TM-R (day 21)

Barely half-way though a period of review, today we have another quixotic mess which I was barely able to wade through.

HOWEVER I DID,
BUT ONLY AFTER THESE ACTIVITIES TRANSPIRED:

Last night my local Democratic Legislative district passed a resolution to urge our senators to support Russ Feingold's move to censure Bush.

HERE IS MY PLEA TO THEM THE DAY BEFORE:
Since impeachment procedures can only begin in the House, please support Senator Feingold on his resolution to censure President Bush for illegally wiretapping without court order.

This measure should get a full committee hearings with sworn testimony that will hold not only the administration accountable, but Republicans who won't uphold the constitution, accountable.

The argument is that this is a political stunt. It is also a constitutional stunt. If politics is not used at it's fullest to protect the constitution, it will be used to circumvent it. If it is not clear to partisans on our side, it is on the other. Even swing voters would likely prefer a clearer choice than between those that break the law and those that will not uphold it.
[boldness added here]

While some "loyal opposition" may call boldness an Impeachable Strategy and resort to political calculus and even the physics of gravity like trickle down...

My reply:

Gravity does not apply in politics!
Bush (or a con) knows that will does.
Gravity is a two way street and while the masses may pull down the politician's bootstraps, only real leaders with courage can choose to pull up the bootstraps of the people.

Those who will not stand up for clarity from the administration and those who cut and run from the constitution and conversation, have no lack of will to trust, but little faith or courage to verify. Only that makes the process quixotic.

The Stick and the Carrot? POWER OF WILL?

Let Senator Spectre speak, and Senator Feingold carry the stick. The stick is the carrot that fills the will.

THANK YOU, RACHEL MADDOW
[ a tangent from her view of Spectre, as "speaking strongly and carrying a tiny stick" and the metaphor came to my usage today, on the whole gang, but here is what may be better filter in my search, not necessarily an endorsement , but a great idea: Even the counter intelligence can leak a point, meaning you cannot sue the president, but you can Impeach, subject dropped, but you can sue departments, and they are adding a crew there now.]

There is no one decider. There are three branches of government and the law is in the hands of the legislative with the power of the purse and war. The great decider may be above, but the great interpreter is not just the judiciary. Justice and the law must be above all, and we are all under it. To heck with the geometry, but is the will of the people, despite what will has been flip flopped. Not that any people are above the law, but must be part of the higher goal than just the process, or just below the process.

So speak softly and carry a big stick, but do not speak of the stick, but consider the carrot, if you talk preemption it is too late.

GWB: Global Warning Bull [do not misread: Warning, with an NNNNNNN!] * See Comment by me.
This portion is a tangent returned to from the arc above.
Congress investigates MisLeaders[Thank you, Waxman]
Here is the "be all and end all" from a Re:Cycler (aka: Deceivers Institute).
The point? Being. Not the end all or who peers over who.

FEINGOLD'S STAKE

I posted (pardon the pun) the previous post prior to finding one in the ground. [Senator Russ Feingold's VERY BRIEF MUST READ: The GOP's Stake in Checking the President]

The Republicans probably feel the Check is in the mail or the form of a bill.

The people must call it due and process.
It is the least that need be done to "stay the course". [As in transitive verbs 9 through 12: stop something, postpone or hinder, alleviate something in the short term, and or restrain something.]

Earlier material from "This Is About Progress(ives)"
02-06-01 08:29am [To Sen. Feingold: 01-31-01]
http://www.geocities.com/roger_2l/Politics_is_OK.html


I believe it was Senator Grassley who said regarding the sharing of power in an evenly divided senate; someone must be in charge. There was no need to share power since Democrats have the power of the filibuster. If this is not the time to use it, when will? This may be as Sen. Feingold says an "olive branch" to the new administration. But what are the previous confirmations of nominees? Too many alive branches may create a Bush too hard to get through to, or you are creating a pile that may be too hard to climb. It is already getting too thick with his actions.

More Heroes Needed.

Words I saved in file yesterday:

From George Washington who could not lie about cutting down the cherry tree to George Bush the cherry picking intelligence leak that is above the law. From Nixon’s "I am not a crook" to Bush’s "nerve". From checks and balances to "outing" the intelligence and killing the debate, and blaming the messenger.
Apparently not only when war comes truth is the first casualty, but a preemptive war must apparently preempt truth.

WHILE I ALREADY POSTED A RELATED COMMENT, THE FOLLOWING NEEDS NOTING:
Dear Senator Harkin:
[Italics are from link]
We, the undersigned, support your principled stand with Senators Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer in favor of holding President Bush accountable, and we urge you to bring the Resolution of Censure to the floor of the Senate for a vote. The President has brazenly, arrogantly and unapologetically broken the law - the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which prohibits warrantless wiretaps of American citizens. Despite getting caught red-handed, he refuses to stop.

Government must protect Americans' security, and that's why the FISA law allows intelligence services to listen to terrorists' conversations legally - by going to the secret espionage and terrorism court to get a warrant AFTER listening.

We are a nation of laws, not of men. No American is above the law. That most certainly includes the President. If Congress fails to hold him to account through censure, then he will believe that he can continue breaking laws with impunity. This is profoundly dangerous to our democracy.

We admire your courage in standing up to President Bush and saying enough! Now, we urge you to take the next step. We - ordinary Americans deeply concerned for the country we love - ask you to work with your colleagues to support and pass the Resolution of Censure in the Senate.


This is barely a start [AS I FURTHER NOTED]. Investigation into pre-war use of intelligence as demonstrated by the cherry-picking and leaking of intelligence must be debated as well. It is not a matter of what did the president know and when did he know it, but when did he know what he didn't want us to know, or not want to know himself?

How far back does it go that intelligence sources have been treatened with exposure for the type of intelligence they provide? How much intelligence has been lost by the declassification of intelligence for political gain? When the president and his supporters blame the media for the success of terrorism, how much does his own misuse of intelligence increase their strength?

It is one thing to be calling someone's bluff, but another to think that they don't know their own cards. Congress must recall the deck and reshuffle their oversight of the whole Bush administration.

While I thank Ed Schultz for supporting this issue, and I had already been contacting my Senators, I would also like to note three issues Thom Hartmann has listed as important to our economy: Labor Law, Trade Policy and Immigration. I would add that overarching or underlying these are the issues of social security and health coverage that government and corporations need to fit into the picture.