For Chrissakes, just shackle them and extradite them to anywhere offering the guarantee that they'll be tried under the International Criminal Court.

These Loyal Bushie cowards can't even keep their lies straight anymore.

What a f**king farce. As if all the insider books and whistleblowers and Generals/assorted military brass and the FBI reports and leaked memos and the Articles of Impeachment and the multiple Congressional investigations haven't already established, beyond any damn reasonable doubt whatsoever, that Cheney/Bush are guilty of scores, if not hundreds, of war crimes, Constitutional and Bill of Rights violations, violations of US laws, violations of treaties and international laws, and outright treason.

Arguing over the meaning of "unitary" for f**ks sake. Let's just grant all the traitorous lunatics immunity already - that's how it's gonna go down, anyway, right?

Outside of Cheney, Addington is the next most intruiging member of this Administration. For an in-depth report about Addington and the power he wields, go to the New Yorker Magazine, 3 July, 2006. The link and my favourite paragraph from the story are below. A MUST read for those who want some insight into Addington.

From the article quote below (note the description of ruthless), Conyers is going to have to get a whole lot tougher on Mr. A. I'm not sure that Conyers is in Addington's league.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/03/060703fa_fact1

David Addington is a tall, bespectacled man of forty-nine, who has a thickening middle, a thatch of gray hair, and a trim gray beard, which gives him the look of a sea captain. He is extremely private; he keeps the door of his office locked at all times, colleagues say, because of the national-security documents in his files. He has left almost no public paper trail, and he does not speak to the press or allow photographs to be taken for news stories. (He declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article.)

In many ways, his influence in Washington defies conventional patterns. Addington doesn't serve the President directly. He has never run for elected office. Although he has been a government lawyer for his entire career, he has never worked in the Justice Department. He is a hawk on defense issues, but he has never served in the military.

There are various plausible explanations for Addington's power, including the force of his intellect and his personality, and his closeness to Cheney, whose political views he clearly shares. Addington has been an ally of Cheney's since the nineteen-eighties, and has been referred to as "Cheney's Cheney," or, less charitably, as "Cheney's hit man." Addington's talent for bureaucratic infighting is such that some of his supporters tend to invoke, with admiration, metaphors involving knives. Juleanna Glover Weiss, Cheney's former press secretary, said, "David is efficient, discreet, loyal, sublimely brilliant, and, as anyone who works with him knows, someone who, in a knife fight, you want covering your back." Bradford Berenson, a former White House lawyer, said, "He's powerful because people know he speaks for the Vice-President, and because he's an extremely smart, creative, and aggressive public official. Some engage in bureaucratic infighting using slaps. Some use knives. David falls into the latter category. You could make the argument that there are some costs. It introduces a little fear into the policymaking process. Views might be more candidly expressed without that fear. But David is like the Marines. No better friend—no worse enemy." People who have sparred with him agree. "He's utterly ruthless," Lawrence Wilkerson said. A former top national-security lawyer said, "He takes a political litmus test of everyone. If you're not sufficiently ideological, he would cut the ground out from under you."

frank1569 June 26th, 2008 1:25 pm...Not if Bugliosi has his way.

How long is it going to take before the stupid, cowardly Democrats get it through their thick skulls that there is only one remedy for all this:

IMPEACH NOW!!!!

These hearings are so unlike the Watergate hearings. Their seriousness and import to American life came across, and those testifying took them seriously. What's the big difference? I ask myself. Oh yea, those were televised by the networks so that everyone could see what was going on. Not so now . . .

Coyotita June 26th, 2008 2:44 pm:
"This hearing is so unlike the Watergate hearings. Their seriousness and import to American life came across, and those testifying took them seriously. What's the big difference, I ask myself. Oh yea, those were televised by the networks so that everyone could see what was going on. Not so now . . ."

Get serious Coyotita! What with the update on Anna Nicole's death (she is still dead) and the in depth report on Britney's acne, the 24 hour cable channels couldn't possibly squeeze in those long and booooring hearings (bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,).

And the big three networks, its not like they get their licences to transmit over the public airwaves for free you know! They have election ads to run, campaign contributions to make. Really now!

Enhanced examination needs to be used in order to extract any information out of those two criminals. They should be forced to give testimony naked with electrical wire strapped to their balls while angry fucking Dobermans snap at them.

Talking to the likes of Addington and Yoo is like wiping your rear end with toilet paper--it is a disagreeable but necessary chore in order to purge the filth frtom the body politic.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday. Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gas-could-fall-2-if/story.aspx?guid=%7B2673C102-68E0-41D9-9C9A-10EE2E723948%7D

How abour waterboarding them until they give some answers? After all they seem like unlawful combatants and it is not torture, it is just a fun game.

Yoo and Addington are a disgrace. They couldn't open those big, right-wing mouths enough when it came to torture. But now-they can't remember anything-they don't understand the question etc. etc. etc. What a bunch of craven, hypocritical cowards they are!

Ha ha ha...

Nobody respects these congressional hearings because they do not lead to anything substantial. How many hearings have we had? Our current administration has refused to attend these hearings or they were held behind closed doors without being transcribed and even tell them what they can or can't ask. Pathetic bunch of posers.

Democratic ruled congress - a bunch of paper tigers that couldn't even give you a paper cut.

Lieberman is not a Democrat.

One or two have been turned, 'compromised'

I can't prove it, but it looks and quacks like a few black-bag jobs with whores or cocaine and video cameras and Cheney owns one or two; Wasn't Bush 1 a CIA creep? hhhmmmmm

It's obvious I think.

The dirty tacticts of Cheney/Addington are delineated in the article using knife metaphors. Hello you guys.....any thoughts?

"Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) was clearly irritated with Addington and Yoo's refusal to answer direct questions.'

Clearly, this is all Conyers, Pelosi, Reid, Hoyer, ad nauseum are capable of: irritation. A polished gangster like Addington can eat these chicken fried cowards as dessert after the main course
of blackened constitution.

Every time I watch or listen to one of these congressional hearings I think, "Is this really the best we can do?" Always this obtuse answering and the committee members are left looking like clueless gits who somehow expected a straight answer and are totally amazed that they didn't get one.

This administration has let all of us know over and over again that they think they are above over-sight and they don't have to submit to that or questioning in any way. Clearly this mechanism (congressional hearings) isn't getting us where we need to go. We need a court of law. We need a presiding judge. We need someone to explain to these folks that they cannot just give obtuse answers and expect the issue to go away--though this is precisely what has worked for them all too well these last 3 or 4 years (before that there was virtually no attempt at oversight).

What's the next step, congress? Please don't tell me that we're just going to let the clock run out on this administration and then whoever gets in in November, promises to play more nicely.

Investigate with teeth: use the legal system. Vincent Bugliosi has an idea, try that. Don't keep doing the same things over that don't work. I know. I know. the legal system isn't actually in great shape. But this is the fight for our democracy. If we don't make something work, the curtain will fall on the last act.

"Great apes should have the right to life and freedom, according to a resolution passed in the Spanish parliament, in what could become landmark legislation to enshrine human rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos.

The environmental committee in the Spanish parliament has approved resolutions urging the country to comply with the Great Apes Project, founded in 1993, which argues that "non-human hominids" should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured."

I know that the American Government would never grant these rights to human beings but maybe we can change our species to Mid-Sized Apes.

In this case Poet [June 26th, 2008 3:16 pm] we need a bidet with the pressure of a fire hose to clean up the body politic's rump.

lisa3210peace [June 26th, 2008 5:40 pm], I think that Karl Rove, operating like J. Edgar Hoover before him, has been compiling secret files on Dems for years and he used them to blackmail Dems into not impeaching Bush, Cheney, et al. As Robert Penn Warren wrote in "All the King's Men": "There is always something. Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the diddy to the stench of the shroud. There is always something."

Anyone who has spent decades in politics accumulates some kind of potential scandal or another in the skeleton closet -- even if it's something perfectly legal but socially condemned, such as Bill Clinton having an affair with an intern while he was married.

I have no doubt that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Conyers and other prominent Dems have some kind of sexual misconduct, drug addiction or past political corruption they wish to hide, and sociopaths like Rove and Addington know it too. There is always something.

"Addington then denied taking part in a high-level meeting of Bush administration officials in 2002 to review interrogation techniques."

To me, this was the most important part of the article; I believe I read that others have already testified to Addington's attendance at several meetings having to do with this topic, so he just invited contempt of Congress and perjury charges with this denial under oath. Of course, whether Addington is ever charged with either depends upon Conyers and what I laid out in the previous paragraphs. No, I won't hold my breath, but there are always surprises -- no one thought in 1972 that Nixon would ever be connected to Watergate.

MollyJ [June 26th, 2008 5:56 pm] sometimes when lawyers assemble evidence for a case, they simply want the subjects of the investigation to testify on the record for the purposes I described above. That often seems like they believe the guff being spewed when they don't. But with this current Congress, one never knows -- maybe it's just to appear like they're doing something, but something without the teeth you mention. I agree, send them to civil court, at least, and we'll see how that works out.

RSJ; Thanks for the concurrence.

I've wondered if I was alone with that one.

I'm as certain as could be though.

It appears to me that Congress is just getting the level of respect from the "unitary executive" that it has shown itself to deserve. It might have been foreseen that declaring impeachment "off the table" would have some very broad implications for any expectation of being taken seriously by those who rely on executive authority for their status and protection. But who said congress critters have any foresight.

In the paraphrased words of the late great George Carlin, "Congress is just fluff. They're there to give us the illusion that we have democracy."

Remember the Alberto Gonzales hearings? Addington and Yoo were watching and took notes. We should not expect ANYTHING except a huge waste of time to come from the present hearings.

Has anyone from the Bush admin. gone to prison for their contempt and lying? I rest my case. Quit fooling yourselves into thinking there's any justice left in this nation of ours because I haven't been able to find a shred of it in the last 40 years.

"You know why they call it the "American Dream"? Because you have to be asleep to believe it!" GC

Send the adder to Andromeda.

Get Addington in public and under oath. He shuns publicity like a vampire shuns the sun...Everything I read makes me believe that David Addington has ideas and goals and has done things that are inimical to the best interests of the United States of America...

Did you ever verbally spar with someone who is unconstrained by honesty or conscience? If you have any of either, you lose. Someone who is dedicated to honest, thoughtful, dialog and inquiry questions all statements and premises, including their own. Someone who is only dedicated to winning at all costs doesn't question themselves and doesn't hesitate to employ any cheap, dishonest, or emotional trick to win.

How do you prevail against people of that ilk? Frankly, I don't know the answer. Sometimes all it takes is time enough for many people to experience the evil one first hand and draw their own conclusions. Sometimes a laser-like focus on the dishonest techniques employed by the evil one can convince the audience that the evil one has no credibility, ever, despite their uncanny ability at "appearing cocky and not in the least intimidated" even when confronted with incontrovertible evidence of their own wrong. But generally debate is a loser. These hearings strike me that way. Its like jumping into the ocean to fight a shark. Its their element, their strength; you don't want to go there.

I think you would want to tackle an Addington or a Yoo or a Cheney by stealthily baiting a trap that used their own greed, ideology or overgrown sense of loyalty to trip them up. I.e. a "sting" operation.

Open confrontation in a hearing which is a debate without teeth is not gonna work.

Either release them into the jurisdiction of the world court, or anonymously into the system they created for supposedly criminal combatants, or, if grounds for leniency are established, parole them to the Ninth Ward under FEMA custodianship. Grounds for leniency must include their full, complete and truthful cooperation with the ongoing investigation and their voluntary willingness to undergo the interrogation practices their actions and inactions made legal. It isn't supposed to be a matter of whether they are pitching or catching.

bobpomeroy
...interesting idea...
I wonder if a Stephen Colbert approach would work in a hearing, someone pretending to be a neo con, urging the Adderton types along to eagerly boast of their deeds! A sting...

(the way that Shakespeare's Richard uses pretense to set up those three lords at the beginning of Richard III)

I'm so pissed off that my message was frozen so i couldnt post it; but, here goes. Determination must be our shared quality. yoo & addingtington join the rest of the bush crime family as the worst of the worst; deserving of imprisonment, but not torture. disapointed w/Conyers & others, but not giving up on them; they're subject to so much pressure that can only be counteractered by sustained pressure/support from us.

I put hope in Bugliosi, who from the legal side complemented Greg palast's exposes from the dirty tricks side to reveal them sham stolen election of 2000. Bugliosi is dedicating his life to running down the bush cime family, and w/some push from President Obama, and a Supreme Court where McCain will not be enabled to add a fifth to the gang of 4 on the Supremes, the swing supremes will find their conscience to bring the a-holes to justice; and, no not the way bush means justice, we will not kill them.

I'm so pissed off that my message was frozen so i couldnt post it; but, here goes. Determination must be our shared quality. yoo & addingtington join the rest of the bush crime family as the worst of the worst; deserving of imprisonment, but not torture. disapointed w/Conyers & others, but not giving up on them; they're subject to so much pressure that can only be counteractered by sustained pressure/support from us.

I put hope in Bugliosi, who from the legal side complemented Greg palast's exposes from the dirty tricks side to reveal them sham stolen election of 2000. Bugliosi is dedicating his life to running down the bush cime family, and w/some push from President Obama, and a Supreme Court where McCain will not be enabled to add a fifth to the gang of 4 on the Supremes, the swing supremes will find their conscience to bring the a-holes to justice; and, no not the way bush means justice, we will not kill them.

Just show and theater... nothing will happen.

Remember, it is the Complicit Party.

One very important distinction should be remembered that applies to both Cheney & Addington (& Bush, as well); I contend they are all "socialized psychopaths". Check out this article, & see if you agree:

How to spot the 'socialised psycho'

Are you married to a psychopath?

While such personality disorders as psychopathy, paranoia and obsession/compulsion all have strictly defined criteria, psychiatrists are still struggling to decide precisely what constitutes a socialised psychopath.

One of the more obvious characteristics of socialised psychopaths is that they give the impression of talking "at" you. Prof Jeremy Coid describes it as like being regarded as a cardboard cut-out. "Even in a sexual relationship with them, you are still just an object for their personal gratification," he says.

The following questionnaire is based on research and experiences of socialised psychopaths. For each trait, decide if it applies to the person you suspect may be a socialised psychopath, fully (2 points), partially (1 point) or not at all (0 points).

1. Do they have problems sustaining stable relationships, personally and in business?

2. Do they frequently manipulate others to achieve selfish goals, with no consideration of the effects on those manipulated?

3. Are they cavalier about the truth, and capable of telling lies to your face?

4. Do they have an air of self-importance, regardless of their true standing in society?

5. Have they no apparent sense of remorse, shame or guilt?

6. Is their charm superficial, and capable of being switched on to suit immediate ends?

7. Are they easily bored and demand constant stimulation?

8. Are their displays of human emotion unconvincing?

9. Do they enjoy taking risks, and acting on reckless impulse?

10. Are they quick to blame others for their mistakes?

11. As teenagers, did they resent authority, play truant and/or steal?

12. Do they have no qualms about sponging off others?

13. Are they quick to lose their temper?

14. Are they sexually promiscuous?

15. Do they have a belligerent, bullying manner?

16. Are they unrealistic about their long-term aims?

17. Do they lack any ability to empathise with others?

18. Would you regard them as essentially irresponsible?

A score of 25 or above suggests strong psychopathic tendencies.
This does not mean the person is a potential mass-murderer: socialised psychopaths are not mad, nor do they have to resort to violence.
Even so, a close professional or emotional relationship with a socialised psychopath is likely to prove a damaging experience.

I hate to say it, but I don't have any ideas about what to do about it. Just thought it should be aired so perhaps others that DO have an idea will come forward.

If only we could rain down truth serum on them all...

What incredible stories they would tell.

The definition of "politics"?

Lies. Lies. And more lies.

The question is: WHY are they lying?

Since we know they all are.

The Emperor is wearing no clothes.

Who will tell?

Who will yell?!!

Where is the little child

Who will tell the world?!

The Emperor IS naked.

Why hold hearings when the official position of Democratic Party leaders is that "impeachment is off the table" (per Nancy Pelosi)?

Wasn't it Pelosi who reportedly told CIA officials, after being briefed on their torture techniques, "What can I do to support you guys," or something to that effect?

Democratic Party apologists claim that there's no time for impeachment, but John Conyers himself is sitting on motions for impeachment that Dennis Kucinich introduced against Bush and Cheney.

Conyers already published a book detailing Bush's war crimes in attacking Iraq. It was thorough enough.

The Democratic majority in Congress recently voted to forgive the telecom companies for breaking the law and spying on us at Bush's request. A clear crime. So, why stop there, Democrats?

I really want to believe this hearing is a sincere effort by Democratic leaders to uphold the Constitution. Somehow, I doubt it, though.

I watched the hearings today (twice actually), and watching Woo's slithering was no different than viewing any other lawyer snake in a sharkskin suit (or is it shark in snakeskin?). The arrogant Addington seemed comfortable to the point of almost enjoying himself. There were a number of items Nadler took under advisement, though, and they could yet come back to haunt these two devious witnesses.

I don't blame Conyers for getting pissed, as most on the panel obviously were. Another round of interrogations is necessary, and with the AG present testifying also so Woo can't use the "I've been instructed by the Justice Deparment not to answer questions pertaining to..." ploy.

Let's press all in the House to impeach Nancy Pelosi for the crime of obstruction of justice.

Cedar: I believe the house introduced the primate rights thing the other day, but it got tabled for another time. I remember thinking "you assholes, why aren't you talking about the torture of the people in Gitmo!" (no offense to primates -- I'm all for their rights, too!)

Braveheart: I would say that list of characteristics will fly for a number of personality disorders (borderline, narcissistic, etc.)

Yoo and Addington are bad news. This whole administration has nothing but contempt for the human race. Maybe Conyers will get pissed enough to actually DO SOMETHING for a change.

I agree..for what it's worth..with those who state that OF COURSE these SWINE aren't "INTIMIDATED"...why WOULD they be...??

Senator Reid and his ILK in the Democratic "majority" are SO concerned with senate "rules" and "going along to get along" and getting fat jobs on the other side of the revolving door..that they will NEVER DO ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS...PERIOD!

I believe that there are.."MOLES" within the Democratic party..i have believed this ever since witnessed John Breaux..the senator from Louisiana...actually vote...WITH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY..EXCLUSIVELY..i aint kidding...the voting records of these men..is the REALITY of who they serve..

I can sum this Hypothesis up in two words..JOE LIEBERMAN..This is a man..well..not really..but..technically...anyway..this is a person who loves..LUSTS..for power to such an extent..that he actually simply changed his entire routine rather than move on...okay..so? Well..the problem is..you gotta step back and look at that..what does that mean? it means that there is no such thing as "LOYALTY" in these men..that their "LOYALTY" is as deep as the next opportunity for power...Their "Integrity" is only as deep as the nest vote and the special interests requests associated with their vote..no larger picture..no larger issue of the "laws" and the "freedoms" and the "citizens rights"..no!..no!..NO!..they ONLY care about themselves..there lobbyist groupies..and the power they have..period!..long term "Loyalty" even to the OATH they took..is...LONG GONE from the reasonong process' of these "Men"..GREED...POWER..THESE ARE THEIR LOYALTIES..
Another way to sum this up..a PARTICULARLY PSYCHOTIC EXAMPLE....JOHN MCAIN..Here is a man..who is..getting away with something that now has crossed through the looking glass and into the realm of the SURREAL....here is a man, whom while running for president, has the historic distinction of actually stumping AGAINST TWO BILLS WITH HIS NAME ON THEM...he has altered his "position" so frequently, so dramatically...and so many times..that it..is..frankly..AMAZING...and too..in my opinion..FINALLY THE "SMOKING GUN" THAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS ACTUALLY PROMOTING THESE MEN..FOR THERE IS NO GREATER EXAMPLE OF PANDERING TO POWER THAN WHAT MCSAME IS DOING..HAS DONE..IT IS UNBELIEVABLE..NO INTERPRETATION IS NEEDED..NO DEEP BACKGROUND IN POLITICS..NO DETAILS EVEN..THE MAN IS STUMPING AGAINST HIS OWN LEGISLATION..THE MAN HAS TURNED 180 DEGREES OFF HIS OWN WORDS AND POSITIONS OVER A DOZEN TIMES...AND THIS IS BEING "ALLOWED" TO CONTINUE..ALMOST UNDEBATED..LET ALONE "NOTICED" BY THE "MAINSTREAM PRESS"..

So..again...in my opinion..the mcain hypocrisy..is SO BOLD..so IMPOSSIBLE not to notice...THAT IT IS ACTUALLY PROOF OF MAJOR BIAS IN FAVOR OF RIGHT WING HOMOG(for they are nothing if not desirous of HOMOGENAEITY..)POLITICS...

The HOMOGS are all to easily LEAD...by the nose..you know? why does no one EVER ask Rush or hannity or any of them...this question..: "SO..IS IT OKAY FOR A NEOCON HOMOG TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES?"

Anyway...NOTHING will happen..the republican MOLES in the democratic party will go along to get along and allow ..well..frankly..the shredding of the constitution...and more..I can see them actually allowing martial law..or cameras in homes..or executive signing statements allowing the confinement and torture of us citizens..or telecom immunity..or any and all manner of illegal and ..well..fascist activity by corporations, rightwing demagogues..as long as it is not an avergae citizen standing up for their actual rights...then it is allowed by congress and the senate..why argue about UNITARY EXECUTIVE when you do not intend to do ANYTHING about the possibility...they talk and talk..and smile and smile...and murder whilst they smile...

goddamn them all to an eternity of suffering for their crimes against the constitution...maggots feeding on the corpse of american freedom...

LIVE FREE OR DIE..

RichM [June 26th, 2008 7:06 pm], wouldn't that be the capper -- if Pelosi was having an affair with Junior? Sweet Jesus on a slice of Wonder bread toast!

Seriously, these Washington politicians live in a separate universe from the rest of us where, like Mafioso and the FBI agents who chase them, they often acquire the habit of thinking and talking the same way. Pelosi's one of the club and so has more in common with Bush than she does her constituents.

And there's this: A friend of mine from the Vietnam Era told me when he was a young soldier 'in country' he was ordered to line up, shake hands, and smile for the cameras with some phony pro-war Washington factotum he and his platoon loathed. He did it because the penalties for not doing it were so severe that he didn't want to think about them -- one of those penalties likely being his death in the field, he believed. As he said later, "In Nam, the military owned my ass." These days, in Washington, the Bush family junta owns Pelosi's.

Firefem [June 26th, 2008 7:49 pm] wrote: "Has anyone from the Bush admin. gone to prison for their contempt and lying? I rest my case."

Nope, first they have to go through the layers of lower-level 'buffers,' to use a term from The Godfather Part II, before we get to the Dons. That means the 'disposables' like Lynndie England, et al, all the way up to the 'pardonable' capos such as Scooter Libby. Jack Abramoff types may take a hit, but Abramoff was always more of a bagman than a player, and his convictions for domestic political corruption were useful in diverting attention from the Big Steal going on in Iraq. Anything to protect the Bush family, their cronies and their extensive investments. Even Rove is expendable but, of course, he'd be pardoned, too, should he be convicted.

Disillusioned anti-neocon Republican Melinda Pillsbury-Foster has a rundown of how it works here:
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20060301MPF.html

bikerdude [June 26th, 2008 8:25 pm], yep, it seems like we're suffering from Addington's Disease and we need a cure soon.

jbroadwater [June 26th, 2008 8:48 pm] wrote, "How do you prevail against people of that ilk? Frankly, I don't know the answer. Sometimes all it takes is time enough for many people to experience the evil one first hand and draw their own conclusions."

This is exactly what's happening all over the country. Things have gotten so bad, with gas prices rising, rampant inflation, the housing crisis, etc., that Addington's dimwitted Unitary Executive and his gang can't paper over the cracks anymore. It's all too obvious and people want a change. I haven't been able to find anyone in the past year who will defend Bush or his policies, even people I know to be conservative Republicans -- that's how horrible things are.

There apparently are some parliamentary procedures that Conyers, as head of a committee, could use to bypass Pelosi, but it would end his career in politics and make him a pariah in the Dem Party, so it's unlikely he'll do them.

The only thin edge of sunlight in this dark cloud is that Cheney built a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-security-art estate in Dubai and Bush has that privately-guarded mega-bucks spread in South America. Skinflint Cheney isn't going to invest that kind of money in a place he never plans to reside, and neither would the Bush family. To me, that seems to prove they are both fleeing the country after they leave office to avoid prosecution. IF they leave office, that is.

What do Democrats expect? They have allowed the usurpations of constitutional laws to go unchecked for almost eight years and they are troubled because administration figures are arrogant? Remember the hearings about oil prices and those oil executives who sat before that committee and refused to answer questions or gave partial answers? Same scenario, these thieves understand that democrats are toothless so who cares?

I would assume that the shredder has long ago took any incriminating documents so the only rcourse would be criminal charges that lead to turning states evidence against Cheney and Bush. Aint gonna happen though. You loyal democrats who see no recourse to electing the same mushmouthed cowards are also a large part of the problem.

It is almost comical, really, to see these criminals show up and spit in the faces of the Congressional committees and make a mockery out of testimony. They know they can and have gotten away with their war crimes. Their arrogance is overwhelming, mostly, because they know they can't be touched.

abbybwood June 27th, 2008 12:12 am...no one will tell the emperor he is naked because he and his minions know when THE CONGRESS HAS BEEN NAKED .....and they have it well documented.

abbybwood June 27th, 2008 12:12 am ....No one will tell the emperor he is naked because he and his minions know all the instances when the members of THE CONGRESS HAS BEEN NAKED.....EXTORTION...It's priceless! From what I understand, Rove is the keeper of the records.

Prior to his forced appearance before Congress David Addington--Cheney's lap dog--was a secretive arrogant ass who advocated torture, now at least he is a public arrogant ass who advocates torture. Before he could be in Hobbes' famous phrase, "solitary, nasty, brutish and short" with those of us who do not advocate torture. Now at least he is public, nasty, brutish and short. As this is being written there are only 206 days, 12 hours, 58 minutes and 35 sconds until the Bush Administration is out the door.

I've changed my mind.
Plan A: The best thing would be to immediately arrest them, special rendition them off-shore, and deny them habeus corpus. This would be for the purpose of inducing His Court to say that it was all quite Unconstitutional (with 9 separate concurring positions so every Justice gets a chance to bray however they want), and with the explanation that only the President has the power under the Constitution so suspend habeus corpus because it could only be imposed once, in very extreme situations, because it terminates democracy. Properly timed and brought, etc., the Decision ought to be specially rendered to appear for the October Surprise. By then people would at least know what Habeus Corpus means and Bush would lose the element of surprise. Naah, he'd just move it up the agenda. So I'm thinking Plan A is dysfunctional. No point in providing him with an excuse anyway, he avers that he doesn't need one and most sociopaths don't. I'll have to figure out a Plan B:.
Speaking of Exit Strategies, it appears to me that while we can remotely explore Mars, the Taliban had an Exit Strategy which appears to be working. Maybe Plan B can focus on disclosing that funds budgetted for planning Exit Strategies is diverted to funding BlackOops as a matter of public policy, and all are smart guys are rocket scientists.
Anyone have any other ideas which can pass the "do you feel lucky" test. What? Volunteer in the election? Who, Me?

Peter202 [June 27th, 2008 11:00 am], I'd take exception to one part of your comment -- whenever he was specifically asked about torture, arrogant ass Addington -- you know, the one with the steel-trap mind who forgets nothing -- was suddenly stricken by a total loss of memory. I guess we could dub it the Gonzales Syndrome.

John Yoo, on the other hand, was the comedy relief: the picture-perfect eager-weasel lawyer from a bad sitcom, trying to talk around, about, over and under the subject, but never answering any questions directly. Perhaps Conyers should have suggested waterboarding Yoo right there in the Congressional chamber and then asking him if he thought that constituted torture? Nah, on second thought, John-Boy would have just fainted, dried off, and returned to his legalistic rope-a-dope. Watch out for tacks on your chair when you return to teaching law at Berkeley, Dr. Yoo-hoo.

bobpomeroy [June 27th, 2008 5:22 pm], Afghanistan is a good example of Naomi Klein's Disaster Capitalism -- keep the populace off-balance with war while you sneak out one of the few lucrative natural resources the country has -- opium. There's a lot of tax-free money in that black goo, and you can bet Neocon-Americans in and out of government aren't going to forego that kind of off-the-books profit.