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By Dorothy Fall
$18.15
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By Deanne Stillman
$24.99
$35
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By David Sirota — Through their ethics scandals, Republicans in Washington long ago began making the word conservative synonymous with the term corrupt. Surprisingly, though, it is a group of Democrats that is cementing this definitional conversion for good.
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This week, Rep. Dennis Kucinich drummed up support within the House to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. Here, he discusses his motivations on Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!” TV/radio show.
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House Democrats have threatened to push ahead with contempt-of-Congress citations against past and present Bush intimates Harriet Miers, Joshua Bolten and, possibly, Karl Rove. The White House appeared unimpressed, probably because the administration would ultimately oversee any prosecution, via the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
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Perhaps this could be a diversionary tactic: On Tuesday, President Bush criticized the House and Senate for, it would seem, holding his administration accountable for its actions at home and overseas and looking for ways to bring our troops home.
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politico.com
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House Democrats managed to pick up a few more votes for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, but not enough to override the president’s veto. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to keep fighting for the overwhelmingly popular program: “In the next two weeks we will send the president another bill that insures coverage for 10 million children.”
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After the House failed to override Bush’s veto of the SCHIP children’s health care renewal bill on Thursday, Rep. Pete Stark berated the administration and the bill’s opponents. In light of their attitude, he questioned whether the nation’s kids would “grow old enough for you to send [them] to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”
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By Will Durst — Oooh. He’s clever. And obviously knows exactly what he’s doing. This is all a setup, people. Has to be. Yes, I’m talking about George Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Who but a total stoned horned ogre would do that? Maybe an ogre with something up his sleeve, eh?
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Under pressure from Congress, Verizon has provided some insight into the government’s domestic surveillance program. The telecommunications giant defended the legality of its actions, but admitted complying “as expeditiously as possible” when federal officials, without a subpoena, asked for telephone and Internet records.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explains to a persistent Arianna Huffington why the Democrats haven’t yet cut off funds for the war, why Mitt Romney isn’t going to be the next president and why she opposes a war tax: “This war has to end. I don’t want any accommodation made to pay for it or to prolong it.”
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Asked to what extent the State Department had covered up corruption in the government of Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the department’s top Mideast official told the House Oversight Committee that information that could “damage” the U.S. relationship with Iraq is considered “confidential.” That didn’t go over well with committee Chairman Henry Waxman, who then threw down the gauntlet.
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The House voted 389 to 30 to pass a bill that would make private contractors working for the U.S. government in Iraq subject to United States law. It’s the second time Congress has attempted to apply some sense to the legal vacuum created by the Bush administration and its Coalition Provisional Authority, which pushed through what amounts to blanket immunity for mercenaries.
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Blackwater USA founder and chairman Erik Prince stubbornly defended his company Tuesday while members of the House Oversight Committee grilled him with questions such as “Why are we privatizing our military to an organization that has been aggressive and in some cases reckless in the handling of their duties?”
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Savvily referencing the work of William Gibson, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has made a rather bizarre appearance on Second Life, showing up at a virtual Capitol Hill on Pollywog Gardenvale’s “News From the Virtual World.” (Bonus: features unintentionally hilarious, if drawn-out, intro theme music.)
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By Marie Cocco — Voters put Democrats in control of both houses of Congress last fall and, for this act of civic determination, they face an infuriating conundrum. Republicans are still running things.
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According to a devastating new report from the House Oversight Committee, Blackwater USA employees engaged in at least 195 “escalation of force” incidents since 2005, with the private security firm firing 80 percent of the first shots (despite its purely defensive mandate). What’s worse, the State Department has provided little if any oversight, instead assisting the company as it carried out damage control.
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worldisround.com
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The Iranian parliament has taken the I’m rubber, you’re glue approach to dealing with the U.S., labeling the United States Army and the CIA terrorist organizations, just days after Congress suggested the same designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
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By Marie Cocco — The president’s strategy is to fake out the public so that it believes Democrats in Congress can’t perform basic governmental tasks. Is this any way to run a country?
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AP photo / Susan Walsh
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Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, claims his panel’s attempts to look into Blackwater USA’s recent controversial actions in Iraq were derailed by the State Department. The State Department, on the other hand, denies blocking the investigation and says Waxman’s charge is the result of a “misunderstanding.”
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The House has passed an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program but failed to win enough votes to override President Bush’s promised veto. Still, SCHIP has overwhelming public support, and Democrats welcomed the opportunity to force Bush and his congressional allies to take a stand against poor children.
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Rep. Henry Waxman has accused the State Department’s top oversight official of looking out for the best interests of the Bush administration, and not the American taxpayer. A number of current and former subordinates of the State Department’s inspector general contacted Waxman to report interference with investigations into fraud and corruption in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
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gillmor.house.gov
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Rep. Paul Gillmor, an Ohio Republican who had held his seat in the House for nearly 20 years, was found dead in his Washington apartment on Wednesday by members of his Capitol Hill staff. The cause of Gillmor’s death had not been officially announced by Wednesday afternoon. He was 68.
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AP Photo / Dino Vournas
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich thinks the road to the White House is longer and stranger than ever—and he ought to be concerned, considering he’s rumored to be joining the other candidates on that road soon. “These aren’t debates,” the Georgia Republican groused to CNN, comparing the recent debates to a cross between “The Bachelor,” “American Idol” and “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader.”
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A flurry of legislative activity over the weekend left a mixed bag of progress and surrender. While the House voted to require clean-energy standards for the first time and cut oil industry tax breaks, enough Democrats caved to the White House to pass the president’s preferred FISA rule changes.
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By Marie Cocco — Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have the demeanor of someone who leads a Congress suffering from the worst public disapproval in contemporary polling history.
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The latest viral video from the folks at Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films is a joint effort with Democrats.com and AfterDowningStreet.com to try to build support for impeachment of the vice president.
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SF Chronicle/Christina Koci Hernandez
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Truthdig honors Mary Tillman this week, on behalf of all the mothers whose children have been lost or are risking their lives at war. Her brave search for the truth about the fate of her son and others sacrificed in the Iraq or Afghanistan war underscores the true significance of Mother’s Day.
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aftonbladet.se
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President Bush has already decided to veto a second war funding bill that the House Democrats haven’t even finished drafting. The measure would require the White House to report on progress in Iraq in order to free up funds past July.
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The Pentagon has told more than 35,000 troops that they could be headed to Iraq in the fall in order to maintain the “surge.” Meanwhile, House Democrats may decide to fund the war in two-month spurts, with an opportunity to cut off funding in July. The Senate will likely have to pursue a different strategy (see below).
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Jack Murtha’s spokesman has told TPM Café the antiwar congressman doesn’t feel impeachment is appropriate “at this time.” Murtha mentioned impeachment as one way to influence a president on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” prompting speculation around the blogosphere and mainstream media that the Democrats might consider taking more aggressive action against George W. Bush.
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The House Oversight Committee has sent requests to the White House and Pentagon asking for all documents related to the death of Pat Tillman. The committee is investigating why the Army misrepresented the circumstances of the Ranger’s death. Key to that effort is a letter sent by a top general urging Gen. John Abizaid to warn the White House.
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socialitelife.com
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she’s not obligated under the principle of executive privilege to comply with a subpoena issued by the House, but would be happy to respond to questions by writing a letter.
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The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will investigate the Pentagon’s handling of the death of Pat Tillman and the rescue of Jessica Lynch to determine “why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate administration officials have been held accountable.”
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Rep. David Wu brings some much needed Star Trek fandom to the capital, arguing that unlike the wise and logical Vulcans, the administration has behaved like a pack of war-hungry Klingons.
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kucinich.us
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Not everyone was celebrating the passage of the Iraq spending bill on Friday. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, told Truthdig it’s “a disaster for the American people.” The presidential candidate went on to explain his dissatisfaction with his party: “It’s the same kind of thinking that led us into Iraq— that we didn’t have any alternatives.”
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The House of Representatives narrowly passed the hotly debated timeline for getting American troops out of Iraq by Aug. 31, 2008. Bush has indicated he will veto the bill. In a statement to the press, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “The American people see the reality of war. The president does not.”
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By Marie Cocco — Tom DeLay’s new self-obsessed memoir, “No Retreat, No Surrender,” turns out to be a hoot from start to finish. Take the title—this from a man who ended his disgraced career with a resignation.
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washingtonpost.com
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Henry Waxman’s House committee put the irons to Philip A. Cooney on Monday. The former oil lobbyist who became chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality made hundreds of edits to government reports in order to downplay the link between fossil fuels and global warming.
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boston.com
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Despite the threat of a veto, withdrawal legislation moved forward in the House Thursday. Meanwhile, in the Senate, a weaker measure was successfully opposed by all but one Republican, two Democrats and Joe Lieberman.
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Jon Stewart pokes fun at the Democrats after a recent press conference that did little to assuage the concern that they don’t entirely have their stuff together. Say what you will about the Republicans, they know how to work a talking point. Speaking of which, don’t miss Dick Cheney’s entrance music at the end of the clip.
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House Democrats have agreed to drop a provision from an upcoming war spending bill that would have required congressional approval before the president could declare war on Iran. The legislation, if it survives a veto, would still demand the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008.
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The Democratic leadership in the House hopes to attach a timetable for withdrawal to an upcoming Iraq war spending bill. The most ardent war opponents have expressed dissatisfaction that the language is not unconditional, but Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a prominent withdrawal advocate, said “you’ll see basically what I wanted to do….”
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Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., has said there should be an ethics investigation of improper behavior related to the politically motivated firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The Senate is already conducting an inquiry into the matter, which involves at least three prominent Republicans in Congress.
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gwu.edu
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Vice President Dick Cheney has once again confused supporting the troops with supporting a surge of troops into Iraq. “Anyone can say they support the troops ... . But the proof will come when it’s time to provide the money and the support,” Cheney said, referring to a bill that would fund the escalation.
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As expected, the House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas Thursday as part of an investigation into the Justice Department’s alleged partisan abuse of U.S. attorneys. The decision marks the first time Democrats have exercised their reclaimed subpoena power. Chairwoman Linda Sánchez called the move a “last resort.”
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bradblog.com
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Members of the House Judiciary Committee have said they will dust off that discarded tool of congressional inquiry, the subpoena. The committee is investigating the Justice Department’s allegedly partisan hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys.
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Senate Democrats have given up pushing a nonbinding anti-escalation resolution, and instead will try to limit the scope of military operations in Iraq, the first step, they say, in ending the war. Meanwhile, the House plans to pursue a different strategy altogether, hoping to choke off the supply of troops to the Iraq grinder.
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The House officially denounced Bush’s “surge” strategy with a 246-to-182 vote in favor of a much-debated resolution against sending more troops to Iraq. Seventeen votes for the nonbinding resolution came from the Republican side of the aisle.
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Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) briefs movecongress.org on his plan to “redirect” funding for the war, put constraints on troop deployments and restore American credibility: “I think Abu Ghraib should be bulldozed.”
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Eleven House Republicans split from their party Wednesday to oppose escalating the Iraq war, and an anonymous GOP representative said the leadership has 50 to 60 more on a defection watch list. The minority hopes to get its revenge when it comes time to debate funding for the war, but the Democrats have a plan for the showdown, which John Murtha unveiled on Thursday.
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