At the end of another day

The House passed a $696 billion defense bill that gives a 3.5% pay raise to troops retroactively. Doesn't sounds like much, still, hoo-rah! The Asshat-in-Chief threatened to veto the previous bill version until Bush got what he wanted -- a provision that would allow him to "grant Iraq immunity" nullifying any "guarantees that U.S. victims of state-sponsored abuse can sue foreign governments in court." Uh-oh.

Go Cheney yourself: Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) held a press conference on an economic stimulus program. Boehner addressed House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) -- "As soon as they put those cameras away, I'm going to flip you the bird." Transcript. CQ Politics on the stimulus plan.

Tomorrow... Oversight & Government Reform Committee hearing: Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) will convene "Assessing Veteran’s Charities – Part Two” that will "focus on orgs operated by Roger Chapin, who failed to comply with a subpoena compelling his testimony" in December. Chapin will appear to respond to questionable activities of 20 organizations "including a number of veterans’ and military-oriented charities." Previous hearing and transcript here.

Pentagon kerfuffle: SecDef Gates pissed off Britain and other allies "accusing Nato countries fighting in southern Afghanistan of lacking experience in counter-insurgency warfare." Times UK

Tsk, tsk. Those Ungrateful Saudis. OBL and Ahmadinejad scored higher favorability than Bush in a poll conducted in Saudi Arabia last month. Read Robert Scheer at The Nation. With friends like these...

Missing WH emails gone forever -- A new court filing disclosed that the WH "effectively erased e-mail related to some of the biggest controversies of the Bush administration, including the leak of a CIA officer's name, the start of the Iraq war and the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes." Who's to blame? The tape recycling system. CREW has more.

In the Noise -- Karl Rove revealed GOP strategies for attacking Hillary and Obama in '08. Details at the link. Bottom-line: "[T]he Republican candidate must show the electorate 'that they understand the surge is working.' Rove said the candidate should get firmly behind the war effort, painting the Democratic nominee as 'defeatist.'" SSDE.

Terror fundraising ring: In Kansas City, MO, a 42-count indictment will keep former Reagan appointee and Michigan Repub Mark Deli Siljander busy. And how! Counts include "money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists." AQ and the Taliban. Jeepers! TPM.

"Just how trivial can the media make the presidential race?" Matt Taibbi of The Rolling Stone offers some answers and Greg Sargent analyzes the John Edwards media blackout .

[That's all...no more after the jump.]

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Pelosi’s biggest brain-dead moment on FISA

Here’s the simplest thing Pelosi forgot in trying to shut the FISA barn door after she helped the unlimited snooping horses escape:

Bush can veto any new FISA bill he doesn’t like. We’ve already seen this kabuki play over Iraq timetables and deadlines, earlier this year, and we saw who finally caved.

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Progressives to Pelosi--All We Are Saying Is Give Impeachment A Chance

It looks like some people in the Democratic progressive base have decided to let Speaker Nancy Pelosi know that impeachment is not off the table as far as they are concerned. At a dinner honoring Pelosi Saturday evening, pro-impeachment activists slipped the elegant place cards pictured above onto each place at the table. The cards read:

Remember, We’re the Deciders.

Impeachment is on the table.

Investigate and Impeach Cheney and Bush!

Miriam Raftery of Rawstory reports

on Sunday, April 29, California delegates and state party members sent a powerful message to Pelosi and Congressional Democrats. “In a resolution affirmed by the full state party convention Sunday, the Democrats called on the U.S. Congress to use its subpoena power to investigate misdeeds of President Bush and Vice President Cheney – and to hold the Administration accountable 'with appropriate remedies and punishment, including impeachment.'"

Last night blogger Josh Nelson of The Seminal posted a report that

Thousands of people have called Speaker Pelosi’s office today asking that Bush and Cheney be impeached. No, this was not a random coincidence. A blogger on Guerilla News Network posted earlier today claiming that Speaker Pelosi was conducting a phone poll asking people to call her office if they wanted impeachment. This story quickly spread around the Internet, making the front page of popular social news sites digg.com and reddit.com. Now that Betaflow has debunked the validity of the poll, the question remains: Can mass phone calls of this kind influence politicians on an issue like this?

Nelson went beyond merely reporting the story. He called people to action.

Why should we need a politician sanctioned poll to voice our opinion? We should continue to make the calls and fill as many Democratic voicemail boxes as we can. If enough people join this effort we can let Congress know that we are serious.

Please call the following members of the Democratic leadership and register your support for impeachment. Keep the message simple: I Support the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
. . . .
If these voicemail boxes fill, I’ll post new numbers.

After you have done this, urge your friends and family to do the same. Post this on forums, blogs, social sites, wherever you can. Make your voice heard!

UPDATE:

Harry Reid’s mailbox is already full! Great work!

Next, try Senator Barack Obama at . . . .

You are probably wondering why I haven't provided the phone numbers. The numbers are easy to find, but I am not sure clogging the phone lines at the Capitol Building is the best way to advance the impeachment message.

Personally, if Bill Clinton's impeachment proved anything, impeachment should be the rare exception. I don't want impeachment to become the norm. Pelosi is probably right, it isn't time to impeach George Bush. There will be a free America after a new President is elected. At least I hope so.

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Rice Meets Syrian Foreign Minister.

Secretary of State Condi Rice met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem for thirty minutes today during an international conference on Iraq held in Egypt.

"The meeting was frank and constructive. We discussed the situation in Iraq and how to achieve stability," Moualem told reporters.

According to the Rueter's report "The meeting marks an abrupt change in the policy of U.S. President George W. Bush, who stopped contacts with Syria on the grounds that Damascus had not complied with U.S. demands."

Secretary Rice also exchanged pleasantries with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki during lunch.

Thank you Madam Speaker for showing Condi how to do her job. Now if her boss would just follow your lead we might find our way safely out of Iraq.

Baby steps, Condi, baby steps. This diplomacy stuff is hard work, hard work, but you will get the hang of it. Maybe you ought to call your "big sister" Madeleine Albright. I am sure she can give you some pointers.

____________________

For those wondering about the Madleine Albright reference, Secretary Albright's father was Condi Rice's professor and mentor.

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