It's members of Congress that need to be convinced, it seems.

Has Congress learned anything from Vietnam? Like when you cut off funding and reduce troops, the occupation ends sooner than later? And when members of Congress continue to approve funding, are they not also concluding that persisting in an unwinnable "war" (BTW, it isn't a "war", it's an illegal occupation) is the best policy for the American people?

We know Bush is delusional - he recently thought he was in Austria at an OPEC convention.

The question is, why isn't the House Judiciary Committee asserting its full constitutional powers in confronting the delusions?

…that by withdrawing from Vietnam, the US missed the opportunity:

--to bankrupt our country by continuing to fight an unwinnable war…

--to expand the war from one country to include the entire region, or maybe even the whole world…

--to kill and seriously wound thousands more US troops and tens of thousands more civilians…

--to completely destroy Vietnam’s infrastructure and economy…

Yes, Bush wants to make sure that in Iraq, he misses none of these opportunities. For, if there is anything in which Bush excels, it is in disaster, death and destruction. If there is a quality totally opposite to the “Midas touch”, Bush has that quality. “Bush’s Touch” creates misfortune, disaster and devastation.

Meanwhile, Congress continues to shirk its duty to provide oversight and "checks and balances" to a leader whose actions and statements clearly and repeatedly show that he exists 24/7 in a state of mind which is in direct "conflict with reality".

Sorry. If you’re looking for some breathless analysis about another lame videotape, which allegedly contains the latest ramblings of the man behind the 9-11 attacks, this ain’t it. It is meaningless bullshit. Why? Because the United States, and the Bush Administration in particular, is not serious about finding and eliminating Bin Laden.

(snip)
Now let’s go back to why I insist the Bush Administration is not serious about finding Bin Laden.
For starters there is no one in charge of the effort. I have continued to work with U.S. military units that have the terrorism mission. I know for a fact–I’ve seen the reports and briefings–that there is not a fully coordinated, integrated, comprehensive effort to find Bin Laden. The U.S. military is doing its thing, separate from the CIA, separate from FBI, and separate from DEA. No single entity or person is in charge of the effort. And some agencies that ought to be involved–DEA in particular–are not even at the table.

Then there is the problem of failing to work and play well with others. The CIA is particularly at fault. Six years after 9-11 the CIA is still pursuing its own tangents and persists in refusing to fully share intelligence with U.S. special operations forces. And there is no one at the White House tasked with the job of forcing cooperation and focus. One would think that Fran Townsend or her deputy, Juan Zarate, would be on top of this but they are not. They are asleep at the switch. Consequently the various agencies pursue their missions without any overarching direction while staying largely in their own lanes.

(snip)
What is needed is a full up interagency task force that is empowered to call on and enlist any military, intelligence, or law enforcement asset believed necessary to accomplish the mission. But that is not being done and no one is asking George Bush, “why not?”
The Bin Laden Video Nonsense

Everyone who writes here is in a natural state of shock that we continue to find ourselves discussing the same issues relative to the insanity so prevalent in the Executive Branch almost a year after the Dems were given the power of the purse.

What is it going to take for the Dems to take their jobs seriously instead of hanging back in the weeds? For starters, none of them are personally invested in this war, that is, no one in Congress has a living relative in harms way over there so it's business as usual for the boys on the House and Senate floor. If the mothers of those boys and girls who have sacrificed their lives could give voice to their dead children on the floor of the House of Congress, what do you think their message might be..."stay the course"..."surge on!" or "get our a$$es outta there"? For those who've not been totally tainted by the political process there is only one answer..."use everything at your disposal, especially the power of the purse, and get us the hell out of that country because if you were to stockpile all the lies from Bush as reasons for why we're over there it only comes down to one..."oil").
The Democrats in Congress are like New Yorkers who listen to the screams of someone being raped and murdered (like the Iraqis) and ignore the screams because they have no investment in the process. They're apathetic to pain that cries out from that country, especially from those who have a personal investment in family over there (exluding Haliburton who only has one interest in that country and it has to do with this sign $).

The Dems in this Congress remind me of those in government during the McCarthy years. Joe McCarthy had everyone buying into the notion that there was a commie under every rock, only in our time, it's a terrorist on every plane (fed and supported by a complicit media who are out to make careers, not investigate the lying ba$tards who got us into this illegal war in the first place). McCarthy was revealed as the phony he was, and with a solid round of impeachment hearings, so would Bush.

If staying the course in Iraq and VietNam, and not impeaching Bush, are what is best for the "people" of America, I can only conclude that I am no longer a "people".

I can't wait until I see my old Social Studies teacher. If I had known that not seeking a higher education would result in the loss of my rights, I might have studied a little harder. But dumb me, I believed him when he said the Constitution protected predator and prey equally.

It wasn't that long ago that I had hope. When "Teflon Tom" DeLay was arrested and forced to relinquish his stranglehold on the neck of Mr. Conyers, I actually thought our legal system would follow through with his prosecution. But like Ron Regan and John Gotti before him, he appears to be worthy of the nickname.

Not even a year ago, I still had hope, until the handlers of Pelosi took accountability off the table.

I have come to accept that the America that served as a shining example to the world, has been quid pro quo'd to death. Instead of adopting the mantra of "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!", our DLC led Democratic Party is worried about the proper utilization of the new powers of the Presidency. They can't wait to get their fangs on the neck of America.

Since Congress represents "we the people", and I can only receive Constitutional protection if I'm an actual "people", how do I become a people again?

I ain't educated, but if I need to buy me some education to become a people again, just tell me. Do I need to tythe to a particular party to be a "people"? Don't I already tythe, through taxes, to every Catholic Diocese in the country?

How much of my tax money is being used to offset the civil awards given to the victims of the Catholic Baby Rapers of America? Larry Craig appears to be a "people", but I'm really not into the whole men's room scene, so please don't recommend that approach. BTW, is Mr. Craig a product of these Catholic Indoctrination Centers?

Maybe you could print up a little brochure that outlines the steps Average Joe needs to take to become people in the eyes of the Constitution. While you're at it, how about providing us with a copy of the "New Constitution" Congress appears to be using for the 110th session.

Humans are highly adaptable. All we need is a guideline to follow. The thing that really pisses me off, is the thought that my daughter is being taught the same garbage that lulled me into a false sense of security.

But don't worry, she already knows about Just-Us, if she can earn her way to "people" status, she'll be OK.

Is it too late for me? How do I become a "people"? Just tell me, who do I give the money to?

We are all being played like a song by this administration. Those of us who abhor them, are laughed at, as the bushies delight in our frustration in not being able to stop them.

Those who support them, remain subservient, fooled into thinking that Bush, et al., are performing some greater good. They too are laughed at by the bushies who count on their subservience, blind faith and support to help fill the corporate coffers.

Then, there are those who are passive. They either believe that there is nothing they can do, so they do nothing, or are so wrapped up in their own lives, they don't have enough time to pay attention, or don't care enough to care at all.

Bush is running out the clock on his time in office. The only question is, will he and his ilk ever, while they are still alive, be held to account for the crime of screwing the Republic?

With this fearful cowering congress, I have my doubts.

John? Are you listening to any of us?

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You can lead a republican to the truth, but you can't make him think it...

Actually, George Santayana was one of the most seminal of modern philosophers, and although the above truism is the most remembered of his many observations on the human condition, it is probably the best explanation of the mess we currently find ourselves in. George W. Bu$h, along with the rest of the fools grouped under the label "Neo-conservative," not only cannot learn anything from History, they cannot learn from experience! The phrase experientia docet means nothing to them, not only because it is Latin, hence non-understandable, but is contrary to their magical thinking, which, when summed up, simply is, "If I keep beating on this brick wall with my head, eventually the wall will fall down." Or, to put it another way, "The way to get out of a hole is to keep digging, and the only way to improve things is to get more and bigger shovels."

The main problem is that magical thinking is the main malady of our time. If a truth is inconvenient or inconceivable to the limited imagination of the populace or the anointed leadership, it is simply not considered, no matter how obvious it may be, and a convenient, believable lie, no matter how ridiculous, becomes the accepted fact, and is acted upon, regardless of consequences. Two glaring examples come to mind. The first is Al Gore's mindless insistence on "Human-derived Carbon Dioxide causes global warming," self-evidently false for the twin reasons that carbon dioxide is a very poor greenhouse gas, and that human caused emissions thereof are only about one half of one per cent of the total anyway, and that global warming, per se happens BEFORE increase in carbon dioxide; which is to say that global warming causes increase in Carbon Dioxide rather than the other way around (we won't mention that Mars, which is warming faster than Earth, has no SUV's at all!). The second is that some suicidal Arabs, armed with pocket knives, and carrying a few thousand gallons of kerosene brought down the two biggest white elephants in world history, destroyed all the documentary evidence of several of the greatest financial crimes of recent memory, thus preventing meaningful redress, and furnished the impetus for the imposition of a Police State, the almost total loss of everything this Nation is supposed to stand for, besides furnishing the flimsy pretexts that got us into the most disastrous foreign adventure in world history, with no end in sight or even contemplated. I think it VERY interesting that the "Security Agency" allegedly responsible for the safety of the WTC complex was headed by Marvin Bu$h, that there were "unaccountable" power outages during the weeks preceding 9/11/01, that the "Explosive sniffing" dogs were suddenly banished from the buildings, that the Israeli offices were suddenly closed, that there were a LOT of Short Sales of airline stocks just days befroe the catastrophe, that the only lawsuit brought against GWB alleging that he authorized the action was thrown out of court (by a judge he appointed) on the specious grounds that "You cannot sue a sitting President" (Clinton should have known that!) In short, if it could be proved that the REAL "Axis of Evil" (the Cheney-Bu$h axis) had anything to do with the events of 9/11/01, IMPEACHMENT would be a "Slam-Dunk" - and it SHOULD be investigated, if only to disprove it, because a LARGE segment of the population is convinced that it was entirely an inside job, even to radio-controlling the planes! But we can't expect a true investigation, because people do not WANT to find out that the criminals heading our government are also traitors and murderers - although what ekse can you think of people who will willingly send young people to die in a war conceived in infamy and prosecuted for the profit of the oil companies?

It is ti shudder.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Sen. Intel Chair Reports White House Misled About Wiretap Briefings
One of the long-standing deceptions involved with the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program is the White House claim that they fully briefed Congress prior to conducting these activities.

After the domestic surveillance program was revealed in 2005, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham (D-FL) said that White House briefings that he attended in the Vice President’s office failed to disclose that the administration was spying on Americans:

In a recent interview with ThinkProgress, Sen. Graham told us that, after the controversy erupted in late 2005, the White House provided him with dates when they alleged Graham had been briefed. Graham said he consulted his famous spiral bound notebooks and determined he had not been briefed on these dates:

When I got those dates, I went back to my notebooks and checked and found that on most of the dates there were no meetings held. In fact, in several of them, I wasn’t in Washington when the meetings were supposed to have taken place. So I stand by what I said.

Listen to it:
EXCLUSIVE: Former Sen. Intel Chair Reports White House Misled About Wiretap Briefings

when you continually post blogs regarding the delusions of this administration without discussing your intentions to do anything constructive to correct the situation. What do you suggest our options are at this point?

Do you just plan on posting what amounts to impeachable offenses without discussing or acting on remedies throughout the time remaining of Bush and Cheney's terms?

If so, why? What is it doing, other than infuriating voters to the point of seeking out candidates who would behave differently given the same powers and circumstances?

Ranking committee member Conyers used to discuss evidence exposing the crimes of this administration (like the Downing Street Memo), and then try to investigate them, even if he had to do it in a basement. Did ranking member Conyers have congressional numbers on his side? Did he have time before the next election on his side?

What he had on his side was the Truth, and the support of the people.

I don't understand Chairman Conyers - who has more power now than he did a year ago - the incessant mention of op-eds on topics reminding us of what we already know, while refusing to engage us in meaningful discussions about remedies and options.

I just don't get it.

Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan 13

Thank you to congresswoman Kilpatrick!

Wiretaps on Americans dug deeper than originally disclosed by FBI

The F.B.I. cast a much wider net in its terrorism investigations than it has previously acknowledged by relying on telecommunications companies to analyze phone-call and e-mail patterns of the associates of Americans who had come under suspicion, according to newly obtained bureau records.

(snip)
Typically, community of interest data might include an analysis of which people the targets called most frequently, how long they generally talked and at what times of day, sudden fluctuations in activity, geographic regions that were called, and other data, law enforcement and industry officials said.

The F.B.I. declined to say exactly what data had been turned over. It was limited to people, phone numbers and e-mail “once removed” from the actual target of the national security letters, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a continuing review by the Justice Department.

Texas' Hunt Oil Co. and Kurdistan's regional government said Saturday they've signed a production-sharing contract for petroleum exploration in northern Iraq, the first such deal since the Kurds passed their own oil and gas law in August.

A Hunt subsidiary, Hunt Oil Co. of the Kurdistan Region, will begin geological survey and seismic work by the end of 2007 and hopes to drill an exploration well in 2008, the parties said in a news release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hunt is a privately held independent oil company based in Dallas. A third partner, Impulse Energy Corp., also has a stake in the project.

"We're very pleased to have the opportunity to be a part of these landmark events by actively participating in the establishment of the petroleum industry," Ray L. Hunt, Hunt's CEO, said in a statement.
Dallas oil company signs deal with Kurds

Hunt was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in October 2001 and again in January 2006. He is immediate past chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council (an industry advisory organization to the Secretary of Energy) and served as its chairman from June 1991 to July 1994. He is also a director of Halliburton Company

"Why did President Bush Go to Iraq?"

Part II:

"Does Bush want Saddam without the mustache?"

But, for an even greater finite detailing of the REAL situation in Iraq, please listen to NPR's interview with Nir Rosen, a war correspondent who spent over two years in Iraq and now, an author of "In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq" and a fellow at New American Foundation.

"Surge Analysis"

It is extremely important that people know the TRUTH and not be misled one step further by this Administration. Congress needs to "get a grip" to the realities of the entire mess and REFUSE to give one more cent to this obscene disaster called "Iraq."

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

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I M P E A C H
THEM BOTH !!!