Letters to the Editor
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Bush's impeachable offense
johnm12271 has it right. It is OUR government. If our representatives do not have the political will to up-hold the Constitution, it is up to the citizenry to do so; we are the final check and balance of power. Write your representatives.
john12271, I have written my representatives too!
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Consuming the Police State
Couldn't Cheney also be impeached as an "accomplice"? All of this was his idea anyway. His and Rummy's. Surely no one believes GWB is capable of coming up with this policy. He's a moron. Yes, the buck stops with him and he's got to go, but Cheney too. You gotta get Cheney. He's the mind behind all this horror. Any Constitutional scholars in the audience? Could Cheney also be put on trail? Rove would be irrelevant and so would Rummy. They're just hired guns.
The Canadian guy has it right. We DON'T live in a democracy. We live in a police state. There are cameras and listening devices everywhere, stores, banks, public highways, public parks, your local bar, your schools, your churches, your houses. Everybody is spying and watching each other. The walls have ears. There is no privacy. Your most personal information is for sale and under constant surveillance and scrutiny either by private industry and/or the government they've bought off. The government and their right-wing cabal are making sure you don't get out of the consumer line. "Thou shalt not become a citizen but remain a good consumer, or else."
Franklin said that anyone who exchanged their liberties for security, deserved neither.
Gore Vidal says that one of Americans' charms is that we never learn.
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Bush's impeachable offense
The sad commentary about this man's feeling that he is, indeed, King of America, and is not subject to the same rules and laws as the rest of us commoners is the fact that there is his group of blind followers who will support him no matter what he chooses to do. It has already begun--the right has issued forth their own group of enablers who lie regarding cases and permission for Bush to do as he wishes, and even though they are caught in their lies, followers refuse to "hear" the proof but choose to support him.
Congress has become, for the most part, a group of Righties and a group of Lefties. Those on the Right, i.e. those in power, blindly obey any and all directives from the White House. No one thinks for him/herself any more. Support is called for by Karl Rove or Dick Cheney, and by hook or by crook, the right wing believes and follows--I have proof of this in the form letters that I receive whenever I contact my congressperson. These letters are no more than regurgitated WH talking points about the issue--by watching Fox News or listening to Scotty McClellan at a press briefing, I can hear the same "stuff" and possibly save the government 37 cents to mail me a letter.
While Bush has so clearly broken the law, and has thumbed his nose at the country by telling us he has done so and will continue to do so, his right wing will continue to follow and support him......all who disagree be damned. Precious few Republicans have admitted that his actions warrant questioning, and thank goodness for them--possibly we will get our hearings about the issue.
In November of 2006, we will again hold elections. Since Diebold has been proven to have problems with hacking of their machines, will we have fair elections or will the Diebold machines continue to be used even though hacking is easily performed? Will we, once again, see pre-election percentages turn around and become Republican victories with little or no questioning as to why this is happening??
Will we in the US continue to be ruled by a party that is in the minority that basically flips the country the bird when questioned about the flagrant abuse of power? Let's hope not. But, we are now at a critical time--let's stop the abuse by investigating the abuser(s) and impeaching him (them) if investigations prove them guilty.
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Is there an opposition?
With a few notable, courageous exceptions: Robert Byrd, Russ Feingold, Ted Kennedy,John Conyers, and several others, this Congress has been an abysmal, opportunistic, craven failure and nearly all of them deserve public censure and repudiation. I include many supposedly "liberal" Democrats in that latter category.
This is the really sad truth of the tragedy of the Bush administration. The Democratic party has aided and abetted it at every turn. The party leadership and the small cadre of increasingly out-of-touch consultants (who - in spite of a long record of failure - continue to dictate party policies and tactics) have proven time and again that protecting their short-term career objectives outweigh political principles of any kind. If Pelosi, Rockefeller, Daschle, or any of the other Dems briefed on this illegal spying really did get the complete details; duty should have compelled them to take action in congress and face the potential legal consequences.
The political winds are changing. If the comfortable craven leadership of the Democratic party can't see that it's not only a moral imperative but also good politcs to go after this administration for its crimes by now, then it's time to tear the whole thing down and start over. If some of the would-be '08 nominees don't put duty over cautious ambitioun and show some leadership here soon, it's going to be awfully hard to open my checkbook or pound the pavement for any of them when the time comes (Russ Feingold excepted).
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Bush's impeachable offense
What is required if for a one-term-only Impeachment Party to exercise power in the next Congress. The core of this party must be successful candidates in nominally "red" districts, who run for office pledging to push impeachment, and to oppose *all* legislation on issues that are not of vital national interest. There are three such issues:
* The impeachment of (first) the Vice President and (second) the President;
* Crisis management in Iraq; and
* Fiscal prudence.
Members of the Impeachment Party would pledge to filibuster or otherwise obstruct *all* legislative distractions, including any legislation on the hot-button issues of guns, gays, and abortion politics.
In my home region of rural Northern California, there are three House districts which would be susceptible to this challenge: the seats now held by Representatives Herger, Dolittle, and Pombo. These Districts, like much of "Red" America, are socially conservative with large working-class populations, who bear a high share of the burden of the war, and are historically sensititive to government intrusion.
The Impeachment Party appeal to these voters is that they were cheated and misled by scoundrels, who appealed to their distrust of the perceived social programs of the social elites in order to pursue a very different agenda, for which they and their children are paying the price. The incumbent representatives are part of this gang, and must be routed. Once the work of the Impeachment Congress is complete, these folks may prefer more conservative representation than is provided by the firebrands of the Impeachment Party; but ridding the Capitol of the Bush Conspirators is the first urgent business.