New legislation is circulating in the Statehouse calling for Bush’s impeachment under Section 603 of the Jefferson’s Manual (a la, the Rutland Resolution). From vtimpeach.com:

The bill needs as many co-sponsors as possible, so the call is out to contact your own state Representatives and ask them to sign on. Last year’s bill had about a dozen signers – most of whom are still in the legislature. Clearly these folks should be contacted again, but we shouldn’t stop there.

BIll Lippert (D-Hinesburg) is the Judiciary Chair, so its of particular importance that he be contacted by constituents. Leadership should hear from their voters as well.

Please check out the full piece for details on how you can help out. There will be a lot to say on this over the coming weeks (and Kagro X will want to chime in, as one of the national leaders on this effort), so I’ll hold off on any more for now.

Don’t trouble your beautiful minds, the federal government says Vermont Yankee is nothing to worry about. Don’t you feel better now?

Another new blog with anonymous “insiders” appears. This one’s a bit skimpy on the content, but it’s good – and the folks involved actually are plugged in. Check it out at www.vtscrapwood.blogspot.com.

A new leaked Congressional Budget Office report has shown that Bush may be sending as many as 48,000 troops in this surge, double what was originally proposed. From DefenseTech.org, the CBO report states:

  Over the past few years , DoD’s practice has been to deploy a total of about 9,500 personnel per combat brigade to the Iraq theater, including about 4,000 combat troops and about 5,500 supporting troops.

  DoD has not yet indicated which support units will be deployed along with the added combat forces, or how many additional troops will be involved. Army and DoD officials have indicated that it will be both possible and desirable to deploy fewer additional support units than historical practice would indicate. CBO expects that, even if the additional brigades required fewer support units than historical practice suggests, those units would still represent a significant additional number of military personnel.

  To reflect some of the uncertainty about the number of support troops, CBO developed its estimates on the basis of two alternative assumptions. In one scenario, CBO assumed that additional support troops would be deployed in the same proportion to combat troops that currently exists in Iraq. That approach would require about 28,000 support troops in addition to the 20,000 combat troops-a total of 48,000. CBO also presents an alternative scenario that would include a smaller number of support personnel-about 3,000 per combat brigade-totaling about 15,000 support personnel and bringing the total additional forces to about 35,000.

As you’ve read here recently, Sen. Russ Feingold has introduced legislation that will essentially cut off funding for the war after 6 months and call for a redeployment of troops from Iraq. This is not some mushy non-binding symbolic resolution, it is the real deal. Leahy has already signed on as a co-sponsor, and I’m sure Bernie will too, if he hasn’t already. Here’s the fact sheet for the bill, be sure to read it: http://feingold.sena…

Anyways, as we hear all the talk of Welch not going far enough, etc. , here’s how to put him to the test. Call his VT office at 888-605-7270 or his Washington office at (202) 225-4115 and tell them that you want Welch to publicly express support of Feingold’s resolution bill, and that ‘symbolic resolutions’ are meaningless, and don’t go far enough. And remember, be nice.

UPDATE: Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey  is sponsoring a bill on the house side (Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act of 2007) that is similar to Feingold’s. Here are the cosponsors:Barbara Lee (CA), Maxine Waters (CA), Diane Watson (CA), James McGovern (MA), Barney Frank (MA), Raul Grijalva (AZ), Chaka Fattah (PA), Jerrold Nadler (NY), John Conyers Jr. (MI), Wm. Lacy Clay (MO), Steve Cohen (TN), Maurice Hinchey (NY), Bob Filner (CA), Dennis Kucinich (OH), Donald Payne (NJ) and Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX).

You can read about it here:http://woolsey.house…
Call Welch and demand him to co-sponsor this important legislation.

Please post your experiences in the comments section.

( – promoted by odum)

Right-wing hate groups that lie and are deliberately making it harder for the U.S Capitol Police to do their jobs?? Say it isn’t so.Who would Jesus harass? Americablog has the scoop on the latest round of idiocy from the right.

Why Bill O’Reilly Ought To Be Sodomized With a Microphone (Vermont Boycott Edition), in which the Rude Pundit brings us his unique perspective on doughy pantload Bill O’Reilly’s VT boycott.

Robert Parry warns us as to why we must move quickly to stop George Bush, and that an attack on Iran is much closer than you think.

And finally, Kos diarist Brooklyn Raider takes us into the sleazy belly of the beast with I Was a Mole at the Conservative Summit: They’re Not Dead Yet.

Happy Thursday, and remember, if it weren’t for the daily dose of right-wing idiocy, we’d all be bored!

”We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war,” Ivins wrote in the Jan. 11 column. ”We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!”’

I started reading Molly Ivins back in the 1980’s in The Nation. Her columns on Texas politics, about which I knew very little, were always funny, but with an edge that attacked the comfortable and powerful. It was only natural when W (“Shrub”, as she called him) hit the national stage that she would get more attention.

The Star-Telegram has some great stuff on her. (Free registration required.)

If you aren’t already familiar with her, pick up one of her books, like Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?