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The Why-Haven’t-You Impeached-the-President Tour
The New York Times
By CARL HULSE
Published: August 15, 2008
WASHINGTON — When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set out to promote her new motivational book this month, she simultaneously touched off her national why-haven’t-you-impeached-the-president tour.

As she made the coast-to-coast rounds of lectures, television interviews and radio chats the past two weeks, Ms. Pelosi found herself under siege by people unhappy that she has not been motivated to try to throw President Bush out of office – even if only a few months remain before he leaves voluntarily.

In Manhattan and Los Angeles, at stops in between, on network television and on her home turf of Northern California, Ms. Pelosi has been forced to defend her pronouncement before the 2006 mid-term elections that impeachment over the administration’s push for war in Iraq was off the table.

Pressed on ABC’s “The View” about whether she had unilaterally disarmed, the author of “Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters” said she believed the proceedings would be too divisive and be a distraction from advancing the policy agenda of the new Democratic majority.

Then she added this qualifier: “If somebody had a crime that the president had committed, that would be a different story.”

That assertion only threw fuel on the impeachment fire as advocates of removing Mr. Bush cited the 35 articles of impeachment compiled by Representative Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, as well as accusations in a new book by author Ron Suskind of White House orders to falsify intelligence, an accusation that has been denied.

“There’s an opportunity now for us to come forward and to lay all the facts out so that she can reconsider her decision not to permit the Judiciary Committee to proceed with a full impeachment hearing,” Mr. Kucinich said in an interview with the Web site Democracy Now!

Mr. Kucinich, long a proponent of starting hearings to impeach both Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, earlier this week applauded signals that the Judiciary Committee would look into the claims made by Mr. Suskind in his book.

While the Judiciary Committee might do exactly that, the chances that such an inquiry would culminate in an impeachment proceeding are, according to top Democratic officials, virtually nil.

At the moment, the House is officially scheduled to meet for less than three weeks in September before adjourning for the elections and perhaps the year ““ hardly enough time to mount an impeachment spectacle even if top Democratic lawmakers wanted one.

And they do not.

Despite whatever resonance pursuing the president might have in progressive Democratic circles, it is not the message Democrats want to carry into an election where they need to appeal to swing voters to increase their Congressional majorities and win the White House. They would rather devote their final weeks to pushing economic relief and health care, even if they thought Mr. Bush and the conduct of the war merited impeachment hearings.

And leading Democrats argue anyway that Mr. Bush has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion.

“He has been impeached by current history,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “He is going down as the worst president ever. The facts are in.”

Republicans have previously shown some appetite for luring Democrats into what they see as an impeachment trap, a set of hearings they could use to portray Democrats as bitter partisans. But Republican strategists also recognize the political danger in getting too deep in defending Mr. Bush right before the election or in justifying the buildup to the Iraq war. They might not be as eager as they once were for an impeachment fight.

Both parties know full well that the Republican push to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998 did not work out for Republicans in the way they had hoped, giving many lawmakers pause when it comes to gaming out the political ups and downs of such an action.

The impeachment unrest among progressives dovetails with their profound disappointment that Democrats failed to cut off spending for the war in Iraq or impose a timetable for withdrawal after winning control of Congress in 2006. It is a disappointment that Ms. Pelosi has acknowledged she shares and one she attributes to the thin Democratic majority in the Senate and Republican determination to support Mr. Bush on the war, explanations that do not mollify staunch anti-war activists.

The disillusionment has crystallized in a challenger for Ms. Pelosi in the person of Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist whose son was killed in Iraq. Ms. Sheehan and her allies collected more than 17,000 signatures to qualify her as an independent for the November ballot in San Francisco.

While Ms. Pelosi has been navigating the impeachment issue on her book tour, House Republicans have been assailing her on the floor for refusing to allow a vote on lifting a ban on oil drilling along much of the nation’s coast. Democrats are back-tracking a bit on that stance, opening the door to a September vote on relaxing the restrictions on drilling as part of a broader energy bill that would also include Democratic initiatives to reduce subsidies for oil companies and encourage more use of natural gas.

These have not been easy weeks for Ms. Pelosi as she juggled promoting her book with defending her impeachment stance and fending off the Republicans. But party strategists say she’s in a strong enough political position to weather the attacks, while taking some of the political heat off more vulnerable Democrats. She might be under fire from the left and the right, but there is no talk of impeaching her.

Dear Friends:

Staff Sgt. Stephen Valyou, right, spends time playing with toys with his 2-year-old son,
Nathaniel and his wife, Melissa Valyou, while hanging out in their Jensen Beach home
Valyou was almost fatally wounded by a sniper on March 29 in Iraq. Last Friday, there was a
fundraiser to help Valyou obtain an all-terrain wheelchair that will allow him to go with his son to the beach.

Asking for donations is not what I usually write to all of you about, but this is a really worthy cause, not only for the recipient, but for all veterans who have sustained traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries.

Sgt. Valyou needs medical help. He is eligible to receive a stem cell transplant from Dr. William C. Rader of Medra Inc. (www.medra.com). Dr. Rader is kind enough to perform this medical procedure for free, which would cost $30,000, since he believes that our veterans need this type of help, which may allow Sgt. Valyou to walk again.

All Steven needs is to cover his transportation costs to the Dominican Republic which will total about $3,000. I was asked to speak to my friends in the movement and help raise the funds. This could prove to be a breakthrough for all our returning wounded veterans, and he will be a walking testiment to future transplants which can help those with TBI and spinal cord injuries!

Please read his story below, and if you can, donate whatever you can! You can send money directly to him at:

Steven Valyou
16 Deer Run Road
Millterton, NY 12546
Phone #: 518-697-9290

email: valyous2003@yahoo.com
or
to the travel agent at:
Travel Circuit
Agent: Bryan, 310-833-8760

Steven would love to hear words of support, as well as anything you can contribute. If you can’t, please forward this message to all those who are on your lists. Curing him could help cure others.

Thank you.

*********************************************************************************
U.S. ARMY SERGEANT Steven Valyou INJURED IN IRAQ SHOT IN SPINAL CORD

Sgt. Steven Valyou, who was paralyzed by a sniper bullet while probing for an improvised explosive device in Iraq in March 2007, needs your help!

JENSEN BEACH — Every morning, Staff Sgt. Stephen Valyou wakes up knowing a sniper in Iraq has robbed him of his ability to walk.
But it hasn’t taken away his ability to hope and to enjoy life with his wife, Melissa, and son, Nathaniel.
“It was the first thing I thought about, playing with my son, when I realized I had been shot,” he said.
Valyou can play with his son everywhere except on the beach. A fundraiser was held in hopes of amassing at least $2,688 for an all-terrain wheel chair. Valyou, born in Connecticut, was working for his father-in-law and as a firefighter, before 9/11. His response was to join the Army. He took his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and was assigned as a combat engineer to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in Watertown, N.Y.

In 2003 the unit was sent to Afghanistan, where Valyou saw explosive ordnance experts and became fascinated with their work. He volunteered to learn explosive ordnance demolition. His division was sent to Iraq.
“We were northeast of Baghdad near the Iranian border,” Valyou said.

The unit was securing the province so it could be turned over to Iraqi forces.

“I heard the shot,” he said. “I was spinning around and I dropped in a heap. I tried to get up. I thought my legs had been blown off, but I could see they weren’t.”

The shot penetrated his spinal column, damaged his liver, heart and one lung. Medics evacuated him to the hospital and Landstuhl, then to Walter Reed Medical Center, and finally to the James A. Haley Medical Center in Tampa.
In Tampa, the couple decided to move to Jensen Beach to be near relatives.

[Ed. Note: This message was received directly from World Can't Wait via email]

Ithaca Times — Last Tuesday, a group of local activists held a friendly demonstration of gratitude outside of Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s (D-NY, 22) office at Cayuga and Green Streets, thanking Hinchey for being the seventh representative to sign on to and co-sponsor Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich’s impeachment bill.
“Our main focus was to thank Hinchey,” said resident John Hamilton. It’s very clear it was the right thing to do. We’re delighted. Politically, it’s a big step. Democratic leadership is trying to brush all the crimes of this administration under the table. This is a courageous step for Hinchey to take, and we want to show our support.”
Hamilton and other demonstrators stood on the four corners near Hinchey’s office and held up signs. They also displayed the Mother Ithaca puppet, created and operated by the Puppetistas, and brought a cake and strawberries up to Hinchey’s office.
While the call for impeachment has been culturally marginalized up until now, momentum seems to be building on both a local and national stage for George Bush and his administration to be held responsible for the 35 articles on the impeachment bill, which include staging pre-emptive war against Iraq without cause, violating the agreements of the UN Charter and Geneva Convention, failing to help victims of Katrina, allowing Valerie Plame to be outed, and finally, failing to defend the country from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“There’s never been any doubt in my mind about the impeachability of this administration,” Hinchey said, “primarily because they knowingly and intentionally falsified information to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq, and before that, they displayed incompetence in not adhering to the information and recommendations they were given by intelligence operations, specifically in early August 2001, about the upcoming attacks by Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and specifically, their failure to prevent those attacks.”
The call for impeachment in Ithaca goes back several years, Hamilton said, under a slew of different names and different projects, including the Impeachment Group and Peace Now Ithaca. Last year, a group of Ithacans got 3,000 signatures and petitioned the Tompkins County Legislature and the City of Ithaca to pass a resolution to begin an investigation leading to impeachment. Ulster County, another area in Hinchey’s district, quickly got involved, and in mid-June, Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, defied his party leadership and introduced the bill to Congress.
He accused Bush of executing a “calculated and wide-ranging strategy” to deceive citizens and Congress into believing that Iraq was an immediate and urgent threat to the United States, according to the AP wire.
“Clearly, momentum is building,” Hamilton said, and noted that a lot of their work is being done with Iraq Veterans Against the War, who just presented 25,000 signatures to Rep. John Conyers (D-MI, 14th) last week.
Why impeach Bush in the final moments of his presidency? Both Hamilton and Hinchey asserted two reasons: first, to keep the investigation into the Bush administration open and active even after he’s out of office, and second, to make it clear to any incoming or future president that the actions of the Bush administration were unacceptable and intolerable.
“It needs to be made clear that the laws apply to everyone,” Hamilton said. “If we do nothing, we’re basically saying it’s OK for our president to break any law or treaty. He’s broken the two most important agreements we have in the world, the UN charter and the Geneva convention. If he is allowed to get away with starting the war against Iraq, he might feel it’s OK to attack Iran next. That’s what motivates me.”
“It’s very serious,” he added. “I think any of us could agree that any future we have on this planet as human beings will require that we’re able to make agreements and honor them. We have to strengthen, not abandon, international law. If we can’t, our future is shaky. If we can, our future looks better.”
“There needs to be ongoing investigation into the criminal actions taken by this administration, which I believe are quite clear” Hinchey said, “and that information needs to be made public. This will include pressure that will be put on the next administration coming into office next year. There are legal ways to hold people responsible.”
“The energy crisis we’re facing now is in large part due to the military action in Iraq and the potential of it in Iran, which has driven up speculation on the price of oil,” Hinchey added. “We need to make it very difficult for this kind of corruption to be engaged in again. All these people were doing things for their own corrupt reasons at the expense of the people of our country. This has undermined and damaged the democratic principles of this country.”
What would the bill need to move ahead? Simply put, more signatures, more mass, more show of support from the public.
“Congress needs to be reinvigorated,” Hinchey said. “They have not done a good job on this at all. Their actions, overall, aren’t based on leadership, but what they think people want and believe. Very few people are willing to stand out ahead of the situation.”
Hamilton, a local carpenter who works particularly on farms, said his mother was present at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed, and that he learned to value the country’s ideals through his parents, who met in Hawaii.
“They didn’t fight World War II so that we could become the biggest bully in the world,” Hamilton said. “All that sacrifice of their generation is being tossed out the window, and it’s very sad.”

Original Article

Here is a single ‘litmus test’ question to ask anyone to see if they are either a) sufficiently informed, or b) digitally lobotomized, hypnotized, fooled, duped, hoodwinked, naive, bamboozled, snookered by the mediocre and/or corrupt American corporate media:

How many steel-framed ‘sky-scraper’ towers collapsed in their footprint on September 11th, 2001 in New York City?


The correct answer is three. Find out all there is to know about the collapse of Tower Seven and you will be among the informed – those who now have far more questions than they started with.

DAVID DEES GRAPHIC
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Spread The Message ~ Forward to a Friend
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Another great illustration from David Dees
Source URL: http://www.rense.com/
David Dees Web Site & Gallery: http://www.dees2.com

Gothamist.com – Yesterday, the city was filled with parades and events paying tribute to the members of military who have given their lives or continue to fight on our behalf.

At a wreath laying ceremony at the Soliders’ and Sailors’ Monument in Riverside Park, Mayor Bloomberg said, “These brave soldiers and so many others will be lovingly remembered and deeply missed by family and friends. Today their losses echo throughout our entire city.”

There were protesters present at the ceremony (“Impeach Bush for war crimes!”), and the Mayor later acknowledged them, saying, “I think it’s wonderful that they protest. I don’t necessarily agree with them, but it would be a shame to have this freedom to express yourself and to try to influence government and then to be too lazy to use it.”

The Sun also reports the mayor reflected how on the city is “more patriotic today than it was 10, 20 years ago.”