And maybe that is what they want...
The Guard is in Iraq so, Cheney will call for Blackwater(a godly armed force) to stop the insurrection to come. The order will be put in effect, Fema will round up all who rage against Bush and Cheney, or have said anything against them at any time in the past...
The Republicans will have their Permanent Majority, with President and Vice for Life...

The article stated: The bottom line… Bush and Cheney have eighteen months left to their term. During this time they are capable of many more egregious crimes

People they will attack Iran if they can get away with it. We cannot let them as this will be the final nail in the coffin for Democracy at home.

Yes yes *YES* -- it is high time, now. Very high time. Let we, the citizens, continue to push. Congress is slow to answer -- but ultimately, it always does.

Do you see a pattern here regarding the refusal of the government to listen to the people? They impeached Clinton even though the majority of Americans asked them not to.

Now they refuse to impeach Bush/Cheney even though the majority of Americans are pleading with them to do so.

Yet, they can't understand why so many Americans are leaving both parties and becoming Independents, duh.

I just wonder how long it will take the majority to realize that this is no longer a democracy, but a dictatorial, oligarchy.

Seymour Hersh (The New Yorker, 03/05/2007) reported that Dick Cheney is again "vetting" all intelligence on Iran. And I'm sure we've all noticed the number of generals who "know" that Iran is selling weaponry to Al-Queda. And how one day after Gareth Porter reported that Defense Sec. Gates said there was no proof of this, UnderSec. of State Burns said we "now have irrefutable proof." (Gates did not agree with Burns, but softened his previous denial somewhat.)

Good thing the Rumsfeld and ? wish (as expressed in the Defense Dept budget and planning documents of, I believe, 2004 or 2005) wanted to let commanders in the field use smallish nuclear weapons AT WILL and PREEMPTIVELY when they "knew" that a country had bad plans for us. (Reported by Walter Pincus in the Washington Post, on September something 2004? 2005?.)

And then there's the fact that Tony Blair had to talk Bush out of bombing Al-Jazeera.

We absolutely cannot leave these two prisoners of an unreal ideology remain in positions of power. It really IS a matter of lives and deaths.

Impeach AND PROSECUTE!!!
When you speak of impeachment only you are weakening an end result that could THEN be considered "Justice". The criminals MUST be tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. Anything less is a "wrist slap". They will continue their wealthy lifestyles in freedom STILL having any TRUE accountability.

Please join me in having bumper stickers made saying
"Impeach AND PROSECUTE!" and finishing all calls for impeachment in ANY form with this added and necessary word.

Roger: The whole point is that the American public's wishes are NOT being respected. It's about $ politics and what it can buy. So long as these corporate bastards make $ for their masters, they are ALLOWED to hold seats of power. It has NOTHING to do with a public which has had a huge percentage tainted by false data, faux news, and "the usual suspects," long work hours, the need to zone out to rev for the next day's labors, and all the addictions that are so much a LEGAL part of US culture.

Roger: IF the public understood (i.e. if the fourth estate was doing its job to inform a citizeny, rather than entertain them with bosomy lost, dead, or murdered women) perhaps there would be such a storming of the Bastille. (I did get your point.)

This article goes to prove what I have voiced many a times. For Democrats now in Congress "feckless" is the wrong modifier. The cabal now comprising the two parties and the Administration belong to the same pack of jackals tasked to represent the interests of corporations and war profiteers. THE TWO PARTIES ARE DIFFERENT IN NAME ONLY!

Career politicians eventually become crooks. Let's next time elect new and fresh voices for the Congress.

The truth about 9/11 is key to exposing the criminals. Research. Share information. Make a stink. When the truth about 9/11 is exposed, all justification for the "War on Terror" pulverizes into itself.

Roger is right. In the so-called greatest democracy on earth most people are content to watch reality shows, eat crap food and let the Bush administration literally get away with murder as long as they can get youtube on their cellphones. Sure, the media is complicit but as he said, the truth is out there if you just pick up a newspaper and look beyond page one or the sports and entertainment pages. Most (not all) people are brainwashed. Could there be something in the water???

I've said it once, I'll say it again, "storming the Bastille" in America is doom. Doom. That's all, nothing will be gained (maybe in the long term, but it's likely to be a very long term) and there is much to lose. We have not yet heard the term 'nuclear civil war' but we will if the American citizens revolt.

There are faster and less destructive means to accomplish this, economic being the quickest "soft" method of changing the system. A General Strike would work, but would be even harder to organize than armed revolution.

It's really obnoxious to think about actually... Which do you prefer, slow death through cancer, slow uncertain chemotherapy that you can't arrange due to lack of funds (that's the General Strike, and funds equates to organization),or shooting the brain tumor out and almost certainly killing yourself (and your family, as the tumor will explode violently when physically attacked).

Fucking fascists and their advanced organizational skills. Over here on the left we dismiss people because they don't wear purple shirts, or because they once wore a magenta shirt, or even being for somebody because she pretends to love purple shirts (even though she usually wears red ones).

Utopians demand perfection, and settle for no less while distopians have the advantage of settling for anything that gives them a bigger slice of pie. That's a huge advantage (if my studies of dynamic systems have taught me anything) when applied to any highly variable environment, like ours.

Then again, even if we (progressives) DID organize as well (and it's actually possible that we have, LIKELY that we can) as the fascists, the media (guess who runs THAT) would keep the idea/information spread artificially low. Like they do now.

Every train of thought I have about correcting the current situation all leads to one place, the media. With the media co-opted like it is, there is a far FAR smaller chance of organizing nationally, especially when the box says you're a 'terrorist', (never mind that even dedicated non-violent organizations get this label) and that makes solidarity very tough to achieve.

On principle, if I had had been a Congressman in 1999 I would have voted to impeach Bill Clinton because he did offer perjured testimony during his deposition in the Paula Jones case and if I had been a Senator I would have voted to convict. It would also have been helpful for PRESIDENT Gore to run in 2000 as an incumbent. It would also have been a satisfying way for a New Deal/Great Society liberal to punish the man who said, "The era of big government is over." Most important, it would have positioned the hypothetical me (or someone) as Congressman/Senator as impartial defender of the Constitution and rule of law rather than as partisan hack. Which raises a question. Are there any Democrats who voted to impeach or convict Clinton that have called for the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, Gonzalez et al.?

We live in a kleptocracy. The will of the People no longer matters to the corporate masters. We can't depend on Congress or any other government institution to save what we, the People, hold dear. Time to start taking matters into our own hands. Draw the line: Tell the soldiers to refuse to kill people, refuse to take part in the occupation, otherwise we can't support them because they are engaging in criminal activity. Draw the line: Refuse to invest in, purchase from, or work for companies that have a hand in human rights abuses, especially those relating to the occupation of Iraq. Draw the line: Refuse to pay taxes until the occupation has ended and the criminals are on trial. Draw the line: Start building community networks, not just for protest, but for survival. In every way that you can, take your life in your own hands. If we can stifle our dependence on government and take our communities, our lives, our bodies, and our spirits back from the vampires, we can create revolution.

Nancy Pelosi will be denounced now and forever not for failing to impeach the President and Vice President, but for not having the courage to really try.
For this reason alone she deserves not to be elected again. For this reason alone she deserves to be shunned by all Americans

There is no "War on Terror". You cannot have a war against a tactic.

Bush and Cheney need to be impeached and prosecuted at the Hague for their war crimes and the soonerr, the better. Rumsfeld, Wolffowitz, Feith, Abrams, the whole cabal.

All of you above are correct in that there is no difference any more in the 2(?) political parties - they are the democratic wing of the kleptocracy and the republican wing of the kleptocracy. Tthey are rotten in botth instances. There are a few and I mean, just a handful that are not.

Linda,

As much as I've followed events, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never thought of this. The Clinton thing was top-down. This time it's bottom-up. Thanks for lifting my blinders.

Everybody -- THIS MEANS YOU!!! -- tell Speaker Pelosi to, well, SPEAK! She can be reached by email. http://speaker.gov/contact/.

So do drop in! Eventually she'll get the message, but time is short and she really needs a deluge. Tell your friends.

To all those who have argued that the trouble with US politics is the laziness of the American public, I would suggest that you are not taking into consideration the very structure of our society. The fact is, we specialize. Blaming the public for not knowing how to properly seek out the most accurate outlet for the news, avoiding the taint of the Corporate news would be, roughly, like blaming a patient who takes a doctor's word on a diagnosis of an internal malady. The best we might hope for is to seek a second opinion, but finding a doctor who is attentive, honest and good is a full-time job. We cannot be expected to, each and every one of us, research every story that is news anymore than each of us can be expected to go to medical school, or get mechanical training so that we can all keep our cars running, or study Public Relations so that we can produce propaganda of equal measure to those who are paid millions for their services. The nature of the modern economy demands a certain amount of trust and trustworthiness. We are dependent on the expertise of others in MANY circumstances and the news should be one of those cases. To blame the people is to fail to address the problem and the problem NEEDS be addressed. Quite simply, we do not have the time to devote to our jobs, our families, and the collection of the news. It is LAZY to lay the blame at the wrong doorstep rather than taking on the much more taxing, exhausting reality of what corporate news is capable of. The Fourth Estate (if we had a fourth estate) has a DUTY to serve the people of the United States. It is this service that gives them access to our airwaves. If they do not do public service, they should not have the privilege of mass communication.

I have reported before that I witnessed the power of the news in the lead up to the bombing of Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. I witnessed intelligent people, slowly swayed by the relentless repetition of television. Television is a fact of life and we cannot remedy our ills by pretending that the majority of Americans are addicted to it. We can blame them no more than we can blame people who were sold on cigarettes at an early age by a massive advertising machine, and who are unable to stop because they've been fed a product scientifically designed to produce overwhelming craving. Television produces the same kind of craving in our brains and we are obviously susceptible to the repeated images, flashing over and over again on our screens. If we acknowledge this truth instead of blaming those duped by a malicious corporate press, we have some chance to move forward. The modus operandi of the conservative rulers has always been divide and conquer. Whether it was convincing poor, White farmers that they were threatened by their natural allies, Black slaves, or dividing us along religious lines, or creating a mythology of minorities benefiting at the expense of White Males...How many times have you heard a feminist blame White men and felt yourself wrongfully accused? Angry? At odds with feminism because of this attitude? How many times have you, at least heard, White men blaming WOMEN and AFRICAN AMERICANS for their hard life? Ridiculous! We can no more allow ourselves to be divided along the lines of those who are sucked in by American Idol and those who are political wonks like us, reading obsessively about the intricacies of a corrupt government. Rather than BLAMING the victim, ask yourself how best you might LIBERATE them from the spell they are under. Talk to strangers. Spread YOUR knowledge. Share your hard work. Your specialty. Your are active in your search for the truth. Share that effort with an American Idol fan and let them fill you in on the workings of reality television :-) Blame the people who deserve it, please, and those people are SELDOM the most trodden upon, no matter how distasteful their viewing habits. EDUCATE instead of blaming. Thanks.

Ack! I forgot to add: Damn right, Linda! And nice points Siouxrose.

Moses Kassandra: Thanks for the eloquent and elaborate explanation! Phew! Saved me from the task! I'd like to add that it's pretty clear that left leaning progressives ARE better educated than those who listen to Rush Limbaugh and still support Bush. NONE of us is particularly good at walking in someone else's moccassins. Therefore we all tend to project what WE would do, and fail to realize we may have been gifted with more incisive intellects than that 28% that is still blind.
How many in this forum realize that advertising firms select really promising phD candidates in psychology because, as George Lakoff has taught us, these individuals are quite savvy about buzz words and unconscious human response syndromes. Remember when movies used subliminal frames to seduce us into buying food that was juxtaposed with sexual imagery to get us "hungry?" They play subliminal tapes in malls.
Years ago I met a Florida Keys artist and went into his home... I could SENSE something interfering with my thoughts and asked if he had a suliminal tape on. He did! Human beings are being bombarded! Just because we don't recognize this fact on a conscious level does not mean our bodies and minds are not processing a lot of data. When I hear a boom box (suppose I am stuck at a red light, and one of those wonders drives up next to me), I feel that my SENSES are being raped! I met a music professor from University of Florida and told him the decibles on those things qualify as "Hiroshima's revenge." He agreed. In any case... IF everyone HAD our same "intellectual quotients" then the argument that people were responsible for their own "news deficit" (and/or reality deficit) would prove more compelling.

It is quite obvious as Brown says that we need impeachments and prosecutions. Then a little advanced interrogation as Gonzales likes to see practiced. However we have heard so many ideas, from talking to your friends, working on your congressperson, a general strike, revolution, voting for someone like Cindy instead of Pelosi,and so on and on... There seems to be a reason why none of these ideas will actually work so what do we do- eat, drink and be merry while we still can while waiting for total destruction of our country? History shows us that when dictators are allowed to get control, many people are going to die fighting to regain what they have lost.Why would it be any different this time?

Americans, through apathy and/or indifference, have allowed this secretive (& unelected) zealot president to manipulate our rights by tolerating the senate's acceptance of dubious and potentially dangerous justices--even after the politically motivated & disasterous Supreme Court 2000 intervention which planted him in office. This has enabled unprecedented abuses including countless environmental sellouts, manipulation of science to impede environmental reforms, impediments of family planning and medical programs, & the list goes on.

The gravity of these outrages eclipse the Lewensky scaandel which led to an impeachment, & are more serious than Watergate which brought down a presidency.

I love articles that bring new insights and Linda Milazzo has written a great one. With this article and Cindy's new campaigns, I feel a new wind blowing.

A respectful suggestion _

If anyone out there is in a position to work with US city councils, which have passed resolutions condemning the Iraq war, etc., how about a more succinct resolution of REAL rebellion? Such as _

"Because George W. Bush and Richard Cheney have clearly demonstrated their incompetence, corruption and contempt for the people and Constitution of the United States of America, the city of XX(City name) hereby resolves to NO LONGER RECOGNIZE THEIR AUTHORITY AS PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. If Bush or Cheney enters XX(City name) for any reason, our law enforcement and other officials will refuse to offer them protection, and we cannot guarantee their safety."

COME ON!!! It's time to get real. Our country is in serious danger. We owe this to our children. No amount of discussion will help.

Rise up and man up. Our children and grandchildren deserve better. If we don't do something, we're letting them down, and trashing our entire legacy as a "free country."

Come on, Eugene, Oregon; come on, Ann Arbor, Michigan; come on, Boulder, Colorado; come on Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota.

Please.

Impeachment of Bush will, at the very least, serve as a warning to future administrations.

Failure to impeach Bush will serve as a invitation to future administrations to give us more of the same....lies, corruption, incompetence, hate, and war.

The Democrats are wrong to just let it go.

Congress is a farce. Ha ha ha.

Clinton's BJ was little cared about outside of the US. What we found most amusing is the reaction to it, that people would seek to have him removed from office for sexual escapades. No, it had nothing to do with the mess that there is now, and certainly no reasonable connection to 9/11 can possibly be made.

9/11 happened not because of how Americans conducted themselves at home, Al Qaeda cared little about the US's domestic policies, and it was never about the freedom or any such liberalism of society. It was, and has always been about foreign policy, like the kind of foreign policy so now championed by the Bush Administration. If you want to point fingers at who helped contribute, look at the signators of the PNAC document.

Impeaching Bush and Cheney might seem like the thing to do, but I have another angle. Bush and Cheney being in office in fall of '08 is perhaps one of the best campaign advertising tools the Democrats could possibly have. Heck, a 30 second spot of a picture of Bush and silence with the caption of "Vote Democrat" is all they need really do.

Whoa,Geff. Suppose some of us agreed with the essence of your message, if not its form. How far would we get over here organizing people in opposition if we were talking to them like you've spoken to all of us here? I agree with much of what you said, it is our fault, we do let the government and the capitalist system run wild, and we refuse to consider options outside the so-called democratic party, which, I agree with you, is filled with race supremists and neo-fascist ideologues. Can we organize and move against these things calling people abusive names? Seems the obvious thing from over whereever you are, but it doesn't make much sense here.

All you read hear is about impeachment of the president and vice president. Strangely absent is the "how" we got to this point the lessor crimes that add up to our current level of intolerence.
Our seperation from government by the people to government for the corporation. (with the argument that corporations are people too, well they are vast differences).

Anyway, impeachment is a solution but it has really taken on a sense of revenge. Like abused children that grow up and become abusers because that is what they learned. Ok, impeachment and then what? Who would be the president minus George/Dick and however many others. Who would be president and why do you want them?

Really, what is the plan?

I couldn't have said it better myself.But i have one suggestion: the heck with impeachment. Hang Bush, Cheney and the rest of his criminal enterprise from the halls of congress. Amen.

The only way to get politicians to pay attention is hit them in the pocket. Imagine a half million people marching in DC, peacefully blocking traffic and businesses, conducting acts of non-violent civil disobedience by barricading roads, surrounding the White House and ignoring direction from police.

If that does not work, then violence is the only language the authorities understand. Storm, take and hold the White House and Congressional buildings. Return power to the people.

July 13 (this friday) National Day of Strike

Do not Go to Work

Do not let your neighbor go to work.

Storm the US Capital if you can get to DC.

It made me ill recently to read media elites bemoaning the "loss" of democracy in Russia and telling Americans we should be concerned about that "loss." It seems to me that Putin has a much higher approval rating then Bush and that a much smaller percentage of Russians want to oust Putin than Americans who want to oust Bush.

The corporate media elites keep on playing their game, whistling by the graveyard as they hope they can continue to make a living by spewing propaganda indefinitely.

Clinton was impeached for lying to a grand jury not for oral sex. Quit defending him. The whole, "Yeah, but look how bad YOU guys are!", script isn't helpful.

We need honest leadership about important issues like the environment, energy, and America's behavior as a global citizen. That, instead of discussions about which lies are worse. Truth has the greatest power and is the only hope.

Have to agree with Geff, impeachment isn't good enough these bastards need hanging, at the very least.

Impeachment as symbolic as it sounds won't stop the powers behind the throne. What needs to happen is that those who wish justice petition the world court to hand down an indictment on the entire Bush crime syndicate. LEt him walk out of the White House if only to get his stink out. However he can still be prosecuted in the same way Milosevic, Taylor and others like them have been dragged into the World Court.Let the world see the United States Citizens clamor for BushCo to be tried as war criminals. If Congress refuses to do their constitutional duties then we inform them that they are next. So let's greet George and Dick with a pair of handcuffs come January 2009. There is no law against it.

Nobody marched to have Bill Clinton impeached because the mass outrage at US foreign policy had not reached such a levels as we see now -- so many, including myself still asleep at the wheel. For his genocidal acts against Iraq (not to mention the acts against civilians during the war in Bosnia), he deserves exactly what he got, just not for that particular reason. No tears here for Bill.

Ms. Milazzo,

Thanks, I was feeling rather down. This article, of the many articles I have enjoyed of yours, I liked the most.

Like most I've gone through all the levels of anger, I'm weary and nearly to the point of despair. Even so-called activist friends are bailing.

Your article was a cold splash of water.

Hi Geff ... Calm yourself ... I do not think Bill Clinton received the payback he deserved. Simply pointing out why, IMO, a few of the reasons why nobody marched. Thank you for your very kind words about me. And lastly and directly to you and anyone like you who thinks it is ever OK to kill, seek therapy, buddy. You are a mess.

@zellfrom 7.9/07

I liked your idea about ssmall towns & cities passing their own impeachments & refusing to offer police protection and as
for his safety he is on his own like the rest of us citizens.

If he still insisted on visiting a "Bush free impeachment zone" then I see no reason why an ordinary citizen couldn't just then
citizen arrest him & hold him without access to legal representation for 7 days and 7 nights.

Of course he'd have to be hooded & shackled and held in a couple dozen different stress positions. For the stress music maybe endless polkas by Lawrence Welk or an endless loop of Ashcroft's "let the eagle soar" or maybe just a soundtrack from a scary movie like slingblade.with the lights on 24/7 & the hood removed for 22 minutes every 22 hours.
Absolutely no baths or showers, toilet facilities consisting of a small bucket.
No one will ask him questions, he can use this time to examine his conscious.

After the week he can see an attorney but after the meeting he will be immediately be
rendered to Detroit City, where he'll be turned over to the American Muslim community to learn what the next steps will be.

I think a citizens arrest is long overdue.
The congress insults us by taking vacations & wasting our time on trivialites, I proprose they immediately tell us their plans for ending Iraq occupation or submit their resignations.

John F. Butterfield,

I have similar feelings about Linda Millazzo's writings, and like her spirit.

So many of us share the same principals but we voice our opinions in different ways but basically agree on the same issues. I'm just as angered and frustrated as the rest of you concerned citizens, but it is up to people like us to educate the non-thinkers. A very difficult task. Talk to the "29% " of Bush/Cheney devotees.

Case in point. After 3-7 million German's lost their lives and country for the Reichs-sadist, Hitler still had a band of fanatical ido;izers. That's our "29 %" of Amerikaners who still think the world is flat and you'll fall off if you stray too far in the ocean.

IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS,IT IS UNFORGIVABLE! LET'S START COORDINATING FOR THE GENERAL STRIKE and shut the country down. Hit the bastards in the pocketbook. Everybody, union and non-union alike. TAKE TO THE STREETS, WITHHOLD YOUR LABOR. "The World Can't Wait".org has been trying to do this since day one of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Unless we coordinate our attempts to bring the "troops" home NOW, all we're doing, including yours truly, are writing comments and complimenting each other's comments. That's the way I feel. I'm just another grain of sand on the beach.

The American political/economic system is rotten to the core.

Join the new campaign to 1) stop the war 2) restore the Bill of Rights and 3) IMPEACH tmfa (itmfa.org i think lol)!!!

WWW.MAKEYOURCALL.ORG

YEAH! we can change this!