From the PDF flyer (the DC beltway) . . . Impeachment is Best for Democrats:The party’s historical "weakness" is what got us into this mess. It pervades the electorate’s view on all other issues. A display of resolve now could erase decades of damage.Impeachment forces a comprehensive "up or down vote." It can force Republicans to go on record defending the worst of the recent past with the maximum public attention.The polls show independents’ support for impeachment to be high. Now is t...

As long as they oppose impeachment, they will continue to sound like blithering idiots at best, immoral and cowardly hypocrites at worst. And they will continue to prove their (and thus confirm the pervasive "weak Dem" image). Simply confronting them with their own words and challenging every single moronic assertion (and thus force them to "defend" with even more moronic assertions) could be the most effective way to get through to our "leaders." Sooner or later, perhaps they will actually...

We have at least a half dozen smoking guns -- have had them for years. Like squatters, Bush and Cheney are laying claim to unconstitutional power through openly hostile possession. They do something unequivocally forbidden under our Constitution, publicly declare it is not forbidden, and dare Members of Congress to stop them. By refusing to impeach, Members of Congress legitimize the fascist fantasy that the American presidency is vested with absolute and unlimited power.1 By the beginning of 2...

Like squatters, Bush and Cheney are laying claim to unconstitutional power through openly hostile possession. Members of Congress, who we empowered and charged with the duty of evicting (impeaching) such trespassers, are refusing to act. By refusing to stand up for We the People, the true owners of this nation, Members of Congress have created a national crisis graver than any natural disaster or social ill. It is bigger than any international crisis. By tolerating the intolerable, they are sur...

. . .through openly hostile possession. (With the emphasis on "open.") When squatters move in, it is the property owner's responsibility to commence eviction proceedings. If the property owner fails to serve notice for long enough, squatters claim title, and Poof! -- the property owner isn't the property owner anymore. Bush and Cheney are openly trespassing on our Constitution intentionally. It is the means by which they are grabbing and holding powers we have denied them under the Constitut...

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -- Unknown NY Times November 27, 1986 2006 By R. W. Apple JR. "Flushed with victory in the Nov. 4 7 elections, which gave them control of the House and Senate, the Democrats see obvious benefits and not-so-obvious pitfalls in the unfolding ongoing crisis of secret arms shipments to Iran and possibly illegal diversion of funds to the rebels in Nicaragua CIA-run prisons overseas where abductee...

Bush and Cheney are waging war on the Constitution. They put torture on the table and made it "fair game" for opposing forces to torture Americans. Impeachment is our ONLY defense, but the Chicken Littles on the Hill believe the sky will fall if they even utter the word. It's going to take good knock with a big to wake them up to reality. There is no substitute for lobbying Members and staffers in person, where we can directly contradict their excuses. A few simple truths and moral principle...

The Election was about One Thing That one thing is a Person. Bush. He wasn't on the ballot, but had he been, voters would have sent Bush Co. packing with a resounding vote of "No Confidence." At least that's what the real excerpts tell us: Curtis Gans Director On Politically Direct with David Bender November 10th --Interview start time approx 18:30) Bender: Joining me now is Curtis Gans. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University and ...

(APN) ATLANTA -- US Rep. McKinney (D-GA) told a recent audience of the film American Blackout that she had written up Articles of Impeachment for President Bush five years ago in 2001. . . The act of writing up Articles of Impeachment is not difficult, the Congresswoman said. "You just write them on a piece of paper," she said. Bush and Cheney have usurped our will, terrorized us into war with the most colossal bomb threat in history (mushroom clouds over out cities in 45 minutes), committed...

Bush and Cheney have usurped our will, committed war crimes, and violated our law in plain sight. The public record is clear. An irrefutable case for impeachment is easy to convey -- in fact Feingold did a fine job of covering one of the charges in the context of his censure resolution. When Members of the House buy the notion that they need to investigate before introducing articles, they don't strengthen the case for impeachment, they weaken it by introducing unnecessary doubt ("If the case ...

If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps that 18th-century Constitution should be abandoned to a 20th-century paper shredder. -- Barbara Jordan The Honorable Barbara Jordan 25 July 1974, House Judiciary Committee () . . . Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people." It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on t...

The Dems just need to make sure the public knows that it is up to Bush and Cheney to "spare the nation" from the disruption of impeachment by doing the following: Cheney resigns, Bush nominates new VP. The VP must be confirmed by both the House and Senate. Since we elected these folks, if they object to a nominee, that objection reflects our will. Bush resigns, new VP is sworn in as President. New President nominates a VP. Once again, the VP he/she nominates must be confirmed by both the Hous...

When the Constitution is under attack, Members of Congress are sworn to defend it. Impeachment is the weapon we gave them to defend against threats that come from within the halls of power. The question before each and every Member of Congress in the current crisis is this: "Is there a legitimate case that Bush and Cheney are an intolerable threat to the Constitution? Numerous charges against Bush and Cheney are well known to the public. Elected bodies, good government organizations, citizens' ...

Searching for "middle ground" can be productive in many contexts, but in this case, the differences between the "pro-impeachment" and the "anti-impeachment" people are irreconcilable. This assertion is based on the following assumptions and definitions. Definitions Pro-impeachment People who are calling on Members of Congress totake concrete action to formally and publicly accuse Bush and Cheney of their crimes against the Constitution;declare their intent to impeach both Bush and Cheney (e....

There are variations on the theme,(1) but the crux of the establishment's message to Democrats is this: "Americans will turn against you if you don't play nice" (read "you're doomed if you impeach"). The DC Dems are buying this pig in a poke. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -- Benjamin Franklin When simple truths and moral principles demand action, our Democratic leaders do the same thing over and over: they slam on the bre...

. . . desperately need to learn (the sake of the nation and for the sake of future of the Party). The position that the person who gives voice to our outrage holds makes a big difference in the effect. When Keith gives voice to our anger, people come out of the woodwork because he gives them hope that they are not alone in their anger. They see a fellow traveler in the fight. Our anger and his anger are directed at the same target: Bush and Cheney and the elected officials who are failing to ...

Job 1 -- Vote Democratic candidates IN. Job 2 -- Confront the "Impeachment is Off Limits" Dems head on with the Hard Truths. Recruit citizen lobbyists to challenge their rationalizations for Dereliction of Duty In Person. Notifying us that there is a threat is the First Duty demanded by their oath If a member of Congress believes the principles and institutions we established in our Constitution are being subverted, their first duty -- the one they are derelict in -- is to notify the public t...

Challenging another promoter of the Self-Defeating Prophecy. A response to: Book Review By Tim Dickinson Mother Jones, November/December 2006 (Tim Dickinson writes Rolling Stone's political blog "National Affairs Daily") To: (Link) Subject: Backtalk: So You Want to Quit on Impeachment? Date: Sunday, November 05, 2006 ---------------------- Dear Mr. Dickinson, In "So, You Think You Want to Impeach?" you use your review as a platform from which to tell Americans not to bother with impeachme...

Here's something I posted about a year ago. Some have found it to be a useful model -- a shift in perspective that can make it easier to deal with/dismiss "them." I have a theory that some people operate on belief, others operate on knowledge. Although I sometimes think of them as two distinct populations, people undoubtedly fall somewhere on a continuum. They may operate as belief people in some areas of their lives and knowledge people in others. For knowledge people, things need to add up,...

I've had it with the propaganda that defending our constitutional democracy is "going negative." I've had it with the propaganda that we cannot afford to defend our constitutional democracy because it would be too disruptive. (Don't you realize we're at war?) What about the devastation to our government's founding principles? The servants of the dictatorial administration don't even bother to deny that Bush, Cheney and their co-conspirators are subverting the Constitution; they just denounce ...

To me, rather than seeking to define new "frames" for our "messages," it is more healing to see our task as seeking to identify simple truths and moral positions that cut through the distortions that are so often inherent in the accepted terms of a given debate. Lakeoff's insights into how our thinking and emotional reactions are shaped by metaphor are significant, and I'm delighted that his work is finally getting the attention it has long deserved ("Metaphors We Live By" was published back i...

. . .All a member of Congress needs to do is stand up and accuse Bush and Cheney of their crimes. Every day, every member of Congress faces an inescapable choice: Remain an accomplice for another day OR Open their mouths, accuse Bush and Cheney of their crimes, and demand accountability. Conyers and Feingold have given their colleagues a way to break their silence. Members of the Senate can co-sponsor Censure RIGHT NOW. Members of the House can co-sponsor Conyers resolution RIGHT NOW. Th...

As far as I can tell, a vast majority of the people who identify themselves as "pro-life" have staked out a belief system that begins and ends with the following:It's bad. It shouldn't happen. I want it to stop. People who don't think it is bad are evil. Although many would prefer different terms (e.g., "I wish it were unnecessary"), few Americans reject the cluster of ideas that make up this "pro-life core." A vast majority of Americans incorporate the pro-life core into a more comprehensi...

THE MEMO, by JANE MAYER How an internal effort to ban the abuse and torture of detainees was thwarted. New Yorker 27-Feb-06 Issue (Link) Jane Mayer reports on a twenty-two-page memo written by Alberto Mora, outgoing general counsel of the United States Navy. Her article is the best factual summary I've seen of the timeline and players in the Bush regime's War Crimes. At the heart of it all, we find John Yoo's criminal insanity. Note: In case you are not familiar with them, some info on key pl...

I've HAD IT with the way the mythical "divide" in the Democratic party is being characterized -- you know, the talk about the "left-leaning" blogs" vs. party centrists; liberals/progressives v. DLC, or some such crap. The labels -- liberal, conservative, progressive, right, left -- have become so loaded they have lost all objective meaning. Apparently I'm not the only one (e.g., many of the folks who posted in sound like they've had it too). Hackett's fate -- and our reaction to it -- tel...