Cheney Impeachment Effort Gets Major Boost

You may have heard about the effort of Florida Congressional Representative Robert Wexler to promote the idea of impeaching Richard Cheney. In the interest of continuing to promote this idea, I am proud to present the following statement of Rep. Wexler.

I also recommend pursuing the various links included in the statement, including the webcast with Mr. Wexler.

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Statement of Rep. Robert Wexler:

As we prepare to celebrate the New Year, my resolution is to hold George Bush and Dick Cheney accountable for their abuses of power.

In the last days, we have made real progress:

The mainstream media has awakened to this movement and to the extraordinary support you have given it. Your calls, letters, and emails have clearly made a difference. Already 140,000 people have joined us in demanding impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney by signing up at WexlerWantsHearings.com.

The power of these combined voices are already shaking up the established order on Capitol Hill and throughout the mainstream media:

This week, the Miami Herald printed an article on our efforts that was syndicated in papers across the country, including the Detroit Free Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, Fort Worth Telegram, Contra Costa Times, Sacramento Bee, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, NC News & Observer, and others. (Click HERE to read the article.)

In addition, CBS4 in Miami became the first station we know of to run a television segment about the call for hearings. Video of that can be found HERE.)

Perhaps most importantly, just this morning the Philadelphia Inquirer courageously ran the full editorial I drafted along with my fellow Judiciary Committee members Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (R-WI). (View it HERE .) Congratulations to the Inquirer for their willingness to publish a viewpoint that is so widely held by Americans – yet one that other leading national newspapers refused to publish.

We have come so far in just a few weeks. No longer can the mainstream media ignore our efforts and dismiss this cause as only part of the fringe left.

Already we are seeing tangible results from our combined effort. As you already know, Congress is well behind the American people on this issue. This is an uphill battle, but it's one that has to be fought. It should not be the whole agenda, but it needs be *on* the agenda.

When Congress reconvenes in January, I plan to present a list to my Judiciary Committee colleagues of every single person that signed up at WexlerWantsHearings.com. I will go to more of my colleagues and ask them to join a letter in support of hearings. We will build on the momentum you have given us.

Last week, I spent an hour on Blog Talk Radio outlining thoughts and answering questions in regards to this work. So many people hit their site that their servers temporarily went down. If you'd like to hear the archived audio, please click HERE.

Let's do our best to further spread the message so that list will be up to a quarter million. Please continue to blog, email friends, and insist that your family and friends sign up!

Thanks for your commitment.

Congressman Robert Wexler

P.S. I have been running online ads to make more people aware of our impeachment campaign. If you are interested in making a contribution to this effort you can click here.

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From the Publisher of "End of America"

The following is from the publisher of Naomi Wolf's new best-selling book, "The End of America," written of on this page earlier. I continue to highly recommend the book and its crucial, urgent message.



In a stunning indictment of the Bush administration and Congress, bestselling author Naomi Wolf lays out her case for saving American democracy. In authoritative research and documentation Wolf explains how events of the last six years
parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th century’s worst dictatorships such as Germany, Russia, China, and Chile.

The book cuts across political parties and speaks directly to those of us who are
concerned about the ever-tightening noose being placed around our liberties.

+++++++++++++++++++++

“I believe there are more
instances of the abridgment
of freedom of the people by
gradual and silent
encroachments by those in
power than by violent and
sudden usurpations.”

-- James Madison

++++++++++++++++++++

The End of America. Letter to a Young Patriot
now in paperback
$13.95, Chelsea Green Publishing

******************************

In this timely call to arms, Naomi Wolf compels us to face the way our
free America is under assault. She warns us—with the straight-to-fellow citizens
urgency of one of Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlets—that
we have little time to lose if our children are to live in real freedom.
Wolf is taking her message directly to the American people in the most
accessible form and as part of a large national campaign to reach out to
ordinary Americans about the dangers we face today. This includes a lecture
and speaking tour, and being part of the nascent American Freedom
Campaign, a grassroots effort to ensure that presidential candidates pledge
to uphold the constitution and protect our liberties from further erosion.
The End of America will shock, enrage, and motivate—spurring us to act, as the Founders would have counted on us to do in a time such as this, as rebels and patriots—to save our liberty and defend our nation.

Naomi Wolf’s essays have been published in The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Ms., Esquire, The Washington Post,
and The New York Times. She is the author of several books including the international bestseller, The Beauty Myth.

Bush v. Gore Seventh Anniversary

On this date in 2000 at 10:00 p.m. in the evening the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling stopping the counting of votes in the 2000 election. This nefarious ruling, derided by Constitutional scholars ever since, effectively put George W. Bush in the White House against the wishes of the American people. (Vice-President Al Gore received 500,000 more votes than Bush in that election.)

In her recent book, The End of America, Naomi Wolf posits we are now in a fascist shift in this country. I very much agree! However, there have been many fascists shifts. The election of a House of Representatives led by a far-right Speaker, Newt Gingrich, was one. Another was the decision by the Fascist Five of the U.S. Supreme Court, contorting logic, defying legal precedent and laws, and in contempt of the will of the people to install G. W. Bush as President.

Let us not forget that all the nightmares which have flowed over the last seven years have been because of that one Supreme fascist shift.


More can be found here:
http://www.legitgov.org/index_hot_April5.html

"End of America" author on YouTube

At the link below you can watch author Naomi Wolf of "End of America" fame lecturing on the book's major points. The content of the talk, like the book, is terrifying, but, oh, so necessary to hear.

In a later post I plan to offer a more complete review of the book, especially now that I have finished it. For now, suffice it to say that this is surely one of the most important books of 2007 if not the decade. I and some others have been saying at least since the December 12, 2000, decision of the Supreme Court which brought G. W. Bush to power, that something like fascism was behind the Bush campaign.

Now, in this clearly-written book, Ms. Wolf has provided the evidence of the fascism of these many years since that fateful day, whose anniversary is two days away. I highly recommend the book and urge every American to read it as soon as possible. Our democracy, and even, our very lives depend on this kind of information.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc

Interview with Author of "End of America" Available On the Web

As I write this I am listening to the interview with author Naomi Wolf which was broadcast on Democracy Now! on November 28, 2007.

I have read enough of the book to know this is the most important book I have read in 2007. Evidently many people agree as the book is now on the New York Times best-seller list according to the Democracy Now! website.

In the interview I am listening to Ms. Wolf is talking about torture. The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which remains the law of the land, gives the go-ahead to the Bush administration to commit acts of torture. We now know from writers such as Nat Hentoff, mentioned earlier on this blog, that torture has almost certainly continued in the very recent past and very possibly is being committed now.

One point Wolf makes is that you don't have to have the ovens in order to have fascism. Not every fascist or totalitarian state operates at that level of horror or depravity. Sometimes, it is more quiet and subtle. The corollaries between these dictatorships and the Bush administration remain, including secret prisons and mercenary armies. (When employees of Blackwater, Inc., operated on the streets of New Orleans following hurricane Katrina it was the first time mercenary soldiers had operated on U.S. soil since the Revolutionary War.)

I urge everyone to listen to this interview and to get and read "The End of America". Your freedom and mine will depend on how we react now.


The interview is here:

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/11/28/the_end_of_america_feminist_social

"The End of America" -- Continued

Naomi Wolf's "The End of America" continues to frighten and inspire. I am encouraging our locally-owned bookstore to sponsor on author's book-signing.

Every citizen should read this book!

Please check back here for most postings on this very important book.

The Future of America

Work demands have been very heavy over the last week and have included an interview for a new position.

I did, however, have time to purchase and begin reading an extremely important new book entitled The End of America; Letter to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf, mentioned on this blog earlier. In a real sense it is impossible to over-estimate the importance of this book. A clearer book on the federal government under G. W. Bush I have not read.

Because of the hour I am unable to write much more. However, I strongly encourage you, dear reader, to look the book up and purchase it. You will then have access to much information which can help you make sense of this very disturbing administration.

A Proposal to Repeal Earlier Expansion of Presidential Power

In a provision in the 2007 Defense Authorization Act, Congress expanded the circumstances under which the President could use the military for domestic law inforcement purposes. This provision, passed in the dead of night and almost totally ignored by the major media, was subsequently opposed by the National Governors Association and the National Guard association.



The House Armed Services committee under new chairman Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri has proposed a repeal of the expansion of Presidential power. The article at the link below gives more information. It is from Congressional Quarterly on line and was published on October 19, 2007. The repeal appears to be still in committee as of this writing. I will continue my research on this topic.



The proposed repeal is another example of good work on the part of the new Democratic Congress.





http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002609356.html

Warning to Patriots

Today I have read an article about a new book on the rise of fascist dictatorships. The interview is with Naomi Wolf.

The article is very interesting and I highly recommend it. The information here corresponds very much with my own research. Everyone in America and beyond who cares about democracy should read this article!

I will have more to say later.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107R.shtml

Last evening's Bill Moyers Journal brought official word of the attempt by the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to allow a significant expansion of the reach and power of the already powerful corporate media in the United States. This outrageous power grab is being promoted at a time of high profits for newspapers (an average of 17% per year according to Bill Moyers).

Now Chairman Martin and his Republican cohorts are trying to push through on short notice the same sweetheart deal for big media which the public rejected in overwhelming numbers under the previous chairman, Michael Powell, in 2003. The proposed relaxation of rules would allow one company to own both a major newspaper and a major TV station in the same market. More details can be found at the link below.

Because Chairman Martin intends to railroad these rule changes through next month, Moyers is telling us we need to make our voices heard by December 11. Please do contact the FCC and your members of Congress as soon as possible. It is critical the policy-makers hear from us right away. A handy contact form is provided through the web site I have referenced below.

It is clear to me ownership rules need to be strengthened, not relaxed. These rule changes are a clear pay-back by the Bush administration to their corporate supporters in the huge media conglomerates. There are several links on the Moyers web page which I will be examining. One includes incidents of media companies providing favors to FCC members. If this information is true, we have corruption on a high order.

After you do contact the government officials, I would be glad to hear about it. (You may use the "Comment" button here.)

This is a time to stand together -- and -- take action.

Cheney Impeachment Up-date

This afternoon I spoke with the office of the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House, Mr. John Conyers. The subject of the conversation with the gracious woman who answered was the Cheney Impeachment matter. I was told that the matter would be dealt with after the first of the year, as there are only two weeks left in the current session.



The mere fact that the resolutions impeaching Cheney have been sent to the Committee on the Judiciary is, in itself, quite extraordinary. We have Rep. Dennis Kucinich to thank for this. It is clear to me that if there is a mass uprising of interest on the part of the American people the Judiciary Committee will be forced to at least hold hearings. And I believe any honest hearings by credible witnesses will establish that Richard B. Cheney should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, if not treason.



So we are in important times. Will you be part of solving the problems of our current executive branch? Your support of this impeachment effort is thoughtfully and urgently sought. Please call or write Rep. John Conyers and your own representative at your earliest convenience and respectfully express your opinion.

Explosive New Article by Elizabeth Holtzman

Please see the link below for an article by former Representative Elizabeth Holtzman on the possible culpability of Bush and Cheney on the issue of torture.





http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111407R.shtml

"Lions for Lambs"

The new Robert Redford film, "Lions for Lambs" debuted this past week-end. I was priviliged to view it along with a friend last evening. The film is extremely well-done with fabulous acting by Redford with Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. Focusing on the propaganda surrounding U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, the film throws light on the dilemmas faced by major media. The movie also contains a theme rare in films of today: pertinent and timeless advice for wayward youth.

All themes are handled intelligently, and, dare I say, entertainingly. "Lions for Lambs" is highly recommended.

The Missing Class

They amount to 57 million Americans. They are the near-poor as defined by statistics and author Katherine Newman whose book (with Victor Tan Chen) The Missing Class has just been published.

Katherine Newman was interviewed this evening on Bill Moyers Journal in a very informative conversation about these forgotten Americans. I am not ashamed to say I am experienced with this economic class of Americans. I know the particular struggles and the hardships.

Because of the hour I am unable to write more. However, I did want to make this posting now so readers would be able to look up the book and check it out. I will plan on writing more about it in a future post.


http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2007/11/the_missing_class_1.html

Is Iraq Another Vietnam?

I have just started reading an important new book about Iraq called Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam, a compendium of essays edited by Lloyd C. Gardner and Marilyn B. Young. I am only in the first chapter, having already completed the introduction.

The book is a collection of essays by writers such as Christian G. Appy, David Elliott, Elizabeth L. Hillman, and John Prados. In coming days I will relate more about what I am reading. So far the book is a well-written accounting of the history of the propaganda surrounding the Vietnam war and its aftermath as well as the Gulf War and the current Iraq war. Being dealt with in the early pages are the hubris of George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld who changed stories as events did not go their way in Iraq.

Certainly it is crucial to get the story straight when it comes to understanding why the United States attacked Iraq in 2003 and remains stuck there in the proverbial quagmire. I am looking forward to reading this book.