Washblog

Is all I can say. Rick Larsen, Jay Inslee, Norm Dicks, get on board.

by Brian on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 07:09:42 PM PST

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The lawsuit is Boehner v. McDermott, not McDermott v. Boehner.  

That chain-smoking, artificially-tanned, conniving wingnut bastard sued Jim for blowing the whistle on the conspiracy being cooked up by him and Newt and their gang.

You're only young once, but you can be immature forever -- Larry Andersen
Blogging at Peace Tree Farm

by N in Seattle on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 08:32:26 PM PST

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I posted a  diary which asked people to direct their impeachment enthusiasms away from Bush and Cheney for the moment. I think it's the wise course. However, Democrats have been so callow and spineless that people like Congressman McDermott have to go out on legal limbs to oppose the Republicans because their colleagues refuse.

by dlaw on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 10:46:02 PM PST

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   I did run into a LaRouche'r tonight at the WSDCC meeting in Richland with this a a cover letter to a couple other pieces.
   He was very polite, and I didn't catch the connection until I read the whole paper he was handing out.
    They maybe getting better at the job, or even more reasonable. I couldn't tell this time.

Dave Gibney Pullman

by gibney on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 02:08:00 AM PST

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an email I received today from David Swanson at AfterDowningStreet.org.  And thanks, Dina, for posting the news.  

11 Congress Members for Impeaching Cheney
By David Swanson

Ten Congress Members have cosponsored articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney, including House Judiciary Committee Members Maxine Waters, Keith Ellison, and Hank Johnson, Deputy Whip Jan Schakowsky, Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, Yvette Clarke, Al Wynn, William Lacy Clay, Dennis Kucinich, and Jim McDermott.

For more information, see http://www.impeachcheney.org

McDermott joins call for Cheney's removal
By David Postman, Seattle Times

Excerpts from his blog, Postman on Politics

'Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? ~ Abraham Lincoln

by Lietta Ruger on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 09:26:02 PM PST

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We're in a crisis -- an executive branch violating Constitutional rights and separation of powers, deceiving the legislative branch, stacking the judicial branch with ideologues, ignoring and suppressing officials in agencies like NASA and the CIA, corrupting the military, trashing the economy, criminally ignoring climate change, breaking laws in nearly every dimension one could imagine....

All this has been unfolding in plain view for 5 or more years -- as if we've been helplessly watching democracy itself get stolen from us -- with no one in power willing to cop to it.  Like watching a mass murder happen, blood everywhere, and everyone keep politely discoursing on the weather.  It's heartbreaking.  

I'm grateful that Representative McDermott is acknowledging that this is not business as usual and that he's ready to stand up for the rule of law.   I felt that Senator Cantwell, given the interactions that some of us with Southend Neighbors for Peace & Justice had with them recently, may be getting it too.  We've got people in power here who seem to routinely break our most precious laws.  Why has it taken so long?

by noemie maxwell on Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:24:50 AM PST

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If he gets enough checks with those numbers on them, he'll probably get the clue that his constituents want him to support HR 333 (impeachment of Cheney).

I always hold donation request envelopes.  I send money when they take a stand that I approve of.  If it's, say, bill number 1417, I send $14.17.  If I want to donate more than that, I send one or two more checks out with the same amount.  If more people did that, our representatives would have a better clue about what actions their constituents think rate actual campaign contributions.

by eridani on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 01:10:58 AM PST

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Good Citizens,

Yesterday our President decided to ignore the rule of law and defy a Republican appointed Judge's wishes by commuting the prison sentence of the convicted felon "Scooter" Libby. He was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in a case involving our national security. Did he lie to hide the involvement of our Vice President and the President's former chief of staff Mr. Rove? Did the administration reveal the identity of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame? Did they do this in order to allow them to pursue the their goal of invading Iraq, deposing Saddam and securing their oil resources for American oil interests regardless of the fact that Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11? Is this an act of treason? We may never know thanks to Scooter and his willingness to lie and deceive federal investigators and the grand jury hearing the evidence. This much we know is fact; he lied and tried to hinder a federal investigation seeking the truth.

On his decision to commute Libby's prison sentence President George W. Bush says, "Others point out that a jury of citizens weighed all the evidence and listened to all the testimony and found Mr. Libby guilty of perjury and obstructing justice. They argue, correctly, that our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth. And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable."
The preceding statement was released by President George W. Bush on July 2, 2007 and published in the International Herald Tribune found on this website address
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/03/america/02libbytext.php

I think it is high time to do exactly that what our President has asked us to do... hold the liars in our Administration accountable. It can start with Congress and the Senate following through with the investigations involving warrant less wire tapping, illegal constitutional signing statements, dissemination of top secret documents and information to further political gains, manipulating intelligence and making false statements that lead us to war in Iraq,  and on and on and on. Now even though subpoenas have been issued by Senator Leahy and the Senate Judicial Panel the President has flaunted "executive privilege" in claiming he is not bound by those subpoenas.

We cannot allow this. Our Senators and Congressmen should be obligated to issue the contempt charges required to get this Administration to pony up the documents to allow the investigations to proceed. As I have been told personally that wire tapping should only bother those that have something to hide I would suggest that if this Administration has been acting within the law they too should not be concerned about these LEGAL subpoenas if they also have nothing to hide. Our President and those that work for him won't even agree to testify under oath in this regard! It is unfortunate that the President attempts to hide behind the same constitutional rights he has deemed to deny to us.

The time has come to ask that our legally elected officials do their job and start holding Bush and company responsible for their actions and if they have committed crimes and misdemeanors, which seems apparent, they need to answer to us and if convicted serve their sentence. Just as it was imperative for some to insist that Ms. Paris Hilton serve her sentence regardless of how harsh for driving on a suspended license; Scooter needs to do his time for obstructing a federal investigation involving national security leaks that at worst may end up jeopardizing ALL of our lives and at the very least has ruined our image in the rest of the world.

Please don't wait. Act today. Your representatives need to know that no person is above the law. To many of you have just said, "No surprise" and are willing to let it slide AGAIN. Well when is it time to start caring? When is it time to arrest the thugs that are destroying our way of life, disregard the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents and sell it all based on irrational fear? You need to tell them to do their job and hold this Administration accountable NOW, not later.  To Howard Dean and the Democratic Party, it is clear that Democrats won in November because we, the people you represent, have had it with this war, this President, his administration and the Republican controlled Senate and House that have allowed this to go on for so long without any concern for the constitution. Mr. Dean, today you asked me for money because of President Bush's decision to let Scooter walk and I told you I will start sending you money when those Democrats elected in November and our incumbent Democrats start doing the job you were elected to do, including oversight of this administration. To my Democratic Representatives, you were elected to do something about it so start now or get out of the way and let real leaders step in to do the dirty work required to set our country back on track and provide legal government. NO President, Democrat or Republican, should have this much power!

Please feel free to send this to anyone you think still cares. The line starts here for those that refuse to take it anymore. To paraphrase our President, I say to those willing to support, defend, obstruct, lie or otherwise conspire to protect this Administration's illegal and immoral actions that disregard the constitution. You are either with us or against us!

Thanks,
Christopher L. Hintz

by 11thLDDEMChris on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 04:55:29 PM PST

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At the endorsement meeting of the 36th District Democrats on Thursday night, the membership passed the following resolution:

Resolution to Commend U.S. Representative McDermott

Whereas, there is no higher duty of public officials than to protect, defend and preserve our constitution, and

Whereas, only the members of the United States House of Representatives have the power, authority, and responsibility to bring the president, vice-president and other administration officials to trial for their unconstitutional actions, and

Whereas, impeachment is the only constitutional remedy for holding the Bush administration accountable, and

Whereas, our member of Congress, Jim McDermott, has come to the conclusion after long and careful consideration of the personal consequences and of the likely disruption of all other work of Congress that impeachment proceedings should proceed and has signed on in support of HR 333 calling for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney, and

Whereas, he said on the U.S. House floor "Madam Speaker, it is time for an exit strategy, one that removes the Vice President of the United States from office" and

Whereas, the 36th District Democratic Party Organization, the King County Democratic Central Committee and the Washington State Democratic Central Committee have called upon the Washington State Democratic Congressional delegation to proceed with investigation for determining the articles of impeachment that are justified by the actions of President George W. Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney, and other officials in the Bush administration, therefore

Be it resolved that, the 36th District Democratic Party Organization commend U.S. Representative Jim McDermott for heeding his conscience and the call of his constituents, and

Be it further resolved that, we call upon the other Democratic members of the Washington State Congressional delegation to follow Jim McDermott's lead in holding Vice President Cheney accountable for his abuse of the Constitution and we urge all Democratic Party organizations to concur in this action by transmitting this resolution to the King County Democratic Central Committee, Washington State Democratic Central Committee and the Democratic National Committee.

by DWE on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 12:42:25 PM PST

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