President Bush and other members of his administration have committed “impeachable offenses” but Democrats in Congress would not get far if they conducted hearings on those matters, U.S. Rep. Dave Obey says.

“It’s a question of what’s a productive use of your time,” said Obey, the highest ranking Democrat and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Obey, returning to his hometown during the August recess, met with the Wausau Daily Herald Editorial Board and discussed a broad range of national issues.

On the topic of impeachment, he said the Bush administration’s justifications for the war in Iraq and antiterrorism practices such as wiretapping are among the grounds for investigation.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.c…..1/70813087

Representative Obey has better things to do and ‘other priorities.’ It is of no moment to him or to his long-time comfortable caucus colleagues that our Republic’s rule of law, and thus our liberty, is in danger of disappearing altogether.

MayDaze @ 104 – My stab at convincing you and others of the utility (nevermind the wisdom and Constitutional necessity) of impeachment proceedings at this time:

1. Not one single Member of Congress is required to pre-judge and “vote for impeachment” in order to launch an investigation. All we are asking (demanding) of our legislators is that they vote first in the House Judiciary Committee to request permission to open an inquiry into possible impeachment of one or more individuals, and second, that the whole House vote, by simple majority, to grant the HJC that authority to investigate in advance of the possible drafting of one or more Articles of Impeachment. [What is Nancy Pelosi afraid of finding, I wonder…?]

2. Though it is clear that this Executive Branch will stonewall every inch of the way, precedent and logic seem to argue for the assumption that claims of Executive Privilege during an impeachment inquiry investigation will fall to the wayside much more quickly than they will/do in the context of normal oversight procedures in Congress. [Thus making impeachment investigations potentially far more “productive” than any we have seen to date this year by way of regular oversight.]

3. Valerie Plame Wilson’s exposure, Libby’s commuted prison sentence, and FRofCrP Rule 6(e). Would you like to learn (and don’t you think the American people deserve to learn) about the evidence collected during the years of Special Counsel Fitzgerald’s grand jury investigation into the (potentially deliberate) betrayal of our CIA WMD spy asset Valerie Plame Wilson and her Brewster-Jennings cover operation? Would you like the HJC and its hired investigators to obtain that evidence as the starting point of open Congressional hearings to follow the leads that Special Counsel Fitzgerald was barred from pursuing during his investigation? Would you simply like to have many of the most involved actors in this instance of gross misconduct in and abuse of high public office be forced to repeat their grand jury testimony, but this time to Congress, live on national TV for all of us to hear? Because if you do, you can if and only if the HJC asks for and is given permission to open an impeachment inquiry into this matter by the whole House, and then proceeds to obtain that now-secret grand jury material from a judge [this is the applicable 6(e) exception to grand jury secrecy rules; that exception does not exist for normal Congressional oversight investigations]. Without such a House impeachment inquiry into that outrageous exposure by this Executive Branch of a vital anti-WMD-proliferation covert asset of our nation, it’s looking increasingly likely that much of the most damning evidence in this matter will either never be unearthed or will be lost to history, sealed behind closed doors, exactly where this president and his henchmen plotted and hoped it would be, and intend it to remain.

Labeling the Iranian National Guard as a terrorist organization will enable BushCo to put an economic squeeze on Iran.

I think what you meant to say was now Bush & Co will steal everything they can from Iran.

OT..More Susan Collins campaign meltdown.

ME-Sen: Susan Collins wants terrorist attack on SF
by kos
Wed Aug 15, 2007 at 07:44:51 AM PDT

Under the Collins campaign’ own rules, anything written in the comments of a blog is representative of those who run the blog.

So since the Maine Web Report is run by Collins’ director of online communications, we can say this comment essentially came out of Susan Collins’ mouth:

Arthur Frain, Portland ME
Aug 14th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
You know what this country needs? Another terrorist attack. Take out SF or some other city full of dirty libs, and then the country will rally behind the GOP for protection.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/15/103522/177

Wow! … Just Wow!

To extricate one’s arm from a toilet, it’s a necessity to first let go of the large shiny object you’ve wrapped your fist around.

I’ve been laughing for a day or so now.

The source of humor was the description of the Iraq situation from one of the usual ‘inside’ narcissistic bright minds. He said that figuring out the Iraq situation was like “playing three dimensional chess in the dark while you are being shot at.”

The actuality of how to deal with and accommodate or not accommodate the various parties goals and motives is logically inordinately simple.

A. America can neither stay in Iraq nor leave Iraq and have easy, cordial, aligned interests with any eventually arising central dominant force/government.

B. If America semi ’stands down’ behind a multinational force the chances for a settlement and a hopeful future for Iraq (and the region) brighten.

C. Alternatively, if America insists on a continuing presence they should henceforth implement a tri-part Iraq. Post establishment of same, the U.S. could implement massive aid to each faction and a return to the time honored foreign policy of “bribe-the-dictator.”

The metaphor I prefer for the Iraqi quagmire is that America forcefully shoved its arm into a deeply murky toilet to retrieve a bright shiny object. To extricate itself it simply needs to unclasp its rigid grasp and withdrawal will easily proceed.

This simple and logical opinion arrives at the same conclusion as that of the Iraq Study Group. Their advice was:

A. Inform the Iraqis et al that the U.S. will eventually disassemble their major bases in Iraq and leave. (”Let go of the shiny object!”)

B. Form a multinational force (preferably with Arab country participation) to oversee security and policy making for Iraq. (”Take your arm out of the toilet.)
(–cognitorex–)

I think most of us do not consider how woefully ignorant the average voter is. Most voters are only marginally aware of politics at all; that’s the main reason that “catapulting the propaganda” has been so successful for the current administration.

Scarecrow, I agree impeachment is worth a shot even if Senate Republicans put party above country and defeat the effort, but I don’t think impeachment is going to happen no matter how many posts you write on the subject. Congressional Democrats keep signing blank checks and handing them to Bush. I don’t know why. Perhaps like people here, they expect to win in 2008, wave their magic wand, and make everything well even though every Democratic candidate except Kupinace (I guess the name’s spelled wrong) sees a long occupation after 2008.

It is easy, as MayDaze does, to attribute our problems to the stupidity of our countrymen and women, but our problems are far more profound. Everything we talk about from restricting civil liberties to bombing Iran is done by our fellow citizens. Bush does none of these things himself. Hierarchical thinking has us following orders, a situation reinforced by the powers that be who pass laws making disobedience criminal.

I know an African American who happens to be a policeman in Stamford. I asked him were he to be ordered to police a peace demonstration would he push the demonstrators around. He said it was a tough question, which he did not answer. I believe he would push back, not only in what he sees as self defense, but to maintain an order he swore to uphold.

It’s here blogs fail us. Mostly we preach to the choir. When we interact with people who disagree with us, it’s usually name calling. One problem is lying. When Bill O’Reilly says the daily kos is a “hate site”, how can one respond anymore than one who is branded an anti-semite because he doesn’t see the Palestinians as all bad and Israel all good can protest? How do we respond to blatant lies? Yell “Liar, liar pants on fire!” We are all devout in our fashion. Few of us are much good at questioning what we believe to be true.

How in the hell does anyone think that with the military “out of balance” the US can wage another war? I suspect that balance may refer to the checkbook as well.

I am just sick in my heart about the state of my country. We have no leaders. Where are the ass-kickers when we so desperately need them? Are there any? Is there even one person in the Congress who will stand up unafraid and say, “this is wrong, this must end, the Constitution is NOT just a goddamned piece of paper, and we must throw this administration out whatever the personal consequences.”

I think I’ll go iron some of my wife’s blouses and try to calm down.

Clusterfuck knew that “the surge” was stupid when he did it. He only did it cause people were gonna raid the White House with pitchforks if he continued to “stay the course”. He needed something that looked new.

Now he’s gotta stretch out the evaluation period and then find somethin new again- and then he’s out of here- and a new president can either admit failure or continue the deadly game.

That was what I thought until it became so clear that things are going to get very, very bad long before Jan. 20, 2009. Now I think the Democrats have been coerced into a game of chicken by proxy. The Republicans are going to keep driving our troops toward the edge of the cliff, gambling that the Democrats won’t be able to stand it, and will do whatever it takes to stop them. Then, forever after, the Republicans will claim that we were on the brink of success but those darn, traitorous Democrats stabbed American victory in the back. If they lose the gamble, and the Democrats either won’t or can’t stop them, well the Republican party will take a tremendous hit. But it won’t do much for the Democratic party either. And in the end, Bush and Cheney have enough money to buffer them against any real consequences from destroying the U.S. defense forces.

We are now in a phase that resembles the Eastern front after the Battle of Kursk. By that time the German military knew for sure that the war was lost, and that the best that could be done was to buy time by establishing defensible lines further west. The soldiers just went out to do their work. Heinrich Boll’s Der zug war punktlich (The Train was on Time) is a wonderful short novel that captures the essence of that phase.

At the centre, much the same as well. Belief in propaganda over fact, unwillingness to think through the consequences of inevitable defeat in order to minimize them. This is all going to play out as badly as those of us who opposed pre-emptive war from the start feared.

We will all pay for this. The soldiers are making the down payment.

i give him two-four weeks before he pulls the trigger.