I don’t see how you get Republicans to go along with any action against Cheney– they’ll hurl themselves under buses first.

The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own Vice President’s Chief of Staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law.

Ooh, mean, mean history. Bush has the power to commute. The Congress has the power to impeach. A commutation in furtherance of a scheme to obstruct justice is an impeachable offense. Harr Reid should start doing his duty under the Constitution instead of making meaningless, ineffectual statements.

I think talk of impeaching Bush or Gonzales needs to wait a bit.

Right now attention should focus on Cheney, the DC Madam, Cheney’s health and the Kucinich bill to impeach Cheney.

Clarify where that is going and then look at the playing field at that point. If Cheney’s phone number is on the list, then I hardly think he can stay in office (he’ll have to resign). If it’s not on the list, then the Kucinich bill should be pushed faster faster and see if they can get enough Republicans to impeach & convict.

In conjunction with that there is the continued oversight hearing investigation of others in the WH like Sara Taylor and perhaps Mary Matalin and other White House Iraq Group members. Turning over the rocks may be ugly work, but it will very likely turn up a lot of criminal behavior pointing to Cheney & Bush.

“There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse,” Gonzales told senators on April 27, 2005.

Six days earlier, the FBI sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal information that they were not entitled to have.

[Snark-mode-on]
Six is not one. So, ‘fredo didn’t lie, because no one thought to ask him how many cases of abuse had been reported. He said, “Not one…” and he was right.
[Snark-mode-off]

BC — it doesn’t take a PhD in Statistics to know that 6 1.

I think that it demonstrates medical malpractice on the public, but who is accountable? Bush? The Surgeon General? Both?

I filed a Grievance against Gonzo with the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State Bar of Texas – if they get enough of them, maybe they will hold him “accountable.”
NOT a fairy tale!

To maintain the ethical standards of the legal profession in Texas, the grievance system is designed to protect the public from unethical lawyers. Lawyers are held accountable to a set of rules called the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Lawyers who violate those rules are prosecuted under a set of rules called the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. Much like the criminal system, you, as the aggrieved, are not a party to the disciplinary action. The system protects all members of the public, and you should report attorney misconduct in order to keep that attorney from harming others.

As one Texan to another, thanks, Tracy!

OT
as AZ Matt @ 61 noted, The Gavel has bits up from the Oversight Hearing on the Office of the Surgeon General.

I urge everyone to at least listen to Richard Carmona’s opening statement, scathing.

Richard Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., who resigned as Surgeon General in 2006, gives opening testimony about what he viewed as political and partisan pressure from the Bush Administration:

Thank you for providing this. I had been looking for coverage of it and never thought to check the Gavel! Post up on my blog full of outrage, as per usual. There are several YouTube videos of Waxman, Carmona and Koop that are worth watching.

Wordsmith and snowyegret:

I used to work at Mt. Sinai, too! Remember the Tower building and then the Pavilion buildings? I think all torn down except for the Temple, now…

I wasn’t surprised, though, that it closed – its patient population was so divided into the wealthy suburban Jewish population and the very poor Hough neighborhood population. When the suburbanites had more hospital choices closer to where they lived, the loss of those insured patients really hurt.

All true. They were a resource toward the end for the influx of Russian Jewish immigrants to the area. I know they were taken over by one of the big corps. Can’t think of the name offhand. Of course the first thing they did was lay off nurses. Not long after, they closed the doors. (Was it HCA maybe?)

I used to work at Mt. Sinai, too! Remember the Tower building and then the Pavilion buildings? I think all torn down except for the Temple, now…

I wasn’t surprised, though, that it closed – its patient population was so divided into the wealthy suburban Jewish population and the very poor Hough neighborhood population. When the suburbanites had more hospital choices closer to where they lived, the loss of those insured patients really hurt.