Leaderless Democrats

By taking Impeachment “off the table,” Pelosi and Reid have forfeited their right to “leadership” of the Democratic party. Stopping the Cheney/Bush criminal regime in it’s tracks is imperative, and no other issue confronting America is greater than stopping the Almighty Republican Establishment’s national and international crime spree.

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality--judiciously, as you will--we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." Quote by an anonymous Republican.

That quote exactly describes the situation today, for tomorrow, and for the last six years. You can’t stop a national and international crime wave while allowing the criminals responsible for the crime wave free-reign to continue committing crimes. Republicans are burying us alive under a mountain of corruption that’s getting bigger every day.

Demand that Pelosi and Reid step down and relinquish control of congress. They are either unable to understand that stopping a crime wave requires that you stop the criminals, or they are complicit in the corruption.

Leaderless Democrats can’t win the 2008 presidential elections, and leaders who fail to lead won’t be reelected either. We “little” democrats might not be able to punish Republican criminals, but we damn sure can punish incompetent, or suspiciously enabling Democratic “leaders.”

Impeach, or we’ll stay home on election day.

It’s beginning to look that maybe the only way to crush the greater of two evils is to abandon the lesser evil. After that, Republicans will crash and burn a surely as the sun will rise tomorrow.

 No pain, no gain.

.

by rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments) on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 8:21:14 AM
 

CIA

You say "Plame’s current role in the CIA is “an agency operative assigned to investigate Weapons of Mass Destruction”" -- this might be rooted in what Novak reported.

You also say "Ms. Wilson served in senior management positions at the CIA, in which she oversaw the work of other CIA employees, and she attained the level of GS-14, step 6 under the federal pay scale.", quoting Waxman.

I've heard some saying Plame was not an "operative" or "agent", but a CIA officer -- senior management, in charge of operations -- and that this is an important distinction. Apparantly, in the CIA, there are distinctions made between officer, operative, agent, or asset -- and calling Plame an operative may be a way of trying to minimize the importance of outing her and the damage done. She also worked under 'unofficial cover', meaning she did not have a diplomatic passport and no diplomatic protection if she was caught: this was a very secret operation, with secrecy being critical for the safety of those involved in it.

It was not just Plame, but the front company and the operation which was exposed, as well as other working in that project, and foreign assets (spies) as well -- whose lives may have been jeopardized. In fact even those innocently associated with the company could have been in danger. In other words, this was a *major* breach of national security and intelligence which should not be allowed to be minimized.

Additionally, the fact that an intelligence operation and personel were exposed by the US government creates a chill on all intelligence operations, and the recruitment of new employees: would you want to work for the agency knowing you could be casually outed by your own government for crass political purposes? If you were a foreign national would you be inclined to trust any American or American company, or anyone who approached you asking that you secretly cooperate in an intelligence operation? This was a major blow to all US intelligence. This is what people who worked for intelligence have said.

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments) on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 8:53:15 AM
 

If the Democrats refuse to impeach, they are co-conspirators

and also guilty of obstructing justice.

There are 2 levels of serious crimes here. The smaller is Libby's lying to FBI agents & the grand jury. But the greater by far is how Libby's narrowly-defined obstruction of justice fit into the Bush admin's overall scheme for lying the country into a monstrously unjust war. Libby's participation in outing Plame was part of the admin's attempt to revenge itself on Joe Wilson, who had exposed some of the Bush administration's pre-war lies.

If the Democrats in Congress allow the commuting of Libby's sentence to pass unchallenged, they are saying, in effect, that even if a president lies the country into war, then punishes a respectable citizen (Wilson) for telling the truth, by destroying the career of his CIA-employed wife (itself a violation of a 1982 law), that this behavior is "OK." If the Democrats would not take a stand against that kind of administration behavior, one can only wonder what they would take a stand against. To fail to try to impeach, here, is to say, "We don't care how criminal a US administration is -- they can do whatever they want, and we won't lift a finger to stop them."

As over-the-top as the lawlessness of the Bush regime is, in this case, Democrats' pathetic acceptance of it must be seen as part of the same lawlessness.

by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1168 comments) on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 11:53:41 AM
 

Not quite, but I am closer to you on this than on other

disagreements we have. Prosecutors who choose not to prosecute may do so for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with collusion.

That said, I will be looking closely to see exactly what happens here.

by Steven Leser (212 articles, 45 quicklinks, 33 diaries, 1393 comments) on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 12:04:12 PM
 

Cindy in NOT amused!

Information clearinghouse   from   common dreams

Call Out The Instigator

By Cindy Sheehan

Call out the Instigator
Because there’s something in the air
We got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution’s here
You know it’s right!

-Thunderclap Newman

07/04/07 "Common Dreams' -- -- I’m not backing off. I tried to remove myself from the political realm of the US, what BushCo is turning into an Evil Empire, but the blatant audacity of George commuting Scooter’s sentence (he’s not ruling out a full pardon —and you know he will) has dragged me kicking and screaming back in. I can’t sit back and let this BushCo drag our country further down into the murky quagmire of Fascism and violence, taking the rest of the world with them!

I have sat quietly back these past five weeks as the slaughter in Iraq sorrowfully surges along with George’s bloody escalation—and as the philosophical opposition to the war has soared to almost four out of every five Americans. I have remained silent when Senator Barack Obama said that impeachment is only reserved for “grave, grave” breeches! Well, BushCo has created hundreds of thousands of graves dug by their lies and greed. For cripes’ sake, George admitted to breaking the FISA Act (which is a felony) that also breeched the 4th Amendment to our Constitution that already prohibited illegal search and seizure. How was Bill Clinton’s offense graver than George’s, Dick’s, or Scooter’s? Did we ever think that the criminality and arrogance of the Nixon White House would be eclipsed in our time with nary a “baaaah” from the Sheeple in Congress?

George has said that America doesn’t “do torture” when we have all seen the images of torture from Abu Ghraib (don’t believe your lyin’ eyes) and know that hundreds of people sold to the US Army for an immoral bounty are incarcerated within the inhumane confines of Guantanamo Prison which is right in our own back yard.

I have had to bite my tongue – HARD — as the George and Dick crime cabal, (formerly known has the executive branch) have claimed that their offices are not to be held up to the same standards of accountability and control as any other entity in the human race, governmental or private.

It has been recently reported that Nancy Pelosi said that impeachment is not “worth it.” Her faulty reasoning is that impeachment would take too much time because they don’t have the votes. If they could “whip” their own Democratic caucus into shape to defend and protect our Constitution and the people of Iraq and our soldiers as they whupped, cajoled, threatened and browbeat the caucus into attaching “non-binding” time lines onto the last war funding bill, then impeachment would not only be possible, but likely.

The recent commutation of I. Scooter Libby’s sentence, however, was the straw that broke my camel’s back of exhausted ennui. Patrick Fitzgerald is a thoughtful and thorough prosecutor who did a heroic job of bringing at least one of the Bush Crime Mob to justice. Even though we were all very pleased, we knew that it was not enough and that Mr. Fitzgerald would delve deeper into the feces infested executive branch. The lawlessness of the Bush Administration has reached wild west proportions and the inmates definitely have control of the US(A)sylum.
[... more]

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments) on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 4:34:02 PM
 

"Bush Impeachment-Libby Commutation Makes It Imperative"

You are right, but I have my doubts whether this will create the stir to finally make Congress take action and impeach Bush and Cheney. So much has happened the War, wiretapping, monitoring our e-mails, torture, kidnapping, detention and torture camps all over the world, and there is  much more. I am fearful that it will take an arranged terriorist attack by Bush and Cheney. They will then declare martial law. I hope not, but the commuting of Libby's sentence, really shows they could give a dam and could very well do the unthinkable!

by Diane_B (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 26 comments) on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 2:39:45 AM
 

Bravo, Mr. Leser

We not always agree but here and now it was  a pleasure to read and agree.  A voice of the free man is a voice of the free man and  no matter what darkness we face, the clear mind of a free man shines from the article.

Thanks, Mr, Leser

 I can live with your sympathy to  Dems:)

by Mark Sashine (51 articles, 19 quicklinks, 244 diaries, 3462 comments) on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 8:00:55 AM
 

Thank you sir!

Please check out the one I wrote today as a followup!

by Steven Leser (212 articles, 45 quicklinks, 33 diaries, 1393 comments) on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 3:34:25 PM