Letters to the Editor
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Censure
I am for any action that the Congress can take that might force the wall of silence surrounding Bush to collapse.
Honestly, I'm not sure what an official censure accomplishes, but if ever there were an appropriate time for the congress to act, this is it. Beyond this, I'd really like to understand the end game that Feingold has in mind. (Is this one step in a larger strategy? If yes, then by all means I'm for it. If no, it seems a bit silly, but not at all unjustified.)
To your larger point - I think you've hit the nail on the head. We really are having a discussion between those who believe that the Constitutional system of checks and balances will kick in and those who do not. Perhaps we should take it to the next level and discuss what alternatives you have in mind if you don't believe that the Constitutional system should be trusted to deliver justice?
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revolting
I'm reminded a lot lately of my German grandmother telling me as a child, "Oh, goodness, we had no idea what was really going on," when I asked about WWII.
Come on, folks. Cindy is right: this is no time for "business as usual."
To ignore the Bush administration's many crimes and deceptions without formal rebuke or reprisal is tantamount to support and complicity.
Including complicity in: a bloody war begun under false pretenses; torture and extraordinary rendition; illegal imprisonment; illegal wiretapping; systematic attempts to bypass and erode the checks and balances of our political system.
This administration has run roughshod over the Constitution and the laws of the country, and long ago abandoned all human decency. Lines have been crossed and redrawn, over and over again, each setting a precedent for ever greater abuses of power.
In addition to thousands of U.S. casualties and wounded, estimates now approach nearly one million Iraqi dead, over two million Iraqi refugees, and countless other lives disrupted and damaged as a direct result of "our" war/occupation. At a financial cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. And still, war with Iran looms over the horizon.
Fuck elections and votes. Can you look at yourself in the mirror, sleep at night, knowing what you know?
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Harrington
I don't think that I was using "smear tactics" in pointing out that trying to position a political party for elections that are over a year away will allow the Iraq war to continue to chew up lives in the meantime. To amplify another letter writer's point, the Democrats are so afraid of being swift-boated that there's no reason to expect that the result of the elections in '08 will do anything to end the war. Nor am advocating doing "something crazy" to feed my ego. I was advocating using impeachment and a budgetary showdown between the Congress and the White House. These aren't "crazy" actions, they're the actions of a Congress willing to use its Constitutionally ordained powers to act as a co-equal branch of government. While polls indicate that the American public may be a little ambivalent still about taking things this far, I agree with another letter writer that they may just be waiting for a little leadership from the Democrats they voted into office to end the war.
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Text for PEACE at 73223
Cindy Sheehan's call for peace should not be overlooked.
Text for PEACE at 73223 and tell the White House you are sick of the war in Iraq and you want our troops home!
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Of course preemptively toppling a government based solely on what you think they might do isn't entirely clean either
That's the same excuse all military dictators and juntas use all the time. So I'm not so sure all the rads really want to go down that path. And for the folks comparing the US today to Germany 1993-7, please stop smoking crack.
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@Harrington
I certainly think we should use all the resources the Constitution provides before we tackle the problem of radically revising the document that has brought us this far. One of those resources is impeachment, and I see the current hearings as building toward impeachment - not detracting or distracting from it. I felt more hopeful about that a couple weeks ago, though. There is more wheel-spinning now, it seems.
My point overall is that if we don't get these guys out of office before the next election, it is going to be much harder to enact anything that resembles a democratic process, because we are consenting to this style of governance. It is a dangerous precedent. If we don't make it clear that we will not stand for unitary executives, then we will never be without one.
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An excellent point EMStoveken
EMStoveken makes an excellent point. If requests made as part of impeachment hearings limit the use of executive privilege then that may really be the only way to pry much of the information needed out of this administration.
As it is, the Bush administration seems content to claim the privilege for just about everything and will continue to do so until they are forced to stop.
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Wickham Wrong
Wickham like the rest os the MSM is scared s---tl--s of some one who want's to impeach the republican criminals.So what if the senate wouldn't vote for impeachment at leastit would be on record that the House impeached and it would be on Bush's record where it needs to be a part of history.To let these criminal's break every law including international law and do nothing is also criminal.
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Why Elect Democrat Cowards?
Harrington-
These democrats you want to elect are just like the ones we have now: they are useless cowards. I believe enabling them is the wrong thing to do. Instead, I think it is time to reject them. This is what Cindy Sheehan is doing and it is what I too will do until they decide to grow spines. Even though you and I probably have very similar political leanings, I am, in contrast to you, working AGAINST the election of a coward democrat. I would gladly get on board your election train with all its luxuries if there were something to vote for.