to the rule of law is not a partisan cause; it is a patriotic one," she added.

The President Implicated!!!

This is some of the most dramatic footage to come out of the investigations into the US Attorney scandal so far. This is former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testifying before Congress about the time Alberto Gonzales tried to illegally pressure a gravely ill John Ashcroft into signing off on the illegal wiretapping program after he had transferred his authority to James Comey.

Conservatives Never Take Responsibility For Themselves

Here is another example of what I have been saying for years, that Conservatives do not believe in responsibility and will do everything they can to avoid taking responsibility for their decisions and actions.

Wolfowitz Blames Media For Resignation

May 28, 2007 06:05 AM EST

LONDON — Departing World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz in a radio interview broadcast Monday blamed an overheated atmosphere at the bank and in the media for forcing him to resign.

Wolfowitz, who has announced he will step down June 30, denied suggestions that his decision to leave was influenced by an apparent lack of support from the bank's employees.

"I think it tells us more about the media than about the bank and I'll leave it at that," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. "People were reacting to a whole string of inaccurate statements and by the time we got to anything approximating accuracy the passions were around the bend."

Wolfowitz said that he was pleased the bank's board accepted that he had acted ethically, and in good faith in his handling of a generous compensation package for his girlfriend and bank employee Shaha Riza in 2005.

"I accept the fact that by the time we got around to that, emotions here were so overheated that I don't think I could have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish for the people I really care about," he said.

By tradition, the United States _ the bank's biggest financial contributor _ names an American to run the institution.

Wolfowitz's departure ends a two-year run at the development bank that was marked by controversy from the start, given his previous role as a major architect of the Iraq war when he served as the No. 2 official at the Pentagon.

Gee Wolfie, you don't think the fact the Bank's employees hate you could have had anything to do with the fact you were showing favoritism to your girlfriend by giving her promotions and $60,000 raises, do you?

No, of course you don't...

John Stewart Distills the Essense of Gonzo-Gate

I like the comments of the guy who posted this video on youtube.

Even though he won't admit it, I think Jon Stewart understands the workings of our government more than most in the media. He has to understand it so much more than the average reporter. He not only needs to know what's going on, but has to comprehend it on a level that allows him to find humor in it.

Stewart Dissects Goodling's Testimony

The Corporate Media is Officially Useless

This makes me SO furious!

Monica Goodling got in front of Congress the other day and stated that Tim Griffin engaged in Caging of black votes in Arkansas during the 2004 Presidential election and that she had informed her superiors about it! That means Gonzo, McNulty and Kyle Sampson all lied when they claimed they didn't know anything about it.

As John Conyers pointed out it is becoming clearer and clearer that the White House was pulling strings in the Justice Department to use them for unethical, partisan political purposes.

If you are unaware, Caging is an illegal voter supression tactic that investigative reporter Greg Palast of BBC News has been reporting on for years. According to his investigations, the Republican party engaged in caging back in 2000 and again in 2004.

Monica just confirmed that in sworn testimony in front of Congress!!!
That is the ultimate smoking gun!

She also stated that she believed she had broken the law ("crossed the line of the law" was the actual phrase) in using partisan tests for positions within the Justice Department.

But what did CBS News decide to report?

They simply copied a report from the Ultra-Rightwing website, National Review, who's Orwellean headline read, "No Smoking Gun from Goodling"

Bush's Latest Attack On the Constitution

This is scary. This went by pretty much ignored by the mainstream media. The President has created a mechanism by which he could take control of the entire federal government.

On May 9th, President Bush issued a Presidential Directive (NSPD 51) that redoes the Continuity of Government in case of an emergency (as if the Constitution did not already address that).

The purpose of the directive:

This directive establishes a comprehensive national policy on the continuity of Federal Government structures and operations and a single National Continuity Coordinator responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of Federal continuity policies. This policy establishes "National Essential Functions," prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency.

There were two alarming things that jumped out at me when I first read this.

First there was this (emphasis mine) :

"Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely effecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;

Notice the use of the word "or". That means there does not have to be "mass casualties" or "damage" and the highlighted part means it doesn't have to happen here in the U.S.

That means that something that happens overseas, like in Iraq for instance, which merely disrupts our economy (such as OPEC raising the price of oil), would be enough for the President to invoke this and take control of the U.S. Government.

Then there is the key to this whole thing and what makes it so dangerous in my mind:

"Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;

This puts the President in charge of the entire federal government and subordinates the other branches beneath him, which is the ultimate enactment of the Republicans' "Unitary Executive" theory, which has until now been considered unlikely because it is blatently unconstitutional.

But since when has Bush ever cared about the Constitution?

I am forcibly reminded of the character Palpatine in Star Wars, who becomes Emperor after tricking the Senate into granting him "emergency powers".

With hurricane season coming up and scientists predicting a busy hurricane season, we might see this enacted sooner than anyone feared.

What happens if we have another Katrina and Bush decides to enact this? What would we do to restore the Constitution?

I spent the better part of this morning on the phone with the offices of my representatives and with the offices of the chairs of certain committes and apparently none of them were even aware the President had issued this directive. Everyone I spoke to and directed to the white house website to read this were just as alarmed as I am.

I urge everyone who reads this and understands why this should be alarming to everyone to contact their representatives in Congress at 866-220-0044.

Bush Picks a Scapegoat...er, War Czar

It appears that Dumbya has finally found someone dumb enough to take the fall for his bad decisions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The poor schmuck in question is Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute. He has already been overseeing combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but now he gets to take all the responsibility for the decisions made by the Commander in Chief.

Is this Bush trying to outsource his own position as Commander in Chief?

As I said before, it seems he doesn't wanna be a "war president" anymore.

The Mother's Day Proclamation - a reading

This is well worth watching! It is a short history of Mother's Day and a reading of the proclamation.



http://mothersdayforpeace.com/

The Mother's Day Proclamation

In America, Mother's Day came about after the Civil War, mostly because of two women Julia Ward Howe, a Northern Poet who is also known for writing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and Anna Reeve Jarvis, a Southerner who worked through the civil war to improve sanitary conditions and treat wounded from both sides. She also worked to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors after the war. Both women were devout pacifists and anti-war activists. Julia Ward Howe was one of the first to call for a "Mother's Day" in her Mother's Day Proclamation.

The Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts,

Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means

Whereby the great human family can live in peace,

Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women without limit of nationality

May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient

And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions,

The great and general interests of peace.

Tom Tomorrow - Great Moments in Punditry

Tom Tomorrow nails it again with this great exclusive cartoon he posted to Huffingtonpost.
Using nothing more than than the facts, he exposes the rightwing's kneejerk support for the Bush Administration's lies. The fact he is reinforcing is that the Left has been absolutely correct about the invasion of Iraq all along. The right has been dead wrong about every important point along the way.

The 1st Democratic Presidential Debate

Ok, first thing I want to say is, Mike Gravel for President!

I consider myself quite the civics nerd and I had never heard of Mike Gravel before. He is a former Senator from Alaska whom I had no idea was even running for President. He was fantastic! It was like an actual person found their way up there on stage with all the manufactured creations of our media driven political system. It was like their outspoken uncle was up there on stage calling bullshit on all of them. He managed to make Dennis Kucinich look like a moderate! Thank God for that! I fully support Congressman Kucinich's effort to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. I think there is overwhelming evidence to support this action and it is long overdo. It is simply the right thing to do, morally and politcially.

I especially loved it when Mr. Gravel was asked a question about who he felt was the biggest threat to America and he called out the entire Military Industrial Complex for perpetuating a state of fear and all the other cantidates for being complicit in perpatuating it. He even brought up that this was exactly what President Eisenhower warned us about! And he was right!

The Media are going to call him a nut and claim he is on the "fringe" but in my opinion Mike Gravel is absolutely right. I think he represents a large portion of Americans who seem to have no voice and no representation in the new America.

Mike Gravel's contempt for the people he was sharing the stage with was palpable and some are going to suggest it was inappropriate or out of line, but the thing is, I share it. When he contemptuously waved his arm at them as he was speaking, I could empathize more with Mike Gravel and his frustration with the whole system than with anyone else on stage. He was speaking that way because he is the extreme underdog and he knows it. When people like me have never heard of him before, you know that he is a longshot. He knows perfectly well that he has no chance in hell and you can feel the rightous anger and frustration at this system which favors certain concentric inner circles of power among politics, media and wealthy special interests.

Ok, that said, I have a couple other comments about the other cantidates. First, I was impressed by Hillary Clinton. She seemed very sincere. I realized something while watching her. Even though she is not my favorite cantidate by a long shot, I realized that she would still be far superior to George W. Bush.

I thought Joe Biden's one word answer to the question of whether he had the discipline to limit his verbocity... was brilliant.

The Media is making a big deal of Barak Obama's reaction to being confronted by Dennis Kucinich about funding the war. He was strong and very diplomatic. He came off very "Presidential". But personally, I agreed with Dennis Kucinich, they didn't have to fund the war. They could have ended it now by voting no but they all perpetuated it anyway because they were afraid of supposed political repercussions.

All in all it was a very cordial event, with no major attacks against each other to speak of.
The overall impression I got, which was noticably different from usual, was that it was a Democratic Party unified, for now at least, and organized against George W. Bush and his lack of a strategy for Iraq.

What would Barbara Jordan say about Bush?

I was over at AmericanRhetoric this morning, listening to the top 100 speeches of all time and I listened to Barbara Jordan's statement to the House Judiciary Committee's panel to impeach Richard Nixon. That woman was larger than life. She was intelligent, articulate and tough as nails. I wonder if she was any inspiration for the DC Comics character Amanda Waller.

We could really use Barbara Jordan today. If she were still around I imagine her address to Mr. Conyers or Mr. Waxman might sound something like this:

"Who can so properly be the inquisitors for the nation as the representatives of the nation themselves?" "The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men." And that's what we're talking about. In other words, [the jurisdiction comes] from the abuse or violation of some public trust.

It is wrong, I suggest, it is a misreading of the Constitution for any member here to assert that for a member to vote for an article of impeachment means that that member must be convinced that the President should be removed from office. The Constitution doesn't say that. The powers relating to impeachment are an essential check in the hands of the body of the legislature against and upon the encroachments of the executive. The division between the two branches of the legislature, the House and the Senate, assigning to the one the right to accuse and to the other the right to judge, the framers of this Constitution were very astute. They did not make the accusers and the judgers -- and the judges the same person.

We know the nature of impeachment. We've been talking about it awhile now. It is chiefly designed for the President and his high ministers to somehow be called into account. It is designed to "bridle" the executive if he engages in excesses. "It is designed as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men." The framers confided in the Congress the power if need be, to remove the President in order to strike a delicate balance between a President swollen with power and grown tyrannical, and preservation of the independence of the executive.

The nature of impeachment: a narrowly channeled exception to the separation-of-powers maxim. The Federal Convention of 1787 said that. It limited impeachment to high crimes and misdemeanors and discounted and opposed the term "maladministration." "It is to be used only for great misdemeanors," so it was said in the North Carolina ratification convention. And in the Virginia ratification convention: "We do not trust our liberty to a particular branch. We need one branch to check the other."

"No one need be afraid" -- the North Carolina ratification convention -- "No one need be afraid that officers who commit oppression will pass with immunity." "Prosecutions of impeachments will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community," said Hamilton in the Federalist Papers, number 65. "We divide into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused." I do not mean political parties in that sense.

The drawing of political lines goes to the motivation behind impeachment; but impeachment must proceed within the confines of the constitutional term "high crime[s] and misdemeanors." Of the impeachment process, it was Woodrow Wilson who said that "Nothing short of the grossest offenses against the plain law of the land will suffice to give them speed and effectiveness. Indignation so great as to overgrow party interest may secure a conviction; but nothing else can."

Common sense would be revolted if we engaged upon this process for petty reasons. Congress has a lot to do: Appropriations, Tax Reform, Health Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, Housing, Environmental Protection, Energy Sufficiency, Mass Transportation. Pettiness cannot be allowed to stand in the face of such overwhelming problems. So today we are not being petty. We are trying to be big, because the task we have before us is a big one.

At this point, I would like to juxtapose a few of the impeachment criteria with some of the actions the President has engaged in. Impeachment criteria: James Madison, from the Virginia ratification convention. "If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached."

We have heard time and again that the evidence reflects President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney had known ties to former lobbyist and convicted felon, Jack Abramoff. We know that the White House had over 200 contacts with Mr. Abramoff to discuss matters related to the lobbying activities of Mr. Abramoff. We know that Mr. Cheney met with the heads of the oil companies as part of his Secret Energy Task Force and almost immediately thereafter we invaded and occupied a critical oil producing country and the oil companies began seeing record windfall profits. We know that convicted criminal Scooter Libby was a close confident of Vice President Cheney and it is widely understood that Mr. Libby is protecting Mr. Cheney and in return President Bush is expected to pardon Scooter Libby at any time before the end of his term as President. The words are: "If the President is connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter that person, he may be impeached."

Justice Story: "Impeachment" is attended -- "is intended for occasional and extraordinary cases where a superior power acting for the whole people is put into operation to protect their rights and rescue their liberties from violations." We know about the Patriot Act. We know about the secret invasions of our homes. We know about the warrentless wiretapping. We know about the loss of Habeas Corpus. We know about the loss of Posse Comitatus. We know about the Secret Prisons. We know what they did to American citizens like Jose Padilla. We know about the water-boarding, the sensory deprivation, the isolation, the stress positions and the dogs. We know about the Military Commissions Act. We know that George W. Bush has led the greatest attack upon our Constitutional Liberties in the history of our nation.

The Carolina ratification convention impeachment criteria: those are impeachable "who behave amiss or betray their public trust." Beginning shortly after the attacks on September 11th, 2001 and continuing to the present time, the President has engaged in a series of public statements and actions designed to mislead the people and Congress of the United States into invading and occupying the sovereign nation of Iraq. Moreover, the President and Vice President have made public announcements and assertions bearing on alleged connections between the attacks of 9-11 and the nation of Iraq and on alleged attempts by Iraq to purchase “yellowcake” from Niger, which the evidence will show they knew to be false. These assertions, false assertions, impeachable, those who misbehave. Those who "behave amiss or betray the public trust."

James Madison again at the Constitutional Convention: "A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution." The Constitution charges the President with the task of taking care that the laws be faithfully executed, and yet this President has unlawfully wiretapped millions of Americans without warrants. This President has willfully disregarded numerous laws, including the Federal Information and Surveillance Act and the Presidential Records Act. This President has imposed partisan, political litmus-tests on the Justice Department, crippling its ability to function with credibility. This President has taken American citizens off the streets and held them in violation of their constitutional rights. This President has allowed the torture of American citizens. This President has declared, through speech and through signing statements, that he has the personal prerogative to ignore the Constitution and the laws of the land when he sees fit. "A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution."

If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps that 18th-century Constitution should be abandoned to a 21st-century paper shredder.

Has the President committed offenses, and planned, and directed, and acquiesced in a course of conduct which the Constitution will not tolerate? That's the question. We know that. We know the question. We should now forthwith proceed to answer the question. It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.

My Thoughts About the Virginia Tech Shootings

Of course it is a tragic situation and my prayers go out to the families of the victims and the students and faculty at Virginia Tech.

That said, to put this in some context, 33 people were killed and this was the worst civilian shooting in the history of the country.

However the day before in Iraq, 43 people were killed in a bombing in Baghdad. Over 60 people alltogether were killed in Iraq that day.

And that was a normal day in Iraq.

The shock and horror we feel at the situation at VT is a daily occurance in Iraq and yet we Americans seem to be completely desensitized to that. Only when it happens in our own backyards, to our own Children does this kind of violence actually, finally touch us.

Anyone who knows me knows that I consider the Amish in Lancaster, PA to be a great example of how real Christians should react in the face of a tradegy like this.

I am reminded of something Bobby Kennedy said when he spoke to a crowd from the back of a pickup truck on a street corner in Indianappolis, IN the day Martin Luther King was shot. He quoted the poet Aeschylus:

"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

Joe Biden Really Know His Stuff On Iraq

This Video of an interview with Joe Biden really highlights the fact that he knows what he is talking about regarding Iraq. He makes some really interesting points. He continues his call to decentralize the Iraqi government.

Biden suggests that there are only four realistic possibilities for Iraq:

1. Let them fight it out until one side kills or defeats the other.
2. Impose a dictator on Iraq. (ultimate irony)
3. Occupy Iraq for at least a generation.
4. Seperate the Parties. Give them some breathing room and autonomy to pacify them. (Most importantly, give them JOBS. Start allowing Iraq to invest in Iraq instead of giving it's oil industry's profits to foriegn multinational corporations.)

I think he is spot on. I believe that in the end, it will be one of those four things that happens.

George Doesn't Wanna Be a War President Anymore

It looks like Dubya doesn't have any confidence in his ability as Commander in Chief either!

He appears to be trying to outsource his position as Commander in Chief to some other poor schmuck.

He says he is looking for a "War Czar".

Wisely, nobody has taken him up on his offer to become the scapegoat for Bush's failed policies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Maybe John Murtha should volunteer for the position and then just impliment the plan he has been suggesting for 2 years (and that the Iraq Study group agreed with).

Halliburton Doing Business in Iran???

So I read this story the other day, Halliburton Closes up Shop in Iran.
I know... What the hell?
What was Halliburton doing in Iran in the first place?!? Isn't Iran part of the supervillan group, the "Axis of Evil"? So at the same time that they are supposed to be supporting our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Halliburton was also doing business with The Axis of Evil??!?

Talk about playing both sides.

So then the thought hits me... why are they leaving now?

Do they know something?

What are they using Iran to distract us from?

Firstly, could it have anything to do with the five Iranian Diplomats that we "arrested" back in December and are still holding? That's one theory.

Could it be from the fact that the Taliban has regrouped in Afghanistan and is making a resurgence?

The Corporate Media are making a big deal about Iran capturing 15 british sailors, but they are pardoning them and sending them home.

What they are not reporting is that the Taliban in Afghanistan captured 3 British "spies" and hung them.

Why aren't they reporting that story? My guess is that they don't want Americans reminded that the Taliban has made a resurgence in Afghanistan. They don't want Americans realizing that while we have been distracted by Iraq, Afghanistan is also slipping through our fingers.
News about Afghanistan is generally eclipsed by Iraq in the American corporate media. One has to wonder if it is coincidence that all this rhetoric about Iran happens to coincide with the resurgence of the Taliban in Afganistan.

Perhaps we are surging in the wrong place.

Perhaps our attention should return to the real war on terror for a while.

John McCain's "Dukakis in a Tank" Moment

John McCain, in a desperate quest for political power, endangered the lives of 100 U.S. Soldiers so he could put on a shameless spectacle, wandering around an open air market outside the green zone, surrounded by 100 solders, 3 Blackhawks and 2 Apache Gunships, all to convince the Fox News viewers that the escalation in Iraq is making things safer.



CNN's Michael Ware, who has been the correspondent in Baghdad for years, completely refutes John McCain's claims in this video.

John McCain's credibility on Iraq is shot after this disgraceful stunt.

You really want to prove how safe it is John?

Put on your bulletproof vest and go for a walk with only a couple guys instead.

Better yet, do it like the Reporters do every day, with you, a cameraman and maybe one or two Bodyguards. Thats it. No Blackhawks, sorry.

Lets see how safe it really is.

The Next Big Republican Lie

Karl Rove's former aide, Kyle Sampson is expected to try and dismiss the Constitutional Crisis that has arisen from George W. Bush's latest abuse of power when he addresses Congress today.

What he will actually be doing is admitting to high crimes and misdemeanors, but I don't expect the corporate media to ever address that angle.

8 US attorneys were fired because they wouldn't bend to Republican demands in executing their duties. Carol Lamb of California for example, was fired because she successfully prosecuted a Republican and good friend of Karl Rove, Duke Cunningham, last year for corrruption and bribery.

Mr. Sampson's prepared statements were leaked to the press and among other things, he is expected to say the following:

"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," he said. "A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful."

Mr. Sampson's whole argument is dependant upon the idea that the US Attorneys serve the President.

He is wrong. They do not.

The US Attorney's oath of office is to uphold and defend the Constitution, not the President.

This is their Oath of Office.

I (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

The President may enjoy the pleasure of picking who serves, but that does not mean they serve the President.

Their Oath of Office specifically says their loyalty lies with the Constitution, not the President.

I predict that the entire rightwing echo chamber will be parroting the lie that "political firings are ok" often and loudly.

Once again Republicans are relying on their domination of the media and the strategy of Joseph Gobbels,

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

Why not? It worked for them with WMDs in Iraq. It worked for them regarding a connection between Saddam and Al Queda and 9-11.

I fully expect them to continue using a strategy that has worked in the past.

The Tax "Burden" Myth

I reject this whole notion of tax as a "burden".

Taxes are the dues you pay for membership in this great society.

Taxes are the cost of doing business in our Markets.

Taxes are what pay for the hundred Billion dollar "defense" industry right-wingers love so much.

Taxes built our interstate highway system.

Taxes built our schools.

Taxes built our bridges.

Taxes built this Internet we are using right now.

You don't want to pay taxes?

Fine, get your lazy ass out of America.
Stop sponging off us.

The common complaint is that taxes are a ‘redistribution of wealth”.
Corporate subsidies are a redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich, but you never hear the anti-tax crowd say that.

If you think certain taxes are too high, that’s fine, let’s look at alternate revenue streams.

For instance, I am all for offsetting our income taxes through alternate revenue streams, such as tariffs.

What is the one thing everyone in the world wants?

Access to our markets.

They want access to sell their cheap goods to American Consumers by the boatload.

Fine.
So charge them for it, like they charge us for access to their markets.

Prior to the 20th Century the Federal Government was funded almost solely by revenue from Tariffs. The 20th century brought about the shift in funding our government from Business and Industry to the Workers.

And who uses the Commons more, the individual or the Business?

Who do you think puts more wear and tear on our roads, Wal-Mart or you?

So who do you think should pay more for that wear and tear?

Right now, it is you and I who pay for it.

I don't think that is right.

Wanton Removal of Meritorious Officers is an Impeachable Offense!

On June 17th, 1789, the first US Congress was gathered to discuss, among other things, the removal from office of politcial appointees. Regarding the idea of allowing the President, solely, to dismiss appointees, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, said this:

"The danger then consists merely in this: the President can displace from office a man whose merits require that he should be continued in it. What will be the motives which the President can feel for such abuse of his power, and the restraints that operate to prevent it? In the first place, he will be impeachable by this House, before the Senate for such an act of maladministration, for I contend that the wanton removal of meritorious officers would subject him to impeachment and removal from his own high trust. But what can be his motives for displacing a worthy man? It must be that he may fill the place with an unworthy creature of his own."

The next time some knucklehead tries to tell you that the attorneys "serve at the pleasure of the President", remind them that just because they serve at the President's pleasure, they do not serve the President, they serve the Constitution, according to their own oath of office.

Then remind them that that the wanton removal of meritorious officers is an impeachable offense!

Joe Biden Rips the GOP

Go Joe!
You are spot on!
He is right there with me. See my last post.

Democrats - Plan the Post-Surge Strategy Now

What are we going to do when the “surge” inevitably fails?

This is the question of the hour.

I think most people already know that it is going to. General Patreus, the new guy in charge, only gave the “surge” a “one out of four” chance of success. That’s only a 25% chance of success, in case you are really bad at math. The military commanders have been saying all along that the solutions to the problems in Iraq are political and diplomatic, not military.

The conservatives responsible for this Mess-O-Potamia thought they were going to prove the Marshall Plan was wrong. The conservatives thought that they could rebuild Iraq into a privatized, free-market utopia. The rhetoric was all about “bringing democracy”, but as Naomi Klein points out in her fantastic article, “Privatization in Disguise”:

“By the time the Iraqi people have a say in choosing a government, the key economic decisions about their country's future will have been made by their occupiers.”

The reason the Marshall Plan worked was that it gave money directly to the governments of Germany and Japan and let them invest in their own economies, putting Germans to work rebuilding German roads and buildings and stimulating a middle class in Germany. It gave the Germans and Japanese advantages that we lack in America like universal healthcare and strong labor unions. And here we are, 2007 and the Germans and Japanese are dominating the auto industry. Go figure.

The conservatives, in a needlessly partisan attempt to prove the Democrat Truman wrong, thought that by selling off Iraq’s infrastructure and resources to foreign investors that would somehow be enough to rebuild the Iraqi economy. The problem comes back to the recurring theme with Conservatives, a general disregard for the working class everywhere.

The largest construction project in Iraq right now is the U.S. Embassy, a massive $600 Million campus and the Iraqis are not building it. They gave the contract to a Kuwaiti company instead because they were the lowest bidder.

Paul Bremmer came into Iraq in 2003 and immediately fired thousands of Iraqi bureaucrats, intelligence emloyees, teachers and government employees in a “de-baathification” project that ultimately ended up creating willing fodder for the insurgency.

In 2004, Al Jazeera reported that the unemployment rate in Iraq was at 70%.

The unemployment rate in Iraq remains above about 50% to this day.

If the unemployment rate in America was 50% we would probably have an insurgency here too.

Of course, the US Government says the unemployment rate is only 30%.

In the depths of the Great Depression in America, unemployment hit 29%.

President Hoover was in such fear of a domestic insurgency that he ordered an attack on the Bonus Marchers, veterans of WW1 who were in Washington DC, petitioning to get a promised bonus early.

That is the plan that the Democrats need to be thinking about now if they want to succeed in 2008. We cannot pull out of Iraq immediately because it would cause it to escalate into a regional war. Before we can leave, we have to stabilize Iraq. It’s the Pottery Barn rule, you break it, you bought it. We broke Iraq. We have to fix it or at least figure out a way to pay for it before we leave.

We need to stabilize Iraq by creating a strong central government. The way to do that is to give the people a stake in its survival. One way to do that would be to nationalize the oil industry and give every Iraqi citizen a share of it. Literally. Issue shares of it to everyone who can prove their citizenship. That would give every Iraqi, regardless of tribe or religion, a shared bond and a stake in some badly needed common ground.

The way to attack the insurgency in Iraq is to create jobs. Give the Iraqis something constructive to do and give them a stake in rebuilding their own country. Let’s start by letting the Iraqis build our embassy. We bombed them, for Pete’s sake, it’s the least we can do.

The Democrats need to start citing the Marshall Plan openly as one example of how to handle Iraq correctly. Of course because this has been bungled so badly, for so long, and so much damage has already been done to the entire region, that we cannot succeed without including Iraq’s neighbors in more active and constructive roles.

Of course, in order to get behind this plan, DLC Democrats like Hillary are going to have to abandon the corporatist meme and acknowledge the fact that some socialism can be positive and productive, especially when rebuilding a broken economy.

Once one escapes the conservative, corporatist meme, it opens up all sorts of possibilities to benefit America. It is simple common business sense; any costs that the government can subsidize will give businesses in that country a competitive advantage. Want to help revitalize GM? Institute Nationalized Healthcare! Gm has more healthcare cost in their cars then cost of Steel. Want to rebuild the American manufacturing base? Reinstitute Import Tariffs! There is no reason that China should be allowed to put 30% import tariffs on our products but we can’t even put a 5% tariff on theirs.

Hey Ann, John Edwards is Happily Married

I just donated $50. You should too.

Fuck Ann Coulter and "her" massive adam's apple.

Seriously, look at that thing. It's bigger than mine.

Dear Kyle,

Did you hear about Anne Coulter's speech this afternoon attacking John? A friend just forwarded me the video and it's one of the worst moments in American politics I've seen.

I can't bring myself to even repeat her comments. Her shameless display of bigotry is so outrageous you actually have to see for yourself to believe it.

This is just a taste of the filth that the right-wing machine is gearing up to throw at us. And now that it's begun, we have a choice: Do we sit back, or do we fight back?

I say we fight. Help us raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" this week to show every would-be Republican mouthpiece that their bigoted attacks will not intimidate this campaign. I just threw in 100 bucks. Will you join me? Just click here.

Coulter's attack was no accident. It happened on national television at one of the year's biggest conservative conferences. Dick Cheney and most of the Republican candidates were in the audience. She was even introduced by Mitt Romney.

John was singled out for a personal attack because the Republican establishment knows he poses the greatest threat to their power. Since they have nothing real to use against him, Coulter's resorting to the classic right-wing strategy of riling up hate to smear a progressive champion. And the Republican attack dogs will keep playing this despicable trick as long as they think it works.

But this time, you and I can change the game.

If we can raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" this week, we can show that bigotry will only backfire on those who use it. John is not the first progressive leader to face this kind of slime, but together, we can make sure he is one of the last.

Tonight, I've put in 100 bucks of "Coulter Cash" to get us started. Can you match me, or chip in whatever you can afford? Just click here:

http://johnedwards.com/r/6665/405884


Thanks,

David Bonior
Campaign Manager
John Edwards for President

Had a DUI? Forget about going to Canada!

Have you heard about this yet? I am suprised it isn't getting more attention.

If you are an American trying to go to Canada and you have even a minor criminal conviction on your record, including misdemeanors, as far back as your juvinille record, you will now be turned back at the border.

If you have been convicted of a DUI, reckless driving, or posession of marijuana, even on your juvinille record, you have to obtain a waiver saying you are "rehabilitated". They cost money, involve a lot of paperwork and take approx 6 months to get.

Absolutely Fucking Brilliant

God Bless George Carlin.

Gore Leading the Parade on Global Warming

This is pretty interesting. Al Gore is planning a 24 hour concert series on seven continents to highlight the dangers of Global Warming.



The list of artists who will be performing is impressive:

Pharrell, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Snoop Dogg, Lenny Kravitz, Bon Jovi, Paolo Nutini, Sheryl Crow, AFI, Melissa Etheridge, John Mayer, Damien Rice, Corrine Bailey Rae, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, Fall Out Boy, Mana, Keane, Kelly Clarkson, Korn, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Ray LaMontagne, Robin Thicke, and Kenna.

The one U.S. city that will host the concert has yet to be announced and ticket sales info is supposed to be announced in March.

Why It is Unlikely There Will Ever Be Another 9-11

I have been saying this for a long time. September 11, 2001 was a horrible attack, but this is another example of why that trick will only work once.

Passengers subdue armed hijacker

I know one thing for sure, no plane I am ever on is going to be hijacked while I am still alive. I know a lot of people who feel the same way since 9-11. The "Shoe Bomber" learned that lesson as well.

Superbowl

I watched Superbowl 41 last night and I must say I was a little disappointed. Not in the game but in the commercials. I have always looked forward to watching the new, amusing, and interesting ads. Usually numerous companies take advantage of the captive audience. Such commercials as Ridley Scott's Mac Commercial, the Bud Bowl and others have debuted during the Superbowl.
This year about all of them sucked. It costs millions to get an ad on the Superbowl and it appears a majority of companies wasted their money. For the most part the ads were boring, tasteless and some I swear were reruns.
To make matters worse it appeared as if every other ad was for a CBS show. I mean you always expect whatever network that is broadcasting the Superbowl to plug their own shows. This was ridiculous I think over half the ads were for CBS.

Officials in Boston are Idiots

These guys say it very well for all of us. The blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the city officials in Boston who overreacted to cartoon characters on little blinking signs that were hanging for three weeks before they decided to panic.

The Brownshirts Are Coming!

I thought I may have imagined this when I first listened to the State of the Union the other night, but unfortunately I did not.

The fact he is calling for this really says a lot about how over-extended our military is right now.

"One of the first steps we can take together is to add to the ranks of our military - so that the American Armed Forces are ready for all the challenges ahead. Tonight I ask the Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next 5 years. A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time. "

Historically, these civilian forces have played important roles during wartime. For instance the Nazi Stormtroopers, or Sturmabteilung, also known as the SA or Brown shirts, played a key role in Hitler's rise to power since they were civilians who's primary job was busting up beer halls to silence any dissent.

The Perfect Cantidate

In The Republic, Plato suggests that a fundamental problem with Democracy is that the people who will seek out that kind of power are generally the last kind of people that would like to see with that kind of power because they are most likely to abuse it in seeking even more power. In answer to this he suggests a system wherein candidates are drawn by lottery to public service, or by nomination in a referendum sort of like our primaries. If you are nominated, which means, if enough people want you in particular to run for an office, then you must do it as your duty as a citizen.

If that were the system we lived under today, I believe the majority of Democrats would just nominate Al Gore to run again.

Rolling Stone lays out some very good arguments for why Al Gore is the perfect candidate for the Democrats in 2008.
I love their opening...

A stiff Vice President campaigns on his administration's legacy of unprecedented prosperity. Looks terrible on TV. Bows out, following a disputed vote count. Then, two terms later, with no incumbent in the race, he re-enters the fray. Promises to change the course of a disastrous war founded on lies. And charges to victory. I'm referring, of course, to the 1968 campaign of Richard Milhous Nixon. But four decades later, history has a chance to repeat itself for Albert Arnold Gore.

A lot of people are already behind a campaign to "draft" Al Gore in 2008.

Personally my favorite cantidate remains John Edwards. Al Gore is infinately better than Dumbya, but he is still a DLC Democrat and a Corporatist. America desperately needs populists if we want to have any hope of salvaging our middle class.

Prognostications

I just want to have this on record.

I think that sometime in the next year, Dick Cheney is going to step down from office, citing "health reasons" and will be replaced by either Condi Rice or Tom Ridge as V.P.

It will probably depend upon who seems to take the upper hand between the Democrats, for example, if Hillary pulls clearly ahead of everyone else, Condi is more likely to be the one picked.

Also, sometime in the next two years, the micro-conflict between the Sunnis and Shia in Iraq is going to explode into a region-wide war, involving Iran and Saudi Arabia at the very least.

At some point there is going to be the "Archduke Ferdinand" moment that will create a domino effect, causing the conflict to escalate out of control.

I have to wonder, when the "sectarian conflict" in Iraq escalates, whose side are we going to take? Will we continue to side with the "Official" Iraqi government when they side with Iran? They are already allies.

Or will we side with the Sunni minority in Iraq, and thus with our good "friends" Saudi Arabia, against the democratically elected government in Iraq.

Want to make some money?

Invest now in weapon manufacturers and defense contractors.

Alright, one other thing, I think that at some point in the near future, China will start to exert more of its influence on America. As our ability to consume decreases because of stagnating wages and increasing costs of living, China will begin to slow down the amount of credit it is buying, thus driving the value of the dollar down, and their profits up.

A Letter to Congress

This is the text of a letter I sent to my Congressman and Senator recently. I thought I would share it here. I am also sending it into some local papers, but it is probably too long to be published there.

The question of whether George W. Bush has committed high crimes or misdemeanors is one that must be answered for the health and stability of America. It is the legal and moral imperative of Congress to hold the executive branch in check. In order to do that you must investigate and if your investigations find evidence then you must prosecute.

The pardon of Richard Nixon was one of the most devastating blows to the trust the people have in the American government to function fairly and justly. The ease with which Congress gave up investigations into Iran-Contra was another, arguably lesser, blow to our nation. That kind of thing must not happen again. Another such blow to the fabric of the social contract between the government and the governed, and that contract might just shatter.

In order to maintain the trust of the people and therefore the mandate to govern, the people must know that everyone is accountable to the law, especially those at the highest levels. We can see on television every night that those at the lowest levels cannot escape the law. That imbalance is not lost on the average citizen of this country.

Our nation is hurting.

We are bleeding liberty while cynicism and apathy infect our culture.

Something needs to be done.

This is not the time to be politically cautious.

This is the time to be a true patriot.

This is the time to be an idealist of the highest order, in the manner of the Jefferson, Madison or Adams.

Do not fail your country in this, our hour of need.

President Ford Ultimately Damaged America

I was only a child when Ford pardoned Nixon so I missed out on the Watergate Hearings. After experiencing the OJ Hearings I can imagine to some degree what was meant by "long national nightmare". But from my perspective I did see the effects that pardon had on our national debate and ultimately to our culture overall.

Gerald Ford did grave damage to America.

By failing to allow the system to work as it is intended, he forced a deep wound to stay open instead of healing.

Now that wound has festered and infected America at its core.

Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon set the disastrous precedent that any serious scandal involving the executive branch poses a threat to the stability of this nation.

That false frame was again invoked when George Bush Sr. would not allow any investigation into the Iran-Contra scandal.

Both times, it was obvious nonsense because it involved public figures who were already out of office.

That is why when they went after Bill Clinton it was ultimately for a frivolous cause, marital infidelity. It was not a serious, high crime or breach of Constitutional Oath. They claimed it was because he "lied", but the topic he lied about was ultimately nothing more then marital infidelity. That frivolous cause was enough to target the President for, but it did not fit in their frame which created a threat to the "stability" of the nation.

I predict it is again going to be invoked by the right as part of the excuses that we will be hearing more of in the next two years, to try and protect the Bush Administration from investigation.

If a Republican President wins in 2008, the Republicans will most assuredly be invoking this frame again to support a pardon for the Bush Administration from anything that comes up in whatever investigations happen in the next two years.

We, as a people, need to reject that false frame.

When those in authority commit crimes or misdemeanors it wounds us. It damages us as a nation because it breaks the trust between the people and the government we give power to.

Holding our elected officials accountable for their actions is what HEALS our wounds.

Our system was setup to handle this eventuality. If the American justice system were allowed to work, there would have been closure and the nation could have healed. We could have continued on in the knowledge that ultimately our system does work.

Instead, we got confirmation of our fears that our system is indeed broken.

Instead, by pardoning Nixon out of purely partisan loyalty, Ford did not allow the system to work as designed.

By Pardoning Nixon, Gerald Ford prevented America from healing properly from that "long, national nightmare".

That national nightmare of escalating partisan venom has continued to this day, but now it has been institutionalized.

Then Reagan got rid of the Fairness doctrine, it allowed viruses like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Fox News to infect our society by infecting our public debate with partisan propaganda and misinformation.

We see it everyday on the rightwing media, especially with the primary culprit, Fox News.

For example, yesterday they were covering Nancy Pelosi's ascendance to Speaker with distain. The Fox News "Anchors" were openly mocking Pelosi and setting up the frame of her as a jealous, scornful woman. Their proof, a story about how a woman that Pelosi did not appoint to any position was angry about it. Their claim was essentially that Pelosi must be jealous and scornful, because she is, after all, a woman. Meanwhile, the Fox "News" banner that scrolled along at the bottom played into that frame with "Catfight in Congress".

None of that is News.

It isn't even remotely helpful.

It is only entertaining in the same shallow way as Professional Wrestling.

It is an open display of distain and scorn for any opposing political thought.

It is an example of the WOUND which inflicts America, possibly terminally.

A wound that Gerald Ford had a chance to heal but failed to do so.

He chose not to heal this country because he put his loyalty to his Political Party above his loyalty to his Country.

The rightwing is falsely trumpeting that he "healed the nation" and then flip-flopping around the next second and spewing the very venomous, intolerant dogma that is infecting this Country to its core.

We, the people, need to continue to fight to restore our Democracy by holding the Democrats accountable now that they are in power.

Do not join in the useless and nonsensical partisan rhetoric that will undoubtedly be spewing forth from the rightwing media from now on.

Stay true to Progressive Ideals like Compassion, Fairness and Truth. Stay on top of our newly elected officials so that they know our priority this time is to hold those in power accountable for what they have done by misleading us into this quagmire formerly known as Iraq.

Write to your Representatives. Write to the heads or members of any committees relevant to these issues.

Now is the time to be out in the streets of America protesting, because there is a chance the Democrats might actually listen.

Saddam's Execution = A Victory for Muqtada Al-Sadr

The really disturbing thing, to me, about the execution of Saddam was that the tape of it, recorded by two of Muqtada Al-Sadr's men, clearly showed a mob-style lynching instead of a somber and proper state execution.

It really brings into question who is actually running Iraq.

First of all, the executioners (decked out in black leather and ski masks) who led Saddam to the gallows reportedly told him that he destroyed the country before yelling "Muqtada Al-sadr!".

Then there were also hecklers among the crowd who were also chanting "Muqtada Al-sadr!"

The Malaki government claims they are in charge in Iraq, but lets look at the facts.

They couldn't control the "executioners".

They couldn't keep out a mob of al-sadr's followers.

They couldn't stop al-sadr's men from videotaping the entire event, or prevent them from posting it to the internet.

And on top of all that, both the executioners and the mob were chanting the name of a religious cleric and Rebel.

So I pose the questions: Who is really in charge of Iraq? Is this the "Democracy" that Bush claimed he was bringing them?

Peace on Earth

This Cartoon from 1939 is the only cartoon to ever be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

MGM Cartoon 1939 Peace On Earth
Uploaded by shawshawshaw