It's all well and good to sit back and say that we (the Democrats) have to take back control of the House and Senate this November before we can seriously consider impeachment but with all the gerrymandering that's taken place, how likely is it that that's going to happen? Sure as I'm sitting here typing this, by November every red state in America will have some "hot button" issue on the ballot that will guarantee a huge Republican turnout. Here in Ohio in 2004 we had an amendment to our state constitution outlawing gay marriage on the ballot. (Thanks to a big turnout, it passed easily.) We also had a Republican Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell (now running for governor) who made damn sure that precincts that are heavily Democratic didn't have enough voting machines ... end result: many Democrats had to stand in line for hours, others simply turned around and went home. In 2005 things went from bad to worse ... to quote a headline from bradblog, 11/14/2005: "The Staggeringly Impossible Results of Ohio's '05 Election ... As Half of Ohio's Counties Fired Up Blackwell's New Diebold Electronic Diebold Voting Machines".

This year, thanks to Federal legislation, ALL of Ohio will have Diebold voting machines in place. Diebold voting machines that don't just have memory cards that are ridiculously easy to "hack" but they also have an infrared port, a new addition for which there's NO logical explanation. If you live in a red state and you think manipulating your state's voting equipment is just too far out to even have to worry about, take a look at our Congress! These elected officials have looked the other way while George Bush has committed one atrocity after another and they've passed one piece of legislation after another that is blatantly in the best interests of corporations and special interest groups instead of the people they're supposed to be representing. The only explanation I can come up with is that these people clearly believe that there'll be no accountablility for their actions come November. In the past the big bad Republican "machine" has included lots of money for running lots of negative ads and "swift-boating" and hot-button issues to get the votes out and gerrymandered districts to make it all but impossible to unseat their incumbents. (The Texas redistricting case going before SCOTUS today is a perfect example.) Who's to say these people and their minions wouldn't stoop to a little tweak here and there to a few voting machines to make sure their people get sent back to Washington?

Mr. Keillor is right -- impeachment is our only answer and the sooner the better!

IMPEACH HIM NOW, FOR OUR OWN SAKES

FROM THIS DARKNESS THIS COUNTRY AWAKES

DAMN THEM ALL THIS BAND OF CROOKS

LET THIS BE OUR HERITAGE IN HISTORY BOOKS

CALL ON EVERY CITIZEN, FAR AND WIDE

IN CITY, SUBURB AND COUNTRYSIDE

BUM AND MILLIONAIRE, STUDENT AND TEACHER

MEN AND WOMEN, CONGREGATION AND TEACHER

ALL WITH CONSCIENCE, HEED MY CALL

IMPEACH THE DAMN CROOKS, ONE AND ALL...

RESPECTFULLY,

IMPEACH BUSH NOW, FOR OUR OWN SAKES

AS FROM THIS DARKNESS THIS COUNTRY AWAKES

DAMN THEM ALL THIS BAND OF CROOKS

LET THIS BE OUR HERITAGE IN HISTORY BOOKS

CALL ON EVERY CITIZEN, FAR AND WIDE

IN CITY, SUBURB AND COUNTRYSIDE

BUM AND MILLIONAIRE, STUDENT AND TEACHER

MEN AND WOMEN, CONGREGATION AND PREACHER

ALL WITH CONSCIENCE, HEED MY CALL

IMPEACH THE DAMN CROOKS, ONE AND ALL...

RESPECTFULLY,

Seriously, it (impeachment of Bush) is the only way to prevent us from having a long line of BUSHES in the WhiteHouse. It's the only way to recover our reputation, worldwide prestige, safety and perhaps, pass on this country in some semblance of order to our grandchildren.

If this Port Deal passes, I'm seriously considering leaving. Putting our safety in the hands of people without a stake in our well-being, not to mention people who speak and write completely different language and therefore are able to conceal vital information from us; people with ties to those who are hostile to us and our best interests, where we are at a disadvantage and unable to distinguish familial ties, is stupidity to the "Nth" degree, as unpatriotic as it gets, a betrayal of those who put their lives on the line everyday, and anyone who doesn't see that is as blind as a bat in a disco.

It is the only way to begin to get us to save as a country, and restore economic viability and safety. IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO CAUSE THOSE WHO WOULD COME AFTER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO FEAR THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE.

That quote says it all. We claim to be a country where the laws apply to everyone equally. There are many of us who truly aspire to those principles through example rather than just words. Our elected leaders; either through blatant action or inaction are guilty of the political enviroment we know live in.

It was not enough for each and every claim of the Bush Administration to be debunked. It didn't tip the scales when torture evidence through video and pictures became public. When our government uses false fear imagery to send us into war nothing comes of it.

Through these and many other incidences of outright dishonesty we are left with a President who has the audacity to ask us as a nation to " trust him" on matters of illegal wire tapping and illegal imprisonment.

It is important for our country to be protected. That being said it is also very important for the very ideals that we cherish and many have fought and died for remain intact. I applaud the courage of those who are willing to speak out. Now it is time for those who can have an immediate effect to also speak out.

We have only ourselves to blame for the atrocities committed by this diminished set of DNA in a suit. We have allowed the flames to come, believing that we're watching events unfold 'out there'- on a stage, on a TV screen or some place safely distant from us.

All great leaders teach that one thing comes into existence because all other things conspire to support it. There is a causal connection between the serial obsessions we indulge and the systematic destruction of our core values as a nation and as individuals.

Like it or not, "W" is the exact image of our Zeitgiest; someone completely consumed with the image of leadership without a shred of interest in actually leading anyone anywhere. He is really not responsible for the horrors that are occuring on his watch...he's simply the face of our own criminal lack of attention to the needs of this world.