US House committee investigates Bush 'expansion' of constitutional powers
Devin Montgomery July 26, 2008 at 2:10 PM ET
[JURIST] Witnesses before the US House Judiciary Committee on Friday presented sharply divided opinions [C-span video, flash; hearing materials] on whether the White House [official website] has overstepped its constitutional authority during George Bush's presidency, and whether or not such alleged abuses would justify his impeachment. Committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI) opened the hearings outlining the allegedly excessive actions by the administration:

It is no secret that I have grave and serious concerns about excesses in executive branch authority. At my direction this Committee has spent a considerable portion of its time, energy and resources investigating allegations concerning the politicization of the Department of Justice; misuse of signing statements; misuse of authority with regard to detention, interrogation and rendition; possible manipulation of intelligence regarding the Iraq War; improper retaliation against critics of the Administration, including the outing of Valerie Plame; and excessive secrecy by the Administration including the misuse of various privileges and immunities. I believe the evidence on these matters is both credible and substantial and warrant the response of the executive branch, under oath if at all possible.

The political establishment and telecom immunity -- why it matters
Saturday July 5, 2008 09:29 EDT
Glenn Greenwald

Nancy Soderberg was deputy national security advisor and an ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration. Today, she has an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times defending the FISA bill and telecom amnesty. The entire Op-Ed is just a regurgitation of the same trite, vague talking points which the political elite are using to justify this bill, accompanied by the standard invocations of "National Security" which our Foreign Policy elite condescendingly toss around to justify whatever policy they're claiming is necessary to protect us. But it's the language that she uses -- and the brazenness of the lying (and that's what it is) to justify this bill -- that's notable here.

It's notable because the political establishment is not only about to pass a patently corrupt bill, but worse, are spouting -- on a very bipartisan basis -- completely deceitful claims to obscure what they're really doing. This is what Soderberg says is what happened:

The Senate is dragging its feet because the compromise bill's opponents -- mostly Democrats -- want also to punish the telecommunications companies that answered President Bush's order for help with his illegal, warrantless wiretapping program. That is the wrong target.

From Progressive Democrats of America: http://pdamerica.org/

Florida Congressman Honored for Standing Up for the Constitution

On Monday, March 17, at the Deerfield Democratic Club in Broward County, Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, who represents the 19th Congressional District of Florida, was honored with the prestigious Backbone Award. Sheldon Packer and Luis Cuevas of Progressive Democrats of America collaborated with the http://backbonecampaign.org/ Backbone Campaign to organize the presentation. Rep. Wexler was very pleased to accept the Award. The large and pleasantly surprised crowd of over 100 persons responded with a standing ovation.

The Award was presented after Wexler's speech to the group. "He was both eloquent and passionate," said Luis Cuevas of Progressive Democrats of America. "He promised to help enact a universal healthcare bill on the first day of the 2009 Congressional session and vowed to continue to push for impeachment hearings and to bring Dick Cheney to justice," said Cuevas. Wexler was nominated for and awarded the Backbone Award for his leadership in the House Judiciary Committee. The award inscription reads:

Backbone Award ~ Honorable Congressman Robert Wexler

In Gratitude for Your Leadership in Defense of the Separation of Powers & The Supremacy of the Constitution of the United States.

From The Backbone Campaign & Progressive Democrats of America

Over the past months Representative Wexler has led the charge within Congress and specifically within the House Judiciary Committee to insist that impeachment be put back "on the table" in defense of the Constitution and for the Separation of Powers outlined within it to be re-established...

Go to www.WexlerWantsHearings.com and join Congressman Wexler's call for Cheney Impeachment Hearings

Sign the petition here.

Initially this op-ed was censored (refused) for publication by major newspapers across the country...

A CASE FOR HEARINGS

By Representatives and Members of the Judiciary Committee:
Robert Wexler (D-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

On November 7, the House of Representatives voted to send a resolution of impeachment of Vice President Cheney to the Judiciary Committee. As Members of the House Judiciary Committee, we strongly believe these important hearings should begin.

The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens...

Congress Challenges Bush Over CIA Tapes
Dec 19, 4:21 PM (ET) By PAMELA HESS and LARA JAKES JORDAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a direct challenge to President Bush, a House panel said Wednesday it has prepared subpoenas to force CIA officials to testify about the agency's secret destruction of interrogation videotapes.

The Justice Department had blocked the officials from appearing at a closed hearing before the panel this week, citing the department's ongoing investigation into the destruction of videotapes of the harsh interrogation of two al-Qaida suspects in 2002. The CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005.

The House Intelligence Committee's threat marked the second challenge to a White House attempt to shut down independent investigations into the matter, and escalates a fight over which branch of government properly has jurisdiction. On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected an administration effort to keep the courts out of the investigation, and summoned Justice Department lawyers to court on Friday to discuss whether destroying the tapes violated a court order to preserve evidence about detainees...

A big lump of coal for Democratic voters and anti-war activists... the House followed the Senate's lead in capitulating to Bush, again....

House Approves $70 Billion More for War
Dec 19, 5:42 PM (ET) By ANDREW TAYLOR
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress approved $70 billion Wednesday for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a bitter finish for majority Democrats who tried to force a change in President Bush's war policy.

The House's 272-142 vote also sent the president a $555 billion catchall spending bill that combines the war money with money for 14 Cabinet departments.

Bush and his Senate GOP allies forced the Iraq money upon anti-war Democrats as the price for permitting the year-end budget deal to pass and be signed. But other Democrats were eager to avoid being seen as not supporting troops who are in harm's way - and avoid weeks of bashing by Bush for failing to provide that money.

"This is a blank check," complained Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "The new money in this bill represents one cave-in too many. It is an endorsement of George Bush's policy of endless war."...

Curious timing on the release of this info, not really "new" news but timely nonetheless... the Gang of Four was really a Gang of Six as it turns out. What about the other four in the Gang of Eight that weren't included? And Granny Nancy knew about torture all these years?

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002 - In Meetings, Spy Panels' Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say
By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen December 9, 2007; A01

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk...

I don't think the Dems are going to trust the "Loyal Bushies" to investigate themselves, this time.... now all we need are open, public hearings with subpeoned witnesses testifying under oath!

CIA, Justice Review Tapes' Destruction - CIA, Justice Department Open Investigation Into Videotape Destruction
By PAMELA HESS Dec 8, 2007

The Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog announced Saturday a joint inquiry into the spy agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists as the latest scandal to rock U.S. intelligence gathered steam.

The review will determine whether a full investigation is warranted.

"I welcome this inquiry and the CIA will cooperate fully," CIA Director Mike Hayden said in a statement. "I welcome it as an opportunity to address questions that have arisen over the destruction back in 2005 of videotapes."

The House Intelligence Committee is launching its own inquiry next week. It will investigate not only why the tapes were destroyed and Congress was not notified, but also the interrogation methods that "if released, had the potential to do such grave damage to the United States of America," said Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, on Saturday.

"This administration cannot be trusted to police itself," Reyes said.

But will Congress actually do its job, that is the question. Clearly the DoJ and CIA can't be trusted to once again investigate crimes of the Bush Junta...

Congress Looks Into Obstruction as Calls for Justice Inquiry Rise
By ERIC LICHTBLAU December 8, 2007

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — The Central Intelligence Agency faced the threat of obstruction-of-justice investigations on Friday from both the Justice Department and Congressional committees over the destruction of videotapes of interrogations of Qaeda operatives.

The Justice Department said it would review calls for a formal inquiry into the destruction of the tapes, while the House and Senate intelligence committees said they were opening investigations of their own into the episode, which Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, chairman of the Senate panel, called "extremely disturbing"... (See Rockefeller contradicts himself)

Here come the thought police
By Ralph E. Shaffer and R. William Robinson
November 19, 2007

With overwhelming bipartisan support, Rep. Jane Harman's "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act" passed the House 404-6 late last month and now rests in Sen. Joe Lieberman's Homeland Security Committee. Swift Senate passage appears certain.

Not since the "Patriot Act" of 2001 has any bill so threatened our constitutionally guaranteed rights.

The historian Henry Steele Commager, denouncing President John Adams' suppression of free speech in the 1790s, argued that the Bill of Rights was not written to protect government from dissenters but to provide a legal means for citizens to oppose a government they didn't trust. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence not only proclaimed the right to dissent but declared it a people's duty, under certain conditions, to alter or abolish their government.

In that vein, diverse groups vigorously oppose Ms. Harman's effort to stifle dissent. Unfortunately, the mainstream press and leading presidential candidates remain silent...

The U.S. House Just Voted $50 Billion More for War
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2007-11-14
Organizations and individuals who fail to criticize this new funding vote will relinquish the right to criticize the occupation of Iraq. If you silently support funding it, you oblige yourself to remain silent on the horrors of it. We are citizens, not partisans, and only as citizens will we survive this ordeal. If this passes the Senate (or is altered in a conference committee) and is sent to the White House, Bush will have the option of accepting $50 billion more for his ongoing crime. If Bush vetos, or the Senate rejects, or the $50 billion runs out, we'll be back in the House - and with what strength to press for an end to these bills? What strength remains after caving in completely this evening? What peace pledge? What Out of Iraq Caucus? What Progressive Caucus? What opposition party? The silence of millions of Americsns who have demanded an end to funding for the past year or for the past five years is absolutely deafening. It's the sound of our tombs. Speak now, people, or forever forget about peace...

What the hell happened to the the Out of Iraq Caucus???...

(11/14/2007) Liberal Democrats back party's war bill

3 leading House anti-war Democrats said they now back a $50 billion bill that funds the war but calls for most troops to come home by December 2008.

Their support paves the way for the bill's passage Wednesday.

Woolsey-Lee-Waters Support Bill

Elliot D. Cohen: Senate Judiciary Poised to Pass Total Information Awareness Bill Mon, 2007-11-12 A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION by Elliot D. Cohen
Amid public outcry, in 2003, Congress defunded the Bush Administration's Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, a massive Orwellian technology-driven surveillance and data mining initiative. Now, it is attempting to pass through the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (S. 2248), a bill that would affectively give legal standing and retroactive legal immunity to a major component of this project...

David Swanson discusses Kucinch Impeachment Resolution on The Real News Network...

Young Turks radio discuss Kucinich's Resolution to impeach Cheney and the merits of the Democrats growing balls or at least fractional testicles...