As Senator Leahy bravely tightens the noose around the neck of the Bush "administration," Vermont Democrats have lent him invaluable political backing in signaling their support for the remedy that ultimately gives him his power in his subpoena showdown -- impeachment. The Vermont legislature now stands poised to lend its voice to the growing chorus joining Leahy's charge.
In her continuing opposition, however, the understandably cautious Speaker Gaye Symington clings ever more tenuously to the excuses she's invented for herself not to act. With the nation's eyes on the contest of resolve now being waged between Leahy and Bush, her expressions of concern become increasingly indistinguishable from willful protection of the Bush White House.
As kestrel9000 outlined the other day, Vermont's own Pat Leahy stand at the point in the fight against the latest outrage in the six-year continuing saga of Bush power-grabbing.
The White House has pretty much been caught red-handed in an effort to corrupt and contaminate the actual administration of justice in the United States, by overtly hiring and firing U.S. Attorneys around the country on the basis of their partisan and personal loyalty not to the law, but to George W. Bush. Pat Leahy, righteously indignant at the implications for the future of our country, wants answers, and says he'll subpoena top White House officials to get them.
George W. Bush says he'll order his advisors to defy Leahy's subpoenas.
The Vermont Democratic Party and the Vermont State Legislature are poised to lay down for Bush, leaving Leahy twisting in the wind.
This Saturday morning, Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin (D-Windham) will address the Democratic State Committee - where he will discuss one of the most important issues facing our country - the Constitutional crisis posed by an out of control President.
Senator Peter Shumlin may discuss other topics as well - such as the property taxes that affect us all, but he also plans to ask the committee to urge the legislature to begin the solemn process of repairing the US Constitution. For this, he will ask the committee to urge the legislature to transmit an impeachment resolution to the US house.
Senator Shumlin has opened a dialog with House Leader Gaye Symington (D-Jericho), urging her to let the bill (which seems to be under lock-down) in the House Judiciary Committee to come to the floor.
Another Vermonter has won Buzzflash's 'Wings of Justice' award. This time it's Dan DeWalt:
"Dan DeWalt, a citizen activist from Newfane, VT," a BuzzFlash reader writes, "spearheaded the movement in Vermont and New England for holding the Bush Administration accountable through impeachment."
And DeWalt lit a grassfire. His patriotic call for holding Bush and Cheney to be impeached was passed by 37 towns in Vermont on March 8.
"The founders wanted impeachment in the hands of the people," said DeWalt, who has lived in southern Vermont for 30 years. "They knew there might come a time when the executive branch, the Congress, and even the press, fail us. And that's the circumstance we find ourselves in today."
An article from a Vermont paper noted, "Whatever you might think of Vermont's impeachment drive, you've got to agree it makes more sense to impeach a president for making war, than making whoopee."
Yes, indeed, and for that, Dan DeWalt merits being named the winner of this week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award.
Well deserved, Dan. Thanks, and a collective tip of the hat to you for elevating the idea of impeachment a bit higher.
For those of you following the town meeting/impeachment resolution issue, I've put together this handy-dandy roundup from all around the state and a few other places. If you see something I've forgotten, let me know in the comments and I'll get it up here.
Rochester's town meeting voted 57-53 in favor of impeachment. A motion to pass over the article had been made and rejected, followed by short discussion and then the vote.
Also, Westminster passed it, 107-29.
It was tabled in Stamford, and wasn't brought up for a vote in Rupert. More to follow...
Whereas, approximately 2,300 Vermont National Guard troops have served in Iraq since March of 2003, and
Whereas, Vermont has had the highest number of soldiers per capita who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives in this war, and
Whereas, approximately 80 Vermont National Guard troops are now deployed in Iraq, and more could be deployed in the coming months if the Bush Administration policies continue in the current direction, and
Whereas, at the time the Iraq conflict started in March 2003, the American public was told that the primary reason for this incursion was to eliminate weapons of mass destruction that the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, had allegedly stockpiled, and it has been since documented that no weapons of mass destruction were stockpiled in Iraq at the time the American military forces entered that country, and
Whereas, it is now apparent that the U.S. Department of Defense did not develop an exit strategy prior to the invasion, falsely assuming that the Iraqi people would welcome United States forces with open arms, and that withdrawal would not be a difficult problem, and
Whereas, the continuing and daily onslaught of sectarian violence and indications of ethnic cleansing in some areas of the nation have proven disruptive to nearly all aspects of Iraqi society, and
Whereas, over 3,000 American military personnel have died since March 2003, and
Whereas, many Vermont veterans have returned home from Iraq and the region with significant unmet physical and mental health care needs, and
Whereas, the cost of this war according to the Congressional Research Service is at least $379 billion, and
Whereas, based on the state's population, Vermont's share of the cost exceeds $750 million, and
Whereas, these costs will have a significant impact on Vermont households and the Vermont state budget process for years to come, and
Whereas, the Bush Administration recently called for and has started to implement an escalation in the number of American military troops actively engaged in Iraq, now therefore be it
New legislation is circulating in the Statehouse calling for Bush's impeachment under Section 603 of the Jefferson's Manual (a la, the Rutland Resolution). From vtimpeach.com:
The bill needs as many co-sponsors as possible, so the call is out to contact your own state Representatives and ask them to sign on. Last year's bill had about a dozen signers - most of whom are still in the legislature. Clearly these folks should be contacted again, but we shouldn't stop there.
BIll Lippert (D-Hinesburg) is the Judiciary Chair, so its of particular importance that he be contacted by constituents. Leadership should hear from their voters as well.
Please check out the full piece for details on how you can help out. There will be a lot to say on this over the coming weeks (and Kagro X will want to chime in, as one of the national leaders on this effort), so I'll hold off on any more for now.
Another new blog with anonymous "insiders" appears. This one's a bit skimpy on the content, but it's good - and the folks involved actually are plugged in. Check it out at www.vtscrapwood.blogspot.com.
I've just been on a conference call sponsored by the "Progressive States Network," aimed at generating support for opposition to the Bush/McCain escalation of the war in Iraq. Joining the call was Senator Ted Kennedy, there to promote his bill requiring separate authorization for any such escalation, and most particularly for the funding of any such escalation.
But the main thrust of the call was to inform state level actors of their right and responsibility to speak out on this issue, even though it might be considered purely a matter of federal policy. State legislatures, we were reminded, can have a profound impact on Washington, and most especially on their representation in Congress. And it's not as if such issues haven't been addressed at the state level in the past. The PATRIOT Act, Social Security privatization, the genocide in Darfur, CAFTA and other trade agreements -- all have been addressed in the recent past by state legislatures.
All fascinating, of course. And to no one's surprise, there was no mention of impeachment, a subject about which four state legislatures have already seen resolutions introduced -- almost all greeted with the same objection, often from both sides of the aisle, that it was "a federal issue."
Well, next week -- on the day President Bush delivers his State of the Union address, actually -- New Mexico will become the fifth.
The resolution will be introduced by State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque), along with cosponsor John Grubesic (D-Santa Fe). Democrats control both houses of the legislature: 24-18 in the Senate; 41-28 in the House. The signature of the Governor of New Mexico, Democrat Bill Richardson, is not required. Richardson is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008.
On his way out the door as governor of Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate (and DLC Chairman!) Tom Vilsack delivered a surprise package in his last address to the state legislature:
Departing Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack used his final Condition of the State speech Tuesday to condemn the Bush administration's plan to send as many as 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
"Now the president and the Congress are poised to make a big mistake even bigger," the Democrat seeking the 2008 presidential nomination told a joint session of the Iowa Legislature. "Understand that escalation will come at the expense of families and communities here in Iowa and across the nation."
Vilsack also urged the Legislature, with new Democratic majorities in both houses, to pass resolutions condemning Bush's plan.
An interesting approach, don't you think? And it reminds me of a little something we saw up in Vermont last year:
Okay, I'm sure you think that this was some kind of test, and somehow my keyboard passed (or failed?) by letting me type the title of this diary. That would be a good hypothesis, but in this case it turns out not to be correct.
Actually, I'm writing to recommend another site. I've been a regular viewer of BloggingHeadsTV, a site that Robert Wright has been running for a couple of years now. It's like the video version of blogging, and the way it works is that Bob Wright and someone else (commonly, but not always, Mickey Kaus) sit at their computers, with their webcams and headsets, and debate issues. They call them diavlogs, and they do two or three a week, sometimes Bob and Mickey, sometimes two other people.
It varies. John and I have talked about it, and I suspect he doesn't watch BHTV because of how much he can't stand Mickey. This is entirely understandable, because Mickey is one of these guys (they seem to be legion, like Chris Matthews and Tim Russert) who like to parlay a long-ago staff job for some Democrat into some kind of Democratic bona fides, even though they have slipped irredeemably, or nearly so, into conservatism. Bob does challenge Mickey on his claims to be a Democrat, and I think he routinely has the better of the argument, but I still think some of the diavlogs can be enlightening.
Tonight I just watched one between Bob Wright and Andrew Sullivan, whom you may know as the former editor of the New Republic. I thought it was very good, largely because (here's the shocking part) Andrew Sullivan admits that he was wrong to support the Republican War in Iraq, and talks at great length about why. His comments are really way beyond the norm for former war supporters, and they seem to demonstrate that not only does he realize that he was wrong, but that he has understood that he has to rethink his whole way of looking at things.
You can certainly judge for yourself if you think that's true, but I think it's worth viewing the diavlog for that and other reasons.
One of the main reasons is that they talk about why, knowing what we know now about the runup to the war--excuse me, the Republican War in Iraq--it is more important than ever to talk about impeachment.
Oopsie-daisy! Reality sneaks in (followed by a chuckle and a hasty retreat) as Newsweek Senior editor Michael Hirsh is interviewed on the Air America Radio program, The Young Turks.
Co-host Cenk Ugyur posed the following question to Hirsh, asking about Bush's plans to escalate the war in Iraq with the addition of some 30,000+ troops:
What happens at the endgame here? We're talking to Michael Hirsh of Newsweek. Bush says, "Alright, I'm gonna put more troops in." He does. He doesn't have a plan for what they're supposed to accomplish, which is what [sic] it appears. There is no political equilibrium that we have reached. There is no unity government that is a a real partner for peace with us. This thing gets worse and worse, and I guarantee you it will, and Bush never changes course.
[...]
Do we get to a point where people have to pull him aside and say, "You can't do this anymore?" And who would that be, and how would that work? I mean, how do we get a President that won't listen to reason under control?
Nancy Pelosi may have tried to take impeachment off the table, but the AfterDowningStreet.org crew, led by the indomitable David Swanson, kept forcing it back on. Their coalition's website remains the "go-to" place for the latest on investigations, inquiries, subpoenas, legal actions and every other move to hold this president and vice president to account. And their passion for empowering citizens to promote "impeachment from below" and other accountability initiatives has forged a loose-knit but very real national movement. Watch for this movement to get a lot more attention in March, when a drive organized by Newfane, Vermont, town selectman and impeachment impresario Dan DeWalt and others will see dozens of town meetings endorse articles of impeachment.
Well deserved kudos, Dan. Congatulations and thanks.
On the road leading to the Bennington Battle Monument is a statue of a Catamount on a granite pedestal. This was placed as a marker in rememberance of the Catamount Tavern. The Tavern was not named the Catamount Tavern until years after it stopped being a tavern. Whether known as Fay's House, the Green Mountain Tavern, or the Catamount Tavern, it was the meeting place of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. It was here that they planned the assualts on New York and the British. It was here that, according to Vermont sources, the attack on Fort Ticonderoga was planned. The Tavern burned down in 1871.
Consider yourself at home.
Consider yourself one of the family.
We've taken to you so strong.
It's clear we're going to get along.
Consider yourself well in
Consider yourslef par to the furniture.
There isn't a lot to spare.
Who cares?..What ever we've got we share!
[Originally published in the Vermont Journal. No linky, as they've done something weird to the site. This is my final column, as the paper's been sold and - temporarily, at least - mothballed. Thanks to editor John Bauer for the fun (if brief) experience as a print-person.]
The question of Presidential impeachment was thrown around before November, and it's a question that won't go away in the election's aftermath. A question as to whether or not the breaking of more than 750 duly passed laws (according to the Boston Globe), and the trampling of the 6th, 4th and 8th amendments (according to the Courts) through acts such as the reserved "right" to declare any citizen an "unlawful combatant" and lock them up indefinitely without charges or access to counsel, rise to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors" specified under the Constitution as grounds for - what amounts to - the ultimate job performance review and disciplinary hearing for our nation's number one employee.
A recent press release from California Assemblyman Paul Koretz:
Koretz Impeachment Resolution Passes First Hurdle
Sacramento - Legislation by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney advanced Thursday when the Assembly Rules Committee voted 4 to 3 to have the issue referred to the Committee for further consideration.
While the vote is considered procedural in nature, this action enables the language on impeachment to be amended into Assembly Joint Resolution 39 (AJR 39), replacing the prior language, which had been unrelated to the impeachment topic. The resolution had been initially proposed on April 21, when Koretz submitted language to amend AJR 39.
I just threw a drink in Josh Marshall's face.
See, at first, I was cool with it. I saw it as simply an opposing point of view; another way to look at the situation. I pride myself on my tolerance. That and my humility, which is actually my most admirable and meritorious personal trait. And that's saying a lot, because it has a lot of competition in my personality profile. I'm damned proud of my humility.
(I often think that what the world needs are more geniuses that still have a bit of humility. After all, there are so few of us left.)
Be that as it may, the other day, my wingnut boss called me "the most intolerant person I've ever met." That one sent me reeling. The primary GOP political officer (self-appointed) of my work environment called ME intolerant. This man thinks civil liberties begin and end with the Second Amendment. He seems to give not a fuck about the Fourth or Sixth. I wonder what he'd do if suddenly his Third Amendment rights were violated.
Anyway, I came to the realization that he was at least partly right. I AM intolerant. I am intolerant of this administration and its water-carrying MSM.
I did tell him about the HR 1606 thing as well as the latest attempts to gutshoot the 527s, and while he doesn't like Move On, he did rail somewhat angrily at the idea of the government suppressing the blogosphere. There's hope for this guy. he also watched Markos on KO last night. He tried to dismiss the guy, but his rhetoric bellyflopped. "Another anti-gun liberal...." "Hey, wait a minute! What did he say about guns? I missed that! Let's watch the video and catch what Kos said about guns."
He changed the subject.
But come to think of it, I guess I did too. I digress.
Quite frequently, and quite adroitly too, if I may.
I'll go back on topic below the fold.
It doesn't take a crystal ball or a dowsing stick to come to the realization that Vermont is not exactly Crawford, Texas, or anywhere in Utah.. You might be surprised at where some of the voices calling for an end to this criminal and reckless Administration come from.....
The insurrection continues below the fold.
