House Cmte Votes For Rove To Be In Contempt, Now What?

First of all I'd like to congratulate the House Judiciary Committee on showing the tiniest hint of a spine by holding Karl Rove in contempt of Congress. He feels that since he worked for George Bush, that magically puts him above the law. Well the framers of our country and our Constitution felt differently, and so should all of us. So procedurally speaking, Chairman Conyers did his job by moving this along to the full House.

From Bloomberg:

The House Judiciary Committee's 20-14 vote along party lines escalated the dispute between the Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress over lawmakers' demand for testimony by presidential aides.

President George W. Bush has invoked executive privilege to bar his aides from testifying under oath in Congress about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. The president also barred Rove's testimony on the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

The panel has asked a federal judge to order Bush's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten to turn over documents about the firings and to direct former White House counsel Harriet Miers to testify about the dismissals.

So now that John Conyers had his committee vote for contempt, it is up to the full Congress to vote on it. Say they hold him in contempt in a week or two from now. When Rove sticks his middle finger at that, will Congress go all the way and put him in jail? More than a hundred-thousand have already signed the pledge (including myself) for them to do so. This is really simple, Karl Rove broke the law for political reasons, going as far as having a governor put in jail for purely vindicative reasons. Now that we found out what he was up to, it is time to have justice give him the swift kick in the ass that he justly deserves. Any other conclusion is completely unacceptable.

Republicans Literally Walkout From Accountability!

In an un-Democratic Party way, the leadership in the House of Representatives stood up and demanded accountability from White House personnel that disregarded Congressional subpoenas. After several long months of House Democrats hemming and hawing, they finally brought the resolution to the floor that held Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress. Well one bold act deserves another, and Republicans did just that.

From RawStory:

On a vote of 223-to-32 House Democrats succeeded in passing the contempt charges against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers, after Republicans walked out in protest.

House Republicans staged a walk-out Thursday afternoon to protest the contempt vote and the failure by the chamber's majority members to bow to President Bush's demands on a controversial spying law.

"We will not stand here and watch this floor be abused for pure political grandstanding at the expense of our national security. ... Let's just get up and leave," Republican Leader John Boehner advised his colleagues as they dramatically left the floor Thursday afternoon.

When faced with the dilemma of participating in holding members their own party accountable, they act like five year olds and walkout. Truly pathetic!

Forget about Boehner and company though, the true test is to see whether the Attorney General will actually follow the rules set forth in the Constitution and have this matter adjudicated. So far I have little hope in Mukasey, but time will tell I guess.

Congressional Priorities

As I was sitting at lunch in the pizza parlor across the street, the TV was on NY1 as usual. Instead of hearing the local news in background, what I heard was members of Congress questioning Roger Clemons and his former trainer on the issue of whether or not they used/administered the steroid HGH. Trust me folks, I'd much rather hear about the weather. I did hear one Congresswoman say that it was ridiculous they were wasting the Congress' time by doing this....and I completely agree with that conservative on this. Why does Congress care about a Major League Baseball incident? Are they just looking to increase C-Span's ratings?

Instead of that crap, we could have heard about how the Democratic Congress is finally going to stop bending over for the White House and execute the contempt of Congress against Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers. Why did we not? Well, because the Nancy Pelosi-led Democrats are going to cave because they fear the courts will reject them. Aww, boo f**kin hoo. Pelosi can't even set a date for the hearings after stalling on this for months. I want to see some action damnit! I want these crooks to be held accountable. Our democracy will cease to exist unless EVERYONE is held to the same standards of law. Just because you work at the White House does not mean you get to commit crimes against Congress.

Seriously if I was Roger Clemons or Brian McNamee I wouldn't have bothered to show up. Why should they if members of the White House staff won't? Screw that. The Congress has better matters to attend to, and they better start doing it before they lose all of their legitimacy.

Does Anyone Hear The Screams?

Would you try to help someone that was being victimized by a criminal? Someone that was being robbed, raped or about to be murdered? Would the Good Samaritan in you prevail or the apathetic "its not me" take over? I would like to think that I would be the Good Samaritan, but no one really knows until you are placed in that situation.

One time when I was working for Kerry/Edwards I saw a friend run over by a truck while crossing the street with a "Walk" sign during a sign-waving rally. The people in the car were yelling and screaming obscenities at us and didn't pay attention to their driving. Once she was struck, they sped off, committing hit and run in addition to assault with a deadly weapon.

In the confusion I tried to write down the license plate of the rapidly disappearing vehicle, only being able to call the police and give a description of what it looked like. I felt bad that I couldn't write that plate number down, because it would have brought the driver to justice, who ultimately got away despite the best efforts of the Tucson Police Department.

Thankfully, miraculously, she survived the impact. Even with bruises all over her body and a serious concussion, the paramedics and the doctors at the hospital helped to save her life. Truly a miracle. Even though we lost that election four days later, knowing she was on the road to recovery made up for the sadness of Bush's re-election.

Well now Bush has had almost another three years in office since that late October night. The President and his men are continuing their assault on our country. They are committing murder in a way. By leaving our troops in Iraq, by keeping a despicable foreign policy
and by stabbing our democracy to death with their disrespect of the constitution and the separation of powers.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy is threatening to hold Bush in contempt, shouting loudly at the press. They hear him, and they dutifully report it to their publications, just as they dutifully report Bush's statements verbatim. Then the pundits go at it, conservatives dismiss it as political theater, while the liberals decry Bush's continuing assault.

Yet despite all of that, who is really listening? Most Americans frankly do not give a shit. 23/6.com lays it out perfectly at Huffington Post, with a neat little graph that makes it easy to see what the public cares about. So while Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse and whatever other celebrity fucks their lives up, the media writes down the details of their sexcapades, drug usage and alcoholic binges in order to keep the masses glued for the next round, and the masses hear the screams of our nation in the background, pretending that....."at least its not me."

America needs to wake up, and in a hurry.

The Arrogance of Tony Snow

Les' questions and Tony Snow's lecture I posted about before is nothing compared to this video clipping. His arrogance is incredible and overpowering and reeks of the contempt of the White House for the rule of law in our nation.

F.B.I. Chief Blasts Gonzo's Testimony

Alberto Gonzales is a dastardly liar, there is no doubt about that. His testimony before Congress over the last few months has been nothing but a metaphorical lugee (sp?) on the face of this nation and our Constitution. He doesn't care that he lies to Congress and the American people. But there are plenty of people willing to call him on his bullshit, like the current F.B.I. director Robert Mueller.

From The New York Times:

Mr. Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee that the Bush administration’s secret eavesdropping program was the main topic at an encounter in the hospital room of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on March 10, 2004, contrary to what Mr. Gonzales told a Senate panel on Tuesday.

At the time, Mr. Gonzales was the White House counsel, and Mr. Ashcroft was recovering from gall bladder surgery. That March night, Mr. Gonzales went to the hospital room with Andrew H. Card Jr., then White House chief of staff.

In his testimony before the Senate panel on Tuesday, Mr. Gonzales said the subject in the hospital room was “intelligence activities” under debate in the administration, but not the secret eavesdropping program.

But Mr. Mueller contradicted that version of events today, several hours after four Senate Democrats called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate whether Mr. Gonzales perjured himself before Congress.

If homicide detectives find bloody fingerprints at a murder scene and the suspect in question is denying it, chances are he is lying. Mr. Gonzales' prints are all over this scene, and if Congress' investigation needs more information than this, then something is wrong. The glove fits, so this criminal doesn't deserve an acquittal, he needs to get the full force of the law. It is time for his impeachment and conviction.