A Crack in the Ice?

“GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush’s impeachment. But he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead despite public sentiment against the war.

“Any president who says, I don’t care, or I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else, or I don’t care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed — if a president really believes that, then there are — what I was pointing out, there are ways to deal with that,” said Hagel, who is considering a 2008 presidential run.

The White House had no immediate reaction Sunday to Hagel’s comments.”

Then there is this…

” Republican support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales eroded Sunday as three key senators sharply questioned his honesty over last fall’s firings of eight federal prosecutors. Additionally, two Democrats joined the list of lawmakers calling for Gonzales’ ouster.

Several Republicans also urged President Bush to allow sworn testimony from his top aides about their role in dismissing the U.S. attorneys _ a standoff threatening to result in Capitol Hill subpoenas of White House officials.

The embattled attorney general was facing the toughest test of his two-year tenure at the Justice Department with the release of documents suggesting he was more involved with the firings than he indicated earlier.”

All this is according to Southern California’s North County Times.

Da Bear sez: Digby Gets It!

Yep, Digby using historical analogy and simple political insight tells the whiners and the concern trolls:

‘You don’t know what the fuck yer talkin’ about. STFU and git to work.’

To which I add, ‘That’s right. The fight is only just beginning. Read your Federalist Papers, talk to you neighbors and do the following:

Organize.

Make noise.

Take action.

The Train is Leavin’, Leavin’ the Station….

Sing that to the tune of Love Train by the everlovin’ O’Jays. ‘Cause sure as Charles Darwin made little green apples the Impeachment Train is buildin’ up steam.

Here’s what Chuck Freakin’ Hagel, Republican stalwart, said today:

‘"Any president who says, I don’t care, or I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else, or I don’t care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed _ if a president really believes that, then there are _ what I was pointing out, there are ways to deal with that," said Hagel, who is considering a 2008 presidential run.’

‘Ways to deal with that…’ he means impeaching Ol’ Chimpy the Petulant. And when the number two gorilla leader in your freakin’ party says it….

Well, anybody but ‘The Idiot’ would back off. But that’s what makes Bush so perfect for progressive purposes. He ain’t gonna back off. He’s going to drive the Republican Party right over the cliff. Yellin’ Yeeeeeeeee Hawwwwwwww like the make-believe TexAss cowboy he is.

Of course as malcontent and others will point out he might take us with him. Too which I say to them and to the millions of bone-headed, jelly-assed sheeple who voted for him…

‘Politics has consequences….’

To the millions who are ‘too busy’ watching March Madness or some other form of American ‘Bread and Circuses’ I say,

‘Just because you aren’t interested in Politics does not mean Politics aren’t interested in you.’

Actually, the Athenian tyrant Pericles said that.

Over two thousand and five hundred years ago.

Pass the Popcorn.

Bush is goin’ down.

Now just who are you going to believe? Me or your lyin’ eyes…Or maybe the ‘Tehhahist’ Luvin’ Democrat Party?

‘Thas right boy ya doin’ yerself proud there…’

Is there, as ‘Abu Graib’ Gonzales, or ‘Smiler’ as I like to call his punk ass, insists, a perfectly reasonable explanation for Purgegate? I guess there might be, but there are sure an awful lot of reasons to be skeptical. Here’s a list off the top of my head:

1. Prior to the purge, DOJ lawyers quietly inserted a clause in the Patriot Act that allowed them to appoint new U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval. Why did they do this when their own emails show that the existing system hadn’t caused them any problems?

2. They fired eight USAs at once. This is wildly unprecedented. Why did they feel the need for such an extensive sweep?

3. None of the eight were given a reason for being fired.

4. DOJ initially lied when asked why they were fired, chalking it up to “performance reasons” even though five of the eight had previously received reviews placing them in the top third of all USAs. Why lie if there’s an innocent explanation?

5. Five of the eight were either aggressively prosecuting Republicans or else failing to prosecute Democrats to the satisfaction of local politicians. Coincidence?

6. David Iglesias reported that he received case-related calls from Heather Wilson and Pete Domenici shortly before the midterms. He believes the calls were intended to pressure him into indicting some local Democrats before election day. He didn’t, and a few weeks later he was fired.

On a similar note, the day after Carol Lam notified DOJ that she was planning to expand the Duke Cunningham investigation, Kyle Sampson emailed the White House and told William Kelly to call him so he could explain the “real reason” he wanted to get rid of Lam. What was the real reason that he didn’t want to put in email?

7. When DOJ released thousands of pages of emails last week, there was a mysterious 18-day gap from a period shortly before the firings were announced. This seems like precisely the period during which there would have been the greatest amount of email traffic. Where are the emails?

8. The email dump contained virtually nothing from before the firings discussing the reasons for targeting the eight USAs who were eventually fired. Surely there must have been such a discussion?

9. DOJ has now had weeks to come up with a plausible story for the firings and they still haven’t. This is truly remarkable. Why not just tell the truth? That doesn’t take weeks to concoct.

All this from one blogger Kevin Drum.

Makes ya wonder don’t it?

US and Britain Poised to Attack Iran

Much like the UN resolution on Iraq passed in November, 2002 gave cover to the US and Britain for the invasion of Iraq (which subsequently occured early the following year), the recent UN resolution on Iran, which imposes severe sanctions, will provide the cover that the US and Britain desire to invade Iran.  It serves to set Iran up as defiant, rogue-ish and threatening in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Additionally, the recent capture of British troops by Iran will serve to reinforce this view that an invasion of Iran is justified.  Remember the Israeli troops that were captured in Lebanon and the Israeli attack that ensued?  Capture of their troops was used as a reason to attack.  But there was plenty of evidence that showed the Israeli troops had illegally entered Lebanese territory and that their capture was called a kidnapping to justify an invasion.

The case against Iran is being made by the US and Britain right now.  They are using the same tactics we have seen before… primarily false allegations… lies.

To what extent is Iran really fomenting anti-US sentiment in Iraq?  Were British troops really in Iranian waters?  Is the UN sanction on Iran another key element in the justification for invading Iran?

It seems obvious to me, a lowly common citizen, that the case is being made to invade Iran.  I expect that unless Congress can prevent Bush from attacking Iran - and they won’t be able to if world opinion is mostly against Iran because of these false allegations made against them – then we will be in the middle of another war in the Middle East.

This one will be like Iraq on steroids, because Iran (unlike Iraq) is a powerful country with a powerful military force and almost 3 times the population of Iraq, almost 7 times the GDP of Iraq and about 4 times as large as Iraq.  What is also scary is that “More than two-thirds of the population is under the age of 30, and the literacy rate is 86%.”  They are young, smart, numerous and well-armed.

We can’t even manage to hold our own ground in Iraq – which is relative child’s play compared to what an invasion of Iran would be like.  We cannot afford to invade Iran.  We would not be happy with the resulting quagmire.  It might even be the last thing we ever do as a wealthy, powerful, sovereign nation.  It could be our flight of Icarus, our foolish attempt to reach the sun based on our own hubris and total lack of reason and total loss of touch with reality.  It could be our undoing.

Follow the charade here: http://antiwar.com/ 

If Congress is a Bunch O’ Pussies. Like Colbert says….What does that make you?

   

In a previous video post Steven Colbert calls out Congress stating, for the record, that if they don’t Impeach the scum, George W. Bush, that they are nothing more or less than ‘A Bunch O’ Pussies…’

I, and you probably do also, agree with the man.

But….

What about the rest of us. Well, Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter points out in his op-ed in the WaPo:

                                    ‘Terrorized by ‘War on Terror’

That the traitors Bush and Cheney have done al-Qaeda’s work for them. He says, among other things that,

‘…America today is not the self-confident and determined nation that responded to Pearl Harbor; nor is it the America that heard from its leader, at another moment of crisis, the powerful words "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"; nor is it the calm America that waged the Cold War with quiet persistence despite the knowledge that a real war could be initiated abruptly within minutes…’

He got that right. We’ve got a nation of cowards. People are scared al-Qaeda is going to attack their bingo games in Illinois…that anyone who wants to protect our civil rights or the Constitution is an IslamoFascist…that folks who would protest the orgy of corporate and government Fascism need to be watched and very probably jailed.

In the country I grew up in, just prior to and during the foul Nixon’s attempt at a coup d’etat, this sort of thing was eventually 86′d;  not quickly, not easily but Nixonwas sent packing. And, please remember, he didn’t start a war and he didn’t assault the Constitution and he didn’t jail people without any hearing or trial.

Now?

Stranded as I am in a nation of sheep bleating for protection from the very traitors who allowed 9/11 to happen I’m a little discouraged.

So…

I’m asking you, ‘Are you a sheep or are you a citizen of the United States.’ If yer a bleating sheep scared of the dark why…don’t bother to visit here anymore.

If you’re a citizen who is as outraged and angry as I am then get active in the Impeach Bush movement almost a million people have signed the petition at this link. Stand up for yourself and everybody else and sign. The first step to reversing the descent into fear and cowardice he and Cheney have engineered is to put the miserable little pocket Hitler out of office.

The second is to try him for treason.

Maybe then our nation can regain some of it’s self-respect.