So, you can sit around grousing and moaning until the cows come home, wallowing in your misery and cursing the heavens about George Bush.  Or…you can do something about him and his corrupt Grand Ole Imperial Party. 

I’ll take fighting back for $1000, Alex.

Here are a few ideas of things that you can do this week to help to restore the rule of law and to get the point across that Republicans cannot be trusted to run the corner Quickie Mart, let alone to uphold and faithfully execute the laws and to respect the Constitution. 

This is only a start, so if folks have more ideas, please share them in the comments below.  I’ll be damned if I’m going to roll over or let them benefit from this elitist manipulation of our nation’s judicial system — in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “of course, you know, this means war.”  Here are a few good places to start:

– Rep. John Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee will be holding hearings on the commutation beginning next week.  If you have questions that you would like to see asked, put them in the comments and I’ll see what I can do to get them into the hands of folks who may ask them.

– It’s the Fourth of July holiday week, and Congress is out of session.  That means that your elected representatives will be all over the place in their home districts doing public appearances.  You, their constituent, should show up and talk directly with them — face to face — about how you feel.  About the disrespect of the rule of law.  About the Republican party placing itself ahead of the rest of America.  About the lack of any accountability. 

Reader *xyz has put together some good talking points for this sort of conversation or phone call:

1. Bush’s commutation of Libby’s sentence was nothing less than obstruction of justice.

2. Congressman ____ should please stand up for the rule of law and make a public statement denouncing Bush’s action as obstruction of justice.

3. Congressman ____ must push for a full Congressional investigation of this travesty and must move forward with impeachment immediately if the administration fails to cooperate with the investigation.

The President has obstructed justice into an investigation of his own administration, and a cloud remains over Vice President Dick Cheney — still — with regard to his role in the betrayal of Valerie Plame Wilson and the rest of the CIA operatives working for Brewster Jennings. They and the rest of America deserve better than this, and the restoration of the rule of law is a good place to start.   What does your elected representative plan to do about this?  We want action, not just lip service.

– Better yet, take a video camera with you and ask polite questions for them to answer.  And get their answers on film.  And then send the clip to us — put it up on YouTube — send it to Amato at C&L.  Whatever.  Just get them on the record:  Do you support the rule of law or the Republican party?  And what are you going to do about it?  (See Spazeboy’s great tutorial on videoblogging for the masses for some tips on doing just that.)

– Write a letter to the editor about the Bush Administration and the Republican party’s elitist tendencies and their imperial “we don’t have to follow the laws that the rest of you do” attitude.  Keep them short and to the point, use facts, and make it a little pithy.  Add in a quote from a Founding Father for extra letter points.  Send these to your local paper — they have a lot more impact that way.

– Call your legislator’s offices and ask for them to work to restore the rule of law.  Habeas restoration is a good first step — but we have a lot of work to do and it cannot wait for the end of the Bush Administration.  (Ari Melber has a good article on this in The Nation.)

– Let’s come up with a new nickname for the GOP.  Personally, I’m leaning toward “The Double Standard Party” — but I’m not wedded to it.  I do think that “Crooks and Liars” is perfect, but Amato is already using it.

– Contact news media personalities who are inaccurately reporting the news on the Libby commutation — and correct them.  Here’s a quick primer:

- Richard Armitage: leaked to Bob Novak

- Scooter Libby: leaked to Matt Cooper and Judy Miller, lied to federal agents and under oath to a grand jury on multiple occasions to cover his tracks and to prevent Dick Cheney from being charged with ordering him to leak in the first place.

- Karl Rove: leaked to Matt Cooper and Robert Novak.

See how easy it is to understand that more than one person can commit acts of treason?  (For the truly dimwitted, Juan Cole put together a tutorial with pictures that may help you.)  And now that George Bush has decided that the criminal case is at an end, that dodge of not answering questions about the investigation and the actions of his employees is no longer existant.  Bring on the sunshine, members of the media and the Congress — because a lot of people have a lot of answering to do.  Including this:  why was Karl Rove’s security clearance renewed when he admitted to violating the terms of his SF-312 agreement — because anyone else in Rove’s situation woud have had their clearance yanked immediately.  Yet another edition of the rules don’t apply if you are a Republican.

– Donate money to a worthy Democratic candidate.  (We have some great ones on the Blue America page if you are interested.)

– Call your elected representatives and the White House and register your disgust.  Thanks to barbara for the following numbers:

White House Phone Numbers Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461

 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Listing of U.S. Senators with phone numbers

Listing of U.S. House members

Try using some talking points from Kung Fu Monkey.  Also, consider sending them a postcard — it only costs you 26 cents and goes through without having to wait for anthrax screening.  Make your point on a call, and use the postcard as an exclamation point.