Back From Vacation

I have finally returned from vacation. I hope to keep these blogs updated once again.

Is The U.S. Constitution Merely a Suggestion?

I have never been a proponent of non-binding resolutions, for that matter...non-binding anything. Why waste time, energy or money on something with no teeth in it? But, the Democrat controlled senate did just that. So, the non-binding resolution was brought up for vote. The count was 53 - 38. So now, one might think that is a win, over 50% right? Not so fast. Guess what the Republicans did? They filibustered....Remember when there was a Republican controlled Congress and the Democrats attempted to filibuster? The Republicans went nuts and shouted that filibustering was an outdated action and should not be allowed. But the shoe is on the other foot and they filibustered, thus forcing a 60 vote count to pass. "NICE". Gonzales is suppose to be the citizen's attorney, not the Presidents. He sure isn't representing the citizens. Therefore (just as one's attorney can be fired for legal malpractice) WE THE PEOPLE, not I THE PRESIDENT, should fire this lying criminal. Remember, the Republicans impeached President Clinton for lying to the country about sex, Gonzales has lied to the nation, congress and media about countless things, and yet no one impeaches his lying butt. Come on people, we need to take back OUR country. The President (regardless of what he thinks) isn't The Government. The President is only one of the THREE branches of OUR government. And yet, the congress continues to roll over and allow him to dictate policy and direct the nation toward implosion. I am ready for a movement, a movement of true patriots to take back our nation and start supporting the United States Constitution. This administration as well as Congress, seem to believe that the Constitution of The United States is merely suggestions. Our Founders worked diligently to create a government like no other, one with checks and balances. In America, we believe that God endowed individuals with unalienable rights; we do not believe that God has endowed George W. Bush- or any political leader- with Divine right to exercise power. If one actually were to study the Constitution, one might come to the same conclusion as most Constitutional scholars have, "the framers of the Constitution established a secular government, not a Christian theocracy."
Back to subject. It is time Mr. Gonzales, for you to resign or face impeachment. It is your choice.

Democrats Roll Over

Congress removes teeth from funding bill.
Shame on the Democrat Congress...Shame on you, you have now rolled over and enabled the "bully" President... yet again, to get his way. Caving in to his demands only feeds the monster. What good does it do to vote for change, and stay the same? I can not believe the lack of courage this Democratic majority has displayed. Arrrggghhhhhhhh. Now what? Another year of bloodshed in Iraq, our children, husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers paying the ultimate price daily in a unfounded and useless war. I HATE THIS! Demand your congressman to bring our troops home. Write Congress today.

Iraq War Spending Bill, Don't Roll Over Congress

As you are all aware, President vetoed a Iraq War spending bill this first of May, that would have provided $124 billion. For only the second time in this administration's history, he vetoed it. What a bully. When Congress attempted to negotiate on another bill, he stated he would not compromise with them. Again, "BULLY". His my way or the highway, is really beginning to wear on the public. I live in an extremely conservative area of the country, and I am amazed at the amount of locals finally speaking out.

I thought the voters sent a clear message in November 2006, "End the War, bring our troops home". I guess Mr. Bush doesn't get it. If our Congress rolls over and sends a bill with no teeth in it, I think it may spur massive disgusts across the nation. You work for us, isn't it time for Congress to truly represent the citizens?

Although I am certain that no one would ever consider advice from a mere citizen, I have a suggestion for the House and Senate.

"Resubmit the original version of H.R 1291 (emergency war spending bill), this bill would have provided 124 billion to fund the war, EXCEPT...make one amendment. For each day that the White House either refuses to sign the bill, deduct $1 billion from the original $124 billion. That way in 124 days or less, either the war would have the funding with a withdrawal of troops scheduled, or the war would be defunded. Either way, our troops would be coming home."

I am growing more and more disappointed with the President as well as Congress, in the handling of this issue. Come on guys, get it together. We the people are the ones who are suffering. Thomas Jefferson is probably rolling over in his grave.

Is the Prseident AKA Vito Corleone?

Good job Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News, for asking the tough questions, the right questions, the appropriate questions. And still, the President started his infamous “duck and weave routine”. He looked to me like a guilty person, but who knows? By the way, does this constitute a high crime or misdemeanor?

Lawyers and historians are still arguing about the exact meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors," dividing into three schools of thought about the appropriate definition: (1) serious criminality evidenced by breaking existing law; (2) an abuse of office, and (3) the Alexander Hamilton standard (Federalist 65) of "violation of public trust."

Regardless, here is a transcript of the O’Donnel/Bush dialogue.

Q: There’s been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top Justice Department officials who describes a scene that some Senators called stunning, about a time when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then chief of staff and White House counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program, and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?

BUSH: Kelly, there’s a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn’t happen. I’m not going to talk about it. It’s a very sensitive program. I will tell you that one, the program was necessary to protect the American people and it’s still necessary, because there’s still an enemy that wants to do us harm, and therefore I have an obligation to put in place programs that honor the civil liberties of the American people — a program that was, in this case, constantly reviewed, and briefed to the United States Congress. And the program, as I say, is an essential part of protecting this country, and so there will be all kinds of talk about it. As i say, I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly classified subject. I will tell you, however, that the program was necessary. (weave...duck)

Q: Was it on your order, sir?

BUSH: As I said, the program is a necessary program that was constantly reviewed and constantly briefed to the Congress. It’s an important part of protecting the United States, and it’s still an important part of our protection, because there’s still an enemy that would like to attack us, no matter how calm it may seem in America, an enemy lurks and they would like to strike. They would like to do harm to the American people, because they have an agenda. They want to impose an ideology. They want us to retreat from the world. They want to find safe haven, and these just aren’t empty words. These are the words of al Qaeda themselves, and so we will put in place programs to protect the American people that honor the civil liberties of our people and programs that we constantly brief to Congress.

DUCK…DUCK…WEAVE…DUCK

Come on Mr. President, just be honest for a change. Did you send Gonzales and Card to Ashcroft’s room like Vito Corleone would have?
I can only hope we don’t discover a horse’s head in Mr. Comey’s bed.

Spies Like The U.S.

Spies Like U.S.
One would think that the testimony by James B. Comey (former deputy attorney general) an excerpt from a Mickey Spillane novel. Evidently Mr. Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the inquiry into “Gonzogate”, (Alberto Gonzales investigation and dismissal of federal prosecutors).

Mr. Comey who was second in command in the Justice Department testified that that the eavesdropping program was center to a series of events involving Alberto Gonzales, Comey, John Ashcroft, and Andrew Card.

Mr. Comey stated (acting as attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery in 2004) that he refused to sign off on a presidential order reauthorizing a program which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and email of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He further stated that the events took place over a 48 hour time span.

Here is a synopsis of events:

Evening of March 10, 2004:

Although Mrs. Ashcroft had banned visitors and telephone calls to her husband’s hospital room, she had just gotten a call from the White House telling her that Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to see her husband, Mr. Comey testified. “I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don’t know that for sure,” Mr. Comey said.

A top aide to Mr. Ashcroft calls to alert Mr. Comey about the pending visit of Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr. Mr. Comey orders his driver to rush him to George Washington University Hospital with emergency lights flashing and siren blaring, with intentions of intercepting the pair. The pair were seeking Ashcroft’s signature because of impending expiration of authority the following day.

Mr. Comey phoned Director Robert S. Mueller III of the FBI, who agreed to meet him at the hospital.

When he got to the hospital, Mr. Comey recalled, “I got out of the car and ran up — literally, ran up the stairs with my security detail.”
“I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that,”

Upon arriving to Mr. Ashcroft’s room, Mr. Comey noted that Mr. Ashcroft seemed out of it, I think his word were “hardly aware of his surroundings”.

During this time, Mr. Mueller phoned Mr. Comey’s security detail and ordered them to not all Mr. Comey to be removed from the room under any circumstances.

A few minutes after this order, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card entered Mr. Ashcroft’s room; Mr. Gonzales was carrying an envelope. Mr. Gonzales then began to discuss why they were there, and asked for Mr. Ashcroft’s approval.

Mr. Comey then testified that Mr. Ashcroft raised his head from the pillow, reiterated his objections to the program, then lay back down, pointing to Mr. Comey and stated it did not matter, because Mr. Comey was the attorney general.

Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card left the room, never making eye contact with Mr. Comey. But within a few minutes, Mr. Card telephoned Mr. Comey and demanded that he come to the White House immediately.

Mr. Comey replied to Mr. Card “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet you without a witness, and I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States.”

Theodore Olson (solicitor general) was contacted by Mr. Comey and arranged to go with him to the White House. Mr. Card refused to allow Mr. Olson enter his office, after a private chat with Mr. Card, Mr. Olson was allowed to enter the office and take part in the conversation.
Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller all threatened to resign over this incident.

Two to three weeks afterwards, the reauthorization was signed.

This seems to resemble strong arm tactics once seen in the mob or in gangster movies. And yet, the President allows Gonzales to continue in his position as Attorney General. This is bizarre and shameful. What happened to honesty in the White House?
Are You Kidding Me?

IT'S AN ILLEGITIMATE FOREIGN OCCUPATION......STUPID

Is Iraq Ready To Kick US Out?

There has been a flurry of articles printed since last week, concerning a vote by Iraq National Assembly that would set a departure date for U.S. troops. It was leaked somewhat quietly to small newspapers and the mainstream media published tidbits on Saturday.

If I am understanding all of this, and pretty sure I am, Baha al-Aaaji (a supporter of radical ant-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr), has stated that 144 members of the assembly have signed a draft law that would set a departure date for U.S. Troops.

It looks like the bill will be non-binding and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would probable blow this off. Rather than being a law, it might survive as a non-binding petition.

Regardless, this looks like it might be an insight to what the Iraqi people might really desire. With only 6000 Iraqi troops sufficiently trained, we might see the citizens actively involved in a political movement to remove all coalition forces from the region. I am uncertain why Maliki is steadfast on the U.S. remaining, unless it has to do with monetary support by the Bush Administration. (But, that is just a hunch)

If the Iraqis want us out, and the U.S. voters want us out, how can this administration justify leaving our troops in harms way? It make me sick every time I hear or read about more troops loosing their lives or being injured. For the love of God, bring them home. PLEASE!

Lies, Lies and More Lies

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Anyone remember the announcement made by Defense Secretary Gates back on April 11? Merely one month ago, Secretary Gates announced that all active duty soldiers will spend 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of year, and the guarantee that they will be at home for a full 12 months before redeployment. Guess what? ANOTHER DAMN LIE by the government.

According to Stars and Stripes, Members of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, Company A, will be headed back to Iraq in November. That is only 9 months home, after spending 13 months in Iraq.

Evidently, when Gates was asked Wednesday about the situation, he stammered, sputtered, and could not explain why the Army was sending back the company just nine months after its last Iraq deployment.

So, what was once a pledge to guarantee our soldiers more time with their families and the extra training needed prior to redeployment, is now being referred to as “is a goal”, so states Bryan Whitman from the Pentagon.

Don’t feed us more lies and deceit. This is Bush's war. He has never listened to the Generals on the ground, nor the will of the people.

Bring them home, ALL HOME.

My New Hero

Senator Russ Feingold is my newest hero. He never ceases to amaze me with his strength and willpower to carry on the fight for decency, justice, democracy and credibility. Just when I am seriously doubting any person engaged in politics has any credibility, along comes Senator Feingold to provide me with a gleam of hope.

The following is a statement released by Senator Feingold:

The ink on the President's veto is barely dry, and already, a lot of Washington insiders - including some Democrats -- are saying Congress should just give in to the President. Never mind how hard people have pushed to bring Congress to this point, when we are finally standing up to the President's disastrous Iraq policy -- they want to give up on the binding language in the bill requiring the President to begin redeploying troops from Iraq.

We can't keep giving in to this Administration on Iraq. Every time the Administration gets its way, it means that our troops will remain stuck in the middle of Iraq's civil war, and our national security will continue to be undermined. With so many Americans demanding that our involvement in this war come to an end, backing down is not the answer. No one else should die in Iraq to give political comfort to dealmakers in Washington.

I won't support a supplemental spending bill that doesn't have binding language to redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq. There's a lot of talk right now about Democrats getting the President to sign a bill that only has benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet. But we're long past the point when just setting benchmarks was enough. Even if funding for the Iraqi government is conditioned on it meeting those benchmarks, that misses the main point -- which is that, whether or not the Iraqis meet their benchmarks, we need to get out of Iraq so that we can focus on the national security threats we face around the world. And if those benchmarks aren't binding, then they are nothing more than suggestions. The American people aren't asking us to offer suggestions to the Iraqis -- they are asking us to bring our troops out of Iraq.

The next step to ending the war isn't to give in, but to step up the pressure on the President. I'm pleased to be working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on a bill to end our open-ended military commitment in Iraq. Now that the President has rejected the will of the American people with this veto, our bill, or some other proposal to end funding for a failed policy, should be the next step to end the war.

We are in the middle of a real test for the new Democratic Congress. No matter what Washington insiders say about cutting a deal or scoring political points, we need to hang tough to get our troops out of Iraq. The President has refused to budge on his Iraq policy from the beginning -- he has repeatedly gotten his way, and our country has paid a terrible price for that. Today, 150,000 U.S. troops are in the middle of a civil war that is straining our military, and hurting our ability to go after al Qaeda worldwide. Too much is at stake for us to back down -- the new Congress has got to stand firm. It's a time to listen to the American people and finally start to bring our troops out of Iraq. Their lives and our national security depend on it. Senator Russ Feingold

Thank you Senator, for truly attempting to represent The People, and not cronies or corporate lobbyists. Keep up the good fight.