The Hollywood Liberal

“They can have their votes of no-confidence but it’s not going to make the determination about who serves in my government,” –

George W. Bush, letting Congress, the American People, and the world know that he doesn’t give a rats ass what anyone thinks, he is going to do whatever he wants, and to hell with everyone. Bush thinks he owns the government. He thinks he is a King. He is never going to relent one iota no matter how low his ratings go or who tries to convice him otherwise. What do you do with a President who thinks he is King? Impeach.

Dick Cheney Becomes Ever More Impeachable

Executive Intelligence Review
Excerpt
Vice President Dick Cheney, the linchpin of the British oligarchical hold on the U.S. government, took some political body blows in the week of June 4, which have increased the pressure for bringing him to account for his crimes and offenses. With more and more spotlights being trained upon Cheney’s high crimes and misdemeanors against the U.S. Constitution, he becomes ever more impeachable—and the political excuses for failing to pursue impeachment more and more unacceptable.

Specifically, if impeachment is “off the table,” the war against Iran and shredding of the U.S. Constitution are surely on the table.

The three hits delivered to Cheney were: 1) the sentencing of his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, to 30 months in prison; 2) the stunning revelation by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey of Cheney’s pivotal role in the illegal NSA wiretap program; and 3) the legal overturning of two cases before the Cheney-promoted Military Commissions at Guantanamo.

Poll: Rural Vote No Longer a Lock for Republicans

NPR.org
Excerpt
A new national poll indicates rural Americans are no longer reliably Republican, and the Bush administration’s conduct of the war in Iraq seems mainly to blame…
But the new survey, of 804 likely voters living beyond cities and suburbs, indicates that the Republican formula for winning presidential elections is losing a key component….
The poll was commissioned by the non-partisan Center for Rural Strategies, a Whitesburg, Ky., group trying to attract candidate attention to rural issues. Republican political consultant Bill Greener of Greener and Hook also participated in the design and analysis of the survey.
“Republicans are vastly underperforming among rural Americans,” Greener said in response to the survey results. “And if we’re going to succeed in 2008, we’re going to have to do better.”
Forty-six percent of the survey respondents indicated they’d vote for an un-named Democratic candidate for president if the election were held today; 43 percent favored a Republican. That’s a statistical dead heat, given the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percent.

HLs Take
America’s only hope is that the nation, even the rural Republican strongholds, are so disgusted by Bush, and his reign of terror that they vote for Democrats en masse in such numbers that there is no chance of Republicans stealing it yet again. That’s what happened in the 2006 elections, but it did not give the Dems. the Super-majority it needs in the Senate to pass whatever bills they want. Of course the Democrats use this as an excuse to roll over for Bush every chance they get. I wonder what ways the Democrats will find to screw over the people who voted for them when they have the Presidency, 60+ Members in the Senate, and a majority in the house. I’m sure they will come up with something. Bush and his people don’t give a damn about what happens to Repubs. After 2008, they are just trying to grab everything they can in the meantime before they shuffle off to Paraguay. This gives The Democrats a chance to win despite themselves. Too bad there wasn’t a way to prevent the continued theft of the U.S Treasury for the next year and a half. There must be something the Dems. Could do. Thats’ right, there is but they are not interested. They figure if they sit back and do nothing (something that they are very good at) They will have the Presidency handed to them. Meanwhile Thousands more will die, and middle class will continue to get raked over the coals. Thanks guys.

Today is the day for the no confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. I am now reading that the vote is not expected to pass, that it will be along party lines with Republicans covering for each other. At least 5 Republicans have called for Gonzalez to step down If those 5 vote for the resolution, the Democrats would be in striking distance of getting the bill passed. That is of course if none of their own members stab Shumer in the back and vote for Gonzo, which is entirely possible. Much more possible than for the Republicans to vote against Gonzalez, even the one that already called for his ouster. That’s the difference betweein the two parties, Republicans stand by each other no matter how atrocious their crimes against humanity and the American people, while Democrats stab each other in the back even when they are right. If the resolution does not pass it makes the Democrats look even more weak, and
impotent then they already do now, even though they are the majority party. If Democrats feel they don’t have the vote perhaps they should scrub the whole thing, they say they want to put Republican on record on the matter, which I am sure they will be happy to do, as they defeat the Democrats for the 8,000th time.

Senate No-Confidence Vote On Gonzales Today

Bob Geiger.com
Excerpt
The Senate is expected to vote late this afternoon on S.J.RES.14, authored by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and intended to formally convey to the White House, Congress’s total lack of confidence in embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“If all senators who have actually lost confidence in Attorney General Gonzales voted their conscience, this vote would be unanimous,” said Schumer in a statement on Friday. “However, the President will certainly exert pressure to support the Attorney General, his longtime friend. We will soon see where people’s loyalties lie.”

George W. Bush, of course, stands by his man, calling any such vote “pure political theater” and saying last month that Congress “…ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage.”

Schumer’s resolution couldn’t be more simple and reads as follows:

Expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Blackwater Heavies Sue Families of Slain Employees for $10 Million in Brutal Attempt to Suppress Their Story

Alternet
Excerpt
The following article is by the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah. After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet.

Raleigh, NC — The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed, Blackwater Security Consulting. After Blackwater lost a series of appeals all the away to the U.S. Supreme Court, Blackwater has now changed its tactics and is suing the dead men’s estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court….

Blackwater quickly adapted its battlefield tactics to the courtroom. It initially hired Fred F. Fielding, who is currently counsel to the President of the United States. It then hired Joseph E. Schmitz as its in-house counsel, who was formerly the Inspector General at the Pentagon. More recently, Blackwater employed Kenneth Starr, famed prosecutor in the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to oppose the families. To add additional muscle, Blackwater hired Cofer Black, who was the Director of the CIA Counter- Terrorist Center.

After filing its suit against the dead men’s estates, Blackwater demanded that its claim and the families’ existing lawsuit be handled in a private arbitration. By suing the families in arbitration, Blackwater has attempted to move the examination of their wrongful conduct outside of the eye of the public and away from a jury.

Baghdad morgue overflowing with bodies in courtyard

Raw Story
Excerpt
On Sunday, CNN showed bodies laid out in an Iraq courtyard for wailing relatives to reclaim, reporting that “for over a year, there’s been little or no room in Baghdad’s morgues.”

The “surge” plan did appear to be reducing sectarian killings in March and April, as the militias laid low, but now, as reported by the Washington Post in late May, the number of murders is nearly back to pre-surge levels. Almost 750 bodies were found last month, many of them showing signs of torture.

An Iraqi police colonel explained to CBS that “the killings will continue as long as the security forces remain on the outskirts of neighborhoods. Few Iraqi police dare to enter inside the most dangerous areas.”

The US military describes the increase in murders as a “spike,” saying that overall levels of violence are lower since the surge. However, the report concludes, with “only a quarter of the capital under control, it’s difficult to see how increased troops on the ground will consistently reduce sectarian violence.”

The following video is from CNN, broadcast on July 10.

HL’s Take:
Click through if you want to see the video. Obviously the surge is not working and never will, how long will Congress continue to allow this murder spree to continue for no good reason. Every day that passes the members of Congress who vote to allow this to go on have more and more blood on their hands.