What ever Happened to “a New Way Forward”?!

Has anyone else been wondering what happened to Bush’s campaign to start a “new way forward in Iraq”? When this “plan” came out, it was all we heard every single leader saying. The study group on Iraq was supposed to be the best (newest) plan that we could possibly put into action…so why don’t we hear about it anymore?

‘Fourth Branch’ Cheney strikes again

Cheney apparently STILL unsure his office is in the executive branch. Apparently he says it’s because he has legislative duties. Nevermind that the President has legislative duties too – the President signs the bills, so by Cheney’s logic the President can’t be considered to be in the executive branch either.  Click on the link below to be directed to MSNBC’s story on this matter.

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Bush is “secretly” planning to engage US forces in yet another war

By Robert D. Novak
Monday, July 30, 2007; Page A15
Washington Post

The morass in Iraq and deepening difficulties in Afghanistan have not deterred the Bush administration from taking on a dangerous and questionable new secret operation. High-level U.S. officials are working with their Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.

the White House on Trial – Bush Impeachment imminent

Came across this today, thought some of you may find it interesting…

“President George W. Bush impeachment is going to happen, there is just no way around it. The next President can’t inherit powers that Bush has assumed, it could be disastrous for our country. The natives are restless, impeach him and move on to bigger and better things…”
[Click on "Read More" for full article.]

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War with Iran Coming?

MANAMA (Reuters) – A U.S. aircraft carrier is heading to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet area of operations, which includes the Gulf, but the Pentagon said on Tuesday there had been no decision to increase naval power in the region.

U.S. defence officials said the deployment of the USS Enterprise was a routine measure to replace one of two U.S. Navy carriers now in the Fifth Fleet area.

Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said the Enterprise was expected to arrive within weeks in its area of operations, where the U.S. has been flexing its muscles in a standoff with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme that has stoked regional tensions.

“There is a scheduled swap of carriers that is part of the routine deployment of the Enterprise,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters in Washington.

“Has the department made a decision for three carriers in the Gulf? No,” he added.

The U.S. Navy declined to comment on the future movements of the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz, the two carriers currently deployed in the Fifth Fleet area.

The area includes the Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.

A Pentagon official said there was a possibility the Navy could go down to one carrier in the region.

The United States sent a second carrier to the Gulf at the start of this year. U.S. officials said that move was designed to reassure U.S. allies concerned about Iran’s increasing influence in the region.

In May, a flotilla of U.S. warships sailed through the Gulf to hold exercises off Iran’s coast in a major show of force that unnerved oil markets.

The U.S. Navy said in a statement that the Enterprise would provide “navy power to counter the assertive, disruptive and coercive behaviour of some countries,” and take part in anti-submarine, anti-surface, anti-mine, air and missile defence and air strike operations.

“These operations are not specifically aimed at Iran… We consider this time unprecedented in terms of the amount of insecurity and instability in the region,” Navy spokeswoman Denise Garcia said, citing tensions in Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The West suspects Iran of secretly seeking to build a nuclear bomb and wants Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment activities. Tehran insists its atomic ambitions are peaceful.

Earlier this month, commercial satellite imagery showed Iran was building a tunnel facility inside a mountain near a key nuclear complex — a move nuclear analysts said could be an attempt to protect nuclear activity from aerial attack.

Tension over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions has raised regional fears of a military confrontation. Iran has dismissed previous U.S. drills off its coast as morale-boosting exercises, and has said it had missiles that could sink big war ships in the Gulf.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington)

Half of U.S. favors Bush Impeachment (Poll)

Nearly half of the US public wants President George W. Bush to face impeachment, and even more favor that fate for Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a poll out Friday.  The survey by the American Research Group found that 45 percent support the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Bush, with 46 percent opposed, and a 54-40 split in favor when it comes to Cheney.

The study by the private New Hampshire-based ARG canvassed 1,100 Americans by telephone July 3-5 and had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points. The findings are available on ARG’s Internet site.

The White House declined to comment on the poll, the latest bad news for a president who has seen his public opinion standings dragged to record lows by the unpopular war in Iraq.

The US Constitution says presidents and vice presidents can be impeached — that is, formally charged by the House — for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” by a simple majority vote.

Conviction by the Senate, which requires a two-thirds majority, means removal from office.

Just two US presidents have been impeached: Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 and acquitted in 1999; Andrew Johnson was impeached and acquitted in 1868. Disgraced president Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 when a House impeachment vote appeared likely.

In late April, left-wing Representative Dennis Kucinich, a long-shot Democratic presidential hopeful, introduced a resolution calling for Cheney’s impeachment. To date, the measure has nine listed co-sponsors and a 10th set to sign on when the House returns to work next week.

But Democratic leaders appear unlikely to pursue such a course.

(story from breitbart.com)

The Impeachment Center

A group of progressive and Democratic activists in California will be using the July 4 holiday to inaugurate a nerve center that will work to bring more Congress members around to supporting the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The Impeachment Center’s opening comes as one House Democrat took aim at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s statement that impeachment remained ‘off the table.’

Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles, members of local Green and Progressive Democratic party organizations will be joined by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to inaugurate an ‘Impeachment Center.’ The Center will serve as “a [Los Angeles] countywide resource for advancing the impeachment of George W. Bush & Richard Cheney,” with “phonebanking, letterwriting and other Impeachment related resources available for distribution.” The facility will be open on a weekly basis.

Matthew Gerbasi, the Impeachment Working Group Coordinator of the Progressive Democrats of America, described the Impeachment Center’s mission to RAW STORY on Tuesday.

“The center’s mission will be to get the LA City Council, and Santa Monica to pass pro-impeachment resolutions, and also to get all of the Congressional representatives in the Los Angeles-area to either sign on to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s [Cheney impeachment] bill or to introduce Articles of Impeachment on their own,” the California-based activist said.

Gerbasi wasn’t sure that the funding existed to support similar resource center in any other locations in the country. But he didn’t rule out the possibility that progressive activists might devise similar strategies of their own.

“We don’t have nation-wide reach to make anyone do anything like this, but we’ve been hearing about impeachment from a lot of Progressive Democrat chapters,” he told RAW STORY. “A lot of chapter meetings turn into impeachment meetings after 15 or 20 minutes, and everyone there wants to impeach these guys, to hold them accountable, and they don’t feel that the House is doing their jobs.”

The launch of the Impeachment Center comes on the heels of the commutation of the sentence of convicted former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is the latest House member to contemplate impeachment, and has taken aim at one of his party’s top leader’s unwillingness to consider the possibility.

“I certainly hope Nancy Pelosi will withdraw her initial remarks that impeachment is completely off the table,” Jackson said, according to a Tuesday report from CBS News in Chicago.

However, it is not yet known if Jackson will become a co-sponsor of H. Res. 333, the Articles of Impeachment for Cheney that Rep. Kucinich introduced in April. To date, 12 House Democrats have signed on to the Ohio Democrat’s bill according to the website After Downing Street.

(story from rawstory.com)

Europe Poll: “US biggest threat to Peace”

Europeans consistently regard the US as the biggest threat to world stability, a new poll reveals on Monday.

A survey carried out in June by Harris Research for the Financial Times shows that 32 per cent of respondents in five European countries regard the US as a bigger threat than any other state.

In the US itself, North Korea and Iran are seen as the biggest risks. However, the youngest US respondents share the Europeans’ view that theirs is the biggest threat, with 35 per cent of American 16- to 24-year-olds identifying it as the chief danger to stability.

The level of European concern about the US has remained broadly consistent over the past year. In 11 previous polls dating back to July 2006 the proportion of respondents considering the US a threat to stability has ranged between 28 per cent and 38 per cent.

The latest poll comes in the wake of the “surge” that has increased US forces in Iraq to about 160,000 troops, but which has not been accompanied by political breakthroughs or a dramatic reduction of violence. During President George W. Bush’s second term the administration has also embarked on a more consensual international approach to issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme and North Korea’s nuclear bomb.

But the poll shows that the European public still considers Mr Bush a risk.

“It is evidence of the continued estrangement between the European public and the Bush administration, in spite of a real improvement in official ties,” said Ron Asmus, head of the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund, which works to bolster transatlantic ties.

“It is proof that the next president will be confronted with the major challenge of improving America’s image abroad, starting with Europe and our main allies.”

Inhabitants of Spain are most concerned about the US, with 46 per cent of respondents naming America as the biggest threat.

European poll respondents – who also come from France, Germany, Italy and the UK – are increasingly concerned about China, which 19 per cent perceive as the biggest threat, up from 12 per cent last July.

Meanwhile, 17 per cent identify Iran as the biggest threat, 11 per cent Iraq and 9 per cent North Korea. Only 5 per cent single out Russia, despite increased tensions between Moscow and the west.

The poll’s data on the US indicate that 25 per cent of Americans see North Korea as the biggest threat, followed by Iran with 23 per cent, China with 20 per cent, and the US itself with 11 per cent.

The poll is consistent with findings last week by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which found that favourable ratings of the US had declined in 26 of 33 countries over the past five years.

But the Pew poll also contrasted unfavourable ratings of the US with much more positive responses in Israel, Poland, Japan, India and parts of Africa and Latin America.

The survey for the Financial Times was carried out online by Harris Interactive between July 2006 and June 2007. More than 1,000 people were polled in each country each month.

(story and picture from ft.com)

Obama: Bush/Cheney Impeachment is a waste of Time

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama laid out list of political shortcomings he sees in the Bush administration but said he opposes impeachment for either President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney.

Obama said he would not back such a move, although he has been distressed by the “loose ethical standards, the secrecy and incompetence” of a “variety of characters” in the administration.

“There’s a way to bring an end to those practices, you know: vote the bums out,” the presidential candidate said, without naming Bush or Cheney. “That’s how our system is designed.”

The term for Bush and Cheney ends on Jan. 20, 2009. Bush cannot constitutionally run for a third term, and Cheney has said he will not run to succeed Bush.

Obama, a Harvard law school graduate and former lecturer on constitutional law at the University of Chicago, said impeachment should not be used as a standard political tool.

“I think you reserve impeachment for grave, grave breeches, and intentional breeches of the president’s authority,” he said.

“I believe if we began impeachment proceedings we will be engulfed in more of the politics that has made Washington dysfunction,” he added. “We would once again, rather than attending to the people’s business, be engaged in a tit-for-tat, back-and-forth, nonstop circus.”

Obama, son of a Kenyan father and American mother, spoke at a weekly constituent breakfast he sponsors with Illinois’ other senator, Dick Durbin. He was asked about impeachment.
(story from iht.com)

Is Cheney too Powerful?

The President often dominates the political spotlight that most of the country tends to forget about the man next in line. With this in mind, ABC did an investigation of the Vice President’s office, in particular Cheney’s apparent ’quest’ for power.  Below is a short article regarding the power of Cheney, and at the bottom is a link to the original which contains a Good Morning America video segment featuring the Vice President. Please share your thoughts – is he too powerful?   

ABC News examined the stunning extent of Vice President Dick Cheney’s grab for power over the last six years in a sometimes sardonic yet serious segment on Good Morning America Tuesday morning.

Reporter David Wright says Cheney is refusing to play by the rules that govern everyone else who works at the White House.

“So almighty and elusive is this vice president, the New Yorker once ran a cartoon in which theologians debated the existence of Cheney,” Wright said.

Noting a proposal in Congress to cut funding for the Vice President’s office, Wright said a Cheney spokeswoman called the proposal political, but she wouldn’t say “because the size of the vice president’s staff is apparently classified.”

Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos examined the controversy surrounding Cheney and pronounced the current vice president the most powerful person to occupy the office in history. Stephanopoulos predicted the next president will pick as his running mate “the anti-Cheney.”

NBC News reported on Monday that “Dick Cheney is back in a very uncomfortable place for him: the headlines.”

“Has the vice-president gone too far?” asked NBC, adding that “the National Archives thinks so,” because Cheney alone in the executive branch has refused to file required reports or permit inspections of his office’s handling of classified material.

Good Morning America Video