It Is Far From Over

"W" and Dick, and Donald Rumsfeld, and Alberto Gonzales, and Condoleezza Rice, and Karl Rove, and "not-quite-pardoned" "Scooter" Libby, and all the rest of the administration co-conspirators are still guilty of all of the horrible things they did.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler Leads Opposition to Bush Pardons

Dear John,

Congratulations! Just one week ago we asked you to launch a massive movement against pardons by signing a petition to your Representatives. Over 46,000 of you took action and Congress took notice.

On Friday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced H.Res. 1531 urging President Bush not to pardon senior administration officials for crimes the President authorized. It notes:

President George W. Bush may have committed crimes involving the mistreatment of detainees, the extraordinary rendition of individuals to countries known to engage in torture, illegal surveillance of United States citizens, unlawful leaks of classified information, obstruction of justice, political interference with the conduct of the Justice Department, and other illegal acts

and that

Bush has been urged to grant preemptive pardons to senior administration officials who might face criminal prosecution for actions taken in the course of their official duties

Nadler's resolution urges Congress to investigate those crimes and any pardons relating to them, and urges the Attorney General (current or future) to appoint an Independent Counsel to prosecute those crimes.

These are major steps towards holding George Bush, Dick Cheney, and other senior officials accountable for their crimes and thereby upholding the rule of law, rather than allowing Presidents to become dictators.

Rep. Nadler's leadership is crucial because he chairs the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and can use his credibility and clout to move the resolution forward either during the lame duck session in December or when the next Congress convenes on January 6.

So our next step is to persuade as many Representatives as possible to co-sponsor H.Res. 1531. Please sign our new petition:
http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardons?cid=ZGVtczEwMzkzNmRlbXM=

We also encourage you to call your Representative at 202-224-3121 and speak with the Legislative Assistant who handles Judiciary matters.

If your Representative says (s)he will co-sponsor, please let us know by commenting on our resolution "whipping" page:
http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardon-resolution

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

Go now, please, and sign the petition!

Way to go, W!!

You and Dick, and Karl, and all of your cronies did it - you ARE the worst US President EVER!!

. . . but some of us have known that since you "took" office back in 2001!

Belief that country heading in right direction is at all-time low

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/10/bush.transition.poll/

By Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On the day that President-elect Barack Obama visited the White House, a new national poll illustrates the daunting challenges he faces when it becomes his home next year.

President-elect Barack Obama walks along the White House Colonnade with President Bush on Monday.

Only 16 percent of those questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say things are going well in the country today. That's an all-time low. Eighty-three percent say things are going badly, which is an all-time high.

"The challenge Obama faces has never been greater. No president has ever come to office during a time when the public's mood has been this low. In the 34 years that this question has been asked, the number who say things are going well has never fallen below 20 percent," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director.

The 83 percent saying things are going badly is "more than in 1992, when the first President Bush was ousted because of the economy, stupid. That's more than in 1980, when President Carter got fired after the malaise crisis. That's more than in 1975, after Watergate and the Nixon pardon," said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst.

So far, Obama seems to be meeting the public's high expectations. Two-thirds of all Americans have a positive view of what he has done since he was elected president, and three-quarters think he will do a good job as president.

"Obama has the support of virtually every African-American in the poll, but he also gets high marks from a solid majority of whites," Holland said.

But that optimism doesn't hide what appears to be concern about the economy. Six in 10 say that they don't have a clear idea of what Obama would do to improve the economy.

The all-time low on the public's mood may have something to do with the poll's finding that President Bush is the most unpopular president since approval ratings were first sought more than six decades ago. Seventy-six percent of those questioned in the poll disapprove of how he is handling his job.

That's an all-time high in CNN polling and in Gallup polling dating back to World War II.

"No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70 percent. Bush has managed to do that three times so far this year," Holland said. "That means that Bush is now more unpopular than Richard Nixon was when he resigned from office during Watergate with a 66 percent disapproval rating."

Before Bush, the record holder for presidential disapproval was Harry Truman, with a 67 percent disapproval rating in January of 1952, his last full year in office.

As Obama visits the White House to start the transition from the Bush administration to an Obama administration, 57 percent of those questioned think the transfer of power will be relatively easy and free from tension, with 39 percent saying the transition will be difficult.

"A majority say that the transition from Bush to Obama will go smoothly, although nearly one in four predict a lot of tension between Bush aides and Obama aides in the next few weeks. That sentiment is highest among Democrats, but even among them, a majority believes that the transition will be relatively easy," Holland said.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday with 1,246 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Secret Post-9/11 Memo Circumvents Constitution

And if the administration was somehow responsible for the 9-11 attacks, as some have suggested, we have one of the clearest cases of treason ever in the USA.

Even if the memo was only opportunistic, the entire administration is likely guilty of attempting to supercede the Constitution -- then and since . . . My God!!

Subject: Secret Post-9/11 Memo Circumvents Constitution

News Updates from Citizens For Legitimate Government

04 Apr 2008

Secret Post-9/11 Memo Circumvents Constitution, Posse Comitatus -- 2003 memo: 'Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations,' the footnote in that memo states, referring to a document titled 'Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States.' 03 Apr 2008 For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration argued that the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil did not apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism. That view was expressed in a secret Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001. Its existence was disclosed Tuesday in a footnote of a separate secret Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, that discussed the legality of various interrogation torture techniques. "Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations," the footnote in that memo states, referring to a document titled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States." [See: The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.]

'The October 2001 memo arguing for unregulated military searches on U.S. soil has not been formally withdrawn and remains a secret but unclassified document.' Administration Asserted Fourth Amendment Does Not Apply to Domestic Military Operations In Terror Fight 04 Apr 2008 The Justice Department concluded in October 2001 that military operations combating terrorism inside the United States [!] are not limited by Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, in one of several secret memos containing new and controversial assertions of presidential power. The memo, sent on Oct. 23, 2001, to the Defense Department and the White House by the Office of Legal Counsel, focused on the rules governing any deployment of U.S. forces inside the country [!] "in the event of further large-scale terrorist activities" by al-Qaeda, a Justice Department official said yesterday. The October 2001 memo arguing for unregulated military searches on U.S. soil has not been formally withdrawn and remains a secret but unclassified document, according to Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

http://www.legitgov.org/

All items are here:

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

9/11/01 - It Is Now SIX Years Later . . .

As I am posting this, the house prepares to hear what General Petraeus has to say about Bush's Iraq "war". I can't watch or listen anymore. It appears that Republicans and Democrats alike will choose to be kinder and gentler to those testifying today.

The only problem is that "kinder and gentler" won't end the unnecessary death, bloodshed and destruction in Iraq. Nor will anything the Bush-Cheney administration has incorrectly embarked upon so far make the USA any safer from terrorist attack. And, of course, Bush-Cheney's horribly misguided actions will not bring to justice those who masterminded the 9/11/01 attacks -- fully -- and criminally -- six years later!

God bless the faces of those killed in those horrific attacks on America, and of the US military personnel who follow the flawed orders in trying to settle the uncivil war in Iraq.


(I wrote this. Awhile back I worked in World Trade Center Tower #2. My wife and I also used to work in other parts of lower Manhattan, commuting from Queens. At lunchtime we'd frequently visit the Century 21 department store and other businesses in the WTC concourse. In a strange juxtaposition, we could also see the Towers from the Jamaica Wildlife Preserve, which we used to love to visit in Queens.)

We will not forget the majesty of the World Trade Center reaching into the sky to daily host the tens of thousands of workers and visitors to the southern tip of New York City.

We will not forget the faces who still pop into our minds at any moment of the night or day, faces of those who we knew and worked with side by side, or even just passed on the street, but lost track of over the years, who MIGHT have been killed when the towers were destroyed.

We will not forget the unwitting victims on the planes who, by simply boarding their flights on the morning of 9/11, became part of horrible weapons of mass destruction.

We will not forget those heroes on Flight 93 who lost their lives to ensure that there would not be another weapon of mass destruction delivered to another target.

We will not forget the bravery of the heroes who attempted to bring shocked victims from the burning towers, and to help those horrified masses escaping from the aftermath.

We will not forget those heroes, some in the uniforms of the Bravest and Finest, and some in other uniforms and in street clothes, because they risked their lives, and in too many cases, paid the ultimate price.

We will not forget the faces of Rudolph Guiliani and George Pataki, who showed real, visible leadership, possibly at the risk of their own lives, on 9/11 and the days following.

We will not forget that one of our former employees escaped death, but had to see the woman running on the street next to her struck and killed by falling debris --- or that this woman in her 20s will be forever haunted by the horrific events of 9/11/01.

We will not forget the countless brave members of the United States armed forces who have lost lives and limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq and other distant lands to carry out an alleged "war against terrorism."

We will not forget the majesty of the World Trade Center reaching into the sky to daily host the tens of thousands of workers and visitors to the southern tip of New York City.

We will not forget the faces who still pop into our minds at any moment of the night or day, faces of those who we knew and worked with side by side, or even just passed on the street, but lost track of over the years, who MIGHT have been killed when the towers were destroyed.

We will not forget the face of Osama Bin Laden, who claimed to have masterminded and funded 9/11, and who still enjoys life, freedom and the adoration of his followers and sympathizers.

We will not forget the face of Saddam Hussein, who was a horrible violator of human rights, and who allegedly possessed large quantities of weapons of mass destruction and was resultingly removed from power by the United States, and who still enjoys life and the adoration of his followers and sympathizers.

We will not forget that our "intelligence community", made up of no less than the CIA, FBI and NSA, either from sheer ineptitude, or in their horribly misguided attempts to protect their respective "turf", failed to warn two presidents of the real terrorist threats.

We will not forget that our "intelligence community", specifically the CIA, allegedly provided the still-unproven information that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

We will not forget that those same agencies failed, over and over, to do their jobs --- resulting in 9/11, the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and countless other terrorist attacks on the United States and our allies.

We will not forget that our "intelligence community", made up of no less than the CIA, FBI and NSA, in the weeks of heightened alert following 9/11, let a 14 year old boy fly unchallenged into the airspace around our Florida command past for the Afghanistan initiative.

We will not forget that our servicemen and women were deployed into Iraq despite overwhelming world opinion that we should wait until the world community was ready to take appropriate measures against Saddam Hussein and his administration.

We will not forget that the same CIA has still not provided the source of that "WMD" information, yet our servicemen and women are still losing life and limb in the resultant war -- more now dead than the innocents who were killed in the horrific events of 9/11/01..

We will not forget that our "intelligence community", made up of no less than the CIA, FBI and NSA, has not been touched when the highly touted "Homeland Security" department was set up.

We will not forget that Mr. George Bush, Sr. once headed the untouched CIA.
We will not forget that the administration of Mr. George W. Bush, and Congress, are allowing unprecedented mounting debt as we pursue the "war", and oil, in Iraq.

We will not forget that Haliburton and other companies with ties to top Mr. George W. Bush administration officials, through unannounced and unbid contracts, are profiting from the "war" in Iraq, even as our servicemen and women continue to lose lives and limbs --- long after the war was declared over by Mr. Bush.

We will not forget THAT photo-op, as Iraq plunges further into civil war.

We will not forget that Medicare has been placed in the hands of the same companies who already deny care to seniors and the disabled, while allowing payment for prescriptions in the USA costing twice to ten times the prices for the same drugs available across the border in Canada -- more companies with ties to top Bush administration officials.

We will not forget the faces of countless federal elected and appointed officials -- starting with Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney -- who cowered in Washington, or anywhere other than New York City, on 9/11 and the DAYS following.

We will not forget THAT example of blatant cowardice and failed leadership.

We will not forget the faces of countless numbers of our servicepeople, and those of our allies, who have lost lives or limbs in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the world using faulty intelligence or protecting American corporate interests.

We will not forget the majesty of the World Trade Center reaching into the sky to daily host the tens of thousands of workers and visitors to the southern tip of New York City.

We will not forget the faces who still pop into our minds at any moment of the night or day, faces of those who we knew and worked with side by side, or even just passed on the street, but lost track of over the years, who MIGHT have been killed when the towers were destroyed.

We will not forget the majesty of the World Trade Center towers as they died before our eyes --- bursting into flames as the planes struck and then, inexorably, collapsing, killing thousands of helpless people.

We will not forget, because we are haunted by the faces.

We will not forget, because we are haunted by the faces.

We will not forget, because we cannot and we will not -- ever.

We will not forget, because Mr. George W. Bush and his administration have done NOTHING to bring to justice those who masterminded the horrific attacks -- and it is 5 years later.

We will not forget, because there are elections coming this year, and in years to come, and we are voters with a responsibility: to remember.

(Originally written on the 52nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which we will also not forget. Updated as we approach the SIXTH anniversary of 9/11/01.)

God bless all of our missing and wounded faces.

The Bush/Cheney Administration: Political Corruption On Steroids

The following article is reprinted. Again, if someone has already said it, and said it well, I don't need to try to recreate the wheel.





http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_stephen__070703_political_corruption.htm

July 3, 2007 at 08:14:22 Political Corruption On Steroids by Stephen Crockett Page 1 of 1 page(s) http://www.opednews.com

Corruption and dirty politics is nothing new in America. However, the level and scope of dirty politics within the Republican Party at this point in American history seems to be unprecedented! It increasingly looks like the Republican leadership has become a kind of mafia-style criminal gang pretending to be a political party.

Both elections that put the Bush-Cheney ticket in the White House in 2000 and 2004 were questionable at best. Millions of votes were not counted. Millions of Americans were denied their voting rights. The Bush vs. Gore ruling by partisan Republican judges on the Supreme Court was blatantly unjust and stopped a legal statewide recount in Florida ordered by the Florida Supreme Court.

Republican statewide election officials misused their offices to tilt election outcomes to favor the Republican ticket. Republican judges provided legal cover. Corporate controlled media (therefore Republican controlled media since corrupt corporations are the dominant force behind Bush Republicanism) feed the public a much distorted view of the process by hiding the extent of the corrupted electoral process.

The Bush-Cheney White House was born in a corrupt process and remains to this day completely corrupted. The Republican Party was already deeply corrupt before 2000. The “get Clinton” movement that forced thru the trumped-up impeachment of President Bill Clinton clearly demonstrated the unethical and often illegal behavior of the national Republican leadership. The Republicans never accepted the reforms needed to purge political corruption after the Nixon scandals of Watergate.

It is unfortunate that President Ford pardoned Nixon. If Nixon had gone to jail, reformers would likely have won control of the Republican Party and the current situation been prevented. America needed to see Nixon tried and convicted. He was not the only source of Republican corruption. Americans often forget that some super wealthy citizens and corporations helped finance Nixon’s illegal political activities.

Many current Republican leaders cut their political teeth as part of the Nixon machine. It was no accident that some of the top players in the Iran-Contra scandal were part of the Nixon machine. Others from the Iran-Contra scandal are now players in the Bush-Cheney machine.

Iran-Contra was much more serious than the public generally realized. The White House knowingly and intentionally ignored the law to impose their illegal policies. The Reagan White House claimed nonexistent Presidential powers. The current White House routinely does the same. The main lesson that the Bush-Cheney seems to have learned from both Watergate and Iran-Contra is that the US Department of Justice and the federal courts must be politicized and corrupted for Republican politicians to get away with ignoring the rule of law.

The various corruption scandals involving powerful Republican members of Congress from Tom Delay to Duke Cunningham to all the Abramoff characters can be closely connected to the Republican culture of corruption resulting from this mindset. Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W Bush have criminalized the political mindset of the national Republican leadership. They all seem to believe that they are more powerful than the rule of law.

They are routinely hiding illegal and shameful behavior under the veil of secrecy, claiming powers that would make them virtual dictators.

The political prosecution of Governor Siegelman in Alabama on trumped-up charges seems to be connected to the Abramoff scandal, Karl Rove and possible election fraud concerning the questionable defeat of Siegelman by now Republican Governor Riley. Many observers believe that massive, politically-motivated illegal activity was involved in pushing for the prosecution of the Democratic candidate, Siegelman.

The Alabama prosecution looks to be a blatant and successful attempt to destroy the career of a popular Democratic figure in Alabama. It reminds this writer of the Clinton impeachment effort. It also shows the importance of investigating the US Attorneys firing scandal. It is vital to our democracy to investigate and prosecute the politicization and corruption of law enforcement. I hope Congress investigates the Siegelman prosecution aggressively. The next Democratic President should pardon Siegelman.

Legal corruption and lying on political issues is bad enough. The recent vote and statements by Republican Senators on the Employee Free Choice Act were definitely unethical but not really illegal. Republican Senators blatantly lied that workers were being denied their voting rights by adopting card check unionization by a majority of workers. The card check system is just another kind of voting but not one easily subject to employer intimidation and manipulation. The current system is rigged against workers but Republicans simply lied about that fact with the notable exception of Senator Specter.

This kind of corruption demonstrated by all the other Republican Senators can just be dealt with at the polls. The kinds of corruption demonstrated, in the current White House abuses of office, calls for more aggressive tactics and punishment.

All aspects of corruption and abuse of office connected to the Bush-Cheney White House needs to be investigated including the Cheney Energy Task Force, White House involvement in the California electric price-gouging scandal, lying about WMD’s in Iraq, torture, secret prisons, wiretapping of American citizens without court orders, election manipulation, gutting civil rights enforcement, no-bid contracting and more. If needed, we should impeach federal judges whose rulings condone illegal behaviors or grant un-Constitutional powers to officeholders. America cannot tolerate corruption on steroids by any public officials!

www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com

Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.

It is the 4th of July, and America needs to act on the Bush/Cheney atrocities

It is the 4th of July here in the United States. In 1776, a group of brave visionaries declared that they'd had enough of the tyranny perpetrated by their rulers, and they signed the Declaration of Independence. This holiday commemorates their brave action.

We are at a similar crossroads today. The current presidential administration has played fast and loose with the US constitution for too long. Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and their underlings have done illegal, immoral, unspeakable things and tried to pass it off as in our best interests.

Last night, on his "Countdown . . ." show, Keith Olbermann called them on it. Rather than try to say what needs to be said myself, I present Mr. Olbermann's commentary. He paints the picture beautifully, and I could not say it better. Thank you, sir!!

"SPECIAL COMMENT: IT'S TIME TO RESIGN

http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/03/256978.aspx

Posted: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 8:57 PM by Countdown

Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on what is, in everything but name, George Bush's pardon of Scooter Libby.
---
"I didn't vote for him," an American once said, "But he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
That -- on this eve of the 4th of July -- is the essence of this democracy, in seventeen words.
And that -- is what President Bush threw away yesterday in commuting the sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The man who said those seventeen words -- improbably enough -- was the actor John Wayne.

And Wayne, an ultra-conservative, said them, when he learned of the hair's-breadth election of John F. Kennedy instead of his personal favorite, Richard Nixon in 1960.
"I didn't vote for him but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."

The sentiment was doubtlessly expressed earlier.
But there is something especially appropriate about hearing it, now, in Wayne's voice:
The crisp matter-of-fact acknowledgement that we have survived, even though for nearly two centuries now, our Commander-in-Chief has also served, simultaneously, as the head of one political party and often the scourge of all others.
---
We as citizens must, at some point, ignore a president's partisanship. Not that we may prosper as a nation, not that we may achieve, not that we may lead the world -- but merely that we may function.
But just as essential to the seventeen words of John Wayne, is an implicit trust -- a sacred trust:
That the president for whom so many did not vote, can in turn suspend his political self long enough, and for matters imperative enough, to conduct himself solely for the benefit of the entire Republic.

Our generation's willingness to state "we didn't vote for him, but he's our president, and we hope he does a good job," was tested in the crucible of history, and earlier than most.
And in circumstances more tragic and threatening.
And we did.... that with which history tasked us.

We envelopped our President in 2001.
And those who did not believe he should have been elected -- indeed those who did not believe he had been elected -- willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.

And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point...,and stabbed this nation in the back with it.
Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.
Did so even before the appeals process was complete…
Did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice…
Did so despite what James Madison -- at the Constitutional Convention -- said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes "advised by" that president…
Did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder:
To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish -- the President will keep you out of prison?

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental com-pact between yourself and the majority of this nation's citizens -- the ones who did not cast votes for you.
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States.
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President… of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party.
And this is too important a time, Sir, to have a commander-in-chief who puts party over nation.

This has been, of course, the gathering legacy of this Administration.
Few of its decisions have escaped the stain of politics.
The extraordinary Karl Rove has spoken of "a permanent Republican majority," as if such a thing -- or a permanent Democratic majority -- is not antithetical to that upon which rests: our country, our history, our revolution, our freedoms.

Yet our Democracy has survived shrewder men than Karl Rove.
And it has survived the frequent stain of politics upon the fabric of government.
But this administration, with ever-increasing insistence and almost theo-cratic zealotry, has turned that stain… into a massive oil spill.

The protection of the environment… is turned over to those of one political party, who will financially benefit from the rape of the environment.

The protections of the Constitution… are turned over to those of one political party, who believe those protections unnecessary and extravagant and quaint.

The enforcement of the laws… is turned over to those of one political party, who will swear beforehand that they will not enforce those laws.

The choice between war and peace… is turned over to those of one political party, who stand to gain vast wealth by ensuring that there is never peace, but only war.

And now, when just one cooked book gets corrected by an honest auditor…
When just one trampling of the inherent and inviolable fairness of government is rejected by an impartial judge…
When just one wild-eyed partisan is stopped by the figure of blind justice…
This President decides that he, and not the law, must prevail.

I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.
I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.
I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.
I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but to stifle dissent.
I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.
I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.
I accuse you of handing part of this Republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.
And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory… to the obstruction of justice.

---
When President Nixon ordered the firing of the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" on October 20th, 1973, Cox initially responded tersely, and ominously.
"Whether ours shall be a government of laws and not of men, is now for Congress, and ultimately, the American people."

President Nixon did not understand how he had crystallized the issue of Watergate for the American people.

It had been about the obscure meaning behind an attempt to break in to a rival party's headquarters; and the labyrinthine effort to cover-up that break-in and the related crimes.

And in one night, Nixon transformed it.
Watergate -- instantaneously -- became a simpler issue: a President overruling the inexorable march of the law… of insisting -- in a way that resonated viscerally with millions who had not previously understood - that he was the law.
Not the Constitution.
Not the Congress.
Not the Courts.
Just him.

Just - Mr. Bush - as you did, yesterday.
The twists and turns of Plame-Gate, of your precise and intricate lies that sent us into this bottomless pit of Iraq; your lies upon the lies to discredit Joe Wilson; your lies upon the lies upon the lies to throw the sand at the "referee" of Prosecutor Fitzgerald's analogy… these are complex and often painful to follow, and too much, perhaps, for the average citizen.
But when other citizens render a verdict against your man, Mr. Bush -- and then you spit in the faces of those jurors and that judge and the judges who were yet to hear the appeal -- the average citizen understands that, Sir.
It's the fixed ballgame and the rigged casino and the pre-arranged lottery all rolled into one -- and it stinks.
And they know it.

Nixon's mistake, the last and most fatal of them, the firing of Archibald Cox, was enough to cost him the presidency.
And in the end, even Richard Nixon could say he could not put this nation through an impeachment.
It was far too late for it to matter then, but as the decades unfold, that single final gesture of non-partisanship, of acknowledged responsibility not to self, not to party, not to "base," but to country, echoes loudly into history.
Even Richard Nixon knew it was time to resign

Would that you could say that, Mr. Bush.
And that you could say it for Mr. Cheney.
You both crossed the Rubicon yesterday.
Which one of you chose the route, no longer matters.
Which is the ventriloquist, and which the dummy, is irrelevant.
But that you have twisted the machinery of government into nothing more than a tawdry machine of politics, is the only fact that remains relevant.
It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them -- or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them -- we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.
We of this time -- and our leaders in Congress, of both parties -- must now live up to those standards which echo through our history:
Pressure, negotiate, impeach -- get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.
For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task.
You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed.
Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.
Resign.
And give us someone -- anyone -- about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, "I didn't vote for him, but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
---
Good night, and good luck."

And now he pardons Libby?!!

I personally think that Mr. Libby's pardon was another blatantly wrong (that is what the "W" stands for, isn't it?) Bush action meant to protect Bush and members of his administration from well-deserved prosecution for high crimes and misdemeanors.

But, then again, like the vast majority of Americans, (CNN: 80% thought Libby's pardon was wrong; Wall Street Journal: 69% and counting thought the pardon was wrong) I didn't agree with Libby's pardon.

Further, I think that Bush, Cheney, Rove and most members of the administration belong in prison for (minimally):

• Gross dereliction of duty for not going after and bringing to justice whomever was responsible for attacking the USA on 9/11/01,
• Attacking Iraq with no provocation, after lying about the WMDs that weren't there,
  
• Destroying the US economy by continuing Bush's Iraq "war" since that time,
• and for killing and maiming thousands of American military personnel and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in that same "war".

As the "Baretta" theme song said "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."


An opinion by an American who served this country in the military in 'Nam:


"July 2, 2007 at 20:03:48

THE GUILTY PLEASURES OF BUSH AND THE GUILTY

by Lawless One

http://www.opednews.com

Or, Commuting the Sentence of Guilty White House Leaker of National Security Secrets Doesn't Compute

Bush Junior apparently has decided that Libby, an Administration senior official found guilty of deliberately lying under oath while being questioned about his admitted leaks of a national security secret regarding CIA personnel, should do no jail time for his crimes.

Obviously, the Republican campaign ads had it wrong. Why should al-Qaida ever want Democrats to win when they can have a helpful fellow like Bush and his buddies in the White House? So much for the supposed promises of Republicans to safeguard our national security and keep convicted criminals behind bars. Frankly, King Bush routinely does more for terrorists in a month than a battalion of terrorists can do in a year.

Can you imagine what McCarthy and Goldwater would have said if a Democratic President had let the criminal go? Hell, can you imagine what Bush Senior would have said? After all, he got in office on the strength of his opponent supposedly letting convicted Willie Horton out of jail early.

It was a nice additional touch of irony that Bush Junior, who routinely ordered the torture of detainees and death sentences for the mentally ill, called the few months to be spent in a cushy US prison as 'excessive.'"

http://resistence-is-possible.blogspot.com/

"It's probably obvious I'm a CYNICAL PESSIMIST. Why a cynical pessimist? Possibly it's the result of expending a full lifetime defending, first with rifle in hand and then with a legal pad, "truth, justice and the American Way." Observing the less than perfect result and the fact that it must be unending tends to incubate pessimistic cynicism. There is actually a better answer though. As a pessimistic cynic, I know I'll always be either right or delighted. I'm probably also affected by the fact I live at the very edge of the earth, about as far as someone can get from our nation's centers of power and still have dry feet. (Minor quibble to establish my unfailing honesty: I don't actually live at the edge. Nevertheless, I really can at least see the edge from here.) The commentaries submitted to this website are some of the views from that edge, for the most part political and social observations and questions tinged (or perhaps more accurately, tainted) with humor to make the point. The name "lawless one"? It was my call sign in Nam and ironic in other ways."