News from the http://www.coalitionfortheconstitution.com Impeachment Debate last night:

In a dark room at the back of the Muddy Cup Cafe in Beacon, a lone visitor watched 250 people and 50 or so other on-line viewers watch Hodding Carter moderate a 15/15/12/12/Question Debate between Bruce Fein and Michael Tomasky. The screen sat a little crookedly on the slanted floor, but the image, corrected for tombstoning by the optics built in to the hp projector, was bright and square. The sound from the iSpeakers connected to the computer filled the room and the service from the Muddy Cup wireless router was unfaltering.

When the battery ran out on the computer, the presenter packed up and walked home to view the remainder in the comfort of his home. The walk was enjoyable and the meditation on leaving the power pack after having helped his wife up from having fallen on the curb while changing seats in the car outside the Muddy Cup relieved him of self-pity, blame or shame.

From the debate it is clear yet again that

* Bush and members of his Administration have repeatedly, chronically and willfully violated the Constitution;
* The Congress collectively and members individually are violating their oaths to uphold the Constitution and thus violating the Constitution themselves by ignoring the violations by the Administration;
* The Congress can go ahead and do this, because it is the sole agency of government with the power to impeach;
* Everyone was happy that these gatherings give us Americans not in Congress a chance to vent and go back to work with the feeling that we've really done something positive.

News from the Democrat debate on NBC last night:

There were (only) three white men on stage (Brian Williams, Tim Russert, John Edwards), but this is not about race or gender.

The NBC stewardess with questions from the "audience" had a beautiful necklace that drew attention to her neckline, but the overdone rouge on her tanned, right cheek was distracting. Otherwise her brows, eyes and lashes were perfect.

John Edwards has developed a new wrinkle in his forehead when he speaks about his life-long, deeply committed fight for what he believes in.

Hillary Clinton should never, ever allow a camera angle from below her chin. Her necklace simply disappeared several times, but her jacket collar was lovely.

Barack Obama didn't exactly say "yes" to co-sponsoring Clinton's bill, but did make it clear that his kill-Osama Seal team could be based in Kuwait instead of Iraq. Obama could not give the (Bill) Clinton salute from a seated position.

Edwards has the guts to put the Seal team straight into Kuwait.

No one mentioned the Strait of Hormuz or Impeachment.

Unanswered questions:

Will the Baghdad embassy be carbon neutral?
Is there room for the 130,000 "contractors" there, or are they leaving, too?
Is there a Bush suite?
Will Iraq have universal health care?

The GNP of Iraq before 2003 was around $33 billion. Not counting the US investment of $200 billion per annum, what is it now?

Real news from UBS
Howard Beale: http://www.youtube.com/v/MTN3s2iVKKI&rel=1

Go to the website below
http://judiciary.house.gov/Contact.aspx
and leave a message for the House Judiciary Committee in support of Representative Wexler’s call for immediate hearings into the many credible allegations of impeachable offense and Constitutional violations by Cheney and Bush.

Feel free to edit and use any of the following messages –
Every citizen must demand - from every candidate for office, from every Congressional Representative and Senator now in office an answer to the question:

What have you done to fulfill your Oath of Office, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, in the face of the many credible allegations of impeachable offence leveled against George W. Bush and Richard Cheney?

How can you, standing for office, ask anyone to vote for you in the face of such failure? How can you ask us to believe, that once elected, you will honor the oath you have, so far, failed to honor?
Bush and Cheney:
If they are not impeached
our Constitution
is “just a piece of paper”
and our Representatives
are to be held responsible
for its continued violation!
If Bush/Cheney are not brought before the bar of impeachment now, as examples of the abuse of executive power, following Presidents will inherit all the precedents for the abuse of signing statements, secret violation of FISA statutes, toleration or tacit approval of torture, extraordinary rendition, cronyism, environmental degradation in the service of corporate greed, diminished protection of the separation of church and state, and the politicization of science.
The 2006 elections put a Democratic majority in power to effect change. The people are not seeing the change they voted for. Listen to the majority of people of this nation, who tell pollsters they want impeachment. A simple change of Party, brought about at the polls, will not make the forceful and specific statement that would stand as the citizen’s demand that their elected officials observe their oath of office requiring them to preserve and protect the Constitution.

Listen to over 85 cities and towns that have passed impeachment resolutions. Listen to the state senate of Vermont. Listen to 16 State Democratic Parties.

The Bush/Cheney administration, with all the power of the Pentagon and the secret powers of the CIA and the NSA at their service, do not protect us from totalitarian domination. The Constitution stands as the bulwark of the citizen’s defense! The Constitution establishes a separation of powers to provide the checks and balances that restrain an Executive’s dangerous or inappropriate assumption of powers. The Congress, the people’s representatives – are charged with the sworn duty to exercise checks on the Executive when that Executive oversteps.

At this point in our history, no political action rises to the level of necessity more urgently than the protection of the Constitution and the restoration of the rule of law. George W. Bush and Richard Cheney must be impeached and the powers they have illegally assumed must be repudiated!
***
Please call each of the #s below
• Judiciary Committee: 202-225-3951
• John Conyers, Chair: 202-225-5126
• Linda Sanchez (D-CA): 202-225-6676
• Brad Sherman (D-CA): 202-225-5911
• Adam Schiff (D-CA): 202-225-4176
• Howard Berman (D-CA): 202-225-4695

I remember him on Colbert. The funniest bit he had with congressmen.
The guy has a great sense of humor and great taste in presidential candidates.

As much as I hate the current administration, and I cannot wait until november, I wonder what effect this statement and impeachment will have on the prisoners from 911. They were tortured. If the president has admitted that he authorized it, does that take away their whole defense allowing the prosocution to win so the terrorists can get them the death penalty? If we impeach, are we saying that the people don't condone torture under any circumstance and these people therefore were wronged and will now go free because they were treated cruely and unfairly?
These people freely admit to killing thousands of innocent Americans because they believed themselves to be at war with America before we thought we were at war with them. While I am not a huge fan of the death penalty, I am in favor of it in cases of pedofiles, rapists, serial killers and terrorists who kill thousands of people! They sit in a cell and still say Death to Americans. Will this impeachment set them free?
Other than that disturbing thought. Who goes into office for the next 9 months? Will they be much better than Bush or Cheney? They wouldn't be someone more than one state had elected, and probably few people thought about. Although I have to admit they couldn't be much worse. I'm not sure the time wouldn't be better spent trying to veto the things he is doing and has done and actually working together as a congress to get something done than to try and impeach. Impeachment seems rather futile at this point although it is a nice thought. It would take a trial and appointees and a major delay in everything in Washington, all to be turned over to a new administration in January.