The Next Step

Contempt of Congress:

The issuance of a Contempt of Congress citation would provoke the sort of Constitutional showdown that it now appears will be required if this administration is to be held to account for its abuses of power. In such a showdown between the legislative and executive branches, the third branch of the federal government, the judiciary, would be asked to decide whether the White House has a right to assert, as White House counsel Fred Fielding did in a letter telling the committee chairs that their demands would not be met.

The 'fear of being commanded to Capitol Hill to testify or having their documents produced to Congress' would prevent presidential advisers from communicating 'openly and honestly' with the president,' wrote Fielding.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy suggests, there is another sort of fear in play: the fear of having improper and potentially illegal schemes exposed.

I can hardly wait. And should the Supreme Court decide with the president against all precedent and in clear violation of the letter and spirit of the law, then Congress must take action to revise their charter and, if necessary, hold them in contempt as well.

Why Won't They Impeach?!

The 'I' word - The Boston Globe:
"Most Democratic politicians and strategists see impeachment as a loser. Right now, President Bush is one of the least popular presidents in American history, and Democratic leaders don't see any point in turning him into a political martyr. Just as important, they argue, the time-consuming, rancorous debates that the process would occasion would elbow any other business off the legislative agenda, leaving the Democratic Party little to show for its return to power on Capitol Hill.

To impeachment's champions, however, these tactical arguments are worth little. What's at stake, they argue, is the Constitution itself. 'I'd like to see [Bush and Cheney] tried and convicted and put behind bars,' says Washington's David Swanson, co-founder of After Downing Street, an organization dedicated to doing just that. 'That would be a satisfactory outcome. Not because I dislike them or think they're unpleasant people, but I don't want future presidents to think they can do these things.'"

More Bad News For All

Bits of News - Iraq War Going Once. Twice. Sold! To the Democrats!:
"Other than New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, every other declared Democratic candidate for the presidential primary have been careful to not nail their flag to the mast of complete withdrawal from Iraq, or ruling out a wider conflict with neighbouring Iran. The original proponents of the war from the disparate coalition making up the modern Republican Party might have had different motives for advocating the invasion. There is of course the much talked about neoconservatives, whose motives ranged from misguided idealism, again of a sort, to making the Middle East safe for Israel. There was the religious right, who had their own reasons for wanting a show down between good and evil in Biblical lands. And there's the Cheney wing, guided by avarice, mainly for the oil resources under the sands of Araby."

The author does not see the war ending any time soon, even with a Democratic president in office. There are too many of the "powers that be" in it for the long haul. They just don't (or won't) see a future without oil and therefore a future without U.S. involvement in the Middle East.

White House of Mirrors - New York Times

White House of Mirrors - New York Times:
"Governments have to keep secrets. But this administration has grossly abused that trust, routinely using claims of national security to hide policies that are immoral and almost certainly illegal, to avoid embarrassment, and to pursue Mr. Bush’s dreams of an imperial presidency."

News Hounds: New Low for Sean Hannity and FOX

News Hounds: New Low for Sean Hannity and FOX: "To leave out Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rove, Bush and others, and try to paint Hillary as the responsible party for this Iraq war, now that even FOX can't pretend things are going well, is a journalistic abomination lacking any intellectual value or merit whatsoever!"