Vito Fossella (aka "Bush's Lap Dog") always claims to be "indepentent." In fact I had some Fossella supporters actually get angry and nasty at me because I called Fossella a Republican (his actual registration). They were telling people (falsely) that he was an Indepentent. And yet this so-called "independent" keeps bringing none other than Dick Cheney to NYC to fundraise for him. Well, this time a protest is planned to tell the big Dick that NYC does not approve of the failed Bush/Cheney/Fossella policies that have ruined America. From a Press Release from the Steve Harrison campaign:

Progressive groups protest Dick Cheney/Koch Industries’ Vito Fossella fundraiser

Truth 13 and other progressive groups are organizing a protest Monday morning [April 21] outside a fundraiser for New York City’s only Republican House member, Vito Fossella, organized by Vice President Dick Cheney and polluters Koch Industries (pronounced Coke)..

You may, perhaps, be asking yourself about the significance of that nice, bright, colorful orange banner we currently run at the top of the site, and its pleasing slogan.

Here's the backstory. Our friends over at Democrats.com, as you may be aware, have been beating the drums for impeachment of George Bush and his malevolent cohort, Dick Cheney, for quite some time. In this, they were prescient. Now, they're taking their activism on behalf of the Republic a step further.

On July 23, 2002, the head of British intelligence reported that Bush and Cheney were intent on invading Iraq and planned to "fix the intelligence and facts around the policy". Five years later a million people have died in Iraq as a direct result of these lies with no end in sight. Torture has been institutionalized, habeaus corpus eviscerated, and illegal spying made routine. New Orleans lies devastated along with the Constitution and the rule of law. And Bush and Cheney are making a mockery of the Democrats' feeble gestures towards accountability.

It’s been the buzz of blogging bees (and everyone else too); The Washington Post has been publishing a critique of the reign of Cheney. The first two parts are here and here . It’s a fascinating account which paints Cheney, Rumsfled, Gonzales & Yoo (Yoo Hoo? Do you remember Yoo, as the torture lawyer?) as prime bad guys with Rice & Powell as hapless fools.

Rick Perlstein’s plan for a path to progressive victory is in The Nation If you, as I, are planning to help progressives take control of the NYS Senate or the US as a whole, this is worth reading.

Since summer’s here, turn to Gotham Gazette’s summer reading list, which, I am half-sorry to say is not filled with action-adventure and chick lit.

As we come up on the 4 year anniversary Brooklyn Parents for Peace will be hosting event to honor our heroes in Iraq.
Whether you for the war or against the war we all support our troops.

The information for the event is here is here:

"Endless" War Memorial:
Sunday March 11 to Friday March 16
sunrise to sunset
Read the names of war dead, civilian and military, from both
sides
Times Square Recruitment Center
Broadway and 44th Street, Manhattan
Sponsored by: Granny Peace Brigade NYC, The Critical Voice,
Brooklyn Parents for Peace, and others
Add your name to the list of participants, and schedule a time
to read
E-mail endlesswarmemorial@gmail.com [1] or call 212-533-2125

Dick Cheney (yeah, that Dick Cheney) is in Pakistan, reportedly telling Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that, according to the NY Times, Musharraf had better get tough on Al Qaeda terrorists or, "the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country."

Let's review the bidding. Musharraf supposedly made a deal with Bush to go after the terrorists in his neighborhood. Since then, he has reneged on that deal, giving Al Qaeda safe haven.

Did the "you're with us or you're against us" Bush threaten to invade Pakistan? Did he send in the sixth fleet? (Yeah, I know, it's a bit far from open water, but you get the idea.) Did Cheney go over there to give Musharraf a piece of his mind?

Not exactly.

Instead of threatening Musharraf with the 82nd Airborne, George & Co. are threatening him with -- the Democrats in Congress.

What happened? Did Dick Cheney get his pacemaker recalibrated? Or

Via Hotline, reaction shots to the speech; John McCain seems to have fallen asleep. Which, I suppose, qualifies him to run the country or something like that.

The Washington Post: Harold Meyerson throws acid on Bush's speech; the characterization of the latter as a 'delusional hedgehog' in Isaiah Berlin's typology of rulers is only the mild beginning.

The New York Times tries to say nice things about the speech; fails; reconsiders; and plunges the knife in Bush's political corpse again and again and again.

Glenn Greenwald: "Joe Lieberman has probably become the single most poisonous Beltway voice when it comes to the war in Iraq."

Capitol Confidential neatly summarizes the state of ethics reform. Long story short: more work to do.

Taegan Goddard: Obama wipes the floor with Hillary, internet-wise.

And lastly, lest we forget, Darth has a Libby problem.

Darth swearing in Hillary; Bill looks on.

(Hat tip to The Caucus via The Politicker).

The constitution provides for the removal from office of the President and Vice-President for what it terms 'treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors'. As does so much else in our constitutional system, the idea of impeachment derives from English law. Despite their illegitimacy, impeachment and removal are therefore the legal avenue (of several available) that seems most apt for dealing with George Bush and Dick Cheney.

In judicial terms, impeachment is comparable to an indictment; at the Federal level, a simple majority of the House of Representatives is required to vote out Articles of Impeachment. These are then presented to the United States Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice, where a super-majority of two thirds is required for conviction and removal.

Notably, The Federalist Papers make clear that impeachment is a political, as opposed to a judicial, process.

A well-constituted court for the trial of impeachments is an object not more to be desired than difficult to be obtained in a government wholly elective. The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.

Three days to go.

The newest tally sheet from Electoral-Vote.com: Senate 51 Democrats, 49 pimps for the Bush agenda; House, 240 Americans, 195 enemies of the American Way.

Via The Washington Post comes Dick Cheney's final message: "[I]t's full speed ahead on that basis. And that's exactly what we're going to do." Thank you, Dick Cheney – that's our message until Tuesday. Here's the video:

The Columbus Dispatch: Bob Ney finally goes away.

The New York Times profiles Jon Tester, who is running against an Abramoff buddy who doesn't like firefighters.

Also in the Times, a preview of the Democratic House agenda. Time to put the adults back in charge.

Put this down under 'never happened before': a joint editorial, to run Monday in the Army Times, Air Force Times, Marine Corps Times and Navy Times, calls for Rumsfeld ouster. (HT: Kos)

Closer to home, Ben Smith has some video of Congressman Kick-Ass's former wife defending him against allegations of wife-beating back in 1998. Also, Ben has some signs that Sweeney is stonewalling on that unfortunate police report that was just released - speaking of wife-beating.

Now go out there and campaign.

Dick Cheney speaking today at a fundraiser for Brian Bilbray out in CA-50; can you tell he just found out he may be called as a witness in Scooter Libby's trial?

I say this calls for a caption contest. Go for it, commenters!

(Hat tip: AmericaBlog)