Progressive Blue State Singalongs

I don't often agree with Paul Begala these days, but in this post he made to HuffPo last night he pretty much nailed it...

---------------

Tough enough to execute Karla Fay Tucker -- and then laugh about it. Tough enough to sign a death warrant for a man whose lawyer slept through the trial -- and then snicker when asked about it in a debate. Even tough enough to execute a great-grandmother who murdered her husband -- after he abused her. A friend of mine at the time asked Bush to commute her sentence, telling him, "Betty Lou ain't a threat to no one she ain't married to." No dice.

Mr. Bush is tough enough to invade a country that was no risk to America, causing tens of thousands of civilian deaths and shedding precious American blood in the process. Tough enough to sanction torture. Tough enough to order an American citizen arrested and held without trial.

But if you're rich and right-wing and Republican, George is a real softie. As George W. Bush demonstrated in giving Scooter Libby a Get Out of Jail Free Card, he is only compassionate to conservatives.

What does it say about America in the age of Bush when Judith Miller spends more time in jail over the Valerie Plame smear than Scooter Libby?

One thing it says is that Mr. Bush and his partner in crime, Dick Cheney, believe they are above the law. The commutation of Libby confirms the belief that Mr. Libby lied to the FBI, perjured himself to the grand jury, and obstructed a federal criminal investigation in order to cover up the role Bush and Cheney played in smearing Joe Wilson and ruining the career of his CIA operative wife.

The arrogance of the act is astounding. In commuting Libby's sentence, Mr. Bush did not follow his own Justice Department's guidelines, which do not recommend commutations unless the convict has begun serving his or her sentence, and has dropped or exhausted all appeals. Of course, Mr. Bush is free to disregard those guidelines, as President Clinton did when he pardoned Marc Rich. The Rich pardon was wrong, in my opinion. But Marc Rich was a fugitive financier; Clinton did not benefit at all from Rich's crimes. Scooter Libby is a Bush-Cheney operative who may well have been doing Bush and Cheney's bidding when he obstructed the investigation into how and Valerie and Joe Wilson were smeared. (By the way, like many Democrats I spoke out publicly against the Rich pardon -- which Scooter Libby helped to arrange. Let's see how many Republicans have the character to speak out against this injustice.)

It's interesting that we still have the capacity to be shocked by the extra-legal acts of this crowd. They came to power by stealing an election, by staging a near-riot to stop the counting of ballots in Miami, and by virtue of a Supreme Court edict that has joined Dred Scott in the judicial hall of shame. From that day to this Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney have held the rule of law in contempt.

And we still have 567 days to go.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/george-w-bush-is-one-tou_b_54721.html

---------------

what can you say about a country that jails paris hilton but not scooter libby,
Otter

[P.S. -- I'm just sayin', http://tinyurl.com/35yftl ]

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, presidential candidate

“After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct.”

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/07/02/libby-commutation-washington-responds/#more-682

Colonel: Iraqi forces still need help from U.S. troops

Highlights
*U.S. Army colonel says it's difficult to fully trust Iraqi counterparts
*Battles in Salman Pak show Iraqi troops can't hold their own, colonel says
*House panel: U.S. has paid $19 billion so far to train Iraqis, with "mixed results"
*Army general: "Persistent" security presence is imperative

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military virtually abandoned an area southeast of Baghdad known as Salman Pak two years ago, leaving behind a refuge for insurgents to operate and allowing them to establish a key explosives smuggling route to Baghdad.

Now, with 28,000 additional troops deployed to Iraq under the military's so-called "surge," U.S. troops are back in Salman Pak in force. They are working with Iraqi security forces to retake lost ground, break up insurgent supply lines and clear the area of al Qaeda fighters and insurgents.

But their presence demonstrates a problem for U.S. forces trying to secure Baghdad and its perimeter: Iraqi security forces are not yet able to secure and hold areas on their own.

"Do I think the Iraqi security forces are improving? Yes," said U.S. Army Col. Wayne Grigsby of the Third Infantry Division. "Are they where they need to be? No."

morons...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/01/pleitgen.surge/index.html

Karen,

We were contemplating going to Tanglewood for A Prairie Home Companion, but somehow we weren't able to make it happen. When I heard the broadcast and that JT was the special guest, I was so bummed.

There is nothing quite like Tanglewood, JT, a summer night, and singing with friends - known and unknown. I'm so glad that you got to experience it, and so sorry that I missed it!

Karen--very cool trip. Sounds quite lovely!

When I think of A Prairie Home Companion, I remember listening to it after the SCOTUS decision in 2000.

I have no idea why only that show stands out in my mind.

Carol--How's the writing going?

Ironic that the Supreme Court made it more difficult to protest sentencing, while Bush pardons a traitor.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-21-prisonrules_N.htm

F*** the blogging folks! We should be IN THE STREETS and in front of our local media demanding IMPEACHMENT.

We should be calling the media too and demanding that they TELL THE TRUTH. The PEOPLE DEMAND IMPEACHMENT!

Who's with me on this?

Hey sparrow -

My first piece was in this past week. I was pretty snarky and was worried that some folks might not get that, but I've gotten only good comments so far!

I, too, recall that Prairie Home Companion after the election - although I would have thought maybe it was 2004. Anyway - I remember Garrison Keillor speaking what we were all thinking and feeling, and how good it felt to have that out there on the public airwaves.

Hey - I just had an idea....maybe next summer a DCP reunion could take place here in W.. Mass with Tanglewood and Garrison Keillor as the backdrop. We'll be in full election swing by then, so there will be lots to discuss and do! Thoughts, anyone?

Some blogger has posted the internal White House phone book.

HAHAHA!

Start calling people

The offices included in the Executive Office of the President.

Council of Economic Advisers: (202) 456-1414 / (202) 395-5084
Council on Environmental Quality: (202) 395-5750 / (202) 456-6224
Office of Administration: (202)456-7921 / (202) 456-2861
Office of Management and Budget: (202) 395-4840 / (202) 395-4840
Office of National Drug Control Policy: (202) 395-6738
Office of Science & Technology Policy: (202) 456-6021 / (202) 456-7116
President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board: (202) 456-2352
United States Trade Representative: (202) 395-7360 / (202) 395-3230

The offices included in the White House Office.

Domestic Policy Council: (202) 456-1111 / (202) 456-5594
Homeland Security Council: (202) 456-1700
National Economic Council: (202) 456-1414 / (202) 456-2800
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: (202) 456-6708 / (202) 456-6708
Office of the First Lady: (202) 456-7074 / (202) 456-7064
Office of National AIDS Policy : (202) 456-7320 / (202) 456-7320
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board: (202) 456-1066
USA Freedom Corps: 1-877-872-2677 / 1-877-USA-CORPS
White House Fellows Office: (202) 395-4522 / (202) 395-4522
White House Military Office: / (202) 757-2151

And the Vice Presidential Entity, whatever branch he ends up in:

Shooter: (202) 456-9000 / (202) 456-1414
Shooter’s Moll, Lynne: (202) 456-7489

Christy,

Maybe we should ask them about TALON while we're at it?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014979.php

Who's with me on this?

Posted by: sparrow at July 3, 2007 08:41 AM

I'm witcha... and you got a nice asterik, if ya don't mind me sayin so.

F-W

TALON Too.

And someone should REALLY REALLY ask about the Iraqi Wolf and Scorpion Brigades too.

(Death squads, set up by rummy under the name El Salvador Operations. The one time he was asked directly he DENIED EVERYTHING.)

Now that I think about it, we should call the First Lady and ask her about Margie Schoedinger.

One More Murder
by Better Than Ezra

One more murder in this town,
Don't mean a thing, just lock your doors
And drive around.

One more murder in this town,
Don't worry the rain will
Wash the chalk marks from the ground.

Saturday night, shots ring out,
Add one to the body count.
You come alive, to see another's end.

Plead it to a lesser count,
D.A. says without a doubt,
In 3-5 you're on the streets again.

One more murder in this town
Don't mean a thing
You get accustomed to the sound

One more murder in this town
Block off the street and
Wrap the crime scene tape around.

Hosanna! Hosanna!
I can't feel a thing at all!
Hosanna! Hosanna!
I can't feel a thing!
I can't feel a thing at all!

Saturday night you're going out
Parking lot, a figure come about
Feel a piece click against your head.
Pleading to his sympathy,
"Take the car, I got a family"
You hear a laugh,
"It don't mean shit to me."

One more murder in this town

It's a Thanksgiving Tradition to watch Alice's Restaurant.
I married someone from Group W.

Prairie Home Companion makes me think of John Kerry in Tacoma Washington in 2003. Garrison Keillor stood up and sang all the verses to "America" until we could hear JK's limo coming.

Then for a long time I couldn't listen to Beautiful Day by U2.

Be sure to check out the new Richard Thomspon (his 30th, I think, in a 40 year career) esp. "Dad'll Kill Me" (with "Dad" being GI slang for "Bagdad").

My favorite song from that Alice's Restaurant is is "Songs to Aging Children," which is dung during a funeral (burial scene outside that church, in the show).

Songs to Aging Children (written by Joni Mitchell)

Through the windless wells of wonder
By the throbbing light machine
In a tea leaf trance or under
Orders from the king and queen

Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one

People hurry by so quickly
Dont they hear the melodies
In the chiming and the clicking
And the laughing harmonies

Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one

Some come dark and strange like dying
Crows and ravens whistling
Lines of weeping, strings of crying
So much said in listening

Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one

Does the moon play only silver
When it strums the galaxy
Dying roses will they will their
Perfumed rhapsodies to me

Songs to aging children came
This is one

which in turn reminds me of Bagdad Cafe - see it if you haven't and hear this song

Callin' You

Desert road from Vegas to nowhere
Someplace better than where you've been
A coffee machine that needs some fixing
In a little cafe just around the bend.

I am calling you
Can't you hear me
I am calling you.

Hot dry wind blows right through me
Baby's crying and I can't sleep
But we both know a change is coming
It's coming closer
Sweet release.

I am calling you
I know you hear me
I am calling you

I am calling you
I know you hear me
I am calling you

Desert road from Vegas to nowhere
Someplace better than where you've been
A coffee machine that needs some fixing
In a little cafe just around the bend
Hot dry wind blows right through me
Baby's crying and I can't sleep
And I can feel a change is coming
coming closer Sweet release.

I am calling you
Can't you hear me
I am calling you.

The other thing from Alice's Restaurant is Alice B Toklas brownies.

I saw pictures of Arlo and he looks the same but long white hair.

Posted by: Christy at July 3, 2007 08:48 AM

I am sorry, but as satisfying as it may be to harass the WH, calling that frat house won't accomplish anything. That group operates under its own set of rules.

Some things that I can think of include: marching in your local July 4 parade with an impeach sign, or standing in the crowd holding a sign simply stating impeach; writing the word "impeach" on all of your paper money; writing the word "impeach" on the back of every piece of mail you send; writing a letter to the editor recounting why this administration has got to go; hanging your american flag upside down; putting bumper stickers on your car; every time you sign your name to something, put the word impeach on it too; freeway blogging.

I used to think impeachment was not the right path to take, but now i see it as the only healthy response to this pathological behavior.

One more murder in this town

Posted by: monkey at July 3, 2007 09:07 AM

That should be Coushattas theme song.

"...marching in your local July 4 parade with an impeach sign"

Are you kidding me...?

Ummmmm. How many of you will be joining me? Just wondering how many witnesses will be on hand to watch the rednecks kick the sh*t out of me.

I am crazy enough to be fearless, but I don't dig the suicidal stuff.

Freeway blogging, or something there abouts, I can do.

PS.. I was not suggesting we 'harrass' them. Unless calling through to have our leaders answer direct questions directly to US is now considered harrassment.

In which case, I still endorse it.

What are they gonna do...? Spy on us for it?

This comment is from a paper within a predominantly Republican area:

For Libby, Bush tilts scales of justice
Fitzgerald: ‘It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals.’
While commuting Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s sentence Monday, President Bush insisted that he respected the jury’s verdict in the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former top aide.

But the president did not respect the verdict sufficiently to let Libby’s appeal of his conviction run its course or for Libby to spend even a single minute behind bars for his conviction on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

In a move that falls somewhere between arrogant and outrageous, the president issued Libby a get-out-of-jail free card that would be available to virtually nobody else convicted of the same offenses.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald drew a lot of heat in his role as special prosecutor investigating the public identification of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. We were among those who questioned his relentless pursuit of reporters involved in the story and his insistence that they reveal their sources.

But in reacting to the president’s commutation of Libby’s 30-month prison sentence, Fitzgerald aptly captured the problem with the president’s decision. Fitzgerald wrote that “… an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals.”

Unless, apparently, one citizen happens to have a benefactor in the Oval Office under pressure from his party’s base to pardon that citizen. While the president stopped short of a pardon, he nonetheless gave this ultimate insider an out that no one else would enjoy.

Granted, this case has been convoluted and difficult from the beginning. Libby, to be sure, was not the person who told conservative commentator Robert Novak that Plame was a CIA operative. Novak included that fact in a column just days after Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly cast doubt on Bush’s ongoing assertion in the weeks leading up to war that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Niger. Wilson found otherwise on his assignment to Africa; he and Plame believe that administration sources used reporters to identify Plame as an act of retribution.

Indeed, testimony throughout Libby’s trial revealed the lengths to which the administration went to protect its rationale for going to war, reasons that turned out to be highly flawed by even the most charitable interpretations.

The White House actually had it right when it said, in the weeks immediately after Libby’s conviction, that it would be inappropriate to intervene in the judicial process. For the president to now decide otherwise — and convey in the process that the legal consequences that apply to everyone else do not apply to his administration — is highly disappointing.

http://www.dailyherald.com/opinion/index.asp

And here is another piece they wrote about freeway blogging in a intense Republican area near my home (The blogger has been charged with throwing debris onto the highway).

Let's be honest. The only reason the misdemeanor disorderly
conduct charges against Jeff Zurawski of Downers Grove are
newsworthy is he was displaying an "Impeach Bush and Cheney
- liars" banner in view of motorists on I-355 during the
incident in question. Otherwise, his is a common case of
alleged tossing of debris from a pedestrian bridge. The
political message behind Zurawski's banner must be left
out of the courtroom. This applies to both sides. Zurawski
is not on trial for his message, and unless some debris
can be traced back to him, it'll be hard to punish him
for anything other than his message. If convicted,
supporters will say it was because his message isn't
popular in a largely Republican county. Either he tossed
the debris off the bridge or he didn't. Let's keep it at that.

Posted by: Christy at July 3, 2007 09:45 AM

I apologize by assuming those numbers were posted to harass and not ask questions. But it is a waste of time to call and ask that group of liars anything.

I don't advocate suicide.

Posted by: oncall at July 3, 2007 09:54 AM

I advocate Cheneycide, or Bushicide. Strongly.

To Kill A Mockingturd

Oncall,

Harassment has never been my thing, but you would not BELIEVE what all I have learned in life by asking direct and blunt questions. Often.

Truth tellers never mind being asked. It is always the liars that get sooooo upset that you were so rude you dared asked them a question and expected an honest answer.

Posted by: oncall at July 3, 2007 09:48 AM

Good to see you!

Also note the Chicago Tribune's editorial today...a paper that has been conservative since Grant's time in office & one who endorsed the idiot in office twice...

Do the crime, do the time

The crimes were serious, the jurors unanimous, the sentencing judge plainly perturbed at the defendant's felonious behavior. And so, four weeks ago, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, got what he had coming: 30 months in a federal slammer.

On Monday, though, President Bush commuted Libby's prison sentence. That leaves Libby, 56, with a $250,000 fine, a lengthy probation and a public humiliation that, no matter how long he lives or what else he accomplishes, will define the first paragraph of his obituary.

But in nixing the prison term, Bush sent a terrible message to citizens and to government officials who are expected to serve the public with integrity. The way for a president to discourage the breaking of federal laws is by letting fairly rendered consequences play out, however uncomfortably for everyone involved. The message to a Scooter Libby ought to be the same as it is for other convicts: You do the crime, you do the time.

The bizarre and politically tinged case that produced Libby's wrongdoing shouldn't obscure the seriousness of his offenses. Most of us are blessedly in the process of forgetting the saga that erupted around one-time CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose name surfaced in the public prints in 2003. Who in official Washington had leaked her identity?

That case meandered far from its origins; no one was ever charged with the leak. But somewhere along that twisting path, Libby decided to break tenets of the legal system he had sworn to uphold. Jurors convicted him of two counts of perjury, one count of obstructing justice, and one count of making false statements about when and how he learned Plume's identity, as well as what he told Washington journalists about her.

U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, the special prosecutor who directed the Plame inquiry, has done a succinct job of explaining why those crimes so profoundly undermine our justice system: "When someone doesn't tell the truth to the system, everyone suffers. The legal system suffers because we don't know what the actual facts are. And, frankly, lots of other people suffer since, when you don't know what the truth is, people draw all sorts of conclusions."

True enough -- just as people will draw conclusions about a president who commutes the sentence of his vice president's right-hand man. As someone intricately involved in helping Cheney on national security issues, Libby served the interests of the same president who on Monday declared incarceration "excessive" punishment for "a first-time offender with years of exceptional public service."

That's the sort of unconvincing piety Illinois defense attorneys murmur after their clients are sentenced in public corruption cases here. It's a lame excuse in Chicago and, on Monday it was a lame excuse in Washington too.
http://tinyurl.com/27uadc = Chicago Tribune

Novak: Libby camp angry at Bush.

Robert Novak writes: “Bush is blamed by friends of Libby for losing control of the Plame investigation by putting it in the hands of a special prosecutor — the U.S. attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald. In his decision sparing Libby jail time, Bush did not say a word of criticism about Fitzgerald.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/03/novak-libby-camp-angry-at-bush/#comments

HAHAHAHA.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/3/23916/45625

snip

The good news? Two of them - Rep. Keith Ellison and Rep. Maxine Waters - have already signed on as co-sponsors of H Res 333 to impeach Cheney.

That means only 21 to persuade. Obviously, Republicans sit on the Judiciary Committee, too. Seventeen of them. It's essential to have a few of those Republicans vote on the side of Democrats if a committee majority eventually approves Articles of Impeachment and sends them for a vote to the full House. But, first things first. And first, we must convince the committee Democrats.

Here are their names and contact information. They are most likely to listen to constituents from their own districts, naturally. But that shouldn’t stop you from phoning, writing or e-mailing one or more of them, urging them to do what needs to be done.

Chairman John Conyers, Michigan, 14th (202) 225-5126 Contact him here.
Howard Berman California, 28th (202) 225-4695 Contact him here
Rick Boucher Virginia, 9th (202) 225-3861 Contact him here
Jerrold Nadler New York, 8th Contact him here
Robert C. Scott Virginia, 3rd (202) 225-8351 Contact him here
Melvin L. Watt North Carolina, 12th (202) 225-1510 Contact him here
Zoe Lofgren California, 16th (202) 225-3072 Contact her here
Sheila Jackson Lee Texas, 18th (202) 225-3816 Contact her here
Martin T. Meehan Massachusetts, 5th Resigned.
William D. Delahunt Massachusetts, 10th (202) 225-3111 Contact him here
Robert Wexler Florida, 19th (202) 225-3001 Contact him here
Linda T. Sánchez California, 39th (202) 225-6676 Contact her here
Steve T. Cohen Tennessee, 9th (202) 225-3265 Contact him here
Hank Johnson Georgia, 4th (202) 225-1605 Contact him here
Luis Gutierrez Illinois, 4th (202) 225-8203 Contact him here
Brad Sherman California, 27 (202) 225-5911 Contact him here
Anthony D. Weiner New York, 9th (202) 225-6616 Contact him here
Adam B. Schiff California, 29th (202) 225-4176 Contact him here
Artur Davis Alabama , 7th (202) 225-2665 Contact him here

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Florida, 20th 202-225-7931 Contact her here
Tammy Baldwin Wisconsin, 2nd (202) 225-2906 Contact her here

As noted, Rep. Ellison and Rep. Waters already favor impeaching Cheney. So, if you favor impeaching him, give them some hugs.

Keith Ellison Minnesota, 5th (612) 522-1212 Contact him here
Maxine Waters California, 35th (202) 225-2201 Contact her here.

Many bloggers and elected Democrats - both progressive and not - say that pushing for impeachment now is a distraction from important business, badly timed, unlikely to reach a majority in the House, much less result in conviction in the Senate, and therefore it's a turn-off to independent voters, which could imperil what could be a policy-shifting Democratic landslide in 2008. In other words, the argument goes, pushing impeachment will be counterproductive and potentially disastrous, just when we're on the brink of a huge change for the better in Congress, the Senate and the White House.

The comments I've heard and read make it obvious that many Democrats on the Judiciary Committee hold some or all those views. That is, therefore, exactly what we have to change their minds about, with vigor, passion and persistence, as well as respect. Quite a few people disagree with that last bit, I know. So, let me repeat that I think calling a person a coward, sell-out, sin cojones or "as bad as a Republican" is not a productive way to begin any conversation directed toward changing that person's mind whether in person, on the phone or by e-mail. Hone your best argument...

snip

OMG.

My man just invited his entire family to our house tommorrow. ALL of them.

I am in hell.

I should flee.

Posted by: Christy at July 3, 2007 11:03 AM

Me bein me & you bein you, I'd put out a big juicy fresh bowl of peaches with the letters "IM-" written all over em.

Fuzzy math.

I wuzzy fuzzy once.

Now I'm just in hell.

My man has 4 sisters and a mother that hardly tolerates me.

Seems I was not what she had in mind for her only son.

For the first 3 years we were together, every time I spoke on the phone to her, she would 'casually' mention she had a room for him, all waiting, if 'he needed somewhere to go'.

Posted by: monkey at July 3, 2007 11:10 AM

Sounds like a plan.

Maybe her table settings can include "Get out of Jail Free" cards.

And the napkins can be florescent orange.

Christy
My in-laws all live far far away (many are from the dark side).

Re calling legislators - I don't think it's a waste of time. I believe it turned my Congressman around on the impeachment issue.

The other possibility is that he knows something far worse than he knew three months ago.

This person spells "commuted" with 2 "t's" but has an interesting idea about why Libby's sentence was commuted.

http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/260320.shtml

Hey, if one was thinking of cheating on their taxes maybe, since they've been a good citizen all these years and have never been charged or convicted of anything, they'd get a Mulligan, right?

Oh, and Christy, it's easier to pick your nose than yer inlaws.

Boogie-oogie-oogie

Boy we are not alone in having wingnuts. This was the top Google news entry - an Australian Op-Ed that calls the Libby thing a "liberal witch hunt."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22014570-601,00.html

It's terrible but it's a small comfort to know other English-speaking countries (or not) have to contend withsuch wingnut apologists for war criminals.

Imperialist colaborators.

By the way, speaking of the famous "flypaper theory" that if we fight terrorists in the middle east they won't follow us home - it appears that some of the detained in the UK are medical doctors from within the national health care system.

Looks like a few leaks in the system, both logically and literally.

Every time I approach the Seattle skyline from the south I see skyscrapers silhouetted against thousands of cargo containers. What if we'd spent alot of the money we spent in a fruitless and fatally damaging war on inspections?

What if we'd spent alot of the money we spent in a fruitless and fatally damaging war on inspections?

Posted by: not my president at July 3, 2007 11:35 AM

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." - Ben Franklin, infamous liberal witch-hunter.

I called the Office of the Vice President:

(these are all offices in the Chief of Staff's office)

202-456-9000

202-456-2963

202-456-7453

202-456-6223

202-456-0395

202-456-0396

202-456-7870

I am sorry, but as satisfying as it may be to harass the WH, calling that frat house won't accomplish anything. That group operates under its own set of rules.

Some things that I can think of include: marching in your local July 4 parade with an impeach sign, or standing in the crowd holding a sign simply stating impeach; writing the word "impeach" on all of your paper money; writing the word "impeach" on the back of every piece of mail you send; writing a lett

@@@@@@@@@

I disagree, calling the White House is a way of expressing extreme displeasure.

Today, both the White House switchboard and the White House comment line has been tied up with busy signals ( a victory in itself ).

I had decided previously not to call the Vice President's office even though I had the phone numbers of the V.P.'s staff, but with this latest outrage, this morning I started to go through the list of phone numbers. Frequently, the person answering the phone is a young person who knows very little and is merely acting as an answering machine. Your goal is to get around this person and express your displeasure with someone who does know something.

Speaker Pelosi's office:

Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0100

Her press office

Contact:
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616

I called Pelosi's office and recommended that the Democrats call for Karl Rove's resignation since the Libby trial revealed that Rove was one of the people involved in the leaks.

I also recommended that they point out that Bush lied when he said there was an internal investigation of the Plame leak - this was a lie, there was no internal investigation of the leak by the Bushies.

Posted by: Ralpheh at July 3, 2007 11:57 AM
Not trying to diss ya sir, honest, but I'm just firmly of the belief that, if we call the office of VP, and the message gets delivered loud and clear to the VP, that Dick comes back with something like this, and I'm not kidding...

'Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for justice and you curse the government. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that commuting Libby's sentence, while annoying, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!'

Posted by: monkey at July 3, 2007 11:45 AM

Well, since we're in a quoting mood...

What? Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over til we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Germans? Forget it, he's rollin'. It ain't over now. Cause when the goin' gets tough...the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go! Oooooohhhh!

- Blutarsky

I told ya they were acting freaky all the sudden.

Tis rebellion...? Nay sire....

Members of the White House press corps became frustrated with Press Secretary Tony Snow Tuesday when he kept using "nuance" to answer questions about the President's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence.

One member of the corps yelled repeatedly that Libby was convicted of "obstruction of justice." Another press corps member told Snow, "You are insulting our intelligence."

Video from CNN

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/07/03/press-corps-during-libby-_n_54804.html

In a White House press conference on Tuesday morning, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow appeared to suggest that Vice President Dick Cheney's views may have been considered by President George W. Bush as he deliberated on whether to commute or pardon the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"Everybody had an opportunity to share their views," Snow said in the Tuesday morning press conference.

Snow later clouded up his statement that the Vice President had been involved in the deliberations.

"I'm sure that the Vice President may have expressed an opinion," Snow said, then adding. "He may have recused himself, I honestly don't know."

But Snow insisted that the commutation of Libby's sentence was not a 'personal favor' to Cheney.

"The president does not look upon this as granting a favor to anyone," he asserted. "To do that is to misconstrue the nature of the deliberations."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cheney_consulted_in_Scooter_Libby_deliberations_0703.html

Yeah, don't 'misconstrue' what the 'deliberations' were really about.

Getting away with WAR CRIMES most certainly was their true conversation.

I am so outraged, yet all I can do is emit this wierd and constant chuckle while shaking my head.

Bush: Libby pardon still possible

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Tuesday he wouldn't rule out a pardon for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, after sparing him a 30-month prison sentence on Monday.

But Bush said the $250,000 fine and two years' probation assessed Libby in the CIA leak case should stand.

"I felt like the jury verdict ought to stand. I felt like some of the punishments that the judge determined were adequate should stand. But I felt like the 30-month sentencing was severe.

"I made a judgment, a considered judgment, and I believe it's the right decision to make in this case. I stand by it," Bush said.

"As to the future, I rule nothing in and nothing out," Bush said as he left a visit to Walter Reed Medical Center.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/03/libby.sentence/index.html

.........

Re calling legislators - I don't think it's a waste of time. I believe it turned my Congressman around on the impeachment issue.

Posted by: not my president at July 3, 2007 11:25 AM

I think if you accurately read my post, you would know that I was not talking about legislators, but instead, I was talking about the White House. A WH by the way, which could give a flying f**k what we measly citizens think.

Whatever floats your boat....., call them and add to their jammed phone lines. But don't do it today, do it two weeks from now.

Oncall
I intend to call both.

The most fun I ever had calling the WH was when Larry Flynt put up "Nancy Reagan's Phone Sex" in his magazine and it was the real number - until the WH found out. The receptionist (you got a human in those days) said, "Why do you people keep calling about that? What's going on?"

I was looking at the "Sound Off" column about Libby at Seattle P I on-line. The commenters were overwhelmingly pissed off about the Libby sentence being commuted by Bush. There were a couple of trolls and the only thing one of them could think of to say was that we were "unwashed."

Watch MSM pull Clinton into this and say that presidential pardons are routine. They will have this in full swing by end of the afternoon, judging by what wingnuts are responding to already on the internet.

Everything ends up being a big battle.

Romney defends Bush's commutation move
Former Mass. governor denied every pardon request during his term

Updated: 10 minutes ago
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who as Massachusetts governor refused to pardon an Iraq war veteran's BB-gun conviction, on Tuesday called President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence "reasonable."

Defending Bush, Romney said at a campaign stop that "the president looked very carefully at the setting" before deciding to commute the 2 1/2-year sentence of Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was convicted in the CIA leak case.

The prosecutor in the case "went after somebody even when he knew no crime had been committed," Romney said. "Given that fact, isn't it reasonable for a commutation of a portion of the sentence to be made?"

As governor, Romney twice rejected a pardon for Anthony Circosta, who at age 13 was convicted of assault for shooting another boy in the arm with a BB gun - a shot that didn't break the skin. Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard and led a platoon of 20 soldiers in Iraq's deadly Sunni triangle.

In 2005, as he was serving in Iraq, he sought a pardon to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.

In his presidential bid, Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office. He says he refused pardons because he didn't want to overturn a jury.

During the four years Romney was in office, 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons were filed in the state. All were denied.

moron...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19586943/from/RS.1/

Fortunately for these candidates, this country is still chock full o'nuts.

Susan McDougal would not lie and was punished. Libby did lie and was rewarded.

She was acquitted on the charge of obstruction and the jury deadlocked on the two counts of criminal contempt. She was convicted of nothing, repeat nothing. She spent 18 months in prison before she was convicted of nothing.

Libby was found GUILTY of obstruction of justice and lying, subsequently sentenced, yet he spent not ONE hour incarcerated.

I think she is a fine example of the despicable hypocrisy exemplified by bush yesterday.

And, BTW, practically everyone involved in prosecuting or judging Lewis Libby was a Republican.

Posted by: madame defarge at July 3, 2007 04:17 PM

None of this matters, The Decider is in charge, master of the universe, able to destroy tall buildings in a single term.

Energy is being wasted everywhere. Ain't jack shit gonna happen 'cept what The Decider decides. Call the WH, call yer reps. Do whatever,
ain't NUTHIN gonna happen. Nuthin. The same nuthin that has happened the last 7 effin years.

Nuthin from nuthin leaves nuthin.

He pardons Libby.
Bet me.

Ummmm, in the meantime...

This is what we have created.

Go look at this image.

Iraqi boys 'mock executing' a 4 year old.

I am so f*cking sick of georg w bush.

http://blog.news-record.com/staff/jrblog/

I am heading off to the Code Pink house tonight, in a rage and feeling fierce.

Just got the email from Cindy Sheehan saying she is back in, and marching with Rev. Yearwood July 12.

They plan o be in DC around July 21. Anyone want to join in?

What's it gonna take?

Here's another sign to use tomorrow:

Get Out of Jail Free...
Vote GOP!

Posted by: karen at July 3, 2007 04:23 PM

I'd be afraid to type what its gonna take, in fear I might get a knock on the door by guys in dark suits & sunglasses.

Happy Independence Day, huh?

Karen
I email'd you something from someone in your area who wants info r/t upcoming actions.

& how 'bout that Supreme Court decision 1-2 weeks ago where someone who did approx. same thing Libby did got approx. the same sentence AND HAS TO SERVE IT? It was considered to illustrate that his sentence was fair. Doesn't that guy have a family too? Why doesn't Bush commute his sentence too? I mean, the guy took it all the way to the Supreme Court ..

madame,
thanks for the sign idea. getting the markers out now.

monkey--the march to dc is beginning in Georgia and ending at my house. when's that move again?

nmp. got it and will email him.

carol s: wish you had been at tanglewood--but try to catch arlo this weekend! tell him to come to dc!!

everyone welcome at the dcp house on cap hill...

Posted by: karen at July 3, 2007 04:23 PM

'tis my brides burfday that weekend, we'll be in the Keys drinking hard enuff to forget all this crap.

I'll be there in spirits.

Really good diary...with great info & lots of reference links...and written by a Texan!

The Price of Libby's Silence
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/3/125554/5096

I can visit for a few minutes in irc if anyone can chat.

(I will be logging off at 5:25ish)

If people start in on Clinton pardoning, show them this:

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-people-pardoned-by-george-w-bush
(seems to like the drug dealers)
Daddy has a nice list too:
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-people-pardoned-by-george-h-w-bush

Here is the reaction of a new immigrant I know:

What good is a judge?

I woke up this morning and asked myself: "Gee what's going on in this world!?" . Even I am not a big fan of Paris Hilton but I feel symphaty with her, have to sit in jail for 21 days because of drunk and driving while the person who found guilty manipulated our national security get free, NOT even 1 day in jail !!!!!!

Remember the other day Cheney said that "I am above executive branch ?" I did not see such phrases in our founding father's constitution preamble,did you ? Or maybe I missed it.

Another typical republican hypocrite !

madame,

Thank you for sharing that diary. It is excellent!

Need to log out early.

Maybe another time...

Detour to the bright side...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19509443/

Holocaust survivor leaving US
http://justicefornone.com/article.php?story=20050527204356114
This is being recirculated in light of recent events.

OK, one more diary recommendation, this time about the pros & cons impeachment. It has interesting perspectives from Digby as well as a Kossack (Meteor Blades) & is well worth the read.

Digby on Impeachment
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/3/174610/8900

Karen, what a great place to have been. I think often of Alice's Restaurant because it's the only time that war recruitment has been described acurately. Arlo Guthrie was in Australia last year - or was it the year before - or before that? Regardless, most of our radio presenters are in their mid+50s and each one wanted Alice's Restaurant played. I felt a bit sorry for him, because I don't really know much of his other stuff except what came on the original album all those years ago.

I used that when my sons were into some appalling war tv series. My eldest said, "I wish I could go and fight in a war." I said, "War isn't anything like that." It was good to have Alice's Restaurant to play. When Arlo goes into the screaming of "I wanna kill! Kill! Kill!" and so on, that's where you start to understand the manipulation of the powerful who want you to do something abhorrent for them. Except they tell you that it's for YOU and YOUR country.

Patrick, on the JK blog, made me realise that what we do is the same as Arlo sang about and we are appalled at terrorists for doing it. Since 9/11 we have been training our own suicide bombers. Over 3 and a half thousand young people have died for us? Not for me. I've never wanted our young people to be taught to hate and feel ok about killing. But there you are. We train them. We send them off to their deaths - too many of them. And before they go they are trained to believe in the cause, whatever the war activists tell them it is. And they go willingly to their deaths in order to save us.

Arlo Guthrie in that one song, let us all into that perversity. For intelligent people to continue to engage in war, is obscene.

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment tonight

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmrcpDiv_ac

transcript: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588942

It will bring tears to your eyes...

Here's a priceless snippet from KO's comment:

"You both crossed the Rubicon yesterday. Which one of you chose the route, no longer matters. Which is the ventriloquist, and which the dummy, is irrelevant. But that you have twisted the machinery of government into nothing more than a tawdry machine of politics, is the only fact that remains relevant."

Posted by: not my president at July 3, 2007 11:35 AM

NMP this article just tells me how right I am to never bother reading the Australian. That paper used to be independent but is now so right that they're over the horizon. The only thing that paper is good for is lighting the fire on a cold winter's night and for it's cryptic crossword before being burned or recycled. Never to read. Not since it lost so many excellent journalists. Not since it plagiarises the right wing newspapers of the world without attributing ownership to the writer. I have to confess that I didn't even read this article. I crossed over to it and committed the journalist to memory (will last about a minute and a half) and will try to remember not to read him anywhere.

Woz
I agree - and have since I was a teenager in the Vietnam war - I researched an article on the Quakers and learned about how the Navy Seals and Green Berets and so on were conditioned to dehumanize the enemyd - mostly be being humiliated during their training.

I have never felt guilty when my husband or son did not go to fight, or friends or brothers either. There is always propaganda that they are fighting to make us safe, to preserve our freedom and all the rest. It's not too hard to demonstrate that they are fighting for big industry and big banking.

Then there are the guys like Cheney with five deferments who send them. I knew guys with one legitimite deferment who never sent anybody anywhere and who marched and worked to make it less likely others would die for bullshit made-up causes again.

Call me a traitor, wingnuts, and I might take it as a compliment, since I know where you're coming from.

Some good comes from a western-hated group in the troubled Palestine.

Kidnappers free BBC journalist
July 4, 2007 - 10:59AM
Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in the Gaza Strip since March, was handed over by his Islamist captors to ruling Hamas officials on Wednesday, Palestinian sources close to negotiations for his release said.

The sources told Reuters they saw the 45-year-old Briton being taken into the care of officials from the Hamas movement, which seized full control of Gaza three weeks ago.

"He is sitting with his colleagues from the BBC office in Gaza," one of the witnesses said in the early hours of the morning. "He is talking to them and he looks fine and well".

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/kidnappers-free-bbc-journalist/2007/07/04/1183351251667.html

My husband put a flag out for Independence Day - in the "distress" position.

We haven't grown independent yet. We are still attached to the motherland. :(

Judge Walton has called for all the attorneys to present briefings based on the new dilemma that Bush's commutation gives.

http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/files/libby_3583.pdf

CNN has posted about this too. Call me cynical, but I think this story is more fair than usual due to the polls that show a huge percentage of Americans disapprove of the commutation.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/03/libby.sentence/index.html

I thought the article was mostly factual and fair until I got to the portion here:

"Plame had worked in the CIA's counter-proliferation division before the March 2003 invasion. She told a congressional committee in March that her exposure effectively ended her career and endangered "entire networks" of agents overseas.

Plame's name became public when Robert Novak named her in his column on July 14, 2003."

That paragraph doesn't tell the complete truth. It hides behind previous talking points. What it should have said is "She testified she was a covert agent working on nuclear proliferation and was part of the team investigating the nuclear capabilities in Iran (etc). When her cover was blown it endangered the entire network ...."

Jesselyn won a "Wings of Justice" award. And now we have another great winner:

Mari Oye

http://wingsofjustice.com/07/07/woj07027.html

** new thread **

We haven't grown independent yet. We are still attached to the motherland. :(

Posted by: woz at July 4, 2007 03:04 AM

So are we, apparently, or they to us. Canada appears to show much more independence from the Crown.