If you've seen the Dennis Kucinich part of this video, start watching at 5:10 or so.   A citizen shows Nancy Pelosi a copy of the articles of impeachment at one of her book signings  [Know Your Power:  A Message to America's Daughters].   I'm raising my daughters to recognize what an appalling, self-interested, complicit, beltway insider you are, Madame Speaker. 

Oh.  Cindy Sheehan is running against Pelosi and has a book review here.  Heh.

So why don't we impeach Pelosi and show her what that impeachment thing is all about?

From Kucinich.us:

Last week, Congressman Dennis Kucinich delivered a petition bearing more than 100,000 names to the Speaker of the House urging that impeachment proceedings begin into the conduct of President Bush. ...With new disclosures that the Administration tried to "cook the books at the CIA" by creating a phony, forged link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, "We cannot step back and let this President escape accountability."

Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel (Dave Lindorff):

The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation’s democracy by two aspiring tyrants in the White House.

[Most mainstream media outlets] have blacked out news of impeachment. Incredibly, the New York Times, for example, has not even reported on Friday’s hearing, even as a news “brief.” Those news organizations, like the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer, that did report on the hearings did so only in short, inside articles. Though the hearing was aired in full on C-Span (and is still available for download), many Americans don’t even know it happened. 

Download | play    Download | play   (h/t Heather)

Flying Spaghetti Monster bless Dennis Kucinich.  He's in the middle of an absolutely sisyphean task of trying to make Congress actually do their job -- one that far more Americans support than they did the impeachment of Bill Clinton -- and one that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is frustratingly and blindly ignoring, as evidenced by her stop-me-before-I-throw-something-at-the-screen appearance on The View.  

JOY BEHAR: You’ve ruled against impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney, and now Kucinich is trying to pass that. Why do you insist on not impeaching these people, so that the world and America can really see the crimes that they’ve committed?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I think that it—I think it was important, when I became Speaker—and it’s, by the way, a very important position—President, Vice President, Speaker of the House—I saw it as my responsibility to try to bring a much divided country together to the extent that we could. I thought that impeachment would be divisive for the country.

In terms of what we wanted—set out to do, we wanted to raise the minimum wage, give the biggest increase in veterans benefits to veterans in the seventy-seven-year history, then pass research for stem cell research, all of that. This week, we’re going to pass equal pay for equal work. It has been a long time in coming—pay equity. We’re going to pass legislations for product safety, for toys that children put in their—there’s an agenda that you have to get done. You have to try to do it in a bipartisan way. The President has to sign it.

If somebody had a crime that the President had committed, that would be a different story.

Have you not been paying fricking attention for the last eight years, Nancy???  What do you mean, IF???? Say it with me now: warrantless wiretapping; waterboarding, lying to Congress and the American people to illegally invade and occupy a sovereign nation that posed no threat to us, firing US Attorneys for not pursuing partisan prosecutions, outing a covert CIA agent.  And those were just ones you knew about and did nothing to stop, Pelosi.  How dare she play stupid on national television and insult all our intelligence and what this country (once) stood for?  How. Dare. She.

So it makes me love the undaunted Kucinich that much more.  He appeared on Democracy Now! and tried to spin this in the best way possible.

(T)he reason why the Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on the impeachment itself is because there needs to be a public airing of this. So, I have a great deal of respect for Speaker Pelosi, and I think that since she made that statement on The View, there's an opportunity now for us to come forward and to lay all the facts out so that she can reconsider her decision not to permit the Judiciary Committee to proceed with a full impeachment hearing. 

Give 'em hell, Dennis.

full transcript below the fold

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UPDATE: It's on CSPAN right now!

Download | play Download | play (h/t Dave and BillW)

Chicago Tribune:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush. Speaker Nancy Pelosi consistently has said impeachment was "off the table."

Kucinich, D-Ohio, read his proposed impeachment language in a floor speech. He contended Bush deceived the nation and violated his oath of office in leading the country into the Iraq war.

Kucinich introduced a resolution last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. That resolution was killed, but only after Republicans initially voted in favor of taking up the measure to force a debate.

I'm doubtful he'll get support of the House on this, but if you want to send an "Attaboy!" to Kucinich, contact him here.

Democrats.com Applauds Dennis Kucinich

It appears that despite record disapproval ratings and two failed occupations under his belt already, George Bush and his various mouthpieces are determined to beat the war drums to attack Iran.

Rep. John Conyers isn't having it:

As we and others have continued to review troubling legal memoranda and other materials from your Administration asserting the power of the President to take unilateral action, moreover, our concerns have increased still further. For example, although federal law is clear that proceeding under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) "shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance" can be conducted within the U.S. for foreign intelligence purposes, 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(f), the Justice Department has asserted that the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping in violation of FISA is "supported by the President's well-recognized inherent constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and sole organ for the Nation in foreign affairs".6 As one legal expert has explained, your Administration's "preventive paradigm" has asserted "unchecked unilateral power" by the Executive Branch and violated "universal prohibitions on torture, disappearance, and the like."7

Late last year, Senator Joseph Biden stated unequivocally that "the president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach" the president. 8

We agree with Senator Biden, and it is our view that if you do not obtain the constitutionally required congressional authorization before launching preemptive military strikes against Iran or any other nation, impeachment proceedings should be pursued. Because of these concerns, we request the opportunity to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss these matters. As we have recently marked the fifth year since the invasion of Iraq, and the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. deaths in Iraq, your Administration should not unilaterally involve this country in yet another military conflict that promises high costs to American blood and treasure.

Please call your Congressperson at 202-224-3121 or e-mail them and ask them to sign on to this letter.

From an email:

Two weeks ago, the House took a bold step demanding accountability for the Bush/Cheney Administration by holding former White House Council Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in Contempt of Congress for blatantly ignoring congressional subpoenas for over 8 months.

Though it was not a surprise, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, wrote a letter to the House of Representatives stating that he refuses to call a Grand Jury to enforce those contempt citations.

The Attorney General's letter, effectively claiming that members of the executive branch are immune from congressional subpoenas, calls for quick action. [..]

The House of Representatives must re-establish its legitimate rights as a co-equal branch of government. Congress cannot allow its power to be summarily ignored and justice delayed.[..]

This is not an issue between Democrats and Republicans. As members of Congress, we have an absolute duty to enforce the checks and balances prescribed by our Constitution.

We have ceded too much for too long, enabling George W. Bush to assume a unitary imperial Presidency. It is long past time to secure accountability for those who have, by all appearances, committed significant breaches of our laws and trust.

Mukasey's claims are simply the latest in a long line of outlandish legal arguments ranging from the idea that we can selectively cherry-pick from torture laws to the concept that the Vice President is no longer part of the Executive Branch (except, of course, when he needs to claim Executive Privilege).

You can support Robert Wexler by signing up at WexlerWantsHearings.com. You can donate to his efforts too...remember, in Washington, your dollars means endorsement.

From an email sent by Wexler's office:

Today, in hearings on Capitol Hill, I confronted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her role in the lies, exaggerations, and misdirection that led us into the Iraq war.

During my questioning, Secretary Rice falsely stated that she never saw intelligence casting doubt on the Bush Administration claims that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. This unbelievable statement is flatly contradicted by numerous government reports and CIA testimonials.

Secretary Rice's responses demonstrate once and for all that we need aggressive oversight over this out of control Administration. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has ignored the constitutional right of Congress to provide such oversight.

It is time Congress took aggressive action to assert our rights on behalf of the American people.

The House of Representatives must immediately hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress for their failure to respond to congressional subpoenas.

I have been aggressively lobbying Members of Congress to support a vote on contempt, and I am thrilled to report that Speaker Pelosi told me directly that she agrees it is well past time to vote on contempt. I am anticipating that the House will shortly vote on resolutions of both civil and criminal contempt for both Miers and Bolten.

No one should be immune from accountability and the rule of law.

I think it's wonderful that Wexler is showing more spinal fortitude than almost all of his House colleagues. The one thing that bothers me in this exchange was Rice's continued defense that "other countries believed it" and that the intelligence on Iraq was the consensus of various intelligence agencies when we know that isn't the truth and was cherry picked and weighted from questionable sources like Ahmad Chalabi and "Curveball". I don't know if there's an enterprising C&Ler out there that would like to put together for Wexler's benefit a fact sheet that can cite sources that show Rice's continued lying on this, something like this great piece by A Tiny Revolution. If there is one, let us know and I'll make sure to get your work to Wexler's office.

Democrats.com:

There's a new rule on Capitol Hill: the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee can remove impeachment from the Constitution, but cannot also use telephones, Email, or fax machines, because the flood of pro-impeachment communications from outraged citizens is overwhelming each of those devices. Don't believe me? Try phoning, Emailing, or faxing John Conyers' office.

Congressman John Conyers' telephone, by many reports, rang endlessly on Monday, approximately 60 times per minute, or as fast as people could get through. The same thing appears to be happening today (Tuesday).

If you try to get through at 202-225-5126, chances are you'll hear a busy signal. Other times it will simply ring forever until a recorded voice tells you "Your party is not answering, please try your call later." Some people have had better luck by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 or through one of the toll-free numbers that activist groups use, and asking to be connected to John Conyers' office. Others have just run into busy signals that way too.

If you are lucky, you will get through to a staffer, and by all reports they are very, very cheerful staffers glad that you called, no matter where in the country you live.

Emailing the Congressman is out, because he has stopped accepting Emails, at least at this address john.conyers@mail.house.gov. I could tell you some of his staff members' Email addresses, but then they wouldn't be able to work for a week.

Faxing the Congressman is very much in, but you have to set your fax machine to repeatedly redial until it gets through. The fax number is 202-225-0072.

You can also try these alternatives. Call Conyers' Judiciary Committee office at 202-225-3951. Or call his Detroit, Mich., office at 313-961-5670 or his Trenton, Mich., office at 734-675-4084.

If you do get through, be prepared to hear that impeachment hearings are not happening, but hearings into impeachable offenses are. Even though these non-impeachment hearings will not make it onto television, and Conyers is not even announcing them ahead of time, and even though witnesses will refuse to show up, Conyers' staffers will try to tell you that hearings of the sort they've done for the past 13 months are all that's needed.

Hmm. If that were true, would the phone be ringing the way it is?

Good Old Strafford teaches us about impeachment and its valuable role in preserving our democracy against Cheney's push for executive privilege.

The Earl of Strafford’s case provides a perfect example. His conduct subverted the constitutional prerogatives of parliament in the name of the king. This was the paradigm case for impeachment. And it was recognized by the earliest American commentators, such as Justice Story, who said that impeachment “is not so much designed to punish as to secure the state against gross official misdemeanors.” It is prophylactic, designed to remove an unfit officer from office, rather than punitive. But most important, it is designed to protect the constitutional order from efforts to transform it...read on

Scott Horton does a wonderful job of dissecting BushCo's reign of power grabbing:

It can and should be used to draw a line in the sand about the arbitrary use of executive power, making clear that Bush’s abuses cannot be taken as precedent by future presidents. Indeed, failure to use impeachment has its consequences: it means acceptance of Bush’s transformation of the constitutional order. It means that the careful balance between legislature, executive and judiciary created by the Framers has been undone, and the executive has triumphed as the paramount power. Impeachment may be a painful process, of course, but Americans should consider whether their Constitution is worth saving.

(Bush Countdown Clock found on Facebook)

The Independent (UK): Just one more year! Good riddance to George W. Bush.

c/o The Politico

Rep. Robert Wexler is still working towards getting hearings started for VP Dick Cheney.  I don't think I'm violating any confidences to say that the support he's seen from the netroots has been really stunning to him.  We have close to 200,000 signatures at WexlerWantsHearings.com and now he's looking for some of his fellow Congresspeople to join him in calling for hearings.  Rep. Wexler sent this to C&L:

In our efforts to push for hearings on Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment for Dick Cheney, we have run into a number of different obstacles.  Some of them , naturally, relate to the debate within my party as to the need for Impeachment and/or its effect on the agenda. 

While I have been making my case for impeachment hearings to my colleagues (and will do so on the House floor this evening) and disagree with those opposing them, there is at least a rationale for the debate on either side.

The virtual media blackout, however, has no rationale.  I am perplexed and dismayed at the fact that - with so much at stake - the mainstream media still largely continues to ignore this movement.  Few papers in the country have reported on it.  Few columnists have acknowledged it.

I understand that some in the media feel this movement will fail - but when three, and now four, Judiciary Committee members call for impeachment... that should at least warrant space at some point over four weeks.

Without public reaction, however, there is little incentive for the media to change its ways.   I urge all of you to continue to put pressure on national and local media alike to give attention to this movement.  The Netroots has been critical in the outreach effort.  I hope that continues over the coming days.

If you haven't already signed on to www.WexlerWantsHearings.com, please do so.

Congressman Robert Wexler

Democrats.com has more: 

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All the major newspapers refused to print Wexler, Gutierrez, and Tammy Baldwin's impeachment op-ed recently so it's surprising to see The Washington Post finally allow an argument to be made for just that on their sacred pages: "Why I Believe Bush Must Go: Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse." The Village elders will be most upset.

Democrats.com:

Several activists from World Can't Wait, joined by other antiwar activists are at Jerold Nadler's Brooklyn office today. They don't intend to leave until they get a commitment from Nadler to get impeachment started in the House Judiciary Committee. They are requesting that you put out the word, asking people to call Nadler's offices to make the same demand.

Washington Office: Tel. 202-225-5635
Manhattan Office: Tel. 212-367-7350
Brooklyn Office: Tel. 718-373-3198

Nadler is the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and definitely sympathetic.  Here's what he had to say to Josh Marshall back in June about Bush's warrantless wiretapping:

"a criminal conspiracy...worse than Watergate...The President, the Attorney General, and anybody else -- there's a prima facie case they engaged in a criminal conspiracy. And in effect what they're saying is they have a right to classify, and thus hold themselves harmless, from a criminal conspiracy. From my point of view, if the executive branch is contemptuous of the power of Congress, and is going to go above the law, and ignore the law, you have to use whatever weapons the Constitution gives Congress." 

One of the activists at Nadler's office is Elaine Brower, whose son is currently serving in Iraq: 

As Brower was talking about her son and his immediate future, the chief spokesman for the U.S. forces in Iraq was sending out a war-related message of his own. Don't pay too much attention to the body count, the military flak said.

"The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone," Army Lt. Col. Steve Boylan wrote in an e-mail to war reporters. "It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."

Special agendas? Like trying to salvage America's good name?

Like keeping their children alive? Ulterior motives?

One New York mother had a different question yesterday.

"How many more have to die?" Elaine Brower asked.

Check this out from the Tournament of Roses Parade on KTLA5!

Way to go! I'll send this to Rep. Wexler.

The tremendous response to my call for impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney confirms that the Bush Administration and Vice President Cheney must be held accountable. I have been overwhelmed by the netroots support for my call for impeachment hearings and for my website - WexlerWantsHearings.com. As of Monday afternoon - after only four days - over 80,000 people have signed up to show their support for impeachment hearings.

It is the constitutional duty of Congress to investigate the serious charges that have been leveled against Vice President Cheney, and I am using my position as a member of the House Judiciary Committee to see that hearings are held. Unfortunately, Congress and the national media ignore this serious issue. The outpouring of support documented at WexlerWantsHearings.com has been driven and supported entirely through the power of blogs, the Internet, and word of mouth. Websites like Crooks and Liars have taken on this important cause and have stepped up to fill the void left by the main stream media who still somehow believe that impeachment is a fringe idea and not worth coverage. In this case, the American people are way ahead of Congress and the media.

I was shocked when no newspaper would publish the op-ed I wrote with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). It is not every day that three members of the House Judiciary Committee set out a substantive case for impeachment hearings against the sitting Vice President. Yet, the national media yawned. No matter. The people have responded. Americans from all fifty states have signed up to support my call for hearings.

Originally, my goal was to gain 50,000 online signatures on behalf of impeachment hearings. Today, our goal is 250,000 supporters.

The charges against Vice President Cheney are too serious dismiss without hearings. If we band together, we can make focus the nation's attention on this critical issue. Let's continue to make our voices heard.

Congressman Robert Wexler

I've been in communication with Rep. Wexler's office and they are genuinely stunned by both the volume and the quality of the response they've received from the blogosphere. Look at these past posts on Wexler's petition (h/t FOIA) I think we're starting to pierce through the Beltway bubble and really showing the power of the netroots to come together and support those who are supporting our values.

If you haven't done so already, please forward WexlerWantsHearings.com to your email list. Let's show Rep. Wexler that he can get 250,000 signatures as easily as we got him 50,000.