BUSH'S PRESIDENCY OF MASS DESTRUCTION

STUNNING: FIRED CIA OFFICER SAID SHE IS NOT THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK ON TORTURE PRISONS IN EASTERN EUROPE

I found this piece on Newsweek.com via Raw Story.com

Excerpt:

Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst who got into a dispute with McCarthy in the late l980s when she was his supervisor and remains critical of her management style, nonetheless says that he “never saw her allow her political [views] to cloud her analytical judgment.” Johnson maintains the Bush White House is “really damaging the intelligence community” by sending a message to career officials that “unless you are a partisan of the party in power, you cannot be trusted.” This message, Johnson says, is destroying the intelligence community’s “professional ethos.”

FIRED CIA OFFICER DENIES SHE IS THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK

ROVE'S REAL JOB

Want to know the real reason behind Rove's reassignment - try the survival of the Bush Administration. Ken sent this awesome piece by Mr. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post.com.

Excerpt:

As one outside adviser to the administration said, the danger of a Democratic takeover of at least one house of Congress looms large and would carry huge penalties for Bush. The administration fears "investigations of everything" by congressional committees, this adviser said, and the "possibility of a forced withdrawal from Iraq" through legislative action.

"I don't think they see much chance of accomplishing anything this year," said this Republican strategist, who preferred not to be quoted by name. "The bulk of their agenda, let's say, has been put on hold."

Rove never stopped being political, even when he had formal responsibility for policy. What's intriguing about the shift in the direction of Rove's energies is that it marks a turn from the high politics of a partisan realignment driven by ideas and policies to the more mundane politics of eking out votes, seat by seat and state by state. Most of Rove's grander dreams have died as the president's poll numbers have come crashing down.

"ROVE'S NEW MISSION: SURVIVAL"

ANOTHER GOP CORRUPTION SCANDAL INCHING TOWARD THE WHITE HOUSE

The GOP phone jamming incident in New Hampshire incident three years ago have the makings of Water Gate II. I found this piece on Bloomberg.com via The Huffington Post.

SENATE VOTE WIDENS AS DEMOCRATS PROBE WHITE HOUSE LINK

BUSH TOLD BY CIA, PRIOR TO THE INVASION OF IRAQ, THAT THERE WAS NOTHING TO THE NIGER URANIUM ASSERTIONS.

I am sure many of us saw 60 Minutes last night, or at least heard about the interview with the retired CIA officer. Josh Marshal of Talking Points Memo.com makes some very interesting observations.

JOSH MARSHALL PIECE ON 60 MINUTE INTERVIEW WITH CIA OFFICER

POSSIBLE BOMBSHELL FROM ILLINOIS: STATE LEGISLATURE IS PREPARING TO UTILIZE LITTLE KNOWN RULE OF HOUSE TO BRING BUSH IMPEACHMENT CHARGES

Ken sent this mind blowing piece from OP ED NEWS.COM

April 22, 2006

Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is Preparing to Drop a Bombshell Utilizing a little known rule of the US House to bring Impeachment charges
by Steven Leser
http://www.opednews.com

The Illinois General Assembly is about to rock the nation. Members of state legislatures are normally not considered as having the ability to decide issues with a massive impact to the nation as a whole. Representative Karen A. Yarbrough of Illinois' 7th District is about to shatter that perception forever. Representative Yarbrough stumbled on a little known and never utlitized rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature. From there, Illinois House Joint Resolution 125 (hereafter to be referred to as HJR0125) was born.

Detailing five specific charges against President Bush including one that is specified to be a felony, the complete text of HJR0125 is linked below at the end of this article. One of the interesting points is that one of the items, the one specified as a felony, that the NSA was directed by the President to spy on American citizens without warrant, is not in dispute. That fact should prove an interesting dilemma for a Republican controlled US House that clearly is not only loathe to initiate impeachment proceedings, but does not even want to thoroughly investigate any of the five items brought up by the Illinois Assembly as high crimes and/or misdemeanors. Should HJR0125 be passed by the Illinois General Assembly, the US House will be forced by House Rules to take up the issue of impeachment as a privileged bill, meaning it will take precedence over other House business.

The Illinois General Assembly joins a growing chorus of voices calling for censure or impeachment of President Bush including Democratic state committees in Vermont, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and North Carolina as well as the residents themselves of seven towns in Vermont, seventy Vermont state legislators and Congressman John Conyers. The call for impeachment is starting to grow well beyond what could be considered a fringe movement. An ABC News/Washington Post Poll Conducted April 6-9 showed that 33% of Americans currently support Impeaching President Bush, coincidentally, only a similar amount supported impeaching Nixon at the start of the Watergate investigation. If and when Illinois HJR0125 hits the capitol and the individual charges are publicly investigated, that number is likely to grow rapidly. Combined with the very real likelihood that Rove is about to be indicted in the LeakGate investigation, and Bush is in real trouble beyond his plummeting poll numbers. His cronies in the Republican dominated congress will probably save him from the embarassment of an impeachment conviction, for now, but his Presidency will be all but finished.

The text of the Illinois bill and information on its status are available here:
http://tinyurl.com/nhs3r