Support Impeachment Hearings NOW!

WexlerWantsHearings.com

This, from Representative Robert Wexler:

Our effort to hold the Bush/Cheney Administration accountable has taken another dramatic step forward. Last night, Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced the first Articles of Impeachment ever to be introduced against President Bush. It includes, in total, thirty-five Articles detailing this Administration's blatant abuse of power. Today, I enthusiastically co-sponsored this vitally important bill.

I am grateful for Dennis' leadership on this issue and for the steadfast support that countless Americans have given to both of our efforts to redeem our government and expose the crimes of Bush and Cheney.

I will now expand my efforts to secure impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee for these new Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Many of the charges against President Bush are well known – and would shock the conscience of everyday Americans if only the national media would be willing to report on these stark facts.

The Articles present a stunning narrative of offenses that have go well beyond previous crimes committed by any US chief executive. In fact no President or Vice President in history has done more to undermine our constitution.

These charges are broad, with 35 separate allegations including the deliberate lies regarding WMDs that led us to war and the approval of illegal wiretapping of American citizens. The Articles also include new allegations of high crimes – including the explicit approval for high Administration officials to violate treaties and US law banning the use of torture.

The Democratic Party gained a majority in the House and Senate due in large part to our promises to end the corruption of the Republican majority and to hold the Administration accountable to the law. This courageous bill is a crucial step towards fulfilling this promise, but – like the Articles against Cheney – they require your support to convince Democrats and open-minded Republicans to support this bold but necessary action.

Time is running out so we must work together to spread the message and apply pressure.

First, please encourage your friends and family members to sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com – as it will allow us to keep in touch with you and speak to a wider audience. If you haven't yet put in your phone and address, please sign up again, as we will be doing telephone town halls in the near future.

Second, call your representative and urge them to support Impeachment hearings.

Finally, contact newspapers, news stations, and your favorite bloggers and urge them to report on this movement. We need to keep Impeachment a significant news story until the Democratic leadership sees the value in it.

McClellan Agrees to Testify:

I was pleased to inform you yesterday that Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers met my call to have Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testify under oath. I am thrilled to inform you that McClellan has agreed to testify on June 20th at 10AM. This will be the first step in what we hope will be ongoing and deepening examinations of the stark evidence and charges against both President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Thank you for your continued passion and advocacy. Your support means so much to me.

Sincerely,

Congressman Robert Wexler

Please sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com . It took me 20 seconds.

Now, spread the word!

:>)

Impeachment Articles Read on the House Floor

Right this minute, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is on the floor of the House of Representatives introducing 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Watch C-Span Now!

If you don't have cable, go to a bar and tell them to put it on C-Span 1!

Or watch at the Video/Audio tab at C-Span.

Action in the House coming later this week!

Good websites to watch for updates and actions:

http://kucinich.us
http://democrats.com
http://afterdowningstreet.org

Hooray, Dennis!!

Free Ride for a Flip Flopper

There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!
Robert Greenwald: Brave New Films

Help spread the word about the real McCain. Forward this to all your friends.

Obama could score a huge electoral victory over McCain

"The simulation takes the polls we have now and recognizes that this far out from the election there are a lot of uncertainties," Poblano explained. "There was a point in time [in 1984] at which Walter Mondale led Ronald Reagan by 17 points or something. So we look at how much polls move over time, plus the margin of error in each poll, plus the fact that polls are never as good as they claim to be And we just simulate around that."

There's a lot to McCain you shouldn't believe when you watch corporate media. Discover the blogosphere, and leverage the media landscape to YOUR advantage.

Fear No Evil

Don't be despondent. Change can happen. (Click on the book's image to see how.)

“Zinn writes with an enthusiasm rarely encountered in the leaden prose of academic history. . .” – New York Times Book Review

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is Howard Zinn’s major new collection of essays on American history, class, immigration, justice, and ordinary citizens who have made a difference.

Even though Bush compares Obama to Nazi appeasers, and feels justified in saying so because he, W, gave up golf for the Iraq War, Olbermann replies:
Olbermann To Bush: "This War Is Not About You...Shut The Hell Up!"

Truer words were never spoken. :>)

These events seem to indicate the Republican attack machine is focusing on the likelihood of Obama securing the nomination. White collar criminals are doing their damnedest to support Rove's sneering legacy:

Limbaugh Wins As Election’s Biggest Manipulator

From attacking Republican frontrunner John McCain early in the process to ‘dreaming’ of – and some say illegally calling for — riots at August’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, all the way to more recent efforts such as “Operation Chaos,” aimed at inserting himself and his followers into the Democratic primaries in an attempt to weaken Barack Obama by supporting Hillary Clinton, the so-called “Limbaugh effect” has garnered excessive attention from the ‘drive-by’ mainstream media that Limbaugh purports to hate but actually depends on and manipulates adroitly.

And Tom Hayden weighs in on Susan Faludi and Hillary Clinton.

Not to be outdone, Garrison Keillor expresses a fine opinion about his beloved country in the International Herald Tribune:

You work hard to be odd and try to have unique problems and a Facebook page that is weirder than everyone else's - fine, it's your life, it's your arm with the crocodile tattoo, not mine, but enjoy this brief period of consanguinity.

Cheers!

Blood and Oil - The Movie

Michael T. Klare's Blood and Oil (Media Education Foundation) illustrates the real cost of our American lifestyle. Buy it, devour it, then speak the truth. Twitter it, even. IM it. Put it on Facebook, but get it out there, somehow.

Synopsis:

The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years – rendering our contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable. In the end, Blood and Oil calls for a radical re-thinking of US energy policy, warning that unless we change direction, we stand to be drawn into one oil war after another as the global hunt for diminishing world petroleum supplies accelerates.

With $4/gal oil coming soon, and no end in sight to price increases, you can see how badly we've mismanaged the past 30+ years since the oil embargo. You had to be there, then you would know, if you haven't figured it out already. EVERYTHING about us depends on cheap and plentiful oil. There is no Plan B.

Since Reagan first took office, there never was any will to create a Plan B -- too uncomfortable, too difficult. Instead, it was "Morning in America", the misguided Gipper-speak that launched the appetites of tens of millions to create a nation of mindless, egocentric consumers, helpless in the glare of the TV Nation, created by the perfect marriage of Madison Avenue "feel good" slogans and Hollywood action figures, the perfect Animal Farm scenario. Long live infotainment.

Engaging in war for control of resources is nothing new. Think Japan in the 1930's. Think about how much oil that second world war consumed.

Then:

• Think about how much oil it takes to keep the world's most mechanized armed forces on the move today.
• Think about how much oil the war in Iraq has consumed.
• Think about how a proud serviceman must know, sadly, he and his buddies are fighting and dying over a barrel of oil.

Yes, let's think about oil. Texas billionaires be damned.

More on Michael Klare:

• Michael Klare, Oil Rules!
• A conversation with Michael Klare
• The New Geopolitics of Energy
• An oil-addicted ex-superpower
  

Most Effective Terrorist Tools Exposed!

There's not much more to say!

Well, you might want to know that since 2002, your Wi-Fi has been considered a terrorist tool. So divest thee of wickedness, and go back to the twisted pair.

Cheers.

May Day in the USA

May Day is the real Labor Day, and it was brought to you by anarchists, vicious repression by police and militia, and the desire for an eight hour work day. In Russia? No, here is the USA. Our current Labor Day is merely window dressing to cover the unpleasant truth.

Let's see how far we've progressed.

This week's cover story to The Nation is called "Race to the Bottom", featuring Hillary Clinton on the cover.

"Watching the brass ring of the presidency slip out of Clinton's grasp as she is buffeted by this torrent of misogyny, women--white women, that is, and mainstream feminists especially--have rallied to her defense."

and

"The sexist attacks on Clinton are outrageous and deplorable, but there's reason to be concerned about her becoming the vehicle for a feminist reawakening. "

The primary should not be a contest about feminism or race, even though it will be hard to avoid. I don't think Presidential races ever took the high ground. This should be a contest about how we can recover from the boy emperor's war, if we can. There is a McCain plan to make Bush permanent. If the other two hopefuls can stop attacking each other long enough to talk specifics, I'd like to hear REAL proposals for recovery.

My opinion: I don't care too much who gets the nomination. Both Democratic candidates aren't too far apart on the war. My main reason for voting against Hillary was her unabashed and continued support for it. The war is destroying every aspect of the American way of life.

Yet,

Obama Says His Foreign Policy Would Be Like That of President Bush's Father, JFK, Reagan

Totally scary. As much as they appear to be 'against' it, I don't think either has voted to "unfund" the war yet. We're in Iraq for a long time, till the end of the empire. Only the history books will report whether the end was was short and sweet, or long and painful. We merely have to live it, unfortunately.

Compare our candidates to someone who is actually doing something about peace in the political world, and you will see how far we've fallen. Ever since he left office, this outstanding person has lived his principles. Yet, he gets no respect.

Read the Pariah Diplomacy editorial to see who I mean.

OK? Now I'm here to tell you, there is only one true peace candidate.

Go ahead, hate me - it's sad no one can believe we could ever have such a vision of democracy in the USA. My vote is really going to be against McCain, not for a candidate who represents my values.

A Time for the Clintons

“I have a lot of baggage, and everybody has rummaged through it for years,” Hillary says.

Let's not forget that you get two for one with Hillary:

"As Clinton was taking office in 1993, three important investigations were underway, all of which Clinton could have helped by ordering key documents declassified or giving other backing to the investigators.

"Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh was still battling the cover-up that had surrounded the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s; Democratic congressmen were digging into the “Iraqgate“ scandal, the covert supplying of dangerous weapons to Iraq's Saddam Hussein in the 1980s; and a House task force was suddenly inundated with evidence pointing to Republican guilt in the “October Surprise“ case, alleged interference by the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 to undermine President Jimmy Carter's efforts to free 52 American hostages then held in Iran.

"Combined, those three investigations could have rewritten the history of the 1980s, exposing serious wrongdoing by Republicans who had held the White House for a dozen years. The full story also would likely have terminated the presidential ambitions of the powerful Bush family, since George H.W. Bush was implicated in all three scandals.

"However, Clinton and the leaders of the Democratic majorities in Congress didn't care enough about the truth to fight for it. Instead, they saw the truth as a bargaining chip that could be cheaply traded away.

"Clinton agreed to let George H.W. Bush retreat gracefully into retirement despite Bush's brazen attempt to destroy Walsh's criminal investigation by issuing six pardons to Iran-Contra defendants on Christmas Eve 1992."

Is Hillary or Obama More Vulnerable to Right-Wing Attacks?
By Robert Parry, Consortium News.

I have a lot of respect for Hillary. She has done much good, and has certainly had an interesting career, arriving into politics as a Goldwater Republican. (I was one, too, in 1964, as a high school student in a very conservative town, cheering Goldwater's famous rant, "Bomb Hanoi!", if you can believe it.)

But the above story of the 1992 Clinton pardons is just too much, too outrageous to ignore, worse than his year 2000 pardons. It's as damning of the Democratic Party as it is of Bill Clinton. Yet I was of his generation and outlook.

My basketball coach used to say, "Never give a sucker an even break." I guess that's true for Bill - Republicans hardly thanked him for this huge 1992 favor during impeachment. It's even more amazing the Dems didn't fight the 2000 Florida election disgrace with any real resolve, that on the heels of impeachment. One can only conclude the Republicans must be right. Democrats are truly spineless.

For more on Hillary's history, refer to Salon's, "How 1968 changed Hillary". It will take you back, as that was a pivotal year for us all.

More sentiment:

• Anti-Hillary Sentiment on the Rise Among Leading Feminists
  
• Clinton wins, will sanity be restored
• Women of My Generation Have Clearly Lost Their Minds
• Hillary or nothing?

I really believed the Clintons were going to change politics. (Take note, ye who are wooed by Obama.)

Do I want more of the Clintons?

Nope.

How McCain Lost, but the Sky Still Falls

"How McCain Lost in Pennsylvania" is the title of the best analysis yet of the McCain campaign and the Democratic primary stalemate. "Not so fast," is good advice to all in the corporate media who can't wait to beat up on a democratic process moving to a natural completion. Just as Antonin Scalia, a Reagan legacy and believer that the constitution is dead, said last week when responding to a challenge to the Florida 2000 election, "Just get over it!"; this is the media, impatient to bully the public with its own agenda of quick sound bites and simple answers. Remember, the media profit hugely from the long election processes yet they act like they cover elections as a free public service.

The Fall

“We were already in our twilight phase when Ronald Reagan, with all the insight of an ostrich, declared it to be ‘morning in America’; twenty-odd years later, under the ‘boy emperor’ George W. Bush (as Chalmers Johnson refers to him), we have entered the Dark Ages in earnest, pursuing a short-sighted path that can only accelerate our decline. For what we are now seeing are the obvious characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture—a troika that was for Voltaire the central horror of the pre-Enlightenment world; as well as, today, the political and economic marginalization of our culture.... The British historian Charles Freeman published an extended discussion of the transition that took place during the late Roman empire, the title of which could serve as a capsule summary of our current rulers: ”The Closing of the Western Mind.”
”Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire” by Morris Berman, a professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The above excepted from Gore Vidal's, "President Jonah, Meet Oliver Cromwell!"

PLEASE read it. Or listen to it, as read by the author. Pass it on.

Mr. Misogyny

Many of you may think I lost it on my previous post. Perhaps.

I was angry. McCain's misogyny reflects the nature of the paternalistic oligarchy we all live under. I was merely focusing on the essence of what he seemed to propose in his solution to appease critics of his stand against equal pay for women. As repulsive as it was to read, it was meant to be satirical. My apologies if it seemed mean-spirited.

Before you rap my knuckles, compare me to Nora Ephron, the screenwriter and satirist, writing about whether Pennsylvania White Men hate blacks more than women. So much for a respectful dialog this campaign season.

Can anyone be worse than Bush? I think McCain is. So help me. How are we going to break this insurgency?!

Point:


Don't you think the Yearning for Zion Ranch looks like a 19th century high security prison?

If you think the Yearning for Zion Ranch story is bizarre, think again. These fundamentalists are not small in numbers. Many voters like absolutes, they want someone to structure their time on this earth with clear cut "do's and do not's". Yet there are large entities that encourage these fundamentalist trends.

"Catholic charities do a lot of good, but the Vatican is a major obstacle to the advancement of women's human rights. In Nicaragua and El Salvador it recently won a total ban on abortion that has already led to dozens of deaths."

Katha Pollitt, writing for Alternet.org, thinks the two religions aren't as far apart as you might think.

Who can tell me when women got the right to own property? (Hint: the slaves were "freed" long before this event.) When did women get the right to vote? How long in the history of human relations did romance ever enter into the negotiations of a marriage? (Hint: a tiny fraction of the whole history.)

Shall I continue?