Must Reads

Rev. Adam Carl: The Perfect Enemy

Dennis Kucinich: Why I'm Voting 'Yes'

Michael Moore: My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain

Christopher Brauchli: Reading and Writing and 'Rithmetic

Kucinich To Vote 'Yes' on Health Care Bill

Thank you, Dennis.

"This is a defining moment for whether or not we'll have any opportunity to move off square one on the issue of health care. And so even though I don't like the bill, I've made a decision to support it in the hopes that we can move towards a more comprehensive approach once this legislation is done," [Kucinich] said.

Now if only more progressives could see the forest for the trees instead of working with teabaggers in trying to kill the bill.

I like Dennis Kucinich, but before he decided to vote in favor of the bill, I thought he was wrong. As I think progressives are wrong to throw him under the bus after his years of service because of this one vote.

Jane Hamsher: Dennis Kucinich has called a press conference for tomorrow. Howard Fineman is reporting that Kucinich will vote “yes” on health care...

If... he settles for some worthless reassurances that “Obama will work toward it in the future” (which nobody but Lynn Woolsey is dumb enough to actually believe), or a meaningless symbolic vote that achieves little more than 15 minutes of futile grandstanding, good luck to him. A thousand people have donated over $16,000 to Dennis since yesterday to thank him for standing up for what he believes in. We’ll be asking him to return it.

During the presidential campaign, I donated $50 to Dennis Kucinich when he ran with an idea that he could finance his entire campaign with $50 million. He was looking for $50 from one million donors. He didn't get anywhere close. Are you telling me there aren't a million progressives willing to give $50? Or two million to give $25?

And yet Jane Hamsher gets all crazy on this? Wanting money back from the most liberal representative in the House and working with Grover Norquist to kill the health care bill, under some delusion that they'd what? Start over again next month?  Pathetic.

Dennis Kucinich fought hard, but he's smart enough to know that killing this bill will kill any attempt at expanding health care for at least another decade.

ADDING...  Meanwhile, MoveOn.org has already raised $1 million in just a few days to challenge anti-Health Care Democrats in their primaries. I know they're a much larger organization than FDL, but more and more it just makes it look like Hamsher has jumped the shark.

The Kucinich Bitchslap

Don't fuck with Dennis Kucinich.



And who is this little prick, Dr. David Gratzer? Hope he can get to a proctologist after that reaming.

(H/T GottaLaff)

On Glenn Greenwald's Post of 11/23

On his Salon blog today, Greenwald wrote about the disappointment progressives are feeling with the Obama appointments so far. Give it a looksee.

For the most part, I agree with Greenwald. Obama never presented himself as a Progressive, and according to Greenwald, although Markos Moulitsas suggested that "progressives refrain from endorsing or supporting any of the Democratic candidates unless they work for that support, make promises and concessions important to the progressive agenda," progressives ignored that advice and just assumed that Obama was on our side because he is the antithesis of the Bush Administration.

But here's the thing. If you wanted a true progressive candidate, Dennis Kucinich was your man. Am I wrong on this? But Kucinich couldn't raise two nickels to rub together. I am on the Kuchinich list and he had a fundraising plan. To raise $50 million, he sent out a campaign message asking one million people to donate $50. I thought this was a great plan. Surely, there are many more than a million progressives in the country - $50 million should be easy. I sent him $50.00... and then never heard a word about it. There was no fundraising thermostat, no talk about it during his few appearances with the mainstream media. Nothing. Kucinich never got the support of the progressives, at least not monetarily.

So the liberals and progressives who thought that in Barack Obama they were going to get a popular Dennis Kucinich, they were just fooling themselves. Not to say that Obama doesn't have any liberal tendencies. And this is where I disagree with Glenn.

"...Barack Obama is a centrist, establishment politician. That is what he has been since he's been in the Senate, and more importantly, it's what he made clear -- both explicitly and through his actions -- that he intended to be as President."

While it may be true that Obama didn't let the "left" dictate his moves as McCain let the religious conservative wing call all the shots (as qualified by his decision making processes), I don't believe that Obama is a centrist. He may lean towards the center, but I truly believe it's from the left side. And I completely disagree with David Sirota's following statement:

"...we live in a culture that now organizes around celebrity - and Obama knew it, and knew that lots of left organizations aren't really ideological - they are, if anything, organized around the Democratic Party and Bush hatred. So he basically figured out that if he could become a celebrity - and a Democratic Bush-hating one - he could swallow up a huge part of the 'progressive infrastructure' and organize it around him..."

To come to the conclusion that Obama's campaign strategy was to be the celebrity candidate and dismiss basically every speech he gave, every policy plan he articulated, is so cynical that it's too much for me to accept. Is Sirota saying that McCain's "celebrity" ads were more grounded in truth than previously thought? I find that ridiculous.

There will always be someone who is disappointed in decisions that the future administration will make, but when has any administration ever been able to please everyone? And you'd think after reading the blogs these past three weeks since the election and listening to the pundits, that it's all over for Obama even before he takes office.

Now maybe I'm being naive, and Greenwald and Sirota are far more intelligent than I'll ever be, but as I was saying to a friend of mine during one of our many glass half full/half empty debates, it's going to take a long time to reverse the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane W. And for the pendulum to swing back to the left, it's going to have to travel through the center. Once the moderates see that leaning to the left may actually work, they may be more inclined in that direction as well. It's the boiling frog theory. If we slowly move back to the left with a ride through the center along the way, a lot more may be accomplished. But if we try an Evel Knievel rocket launch toward the left, we might just fall into Snake River Canyon.

Dennis Kucinich Kicks Ass! WAKE UP, AMERICA!

It's amazing how this guy just gets it, spells it out for everyone to understand but is considered too "crazy" for the mainstream. Dennis Kucinich: One of the few things Ohio gets right.



UPDATE (6:50pm): Apparently the Obama campaign thought this line was a little over the top in Kucinich's speech and asked him to omit it: "They’re asking for another four years — in a just world, they’d get 10 to 20."

Fucking brilliant! It's too bad the Obama campaign doesn't think it necessary for that kind of talk. Wait til they hear what the Rethugs will say next week.

35 Articles

I'm so glad this was reported by every news outlet on television and newspapers. What? You "missed it" you say? Hmm...




Within hours of Dennis Kucinich's introduction of the articles of impeachment against George W. Bush, his re-election website crashed due to "suspicious circumstances."

According to a statement released by Kucinich's congressional campaign, the site was "shut down this morning by a series of suspicious and fast-moving events" only hours after the congressman's newly-introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush were posted.

The campaign said the site shut down just as it was receiving an estimated 100,000 hits an hour from people looking for the impeachment articles.

You can view Kucinich's 35 articles of the impeachment of George W. Bush here along with the full transcript.

Ralph Nader Needs To Shut Up And Just Go Away - Updated

On Sunday, February 24, 2008, three days before his 74th birthday, Ralph Nader announced his presidential bid on Meet The Press. Happy birthday, Ralph. It is the fifth* time that Nader is running for President, previously running in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004.

I've rewritten this post in my head multiple times since Sunday waiting for my anger to subside else my post be a swear-filled rant probably topping most previous entries. Ralph Nader needs to go away. Just shut up and go away.

Don't misunderstand. Nader is an admirable man, with great credentials. His consumer advocacy is second to none. He's founded over four dozen non-profit organizations that are funded by most of his net worth according to the FEC disclosure report in 2000. Taking on the automobile industry on safety at a time when the car was king was stunning.

But one question must be asked: why does someone who has no chance of winning the highest office in the land, and I mean ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE, why would that person run again and again and again?

You can make a case for running once or twice. But this is Ralph Nader's fifth attempt at the Presidency. It's become a sad, sad joke. The power of his convictions has overtaken the rationale of his thinking. And call me cynical, but the only reason I think Nader is running is to fill his egotistical need to be in the spotlight and feel wanted.

Nader's fourth attempt in 2004 netted him a total of 463,653 votes, for 0.38% of the popular vote. Nader replied to this in filmed interviews by pointing out that, "Voting for a candidate of one's choice is a Constitutional right, and the Democrats who are asking me not to run are, without question, seeking to deny the Constitutional rights of voters who are, by law, otherwise free to choose to vote for me."

That's all well and good, Ralph, but the 2004 presidential election was up to that point, the most important election this country had ever seen. All you did was muddy up the waters. 0.38% of the popular vote is not viable, so why do it?

On principle, sure, you want to get your message out there. Here is what Nader's website states the issues are this time around:

- Adopt single payer national health insurance
- Cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget
- No to nuclear power, solar energy first
- Aggressive crackdown on corporate crime and corporate welfare
- Open up the Presidential debates
- Adopt a carbon pollution tax
- Reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East
- Impeach Bush/Cheney
- Repeal the Taft-Hartley anti-union law
- Adopt a Wall Street securities speculation tax
- Put an end to ballot access obstructionism
- Work to end corporate personhood

Well, it all sounds great, doesn't it? Even liberal radio talk show host Mike Malloy, when speaking of Nader's candidacy, has said that this is what the Democratic Party should have been, this is what it was gearing towards 30 years ago and we have strayed. I agree with him. But I also believe we had a Ralph Nader in this election. His name was Dennis Kucinich, and he went about his candidacy in a serious way, attempting to put his name on the ballot of every state, out there stumping on the campaign trail, trying to make his voice heard long before Nader emerged from the ground looking for the sustenance of the spotlight.

If Ralph Nader was serious about actually helping third parties or independents become viable, then why is it we hear nothing from Nader for three and a half years? Then suddenly, his coffin lid opens, he rises from the ground, dusts himself off and feeds on the egomanical blood he so desperately craves. His first official run was in 1992. That's sixteen years - SIXTEEN YEARS! - that he could have been working to make a third party legitimate and a contender, instead of eye-rolling laughable.

When asked by Tim Russert about the possibility of preventing a Democratic victory in 2008, Nader responded, "Not a chance. If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, and emerge in a different form."

On that, Nader and I can agree. But you have to ask yourself: if this is what Ralph Nader truly believes, then why bother entering the race?

UPDATE: Correction- This is Nader's third official run for the presidency. According to Wikipedia - In 1992, Nader stood in as a write-in for "none of the above" in both the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic and Republican Primaries. In 1996, Nader was drafted as a candidate for President of the United States on the Green Party ticket during the 1996 presidential election. He was not formally nominated by the Green Party USA, which was, at the time, the largest national Green group; instead he was nominated independently by various state Green parties (in some areas, he appeared on the ballot as an independent).

The Greatest Upset Ever

I'm in shock. The underdog New York Giants have beaten the heavily favored and undefeated (until this game) New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII (that's 42 for you non-Romans) 17-14. The Pats were favored by 13 points.

As I was driving to work this morning, I flipped on WFAN, the all sports station in New York and all I heard was the following (paraphrasing): "Let's face facts. After all the hype of the last two weeks, and after everyone has calmed down and faced reality, the Giants really have no shot at winning this thing." And I thought, "Well, hell. Why don't they just forget all about playing the game and just give the trophy to the Patriots? After all, why play? Someone could get injured and if there's no sense in trying to win the game, if indeed it's a foregone conclusion, then just give up now."

Now as I've said before, I'm not a Giants fan. But I am a fan of the underdog. Just as I'm a fan of Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards. They didn't make it, but the Giants did. JumpyPants, a guest blogger over at Bob Cesca is equating what happened tonight to what may happen on Super Tuesday.

I'm sticking with my predictions for Obama on Tuesday night. And I'm sticking with the parallels I drew: that the Giants had the heart to win this Super Bowl, just as Obama has the heart - and skills and determination - to carry this nomination...and the general election.

Do I think the fix is in? No. Do I believe Obama has major hurdles to climb in a racist United States? Absolutely. Do I believe Barack Obama can pull out Super Tuesday and make a run at the nomination? After a $32 million month and watching the California debate, I'm a believer now.

Congratulations to the New York Giants and all Giants fans!

SUPER BOWL FUCKIN' CHAMPS!

And just a reminder: 12 days until pitchers and catchers.

Krugman: The Edwards Effect

I was listening to John Edwards last year and what Paul Krugman summarizes is what I remembered. Over the course of the year, it became a little muddied in my mind. Who was initiating the bold ideas like universal health care that the Democratic candidates suddenly seemed to latch on to after sweeping it under the rug for so long?

Sure, Dennis Kucinich was for "Medicare for all" (HR 636) but unfortunately and as usual, no one in the mainstream cared to listen to what Kucincich had to say.

Luckily, Edwards was in the forefront just enough and had the populist message that many wanted to hear, and the rest of the pack had to follow because the message was so enticing . We have John Edwards to thank for what we are hearing from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton now.

KRUGMAN: ...Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a campaign based on ideas. And even as his personal quest for the White House faltered, his ideas triumphed: both candidates left standing are, to a large extent, running on the platform Mr. Edwards built.

...Suddenly, universal health care became a possible dream for the next administration. In the months that followed, the rival campaigns moved to assure the party’s base that it was a dream they shared, by emulating the Edwards plan. And there’s little question that if the next president really does achieve major health reform, it will transform the political landscape.

...Unfortunately for Mr. Edwards, the willingness of his rivals to emulate his policy proposals made it hard for him to differentiate himself as a candidate; meanwhile, those rivals had far larger financial resources and received vastly more media attention.

...One thing is clear, however: whichever candidate does get the nomination, his or her chance of victory will rest largely on the ideas Mr. Edwards brought to the campaign.

Dennis Kucinich Bows Out

Breaking news from MSNBC asserts that Dennis Kucinich has told the Cleveland newspaper "Plain Dealer" that he is ending his presidential run for the White House.

Kucinich will make the announcement Friday at a news conference in Cleveland. In an exclusive interview with Plain Dealer editors and reporters, Kucinich said he will explain his "transition" tomorrow.

Thank you Dennis for bringing to the forefront, controversial issues that probably would not have been addressed, had you not led the way.

CNN Debate in South Carolina

Quick note. I just finished watching the debate in Myrtle Beach, SC. I thought I would like the freer form... and I did! But I must say that Wolf Blitzer is absolutely useless as a moderator. There was really no reason for him to be there except as emcee.

It was nice to hear the candidates get passionate and defend their policies and positions against the rhetoric that's been thrown around... I suppose Barack Obama did the best in that sense since most of the arrows were aimed at him regarding his "present" votes in the Illinois legislature and his recent quotes on the Republicans and Ronald Reagan.

Two questions were completely idiotic (paraphrasing): 1- Asking Obama if Clinton was the best black president we ever had and 2- asking if we should withdraw from Iraq or win. Who the hell submitted that question, LIEberman? McCain? Giuliani? Karl Rove?

And once again, just like MSNBC and ABC, CNN excluded Dennis Kucinich from the debate presumably on the opinion that he is not a viable candidate.

So help me God, if MSNBC or CNN or any other "news" organization carries the next Republican debate and INCLUDES Rudy Giuliani, after Mr. 9/11 has gotten trounced in every primary so far by almost every candidate including a continual ass kicking by Ron Paul, I'm going to stick an ice pick in my eye. Let's see how serious these supposed serious news organizations are when the time comes to pick who will debate then.

I predict as always, they will kowtow to the corporate demigods and all six, SIX!, remaining Republican candidates will be on the stage. And just like they did with Kucinich and Mike Gravel early on (when they were still included), they'll place Ron Paul on an end podium and have Ghouliani dead center. And why? To have a man with a vote count average 3% seem like he has any shot at actually winning this thing? Please.

Enough of the media deciding for us who the viable candidates are. One more lackluster finish for John Edwards, and I can see them excluding him from the next Dem debate as well.

Armadillo Joe: ...I fear that [Edwards] is suffering from a tacit conspiracy to exclude candidates who could actually shake-up a system (for better or worse) that works really well for the people who run it; Kucinich and Paul also come to mind. Edwards is just the most high-profile, successful and legitimate of the group.

Time will tell soon enough.

Wexler Calls For Impeachment Hearings Against Cheney

Last night, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) took to the floor of the House of Representatives and outlined the case as to why Congress must hold immediate hearings on Dennis Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment.

"History demands that we take action because the case against Vice President Cheney is far stronger than the illegality surrounding Watergate.

When compared to the partisan and petty allegations made against President Clinton by Ken Starr and the GOP Congress, the true gravity of the case against the Vice President appears at its most devastating clarity. In fact, in the history of our nation we have never encountered a moment where the actions of a President or Vice President have more strongly demanded the use of the power of impeachment."

It's nice to see someone with balls speak on the floor instead of hearing those tragic and empty words, "my good friends on the other side of the aisle."

Mitt Takes Michigan; Dem Debate Docile

Okay, just quick one before hitting the sack.

Mitt Romney wins in Michigan, where he was born and raised; where his dad was Governor. If he hadn't won there, where could he have won? A loss in Michigan would have sent the Mittmobile to the garage for good. So, in three primaries on the GOP side there have been three different winners... and none of them were Rudy. Mr. 9/11 got 3% of the vote coming in sixth. Ron Paul got double the support. Jeebus, even Fred Thompson beat Ghouliani!

Does it say anything about Clinton's electability that she got 55% of the vote in a state primary where she was the only "major" candidate on the ballot? 40% voted "uncommitted." Not that it mattered anyway in terms of delegates won (zero) because Obama and Edwards withdrew their names at the request of the national Democratic Party, which penalized Michigan with the loss of its convention delegates because the early date of its primary violated party rules.

As far as the Democratic debate in Las Vegas went, it was docile. No stupid questions from the moderators. Only twice did candidates challenge one another on possible misrepresentations of what they've said, how it was perceived, or how they've voted in the past. They all looked good. I'm still a little leery of Hillary only because until she proves otherwise, I still consider her part of the old establishment. But it was nice to see a calm, respectable, smart debate based on the issues. (Only one "who's ready to lead on Day One" soundbite from Hillary.)

Dennis Kucinich was not allowed to participate after all.

One day after a lower-court judge had threatened to block the debate from being broadcast if MSNBC did not provide a space on stage for Mr. Kucinich, the network won its appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Kucinich Should Be Allowed to Debate, Judge Rules

NY Times: A Nevada judge has ordered MSNBC to include Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic presidential candidate, in Tuesday night’s debate in Nevada, the Associated Press reports.

Of course, MSNBC has filed an appeal. But here is another example of the mainstream media trying to force feed the public into what candidates are viable and what candidates aren't. Including someone like Kucinich would raise the level of debate discourse, unless Russert and Brian Williams ask inane questions.

Kucinich at CNN Debate

Oh, what might have been...

I will support Hillary Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee for president, but so help me Jeebus, if I hear the phrases "who is ready to lead on Day One" or "35 years of experience being an instrument and agent of change" one more time, I'm going to stick an ice pick in my temple.

One wonders how Dennis Kucinich's campaign would do if he looked like John Edwards.

Kucinich Wants NH Recount

Dennis Kucinich has requested a recount of the New Hampshire primary ballots due to the “unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots.” It seems that every district with electronic voting machines were won by Senator Clinton, while every hand counted, "paper trail" district went to Senator Obama.

BradBlog has more information as well as a warning to Dennis Kucinich:

We would also caution Kucinich and his team to closely inspect the chain of custody for the ballots in question, and what has happened to them, and the vulnerable op-scan memory cards, since the election two days ago, during the period that concern has been widely expressed about the seemingly anomalous results of Tuesday's election. It's important that the chain of custody be both secure, fully logged, and transparent.

Nancy Tobi of New Hampshire for Democracy, a Granite State election integrity watchdog group, previously noted her concerns in earlier discussions about the possibility of hand counting the state's op-scan primary ballots.

"We have no control over the ballot chain of custody and we have learned the pain from the 2004 Nader recount, in which only 11 districts were counted, chosen by a highly questionable person, and then nothing showed up," she wrote recently. "Now all we hear is how the Nader recount validated the machines. A candidate asking for a recount may well be a tool used to 'prove' everything was okay and then that candidate will be further discredited," she warned.

Dennis Kucinich's Brother Found Dead

Please keep Dennis Kucinich in your thoughts today.

The youngest brother of Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich was found dead at his home Wednesday.
Perry Kucinich, 52, was found face down by another brother, Larry, at about 9 a.m., said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Coroner's office.
There were no signs of foul play, Caesar said.

Give Up Your Crosses or Go To Jail

The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC or WHINSEC), formerly the School of the Americas is a United States Department of Defense facility at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.
The SOA has been criticized for the participation in human rights violations of some of its graduates. Critics argue that the education encouraged such practices and that this continues in the WHINSEC.

Each year since 1990, the independent organization School of the Americas Watch, stages a protest at the school. This year U.S. presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Cynthia McKinney, Sister Mary Waskowiak; President of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and Rabbi Michael Lerner addressed the crowd...

Watch Kucinich's speech here:

Fourteen protesters were arrested. In an incident that illustrates the increased harrassment by the Columbus police, three more SOA Watch activists were arrested and face charges for refusing to relinquish crosses at the vigil site whose size exceeded Columbus police regulations.

Wait a minute. Three college students were arrested because their crosses were too big?!

The so-called White Cross Three include Matthew Boynton, 20, a sophomore in International Affairs; Ashley DeBelardino, 18, a freshman; and Eric Pierce, 26, a junior in History Education. Each are members of the KSU Green Party Chapter and are also affiliated with the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition.

The arresting officer attempted to stop them from bringing in the crosses and said that SOAW had agreed to the size guidelines. "All you’re doing is disrupting the SOA people because they agreed to those guidelines."

However, Boynton said SOAW told him that they had not agreed to the guidelines.

"I have had it clarified from several people from SOA Watch, and no, they never agreed to those stipulations. The stick law is a City ordinance, but SOA Watch had no role in the restrictions. They had not agreed to those things. And I guess in previous years, the City had the protesters walk through metal detectors and that was challenged," Boynton said.

"The SOA people didn’t feel that way at all. We had dinner with most of the SOA organizers later on. They were very pleased we can take that stick law to court," Boynton said.

..."It’s a restriction on free speech. It’s obvious that protesters bringing in signs too thick or too long or bringing in small flag poles, that’s not dangerous. Those are not being used as weapons, only to convey speech. When the City says this, what they’re really saying is you can only convey your freedom of speech how far we want it," Boynton said.

"I think it’s just a tool police forces use to harass protesters. Anytime a police can step into your business and take away your sign and tell you you can’t use whatever you want to your protest is giving the cop power over you, and I consider that harassment. And it also gives them grounds to do other things to you," Boynton said.

Boynton also disagrees with the notion that the white crosses could be used as weapons."I think it’s ludicrous. I don’t think they could be used as weapons. And even if there was the possibility to use them as weapons, it’s a peaceful area, these are protesters who are nonviolent and there’s no threat of using them as a weapon if they could be used as such," Boynton said.

"Essentially anything could be used as a weapon. You can strangle someone with a flag, but a flag is not a weapon."

Kucinich at the Global Warming Conference

The Impeachment of Dick Cheney

The squad car turned onto the quiet street. The dispatcher had gotten a call of a possible domestic disturbance on First Street, unusual for that part of the neighborhood a few years ago, but it was becoming more and more frequent over the past year. The dispatcher answered the call and then the caller hung up after dispatch heard yelling in the background. Officer Kay exited the car and approached the large house. “Nice place,” he thought. “I wonder what’s going on in here.”

There were lights on inside, but all seemed eerily calm. He knocked on the door and waited a seemingly long while before knocking again. A few seconds later, the door cracked open a bit.

A small lady was on the other side. Through the opening Kay could see that she was visibly upset. She had a bruise on her right cheek and a small cut over her right eye.

“Ma’am, we received a call from this house. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” replied the obviously beaten woman. “I... I just tripped and fell down the stairs. It happens a lot… I’m a klutz. … I called 911 myself thinking I might need an ambulance,” said Nancy as her eyes welled up with tears, “but I’m okay now. It’s not as bad as I thought.”

“Well is anyone in the house with you? Do you need medical attention?”

Just then, Kay heard a voice coming from inside the house. “Who the hell’s at the door?!”
“Here we go…” Kay thought.

He heard steps coming toward the door and it forcefully swung completely open, Nancy visibly flinching as it whizzed by her.

“Oh… good evening, officer. Kin a help ya?” said a man of considerable size. He stunk of cheap whiskey and seemed agitated, sweat beaded on his forehead and he looked disheveled in his stained Ohio State tee shirt. He seemed to trip on himself a bit at the door as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette. Kay knew what he was in for.

He had seen this all before. An obviously battered spouse. A belligerent, overbearing man who pushed his compromising wife to the edge time and time again, and shoved her around if she dared talked back. He’d seen these types of cowards before.

Unfortunately, Kay’s hands were tied. The law prevented him from doing anything unless Nancy filed a complaint.

“Sir, we received a call and...”

“Yeah, she can be a bit of a klutz. She fell down a coupla’ steps. She’s alright now though, ain’tcha honey?” He put his arm around her and squeezed her in closer.

“Well, sir, I’ll need your name for the record, just to verify that we made the call.”

“John. And this is my wife, Nancy,” said the drunk with a scrape on his knuckle. Nancy stared down at the floor. She dared not look Kay in the eye. If she did, he would be able to see all the pain, all the frustration in her.

“And how long have you been living here?”

“Just about a year now,” Nancy said, still staring at the floor. John whipped his head around and looked at her with daggers in his eyes. How dare she speak. He squeezed her tighter.

“Nancy, can I speak with you a moment?” Kay stared at John as he said this to look for a reaction. John inched forward but immediately realized he’d better behave. If he did, it would all go away.

Kay took Nancy down the walkway. “Look Nancy, I know what’s going on. But I can’t help you unless you tell me. You need to take the first step. I’ll ask you again: Is everything alright? Will everything be alright once I leave?”

Nancy stood there. She didn’t say a word. She thought perhaps she could finally get out of this relationship. She’d tried to be compromising in hopes that John would see how good a person she is. Maybe the kindness would be reciprocated.
But it never worked that way. John would take and take and take. He would never give anything. He wasn’t built for it. He’d been like this his entire life and an old biting dog doesn't like muzzles.
Maybe this time she could call John out on his cowardice. Maybe this time, John would see that she wasn’t going to stand for it anymore. She wasn’t going to sit there and take his crap anymore.

“No, I’m fine… I fell.”

Kay gave Nancy a business card and told her to call him if there was any problem. She looked back at the door and saw John standing there, arms folded across his chest, watching her every move. She slowly took the card. Kay watched as Nancy slowly turned back up the walkway heading towards her front door.

“Goodnight, officer,” John said with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Thanks for stoppin’ by. Nice to know we got the city’s finest watchin’ our back.” The business card was snatched out of Nancy’s hand before the door was shut.

And that’s how the resolution to impeach Dick Cheney ended in the House of Representatives.


From BOB CESCA:

If only the Democrats were attentive enough to the people to realize that a majority of Americans, including a majority of independent voters, support the impeachment of Dick Cheney, they would've treated the resolution with a little more respect. If they acknowledged their mandate and discarded their predictably impotent political habits, they would have had the mettle to at least debate the resolution and entered into the record their collective objections to the vice president's malfeasance, as well as forced into the record the Republican Party's inexplicable support for the man's attempt to undermine their authority. History demands this.

Instead, by engaging in such an awkwardly amateurish fire drill on the floor of the House, [Steny] Hoyer managed to inject his misguided capitulation into the national debate. He might not know this, but there exists cable news and internet blogs, both thirsting for material. Now, millions of people know that the House Democrats dropped their short pants and stumbled away from the task of holding the vice president accountable -- their trousers bunched around their ankles restricting normal locomotion -- simply because the Republicans dared them to act.

And so in trying to avoid a so-called public embarrassment, they publicly embarrassed themselves anyway.

Here is another video from Brave New Films summarizing the resolution to impeach Cheney. Watch it and then honestly tell yourself that he doesn't warrant impeachment.

More from CESCA:

When the Democrats acquiesce on torture or impeachment or anything that might reunite them with their balls, they're only succeeding in begging the right's aggression. There won't be any favors returned from the Bush/Cheney right wing. I don't think the Democrats fully understand who they're dealing with. And if they do, well then, how dare they play along. How dare they patronize us with 'I'm against this but I'm voting for it because I'm smart and important and you wouldn't understand anyway.'

You stand up and vote NO on torture, Senator Schumer. You allow a debate about impeaching the vice president, Congressman Hoyer. And you sure as shit don't vote to support the administration's Iran policy, Senator Clinton.

In other words, compromising with the White House won't make the president go all limp and soupy -- it will in fact make him louder and more petulant next time around...

..."Shut him up or shut him down!" That's what the American people are expecting. Any failure on that score leaves the Democrats in this pathetic ass-up submissive posture. When it comes down to choice of nuance versus aggression, the answer has to be aggression. Take on those bastards with the fury and tenacity these historically imperative issues demand.

We don't expect hand-holding and mutual masturbation between the Bush Republican White House and the Democratic Congress. No one has ever assumed the president would compromise on anything anyway. But we assumed -- perhaps wrongly -- that the Democrats would stick him. We expected a fight, and that's why we voted for Democrats a year ago yesterday. And if they should ever decide to collectively stand up and fight, we will gladly elect more of them a year from now.

It took me a few days to wrap my head around what the hell happened in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. If the Republicans wanted a fight, if they wanted to attempt to "embarrass" the Democratic Party by forcing a debate on Kucinich's resolution to impeach Cheney, then the leadership should have gone to the coat check room where they usually leave their collective scrotum at the door, strapped it back on and said, "You wanna throw down?! Let's go! Game on, brohim!"

But the Rethuglicans know the battered wife game. They wrote the book on it. They dared the Dems knowing they would flinch. And flinch they did. It's times like these that I feel like changing my party affiliation to Independent.

And what embarrassment would they have saved? A July poll showed that 54% of Americans favored impeachment of Cheney (including 17% of Republicans)... and that was in July! Four months ago! It's got to be riding at 60%+ now.

What is an embarrassment to me is that the Democrats fold like a house of cards time and time again. It's an embarrassment to me that Nancy Pelosi says impeachment is off the table when it's not her choice, but a duty that the Constitution dictates. It's an embarrassment to me when a Senate Nominating Committee with a Democratic majority would allow Michael Mukasey to be approved as the next Attorney General after hemming and hawing on torture and that Harry Reid would allow a simple majority vote for his confirmation after a five hour debate.

It's an embarrassment to me that they don't fight. That's why they were elected, but they've gotten so used to being the red-headed stepchild, they've forgotten that they have fists, that they have strength, that they have the backing of the American people. Stop worrying about what your cocktail guests in Washington will think, and start worrying what your constituents back home will think. Because if you don't, you won't need to worry what will be said about you at the next dinner party. You'll be cleaning out your desks in November 2008.

Not only do we have to vote Democratic in the general election, but we have to be wary of who we're voting for in the Democratic Primary elections as well.

Not only have to vote Democratic, we must vote for the better Democrat.