Some months ago Bill Moyers did a show exploring Impeachment on PBS. On of the two Panelists was Bruce Fein. He argued that it is necessary to Impeach President Bush in order to prevent his abuses of power from becoming settled precedent and law for future administrations. I agree with him.

President Bush is , I believe, a well meaning man, but he is a cowboy, incapable of understanding the harm he has done to the Republic. Impeach him America must or the character of the Republic will be altered into a paranoid authoritarianism. But impeachment need not mean a lack of generosity; this president has acted in what he believes are the best interests of the nation. Congress could allow him the presidential perks and pension he would be entitled to if he leaves office normally in January 2009.

As to the granting of amnesty to Telecoms caught up in the misdeeds of this administration, this makes sense in return for a fine, admission of guilt, and cooperation with Congress in investigating the high crimes and misdemeanours of the Culprit in Chief. Moveon.org was petty in its treatment of General Petraeus. The attack should properly have been made against President Betrayus.

There has always been a rural/urban divide in America. Country folk often see the cities as areas infested with vice, degeneracy, infection and foreigners, not to mention blacks. Suburban folks are often urban refugees fleeing urban residential crowding, crime and ethnic mixing. They feel so superior to urban folks. Now their time has come again to put the screws to urban America.

Anyone for a bill to finance violins for the Nero fiddles while Rome burns contest, 21st century American version?

The Christian Right has been sorely disappointed by the results of the Bush presidency. Now there is no truly acceptable social conservative Republican presidential candidate with a chance of winning to give them hope. They may bolt and put forward a true believer third party religious right candidate for the presidency, taking their marbles and going home to their churches and pulpits and leaving the sordid reality of mainstream political endeavours behind- a totally satisfactory development.

The Globe and Mail in Toronto reported this morning(Tuesday) that Ehud Olmert is looking at the possibility of granting rights to certain arab poplutated areas of Jerusalem to the Palestinians, and even making special arrangements for the walled city or holy basin with less than full Israeli sovereignty over it. All this is a trial baloon to see if a peace deal is possible rather than another descent of the region into endless, mindless bloodshed.

Olmert must be an anti semite since he seems to be departing from the Likud hard line!

I'm being sarcastic, of course.

Your post was very insightful. I have noticed an increasing unwillingness among Jewish people to countenance any critical evaluation of Israeli policies by non Jews. That is truly unfortunate.

Keep up the good work.

The honor of the United States is at stake in the movement to ban secretive U.S. torture. The strain of authoritarianism runs very deep in the United States, particularly in the new Republican heartland, the deep south. I believe there is a direct line between slavery, racism, the lynching of "troublesome" African Americans in the past and the current policies of the Bush administration. The duality of thought that says quietly that freedom and liberty are the prerogatives of the right class of people and that this class can do as it pleases to anyone not in their group comes directly out of this seminal American experience, in my view.

This is the true tragic legacy of the American Republic, only partially cauterised by the purgatory of the civil war.

Ah, but there is another strain! Valiant heros who uphold the great dream of a nation under the rule of law, the shining city on a hill, the bastion of liberty and prosperity for all the world, the last best hope of all mankind.

Senator Kennedy, in his effort to ban torture and uphold the honor of the United States, represents the last and best strain. Long may he run!

The problem with the mindset Glenn's post sets out as typical of people like Joe Klein is that it ignores the reality of the exercise of power by human beings. Even if the Leader were wise and noble, virtuous and seeking only the public good, the exercise of extraordinary power would quickly become corrupt and venal. The first official having a conflict of interest not checked by oversight and review would derail the intent of the extraordinary power. The next official, embarrassed by questionable conduct would dig a deeper pit of lies and obfuscations to avoid exposure. Soon the wise and noble leader would be drawn into the morass of corruption and deceipt lest the whole program be discredited. This is just the reality of the world we live in, and it is exactly the situation the Founders intended to ameliorate with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The idol of the Bush administration is National Security. Its worship is propelled by fear. But there is no absolute safety in this world. In fact the increasingly rigid authoritarian practices of this administration will only increase the likelihood of successful attacks on America by creating a false impression of reality which conflicts with truth and prevents rational analysis and sensible policy.

All those horrible, activist common law judges like Lord Mansfield in 1765, providing a basis for inalienable human rights and the right of American Englishmen to resist the reigning monarch, King George III, by outright rebellion in the American Revolution. For shame, for shame, I say!