by Joe Stinebaker (AP)

HOUSTON — Rep. Ron Paul, the iconoclastic, nine-term lawmaker from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward a second, quixotic presidential bid _ this time as a Republican.

Paul filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money. In 1988, Paul was the Libertarian nominee for president and received more than 400,000 votes.

Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul’s exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul’s Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he’s a long shot.

“There’s no question that it’s an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog,” Snyder said. “But we think it’s well worth doing and we’ll let the voters decide.”

Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes at odds with his constituents and other Republicans.

He was one of a handful of Republicans to vote in 2002 against giving President Bush the authority to use military force in Iraq, contending that only Congress had the power to declare war. At times, he has voted against funds for the military.

Paul bills himself as “The Taxpayers’ Best Friend,” and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.

Read More at The Washington Post

UPDATE >> VIDEO: Ron Paul Warns of “False Flag” Terror Attack (01/16/2007)

VIDEO: Ron Paul Calls for Bush Impeachment

Congressional Website for Ron Paul

Ron Paul Exploratory Committee

Ron Paul Wins Re-Election

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by John Nichols, The Nation

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, is today introducing legislation to uniquivocally “prohibit the use of funds for an escalation of United States forces in Iraq above the numbers existing as of January 9, 2007.”

Kennedy voted against authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq and he has been a consistent critic of the war. But this targeted piece of legislation specifically addresses the “surge” being proposed by the president.

Even more importantly, Kennedy’s bill reasserts the role of Congress in a time of war. The Constitution allows the president to serve as commander-in-chief and affords him reasonable war-making powers in that role. But it reserves for Congress the power of the purse, and the founders were clear in their believe that the House and Senate should use that power to constrain a president who is waging war without reason or sound strategies.

The Congress has frequently used the power of the purse to control presidential war-making. Kennedy points to examples from the Vietnam era, but there are also examples from just the past quarter century of the Congress specifically embracing troops caps in Lebanon, in the European NATO countries and in Colombia. Indeed, as the Center for American Progress notes in a detailed new report, “Congressional Limitations and Requirements for Military Deployments and Funding,” the Congress has a rich record of stepping in to prevent presidents from expanding U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.

Read More at The Nation

Filed under: Blog, In the News, Video, politicsNews, Constitutional Crisis, Who to Support, Democrats' New Power, Iraq War Crimes
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–AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
–AZ-01: Rick Renzi
–AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
–CA-04: John Doolittle
–CA-11: Richard Pombo
–CA-50: Brian Bilbray
–CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
–CO-05: Doug Lamborn
–CO-07: Rick O’Donnell
–CT-04: Christopher Shays
–FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
–FL-16: Joe Negron
–FL-22: Clay Shaw
–ID-01: Bill Sali
–IL-06: Peter Roskam
–IL-10: Mark Kirk
–IL-14: Dennis Hastert
–IN-02: Chris Chocola
–IN-08: John Hostettler
–IA-01: Mike Whalen
–KS-02: Jim Ryun
–KY-03: Anne Northup
–KY-04: Geoff Davis
–MD-Sen: Michael Steele
–MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
–MN-06: Michele Bachmann
–MO-Sen: Jim Talent
–MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
–NV-03: Jon Porter
–NH-02: Charlie Bass
–NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
–NM-01: Heather Wilson
–NY-03: Peter King
–NY-20: John Sweeney
–NY-26: Tom Reynolds
–NY-29: Randy Kuhl
–NC-08: Robin Hayes
–NC-11: Charles Taylor
–OH-01: Steve Chabot
–OH-02: Jean Schmidt
–OH-15: Deborah Pryce
–OH-18: Joy Padgett
–PA-04: Melissa Hart
–PA-07: Curt Weldon
–PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
–PA-10: Don Sherwood
–RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
–TN-Sen: Bob Corker
–VA-Sen: George Allen
–VA-10: Frank Wolf
–WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
–WA-08: Dave Reichert

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By Michael Barone

Rep. John Conyers, slated to be chairman of Judiciary, has been muting his earlier calls for the impeachment of Bush, but he can be expected to move in that direction when he takes the gavel. There are few moderate Democrats on Judiciary, and Conyers could conceivably mobilize a majority to bring an impeachment resolution to the floor. Yet a Democratic Judiciary Committee is likely to be on Bush’s side on immigration, and could produce a guest-worker and legalization bill.

Of course, it’s not certain that there will be a Democratic House next year. Republicans will frame the election as a referendum on who can keep the nation safe, and they’ll point out that most House Democrats voted against the terrorist interrogation and National Security Agency surveillance bills. And Republicans have a superior turnout drive. Stay tuned.

Read More at USNews.com

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By Ron Fullwood

Bush and his warmongering supporters are dangerous for America. Anyone can pick fights, as Bush seems obsessed with doing. The question for America is, are we ready to fight more of Bush’s battles for him? The leaders of the world are lining up against him/us. Only blundering idiots would allow Bush to turn the world into his personal fight club. We’re the ones who are going to end up defending ourselves as we defend against his blundering interference in so many other nation’s affairs. His manufactured mandate supported less by the will of the American people than by his corrupt exercise of the awesome strength of our military and the sacrifices of those who do the fighting and the dying.

That’s why seeking impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney is such an imperative. The ideological battle that we should be waging is against the Bush regime’s hijacking of our country and the crashing of our democracy into the Iraqi desert. Now they want more bodies to fuel their occupations as they plot yet another assault on yet another sovereign nation. It’s clear that Bush won’t pull back from his military slap-fights with eyes closed unless he’s forced to by the American people through the action of our representatives. We have to demand that they step up and hold him accountable, or face removal and censure for their own complicity in the imperious charade.

Read More at OpEdNews.com

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An entrepreneurial-minded Ned Lamont stopped by the Christian Science Monitor breakfast in DC today; 30 reporters, including the Hartford Courant’s David Lightman and reps from two of the three broadcast networks, attended.

Lamont’s opening statement was technocratic. He started with “the numbers,” as he as a “business guy” is wont to do. 47M Americans have no health care; there are 63 lobbyists for each member of Congress; there were 6K earmarks on the transportation bill. He said he decided to run to change all that. Lamont: “If you’re a business person, you tend to be a little pragmatic if it’s not working.”

He said he wanted to spent “as little as possible” of his own money during the gen. election campaign, but acknowledged that he’d probably have to write himself a check. He declined to put a figure on his future self-funding. Lamont implied that he would ask DSCC chair Chuck Schumer for help with fundraising. The two meet today in person for the first time.

Read More at The National Journal Hotline

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By Brendan Scott

Congressional candidate John Hall has shown little restraint in expressing his contempt for the Bush Administration on the campaign trail this year.

Explaining what he would do about it if elected to Congress, however, has proved more difficult for the longtime Democratic activist. In recent months, Hall has been gently tiptoeing around questions about whether he would move to impeach the president if he’s elected as a voice for the mid-Hudson in the U.S. House.

The topic last came up Wednesday — the day after Hall’s primary romp over three other Democrats — as he took part in an online chat with the progressive blog Firedoglake. In the conversation, the party’s new nominee was prodded by a participant to stake out a clear position on the topic, which has become a loyalty test for some Democrats.

“Clarifying your views on impeachment would go a long way to showing that you’re not one of the Lieberman/Harman/Shays/Kelly phony centrists,” the blogger noted, referring to several members of Congress.

Hall replied by professing support for a couple of notable impeachment advocates and saying the president should be investigated. But he stopped short of endorsing impeachment “before hearing evidence.”

Read More at RecordOnline.com 

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By Evan Lehmann

WASHINGTON — One of the president’s most tenacious critics, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, said President Bush should not face impeachment.

“I don’t think that’s called for now,” Kennedy said outside his Senate office.

The assessment followed several statements over the last week in which the Massachusetts Democrat has warned that Bush could face an escalating level of accountability after the November elections.

Citing an Intelligence Committee report released last week showing administration officials had incorrectly linked al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, Kennedy alluded to the future by saying America “needs a change in Congress to hold the administration accountable for our national security.”

After Bush spoke on network television on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Kennedy accused the president of exploiting the attack for political purposes. He added: “There will be time to debate this president’s policies in Iraq. Sept. 11 is not that time.”

Democrats have distanced themselves from the notion of impeachment, worrying that it could derail their chances of retaking control of the House, or less likely, the Senate.

Republicans, meanwhile, say impeachment threats are the ultimate measure of Democratic obstructionism and partisanship.

Read More at the Lowell Sun

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Here is an update on what Sen. Russ Feingold has been doing and saying:

• Iraq’s Pile of Lies
• Bush Needs Censured
• Russ on Israel
• Senator Feingold to Address Chicago Bar
• Feingold is Gold

Who is Russ Feingold?

Filed under: Blog, In the News, politicsNews, Who to Support
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By Steven Thomma

WASHINGTON - Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower once dismissed centrist politics with a wisecrack he’d heard from a farmer: “Ain’t nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”

This summer, there’s no more dangerous place for a politician to be than the middle of the road. Primary voters and interest groups in both parties are pushing hard for partisan purity and punishing those who stray too close to the center - or the dreaded other side.

Next up is Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who faces a strong conservative challenge from Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey in a Sept. 12 primary.

Chafee, considered his party’s best hope to hold the seat in the liberal state, has nonetheless come under a barrage of criticism from conservatives. They’re weary of his support for abortion rights, federal spending and gay marriage and opposition to the Bush tax cuts.

Even if they subsequently lose the seat to a Democrat, some conservatives say it would be worth it to get rid of Chafee. Says the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group opposing Chafee: “It wouldn’t be much of a loss if a new Democrat senator were elected, as he would vote much the same as Chafee does now.”

It might not make a difference to them on the tax issue. But nationally, this could be a close election where the loss of Rhode Island might turn over the entire Senate to Democratic control.

Read More at HeraldToday.com

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source: The Chicago Tribune

For an idea of how the Republican Party will approach the averted terrorist assault on trans-Atlantic airliners this week, how that might play into the fall election cycle in the United States, the depth of research that Republicans are ready to bring to bear on their races and the attacks that the GOP plans on its “cut-and-run'’ opposition n the Democratic Party, the best place to go is the Republican Party.

Here’s a memo circulated by the National Republican Congressional Committee today. Read and see:

MEMO

To: GOP Campaigns

From: NRCC Communications

Re: Vigilance in the Global War on Terror

Date: August 11, 2006

__________________________________________________________________________

Recent events have reminded us that we continue to operate in a pivotal phase in the Global War on Terror.

In the days to come, you should move to question your opponent’s commitment to the defeat of terror, and in turn, create a definitive contrast on the issue.

You will certainly benefit from bringing into stark focus the cut-and-run, surrender message that Democrats coast to coast are currently — and foolishly — embracing.

To aid you in this effort, we are including three key votes related to the War on Terror as well as materials provided by the RNC.

(more…)

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By John Conyers, Jr.

I wanted to update you on the lawsuit I have filed against George W. Bush and members of his administration, referred to in legal parlance as Conyers v. Bush.

You are likely familiar with a number of steps I have taken to challenge the legality and constitutional grounds of the Administration’s actions. From the lead up to Iraq, to the Downing Street Minutes, to the outing of a CIA agent, to warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens, I have called loudly for the Bush White
House to explain itself.

Donate Now and Help Me Fight Back and Work Toward a New Democratic Majority.

I decided to file suit against the President in Federal Court in Michigan, along with 11 Senior Democratic Members of Congress. This suit was necessary because of a clear violation of the constitution. When the President signed the Deficit Reduction Act (which “reduced” the deficit by cutting taxes, health care benefits, and student loans), he signed into law a bill that had not passed the House and Senate. A different version of the bill passed each house of Congress with a multi-billion dollar difference in funding for life-saving medical equipment.

Anyone who ever watched Schoolhouse Rock knows this to be a problem.

Given the stakes involved I felt it was imperative to aggressively take this fight to the courts. The President’s lawyers tried to get the bill dismissed, but late last week I responded with legal filings that stand up for the rule of law and the Constitution and hope to bring the President, and our United States government, back under the rule of law.

I wanted to email you this news today to update you on our efforts and to thank you for your help and support. Thank you also for your continued dedication to a better democracy.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.

Contact Information
website: http://www.johnconyers.com/
Conyers for Congress
P.O. Box 17204
Alexandria, Virginia 17204
Phone: 313-438-2004

Paid For And Authorized By Conyers for Congress
Michael J. Remington, Treasurer
P.O. Box 17204
Alexandria, Virginia 22302

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(AP) Associated Press

PUTNEY, Vt. –Vermont’s lone representative in the U.S. House is discouraging supporters from seeking impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

Sanders, an independent, said activists’ time would be better spent trying to elect him to the U.S. Senate and Democratic state Sen. Peter Welch to the seat he now holds.

Read More at the Boston Globe

Oh Bernie Sanders … puh-lease! Our time is better spent electing you? Perhaps on the day you stop pandering to the two-party establishment and stand by the oath you took to uphold the laws of the Constitution. This is bigger than politics, or maybe we should say, your political career. In the end, the American people will hold those who have committed crimes responsible … with your help or not. Step aside (or we will put you aside) and let the people do the work. If Congress continually refuses to respond, bet that we will.

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By John M. Crisp

In “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell warns us about the connection between bad ideas and the careless use of language, which he pictures as a self-perpetuating downward spiral: Bad ideas lead to sloppy language, which in turn makes it easier to have more bad ideas.

Our dilemma in Iraq hasn’t been helped by the language we’ve used to talk about it. Columnists, talk-show hosts and politicians could begin to remedy this by eliminating from their discourse the terms “cut and run” and “stay the course.” “Cut and run” crops up dozens of times daily on radio talk shows, and Karl Rove used it recently in New Hampshire. The “cut-and-runners” are cowards who wish to beat a hasty retreat from Iraq at the first sign of trouble. Of course, they’re mostly Democrats.

Read More at Scripps Howard News Service

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By William Rivers Pitt

The abandonment of Congressional oversight is a lot of the reason we are in such a sorry state, and that abandonment was authored by Republicans who were stupid enough and opportunistic enough to trust that Bush and his people would lead them to the promised land of a permanent majority. This won’t be forgotten by November.

Beyond that, few people are going to rise in response again to the waving of the bloody shirt of September 11. The Cunningham and Abramoff scandals continue to grow, chopping down Republicans left and right. The GOP’s usual electoral strengths - morality and security - are gone, and the Republican base is abandoning them. The cupboard is just about empty.

What’s left? Vote for us, or else we’ll be held accountable! That’s just funny.

Read More at truthout.org

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By Ken Werner

To promise George Bush and Dick Cheney immunity from impeachment not only paints the Democratic Party as uncaring about violations of our laws but also sends a message to Bush and Cheney that no matter what illegal actions they have already performed or might perform between now and 2008, they are at liberty to continue to violate human rights and will not be prosecuted. And voters will incorrectly assume (as in 2004) that there are no major differences between the two dominant political parties and will subconsciously react to whoever spins the most believable rhetoric.

Nancy Pelosi should immediately retract her promise to Bush and Cheney of immunity from impeachment and should promise the American people, and the world, that the Republican culture of corruption will not be tolerated, and those found guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of our laws.

Read More at BeyondChron.org

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Conservative commentator Carl Limbacher was caught lying to a group of young republicans during a speech in Midland, Texas. He said that Democratic Representative John Conyers held a “mock impeachment” of George Bush and suggested that Conyers and other Democrats have set out a vendetta against the president in wartime.

Lies. Lies. Lies. Fear. Fear. Fear.

John Conyers has not held a mock impeachment, whatever that is. He has organized a few important forums to discuss the possible crimes committed by the Bush Administration in the run up to the Iraq War. He also released a summary of his staff’s work called “The Constitution In Crisis” which sets the framework for an investigation into accusations that Bush and his team lied to Congress, which is a felony offense, and misled the American people to attack and occupy an oil-rich nation that posed no immediate threat to the United States of America.

Let’s talk about this in simple terms so that it is easy to explain to others. The Republican (mis)information machine works in a top down manner. At the top is Karl Rove. The middle contains right-wing hacks such as Limbacher, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and arguably the majority of corporate-controlled mainstream media. At the bottom are the loyal republican base, including so-called Christian Conservatives, Conservative Moderates and people without strong opinions on politics.

Here is how Karl Rove does it:

Step 1: Rove dreams up divisive issues, i.e. issues that separate Americans from each other instead of bringing them together. Hopefully they are issues that Republicans poorly manage like national security, health care, civil rights or the environment so that their weaknesses become to appear as their strengths. Three highly successful “dividers” are: the Right to Choose, Immigration and Gay Rights. Rove knows these issues will be contentious offering a chance to set the debate on these topics.

Step 2: Rove spins these issues in a wrapper of hatred, cynicism, racism and bigotry as to motivate people by their inner-most emotional urges rather than their rational minds.

Step 3: Rove adds lots of lies, slanderous statements and misleading characterizations so that it looks like he knows what he is talking about.

Step 4: The right-wing echo machine takes over to incredible effect because of it’s mass reach into a near 100% share of AM radio market, entire news organizations such as Fox News (and others) as well as substantial conservative influence at the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and, of course, “actual” right-leaning papers like the Washington Times.

Step 4b: Accuse all of the media as being “liberally-biased” so no one catches on.

Step 5: Have a stiff drink, shoot some crack, hang out with a gay hooker or do something else you enjoy like commit treason or drop some chemicals on a baby because you just created an opposite reality where your programs seem reasonable to people who are misinformed. Write the words “winning is everything” on the cover of your notebook.

Step 6: Repeat

This business about impeachment is a great example. Despite the fact that a fear-filled Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has come out of the shadows in defiance of her liberal base AGAINST impeachment, and, that John Conyers is seeking to explain his intentions on investigating the president by pandering to fears of being anti-patriotic, most people will nevertheless end up thinking that the Democrats are crazed lunatics on a vendetta to impeach the president and by doing so in a time of “war” will compromise the security of the nation.

All of this pretty much because Karl Rove thinks it will help the Republicans in the November election — and damn the consequences to our nation, ourselves and our children.

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Even though Nancy Pelosi, like most of the spineless Democrats in Congress and the Senate, has not come forward to publicly support either a resolution for Censure or for Impeachment, the Conservative media is already acting as if she has in order to drum up support for their side. This is classic Republican divisive politics, it is also happening with issues such as imigration and gay rights, and it is meant to divide this country. When will the GOP learn that we cannot solve our problems with hate?

Also, when will the Democrats learn that they should be a voice? If they are going to get tagged as an opposition party anyway, they should become one! In the meantime, they can know that signs in the media like this most certainly means the Republicans are getting desparate.

Another clear example is Bob Dole’s lies about the Democrats’ Congressional Record and that they will put “terrorism on the back burner.” Do the Republicans still really believe these fools when they say that their fellow Americans sympathize with the terrorists? It is just so stupid. Wake up people, you are BEING LIED TO!

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