I spoke with someone who attended the graduation ceremony at West Point where Dick Cheney gave the commencement speech. Cheney then stood on stage and shook hands with each of the 1000 graduates: wait, make that 999. Because one courageous and principled cadet faced Cheney, looked him up and down, decided not to offer his hand and walked on. Cheney was visibly taken aback, and turned to glare after the parting cadet. (We can only imagine the repercussions that this cadet may now face.)
  A West Point cadet is the epitome of honor, duty and respect. That this graduate was willing to show the assembled gathering that he would not deign to honor this dishonorable Vice President with a handshake should have sent tremors of excitement through the crowd. This is probably the first time in six years that anyone has had the temerity and honesty to face down the man whom we could arguably call the Big Evil. Cheney should be getting this treatment from every person he encounters, as should Bush, Gonzales, Rice and the rest of this renegade administration. Of course, these corrupted leaders have insulated themselves from almost any contact with the general public, to the extent of even blocking off the side streets as their armored motorcades (reminiscent of images of  dictator governments the world over) take them from home to work. If they were regularly exposed to common Americans they would discover that there are many who would dare to tell them that this emperor has no clothes.
  This dovetails beautifully with a recent call by Scott Ritter for Americans to ?repudiate? this administration and its policies. Unfortunately, Ritter feels compelled to preface his call with an imperfect and misleading understanding of impeachment efforts, leading him to dismiss the idea and call for repudiation instead. However, repudiation, as explained by Ritter, is more of a concept than a plan for action. How exactly do we go about it and how does it have an effect? The point he misses is that impeachment, a formalized and proscribed Constitutional method to curb executive abuse, is the perfect complement and comrade to whatever ?repudiations? that we can muster.
  Very few of us will be given such a golden opportunity, as was this cadet to repudiate this administration. But we now need to ask ourselves, what do we have available? How can we take a stand every day in every act we take that says, No More Business as Usual? How can we turn our everyday acts into statements of defiance and patriotic dissent? We need to start to look at the connections behind every transaction or exchange that we make. We need to explain to every clerk who takes our money that we are sliding into early stages of fascism and they need to be worried. We need to figure out how to disrupt business as usual in our own neighborhoods. It is likely that any disruptions of business or blockading streets, flash mobbing town council meetings etc. will inconvenience and even anger some folks who are not directly responsible for the current occupation and erosion of rights. But at this point in the game, that will be a necessary cost of dissent. We need everybody to be angry. If they have to start by being angry at us for bringing this to their attention in an uncomfortable way, so be it. As they see how widespread our discontent is, and they understand how many of us are only going to escalate the disruptions, annoyances and inconveniences, they will start to understand the reasons behind our actions.
  The next time that you say to yourself that ?this isn?t the time to mention the occupation or constitutional crimes because it?s not the right setting?, know that you are fooling yourself. From today onward, there is no place where loud dissent is inappropriate. We need to make ourselves ungovernable, pure and simple. Let the bravery of one West Point cadet be your inspiration to take this struggle out of your heart and put in on the table front and center wherever you may be.
  Democratic leaders like John Conyers are starting to soften their resistance to the calls for impeachment. They are asking us to show them that we really want accountability. We can make daily life so uncomfortable and unpredictable that impeachment will be a welcome balm to smooth the roiling waves. We can?t hold investigations and file articles of impeachment ourselves, but we must show our representatives that we no longer consent to be governed by them as they now operate.
  It is time for a Constitutional Restoration. It is up to us to make it happen.

With respect to extremist views being bantered about in the impeachment debate, I think that it’s all good. One of the beautiful things about the “Vermont Impeachment Movement” is that is doesn’t exist as an entity. We are all individuals, although many of us are working together on various aspects of the struggle.
  I have been very fortunate to be able to work with the 603 Democrats such as John Odum, having discovered them by being introduced to Jeffry Taylor by a national impeachment advocate from California. I have also found discussions with the “fringe” Greens to be useful, and there are plenty of folks who are considered extremists who were out ther this winter gathering names to get impeachment on town meeting ballots. I also appreciate the efforts of Jimmy Leas and Liza Earle, and do not think that their interests are anything other than building a powerful and effective call for impeachment.
  I realize that not all of these groups have thus far co-mingled successfully, but I don’t even see that as a serious problem, although it is an unfortunate one.
  We don’t need an organizxed movement. We just all need to be moving towards the same goal. To the extent that we can support each other, we’ll get better results. But even if groups who mistrust each other are both working towards the same goal, it’s still to the good.
  Loyal Democrats face a bit of a dilemma. Their leadership and many of its representatives are not living up to the expectations that came with the last election. Many many Americans feel betrayed by them. If some, as Cindy Sheehan, renounce their membership and  call for a third way, it is understandable. If party members want to stick with the party and work for change within, that is also understandable. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to support both of these approaches as honest individual responses to a national crises that is not being dealt with as of yet.
  If it takes a credible threat of a major loss of support to get the Dems. to act, why not try that approach? If Democrats like the PDA can change the culture of the party leadership and win back the dissaffected, how beautiful would that be?
  Personally, I don’t even think about party affiliation when I’m thinking about activists or representatives. I’m looking to what people a doing, and make my judgements accordingly. Unfortunately, many politicians and others in the public eye are not acting honorably and instead put ambition in front of Constitutional duties. No one should be spared our ire simply because they’re a member of one group or another. And no good deed should go unnoticed. You may distrust Peter Shumlin’s motives or methods, but the fact is, he saw that he was on the wrong side of the im[peachment argument and he did something about it.
  If we can’t all just get along, so be it. Let’s not let it get in the way of saving the Republic from jettisoning the Constitution and slipping into fascism.

(I’m promoting it up here just because there’s been quite a bit of discussion going on. – promoted by Brattlerouser)

From the Windham County Monthly: The Commons.

I would preface this letter for GMD by saying that going after bad deeds with no holds barred doesn’t mean relinquishing the determination to continue to try to change such bad behavior. Until our representatives are admonished in public, repeatedly, they will continue to follow an errant leadership and serve us badly. If they continue to betray us, they should lose their jobs.

What do you call a man who betrays his own deeply held principles as soon as he thinks it expedient to do so? Congressman, in this case Vermont Congressman Peter Welch. When campaigning for election last year, Mr. Welch was all about ending the occupation in Iraq. “I want this war to end yesterday” he reiterated to cheering crowds, raising hope that at least Vermont could get one voice into Congress that would actually work to end the Iraq debacle.

But Welch’s legacy as Vermont Senate majority leader, where he caved in to Governor Douglas and the nuclear power industry, selling out southern Vermont residents in the process, and where he caved into Douglas and pharmaceutical lobbyists by failing to marshal the Democratic majorities in the Vermont House and Senate to enact any meaningful health care reform during his tenure, has proven to be a better barometer of what to expect from this freshman representative in Washington D.C.

While Welch will point proudly to his recent vote against funding for the Iraq occupation, he won’t be so quick to tell you how his earlier procedural vote guaranteed that the funding bill would be passed, even without his vote. The procedural vote banned any hostile amendments from being added to the blank check approval for Bush’s war escalation plans, and conveniently separated some added domestic spending from the occupation money so that “progressives” could vote for dollars for their districts while letting others vote for the occupation appropriations. So ending the war is the most important thing, unless you can be bought off with some monetary support for Vermont dairy farmers.

Mr. Welch has just become a shareholder in this illegal and disastrous war. He should enjoy his membership in the democrat/republican corporate toady club now, because he won’t be happy with the dividends that his investment will realize when the next election comes around.

Dan DeWalt

South Newfane

(Because impeachment really is too important NOT to ignore! – promoted by Brattlerouser)

Patrick Leahy, Vermont’s senior Senator recently replied to a constituent urging him to support impeachment efforts underway in the Congress to impeach Vice President Cheney. Consider these profoundly troubling utterances of Saint Patrick.

“Thank you for contacting me about Vice President Cheney From the time President Bush and Vice President Cheney first took office in 2001, many Vermonters have shared with me their concerns about the actions and policy priorities of this Administration. Along with Senator Sanders and Congressman Peter Welch, I share the frustration and anger of the Vermont Senate and many Vermonters. I have strongly objected to a number of the Administration’s policy objectives and am ready to restore checks and balances and close oversight of the Administration.”

What does it mean to “be ready” to restore checks and balances? As evidenced by Leahy’s inactions, it does not mean any investigation into unconstitutional actions taken by the President or Vice President. While the Senator is wasting weeks and months looking into the political firings of prosecutors by the Attorney General, Bush and company are unabashedly escalating troop levels in support of their occupation of Iraq, as well as issuing executive directives declaring that Bush will have control of the entire federal government if he deems it necessary.

We don’t need the Senator to share our frustrations and anger, we’ve got that pretty well covered as citizens. What we expect is remedial action by the Senators whose very job description is to provide checks and balances to executive power. “Strong objections” expressed in a photo-op does not cut it. If he’s ready to restore Constitutional balance, what is he waiting for, the President’s permission?

” I have been opposed to the war in Iraq from the beginning and I am committed to pressing for an end to the war & to bring our troops home. As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will continue to push for aggressive oversight into many of these issues, including the mass firings of U.S. Attorneys.”

What does your commitment entail Mr. Leahy? Commitment usually implies that actions will follow. Once again, your constituents are doing a fine job of voicing opprobrium; we look to you for action. Why are you not investigating that lies that were told by the President and Vice President in order to get us into this war? Why are you not investigating the roles of Bush and Cheney in making torture part and parcel of America’s intelligence gathering efforts? The firing of US attorneys is the only investigation that the Senator has thus far been willing to conduct. Mr. Bush must be quaking in his boots.

Read more below the fold.

” On April 24, Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio introduced H. R. 333, legislation calling for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors. This bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. As the Administration and Congress remain divided on many issues, I will look for ways to bring people together to make progress on issues facing the nation.”

You need look no further than to hold this administration accountable for its actions. An overwhelming majority of Americans are in agreement that this administration is taking us in the wrong direction. Bringing the truth out into the open is a way to unite, not divide politicians. As long as you are unwilling to let the debate proceed beyond opinion and conjecture, you will continue to have a partisan divide.

“An impeachment inquiry would be a highly divisive ordeal that would dominate Congress’ time and attention.”

While impeachment may start to crack the monolith that is the Democrat/Republican power structure that supports American hegemony over the world’s oil and over the Middle East, and which is willing to use military occupation as a means to realize this hegemony, the American public will support any inquiry that actually gets at the truth that has led us into our current untenable state. As the truth about Alberto Gonzales has emerged in your recent hearings, we have seen support for him lessen among Republicans, rather than see them circle the wagons in his defense. we would see no less as a result of investigations of the President and Vice President.

“Impeachment proceedings would likely compromise the ability of Congress to address the many issues that face our nation during the remainder of this Administration. With a closely divided Congress, the outcome of an impeachment proceeding is uncertain and the problems facing our country are numerous, Congress must set priorities to accomplish the most important tasks that the American people agree need to be accomplished.”

While the House Judiciary Committee was investigating and voting articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, they also managed to raise the minimum wage, pass the Endangered Species act, initiate several new environmental programs and raise the minimum wage. the current Congress has not managed to do as much even without the “distraction” of impeachment.

Your assertion that we must set priorities implies that defending the Constitution as your oath of office requires not be one of them. The defense of our Constitution, and by extension the validity of the governance of the Republic is our first priority. Without Constitutional rule of law, we are a sham democracy and your participation in it nothing more than play acting.

Outrage plays well in the movies. Your job however, is to deal with real life and real issues. Histrionics and rhetoric do a disservice to your job and to the nation. We know that you can do better and we expect you to do so without further delay.

The Democratic Party is proving itself to be one of Bush/Cheney enablers. It is becoming depressingly clear that the continued occupation of Iraq is a Democratic policy as much as a Republican one. We gave you a mandate is November 2006. Do not continue to squander it.

“Thank you again for contacting me.”

No problem. You’re welcome.

(If it’s patrioticresponse, then I want him front & center! – promoted by Brattlerouser)

Peter Welch spoke on the floor of the U.S. House today explaining to the Congress why Vermonters in ever greater numbers are calling for impeachment. While it is good for members of Congress and for those who watch C-Span to hear about our sentiments, a speech is a miserable substitute for action.

Congressman Welch wants to end this war yesterday he says, but he has thus far only voted to further fund it. Impeachment will divide the Congress and only prolong the war he says, but he cannot point to a single action of Congress that has taken one step to even slow the pace of the occupation.

Welch thanks impeachment activists and says that while he opposes impeachment, he supports the indictment that we make against the Bush administration. He can’t have it both ways. The prosecutor doesn’t thank the grand jury for their hard work, agree with their call for indictment, and then toss it in the trash on his way out of the courthouse. But that is exactly what Peter Welch is doing and some people will try to tell us that we should be grateful to him for doing it.

Impeachment is the only Constitutional tool that we have left in the toolbox that could actually block this administration from furthering their reckless military stance. Impeachment is the only workable remedy that could help to redeem us in the eyes of the rest of the world.

More great stuff below the fold- BR

This Democratic Congress has betrayed us. They pull at some dried skin of a reeking onion, but they refuse to investigate the rot that is spreading from its core. “Look, ” they say, “we snipped those brown edges of the skin, it’s a fine onion again. Aren’t we good cooks?” A mere 40 Senators could prevent any further funding of this war, providing only a way to pay for withdrawal, but there are not yet 40 Senators who are brave or principled enough to do so. While Welch waits for the Republicans to magically join the Democratic war (non) strategy and then convince this President to change his mind, a handful of his colleagues have already called for impeachment investigations against Dick Cheney. It is sad that our Congressman is content with so little. It is as whimsical for him to think that he’s taking steps to end this war as it is for the President to think that he’s winning it.

Our Congressman is not yet convinced that we represent the views of an overwhelming number of Vermonters. He will be disabused of this notion in the coming days and weeks. There will be petition and post card drives that will give notice of just how many we are.

We are fed up with vacuous leadership. We are fed up with excuses. We are above all fed up with mediocre rhetoric masquerading as substance. This is a call for civil obedience to the Constitution by those who have sworn to defend it. It may well be the last call before massive civil disobedience is seen as the only way left to get our government to become once again “for the people”.

(Promoted – The power of making one’s voice heard brings another small victory for Vermonters. – promoted by mataliandy)

As we suspected there were other times! Peter Welch changed his mind  about gaming the schedule to discourage Vermonters  from coming. After receiving the note below in which leaders of the  impeachment campaign said “no” to the meeting at 9am and based on at least 50 or 60 phone calls to his office from Vermonters in all parts of  the state, Peter rescheduled the meeting to 11am and added a half hour. The public forum with Peter Welch to discuss impeachment will now be from 11am to 12:30pm this Saturday, May 11 at the Hartford High School in White River Junction. Once again the beautiful voices of the people of Vermont prevailed upon our leaders.

We are now turning our attention to encouraging everyone to come to the public forum tell Peter Welch to initiate investigations of Bush and Cheney and if the investigations support the charges to vote to impeach. Nearly 400 Vermonters came to the State House on April 25 to push the Vermont House to pass a resolution calling for  impeachment of Bush and  Cheney. The Senate passed such a resolution on April 20. 

“It is not enough to investigate the underlings. They can be replaced  without the crimes stopping,” said James Marc Leas.  “Nor will we accept Peter Welch’s political rationales for refusing to investigate Bush and Cheney. Peter Welch’s job is first to uphold his oath to protect the constitution, and that oath has no waiver for “political considerations.”

George W Bush has signed himself into the position of Supreme Crusader. He refuses to be bound by legislative action, and this Congress has not yet managed to muster any legislation of substance to challenge him.

Vermont Congressman Peter Welch refers to legislation with troop withdrawal timetables that passed in the U.S. House as his greatest achievement thus far in ending this war. The timetables didn’t even make it out of committee with the Democratic Senate, and so were spared the President’s veto. The Congressman thinks that this is real progress, but is unable to articulate why. He is also certain that impeachment proceedings would prolong the war, but offers only his judgment as evidence.

Only after impeachment investigations against him had begun did Richard Nixon start the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. George Bush is still operating from an undeserved but nonetheless standing power base. Congress can’t pass a law that he feels compelled to obey, but they can impeach him and remove him from office and he can’t do a thing about it.

Bush thinks we’re winning a war. Democrats in Congress think they’re ending it. While Nancy Pelosi keeps impeachment off the table, it’s showing up everywhere else.

Impeachment is the only remedy when the executive usurps legislative authority. But this Congress doesn’t want to tackle that. No, these legislators are happy as clams, taking bold stabs at wrongdoing around the outer edges of the administration, uncovering political meddling in the Department of Justice, Republican politicking being done on the people’s dime, failures at Walter Reed. In the meantime, they do not have a single investigation of Bush or Cheney about the war, or torture, or signing statements, or violating FISA and the fourth amendment, or anything at all that would lead to their removal from office.

The Democrats just want to see Bush and the Republicans twist in the wind until the ’08 elections. The Constitution, American soldiers and the Iraqi nation can be damned in the meantime.

Our house is burning down. We’re asking our representatives to pass us a water bucket, but they’re only excited about their project to dig the fire pond deeper. Just wait until it’s all designed and built they say, and then we’ll really be good at putting out those fires. Only when they discover their own pants burning will they pull their heads out of their plans and go for water.

We’re looking for a measure of competence and honor from our leaders. If they don’t have it in them, we will instill it. If Peter Welch wants us to believe that he’s ending the war, he should tell us how he’s doing it. If he can’t give a reasoned answer why we shouldn’t impeach he should support our efforts. If he wants to end this war, he should stop protecting Bush and Cheney from being held accountable and help us end this administration’s rein of destruction.

(As always, patrioticresponse deserves to be on the front page! – promoted by Brattlerouser)

The events of the past week in the Vermont legislature mark the beginning of a sea change in American political power. This may sound a bit grandiose coming on the heels of a defeat of an impeachment resolution in the Vermont House, but is true nonetheless.

Less than two weeks ago, in spite of the votes of 40 Vermont towns, despite months of lobbying by many Vermonters, Vermont Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate President pro-temp Peter Shumlin declared in the most absolute of terms that any chance of action on impeachment this year was irretrievably gone.

The funny thing is that more and more Vermonters were seeing it the other way. Four days after the great final NO verdict, one hundred and thirty Vermonters welcomed themselves into the Senate Chamber, presented a cogent and urgent case to the leadership, and most certainly, knocked some serious political sense into them with our turnout of just plain folks.

Three days later, an impeachment resolution was drafted and passed by the Senate. Gaye Symington nevertheless refused to entertain any notion of a debate in the House.

Read below the fold.

Buoyed by the Senate action, almost 400 Vermonters came back to the state House just days after the Senate vote. The Speaker was obliged to give them the entire House chamber, where they filled the members’ seats and packed the galleries with many left standing. Ms Symington, who was not going to waste the peoples’ valuable time on impeachment, was about to spend most of a day on the subject.

She was treated to a question and answer period like that of the British Parliament when the opposition has at it with the Prime Minister. She heard passionate arguments from citizens who had never visited the statehouse before. Her reasons for opposition were exposed as political calculations that place the Democratic Party above the Constitution and that misread the threat of the Bush administration.

As further delay would only bring more Vermonters to the Capitol, Symington called a vote, and although a large majority of her party deserted her leadership and voted for impeachment, she defeated the resolution with a coalition of Republicans and middle of the road Democrats who are in step with the timid national leadership.  Too cute by half, these Democrats think that they will deliver the Presidency to their Party by doing damage to Bush while pretending that they don’t want to. This is the non-binding resolution crowd, the nebulous benchmark crowd. These are the Democrats who put all their hopes in the various investigations currently nibbling around the edges of the Bush administration.

As weeks and months are spent trying to pry Alberto Gonzales out of his politicized Department of Justice, Bush and Cheney will be ramping up their war, simmering their other schemes and laughing at the self-satisfaction shown by those who supposedly have them on the ropes.

Meanwhile, the newly empowered citizens of Vermont who agree that impeachment is a Constitutional necessity are now setting their sights on Congressman Peter Welch. He has been trying to both praise and ignore the Vermont impeachment movement. The ignoring option has just been taken off the table.

Vermonters are asking the Congressman to conduct a town meeting on impeachment, and he is being urged to sign on to Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment articles against Dick Cheney introduced last week. He will soon see just how widespread our support is.

This people power is infectious and has spread to our south, west and east. Hundreds of people gathered in front of Boston’s Faneuil Hall on April 28 as part of the National Day of Impeachment. They are cheering on the Vermont efforts and are organizing themselves to do the same. Fifteen western Massachusetts town meetings will vote on impeachment resolutions this month. Resolutions have already passed by large margins in some towns. Across the Hudson, New Yorkers are starting to get impeachment resolutions before their town governments. Southeast Connecticut towns have organized impeachment committees and are rallying together next week. Maine impeachment supporters are closing in on 10,000 signatures on an impeachment petition that they will be taking to their legislature.

The American people are ready to face the stark realities caused by Bush administration actions. Our politicians are still mired in their sticky systems and need prodding. Last week’s events in Vermont were nothing less than the occasion of actual sovereignty being exercised by the hands of the People. And the People like the feeling that comes with having being heard. Symington’s tortured arguments and political machinations shattered more than a few illusions about how our citizen legislature works. But at the same time, these are lessons that will not be lost. The citizenry is aroused, educating itself, and has become a force to be reckoned with. Our neighbors are getting the idea. When will our leaders?

(A word from our fearless leader: Subcommandante DeWalt! – promoted by Brattlerouser)

There’s more…

Gaye Symington, the Speaker of the House, is still firmly stuck in the mud and refuses to reconsider her opposition to action in the House, but she has yet to feel the full force of the slings and arrows of outraged Vermonters.

It is not that we have spoken. It is that we have just begun to speak. We gain new volunteers to our movement literally every day and the legislature will soon find itself unable to consider anything but taking up an impeachment resolution as we make ourselves at home in their chambers.

I just spent a few days in western Pennsylvania, in an area where Democrats are afraid to raise their heads. And even there I saw many signs that support for this administration’s flailing and disastrous attempts to bully the world is crumbling.

Vermont is showing the nation that, even in our present system, where politicians and the media are influenced and controlled by their corporate masters, where money matters above all else, and when the American attention span has dropped to a matter of seconds, it is possible for a grass-roots peoples’ movement to change the designated course that our leaders think that they should be following, and to instead shame them to live up to their oaths of office and to do what is right and necessary.

Every American who is willing to pull his or her head out of the sand understands that we can no longer sit idly by while our “leaders” destroy the very foundations upon which this nation stands.

All of New England is beginning to unite and work together to force impeachment upon the Congress. Citizens in close to a dozen other states are doing the same. We will not cease and we will not be stopped. When the truth is on your side and the fate of the Republic hangs in the balance, all that remains is for those who understand to be willing to take a stand. That is what is happening today. While a Senate resolution from tiny Vermont will not be the stone that brings down this Goliath and its monstrous war, but we have just witnessed the first revolution of the sling.

Dan DeWalt

(This is a complete and utter shame. 20-30 years from now when the dust settles and we have a clearer idea about the Bush/Cheney administration, generations will wonder… why didn’t anybody do anything to stop the madness? More importantly, why didn’t the Vermont legislature act when they had the chance? Just like the “Good Gemans” of WWII that did not speak out against Nazi atrocities Peter Welch, Peter Shumlin, and Gaye Symington will all be remembered for their complicity. At least we can say Dan DeWalt gave it his best and that he acted more patriotic than Welch, Shumlin, and Symington ever will in their lifetime.

– promoted by Brattlerouser)

MONTPELIER- I went into the Vermont Statehouse cafeteria at noon on Tuesday, and found an empty seat at a table with three members of the House Judiciary Committee, which is where an impeachment resolution is currently stalled. As they explained all the reasons why they couldn’t bring up the resolution for discussion, it became clear that, while they are very interested in following protocol, and very worried about losing any votes on the floor, they were less concerned with the immediate Constitutional/military crisis that we are facing today, and not impressed with the fact that they may actually be able to do something about it.

Apparently, the only thing that will move them is a deafening roar from the populace. The representatives conceded that they have been hearing from Vermonters, just not the right ones. They have been hearing from Vermonters from every corner of the state. If they had been paying attention, they would have seen Vermonters in the streets earlier this year, calling for an end to the war and the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. They are surely mindful of the pro-impeachment votes of 40 Vermont towns.

We got a promise from the Judiciary chair that he would reconsider having a hearing, but that was the only positive outcome of that conversation. Just outside the cafeteria, a Burlington TV crew was waiting to interview me about my reaction to having Vermont impeachment the subject of Doonesbury this week – no questions about impeachment, just about the comic strip.

More below the fold.

After lunch, where I got to meet with some of other wonderful Vemonters who have been working on impeachment, it was back for another helping of Legislature Letdown, this time from the Senate side. Senate President pro-temp Peter Shumlin let us know right off that an impeachment resolution is not going to happen in the Senate. He shuts down the committees in three days and there is no time left. He complained that he should have heard from us in January or February so he could have passed it.

Historical note: I asked him to introduce a resolution in the Senate on March 1. He replied that he could but he would rather get it from the House. When pressed a couple of weeks later, he said it HAD to come from the House. When we showed him that indeed it didn’t, he said that he didn’t want to step on House Speaker Gaye Symington’s toes, and now that Symington says he can do what he wants, he says he’s out of time. (We should have been working earlier on other Senators, but this is an ad-hoc peoples’
movement that has just started to take shape, not a well organized lobbying machine.)

My day was capped off by an appearance on Vermont Public Radio’s Switchboard program, which is heard statewide. I was appearing along with Rob Roper, the head of the Vermont Republican Party to discuss impeachment. The listeners who called spoke overwhelmingly and persuasively in favor of impeachment. Even though Mr. Roper recited some of the same old tired Limbaugh litany during the show,he said “afterwards that we probably have more in common than one would imagine.”

It is becoming increasingly untenable for anyone to defend the actions of this administration any longer. We must make our representatives in Montpelier and Washington see that by refusing to take the actions that are available to them, they are aiding and abetting the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the Bush and Cheney administration. If they have to be hit over the head with floods of correspondence, then let’s contact them. Each one of us who chooses to do nothing, who doesn’t bother to call or email our representatives, is also aiding and abetting in the crimes of this administration. George Bush has said that everyone must choose; are you with us or against us? But that means with him and his war or against him and his war. Those who refuse to take action by now, are casting their choice for George Bush. Please don’t be one of them.

After yesterday’s politicking, today was spent cross country skiing along a Green Mountain watershed, crossing swamps and ponds crisscrossed with fresh tracks of snowshoe hare, otters, moose, coyote and even a beaver toboggan run. When we stop and look at the mountains surrounding us, we are always deeply moved and reminded of our incredible good fortune to live here, and of our responsibility to be active members of the landscape and community. Let us recognize the need to see the welfare of the nation and the sanctity of the Constitution in the same way.