Today, at Monticello, the home of the man who wrote our list of grievances against King George and justified our declaration of independence from the British Empire, the man who famously declared that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," the current tyrant King George the Imbecile presided over a new citizen swearing-in ceremony.

No spinning was heard from Mr. Jefferson's grave.  There was, however, a small disturbance of which Mr. J would have approved, I feel sure.

Another cave-in by Congressional Democrats.  Another deal to keep the war going, in exchange for a few crumbs.

Today is Iraq Moratorium day.  Do something to let them know what you think.

It's true that 151 Democrats voted against the war funding.  So, if you want to thank them, go ahead -- but don't thank them too much, David Swanson  says.  Here's the roll call.

"Not a single one of them did a damned thing more than vote no," Swanson (left), of Democrats.com, ImpeachCheney.org and AfterDowningStreet.org, said in a Milwaukee appearance Thursday night.  They didn't issue public statements to the media, write their colleagues, or do anything to press to defeat the bill.  "They voted no, knowing it would pass."

The ramped up rhetoric on Iran is deafening lately. To say the least, claims of Iranian meddling and fomentation in Iraq have reached an unprecedented level. But as vociferous as those claims have been, this time -- as opposed to the runup to the invasion of Iraq -- there seems to be some blowback swirling around up on Capitol Hill. They want evidence this time. Imagine that.

The truth is, the only difference between the runup to the Iraq invasion and the current buildup to a war with Iran is that this time we are the wiser. We have the benefit of hindsight this go around. We're more familiar with the modus operandi of the Bush regime now, and, we know how Dick Cheney & company will resort to bold-faced lies and slick obfuscation in making their case for perpetual war.

This time though, every piece of trumped-up evidence against Iran that Cheney comes up with or every time one of his acolytes hypes the threat, it seems to be falling more and more on a skeptical Congress. In addition, the notion of another war seems to be bombing (no pun intended) in general with the American people as well.

David Swanson of Democrats.com has a fabulous counterproposal for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative John Murtha and the other leading Congressional Dems preparing to vote on Bush’s latest $110 billion "emergency supplemental" appropriation later this week.  As you know, their plan is see Bush and raise him $70 billion!

Yep, they've decided to go for $180 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not only past election day but far enough into Obama’s term that it’s not the first thing he has to deal with upon taking office. Pelosi justifies this continued funding of a murderous, a disastrous, a criminal war by saying she doesn’t want to be portrayed as "weak."  

Meanwhile, House minority leader John Boehner stands there with his face hanging out and says, "This is about funding the troops and nothing else."

Those of you who follow California politics closely know that CA-24 is one of the under-the-radar races to watch this year.  Though it's not getting a lot of attention in the national media, this district is one that could end up surprising a lot of people who aren't watching the trends on the ground.

The race features Mary Pallant, the progressive Democrat, going up against Elton Gallegly, a do-nothing rubberstamp Republican, in an already purple district that is turning increasingly blue and is filled with abnormally large numbers of independent voters.  Pallant is also being challenged in the primary by Jill Martinez; however, given that Martinez is still over $93,000 in debt from her previous campaign, it is unclear how vigorous a challenge she will be able to mount to either Pallant or Gallegly.  
Full disclosure: I serve as the volunteer Netroots Coordinator for the Mary Pallant campaign

DINO incumbent Leonard Boswell sees the writing on the wall.  After seeing what happened to Al Wynn over in Maryland, he has reached the conclusion that it pays to be an actual Democrat instead of a pretend one.  So he has belatedly signed on to Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney.

David Swanson writes at OpEdNews.com:

Boswell is being challenged by Ed Fallon, who - like Edwards - seems to inspire more courage in the incumbent than he himself actually exhibits. Fallon's website says nothing about impeachment. Edwards said she was for it when asked, but never brought it up, and kept it off her website.

The Pelosi/AIPAC rumor, as diaried here, has been debunked according to David Swanson at AfterDowningStreet.org's site.

Myself, I’m still skeptical about impeachment hearings occurring in the 110th Congress at all but that doesn’t mean I can’t hope.

Following his Thursday hearing with Attorney General Michael Mukasey at which the AG said he would not investigate torture (video) or warrantless spying (video); he would not enforce contempt citations (video), and he would treat Justice Department opinions as providing immunity for crimes, (report) the venerable Mr. Conyers must have been in some kind of mood. He and two staff members actually agreed to talk with two members of Code Pink about impeachment. The meeting lasted a full hour and a half.

Of course, the main impediment to impeachment hearings on Dick Cheney remains Madam Speaker, but if there’s any collusion going on (and, it’s beginning to appear as if that is indeed the case) between the House Democratic Leadership; it’s going on between Ms. Pelosi and Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

According to impeachment activist David Swanson, at the urgent behest of the Honorable Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a meeting was called on Capitol Hill that included Rep. Wexler, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Chairman Jerrold Nadler, and several other committee members. Staffers, activists and former staffers from the Watergate era also attended the private, off-the-record meeting.

You see, I remember the last Iraq Occupation Supplemental.  I remember we'll do it this one more time and draw the line in the sand in September.  Of course, September came and went, and we should be happy that there wasn't any funding.  Same for October and November.  But now it's December!

Peaceful demonstrators sitting in the Judiciary Chairman's office were arrested by Capitol Police and hauled out in handcuffs to cries of "Shame on  Conyers!"

Cindy Sheehan led 2-300 impeachment activists on a march from Arlington Cemetary to the Congressional office of Rep. John Conyers, whose job as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee puts him in charge of impeachment. AP reports:

"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution; Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table," Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists Monday. "If Nancy Pelosi doesn't do her constitutionally mandated job by midnight ... I will announce that I'm going to run against her."

I just got a live report from David Swanson, who says Conyers is nowhere to be found - but Sheehan, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and former CIA presidential briefer Ray McGovern are inside his office holding a press conference!

In fact, there are so many reporters with Cindy that they are taking turns going into the packed office to ask questions.

At least 300 activists are lining the halls outside the office, both the marchers and those who went directly to the Capitol.

Below is a terrific interview with David Swanson of AfterDowningStreetand Sibel Edmonds conducted yesterday.

Sibel promises that Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Dennis Hastert, and Marc Grossman (and others) will be thrown in jail, for treason, if we can persuade Henry Waxman to hold hearings into her case.

Sibel:

"...take that two minutes, maybe less than two minutes, and call Chairman Waxman, and remind him that he's the Chairman, there's no obstacle.

This case is not allegation, it's not a case that needs to be investigated, that has already been done. Even the Dept of Justice's own Inspector General's Office has put out a report vindicating the case. We have had bipartisan congressional statements saying that this is credible, and absolutely confirming it. So this is not taking something that is unknown. He's the Chairman, he has the power, there's nothing that stands in his way, this is a confirmed case, let's see some justice and accountability."

Sibel asks (and I beg) that, today, you call Waxman (202-225-3976 ) and Conyers (202-225-5126) and demand open public hearings into Sibel's case.