Court Of Impeachment And War Crimes: UPDATES OF THE DAY; Impeach+Bush+Cheney+Wexler+Kucinich. And A Touch Of Eggnog.

UPDATES OF THE DAY; Impeach+Bush+Cheney+Wexler+Kucinich.

“It’s The Judiciary Committee Stupid!” Campaign Lead Link
http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/impeach-bush-and-cheney-calling-all.html

The Wexler Florida Blog Talk Radio Broadcast (Audio)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fpc/2007/12/21/The-Impeachment

Atlanta Progressive Endorsements Based On Impeachment
http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0270.html

"Liberal media" is ignoring the Wexler impeachment petition Gather.com - Boston,MA,USAThe thing that bothered Wexler the most was how his very public pleas for impeachment hearings went completely ignored by the "liberal media. ...See all stories on this topic (Worth The Follow)

Audio of Rep. Wexler's Blog Talk Radio Interview on Cheney ImpeachmentBy davidswanson This is a great interview, hosted by Kenneth Quinnell of the Florida Netroots Caucus and Bob Fertik of Democrats.com. It also features Dave Lindorff, author of "The Case for Impeachment," and David Swanson with AfterDowningStreet.org. ...

Sometimes, You can Predict the FutureBy Engram(Engram) What would a Democratic House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi be like? The Republicans have been painting an unattractive portrait of Democrats roasting young children on a spit in the Capitol Rotunda and whatnot. ...Back Talk - http://engram-backtalk.blogspot.com/

http://engram-backtalk.blogspot.com/2007/12/sometimes-you-can-predict-future.html

WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT

A Good Time to Be John McCain
A man whose Presidential campaign was left for dead last summer has picked up a round of significant endorsements from the Manchester Union Leader, the Des Moines Register, the Boston Globe, and Senator Joe Lieberman.

He has the highest favorable rating (52%) and the smallest number committed to voting against him (33%) of any Presidential candidate in either party. In the wake of his recent endorsements, McCain has moved into third place in Iowa and within a few points of the lead in New Hampshire. More..

TOP STORIES

New Hampshire: Romney 31% McCain 27% In many places around the country, Mitt Romney is facing a challenge from Mike Huckabee. However, in New Hampshire, Huck-a-mania never took hold. But, following endorsements from the Manchester Union Leader, the Boston Globe, and Senator Joe Lieberman, John McCain is now challenging Romney in the state he won eight years ago. More..

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows a continuing slide for Rudy Giuliani. In the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination, it’s Mike Huckabee at 21%, John McCain and Mitt Romney at 15% each, Giuliani at 13% and Fred Thompson at 12%
More..

Iowa: Clinton 31% Obama 27% Edwards 22% Those who want polls to tell them who will in Iowa will be sorely disappointed. Right now, the race is too close to call and the difficulties of polling during the upcoming holiday celebrations will not clarify the matter. More..
CompTIA Survey Reveals Concerns of IT Workers for the 2008 Elections The war in Iraq, keeping the Internet free from regulation, and minimizing government's role in protecting privacy on the Internet, among other matters, dominate the political concerns of the American IT worker. More..

New Hampshire: Clinton 31% Obama 28% It’s way too early for New York Senator Hillary Clinton and her team to celebrate, but the former First Lady has gained back some lost ground in the state of New Hampshire.
More.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/21/romney_never_saw_father_on_king_march

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/12/21/in_nh_churches_candidates_find_a_different_breed_of_evangelical

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/12/21/my_new_religion

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/12/21/a_wrinkle_in_her_campaign

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/21/clinton_surrogates_throw_the_jabs

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/21/women_voters_could_drive_democratic_choice

Tancredo Out: Posted Only Because It Makes Me Happy!
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/21/tancredo_pulls_out_backing_romney

House panel subpoenas CIA aide who destroyed interrogation tapes (By Pamela Hess, Associated Press

Bush boxed in his congressional foes
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-congress21dec21,0,1569296.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntothtml

Change in tone may have hurt Edwards in Iowa
By Scott Martelle
Analysts say an edgier image and stiff competition from Clinton and Obama have cost the Democratic presidential candidate support in the key state.

Did the Neocons pick their horse? McCain picks up Leiberman's endorsement
Jonathan Schell: Thursday December 20th, 2007

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=716&thisview=item

Democrats savor power for a year but end it feeling unfulfilled
By Richard Simon and Noam N. Levey
Their approval of a bill giving Bush funds for a war they oppose helps sum up their 2007 congressional record.

Falling polls lead Giuliani to retool his campaign plans
By Robin Abcarian
He drops his win-Florida strategy and tough-guy image to focus on New Hampshire and his sunnier side.

Clinton toeing the line of campaign negativity
By Peter Nicholas
With voting starting in two weeks, she and aides are taking subtle digs at Obama.

House drops Democrats' guidelines to pass minimum tax relief
By Noam N. Levey and Jonathan Peterson
The bill will spare 20 million taxpayers, but there'll be no compensating revenue from the very rich.

Bush threatens to cancel lawmakers' pet projects (By Peter Baker, Washington Post) (Not Enough Red Meat I Guess!) Ed.

Spending Bills Still Stuffed With Earmarks:

Blue Pork; Blue Meat Is Rotten Meat, Unless It’s The Mold Crust On An Expensive Mold Aged Steak Paid For By Your Local Lobbyist!

Democrats Had Vowed To Curtail Pet Projects
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer: Friday, December 21, 2007; Page A01

Twice in the past two years, Alaska lawmakers lost congressional earmarks to build two "bridges to nowhere" costing hundreds of millions of dollars after Congress was embarrassed by public complaints over the pet projects hidden in annual spending bills.

This year, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who are Alaska Republicans, found another way to move cash to their state: Stevens secured more than $20 million for an "expeditionary craft" that will connect Anchorage with the windblown rural peninsula of Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Now what Alaska has, budget watchdogs contend, is a ferry to nowhere.

"Earmarks are a bipartisan affliction," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group that tracks the projects. "It would take leadership in both parties -- and a lot more shame -- to ever rein them in."

The $555 billion annual "omnibus" spending bill approved by Congress this week and the $459 billion defense bill passed last month collectively contain more than 11,000 earmarks, despite Democrats' vow to use their first year in the majority to slash the number of such pet projects.

The earmark tally did come down, budget watchdogs said, but the audacity of the requests is little reduced. Among routine requests for roads and dams, Taxpayers for Common Sense found $100,000 for signage in Los Angeles's fashion district, $9 million for "rural domestic preparedness" in Kentucky and $250,000 for a wine and culinary center in Prosser, Wash.

President Bush yesterday threatened to cancel thousands of the special projects, saying he has ordered White House budget director Jim Nussle to determine the extent of the president's authority to respond to what he called "wasteful spending" in the mammoth appropriations bill. Aides said that could include simply disregarding earmarks that were not included in binding legislative language.

Earmarks are a crucial way that lawmakers channel money back home for such projects as community centers and water-treatment plants. Most members of Congress boast to constituents of their success in winning funding and say they know better than federal agencies what their districts need. A spokesman for Young said the Alaska ferry, for example, would drastically shorten the commute from the borough to Anchorage.

But over decades, earmarks have become magnets for some questionable spending requests, and the sheer number has given them a bad name.

The practice reached a high-water mark in 2005, the year of the first "bridge to nowhere" project, which would have linked the town of Ketchikan, on a southeastern Alaska island, to its airport on a nearby island.

Nussle, a former representative from Iowa who chaired the House Budget Committee, said the earmark explosion badly dented Republicans' and Bush's reputations among fiscal conservatives.

"When I was budget chairman . . . we always held the top line. But what got us in trouble, I feel, are the earmarks," Nussle said in an interview. "People would come up to me at a town meeting, [and] they all want to know: 'How did you have money for this bridge or this rain forest or this cowgirl museum?' " CONTINUED 1 2 Next

IT JUST NEVER STOPS!

U.S. Asks High Court to Nix 'Speech-or-Debate' Ruling
Justice Dept. Says It Makes Lawmakers Invulnerable
By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 21, 2007; Page A03
The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision limiting law enforcement searches of congressional offices, arguing that the sweep of the ruling last summer may kill ongoing public corruption investigations.

Acting Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre, in a petition filed this week, urged the high court to weigh in on how far the "speech or debate" clause of the Constitution goes in insulating members of Congress from legal action. In the meantime, he said, "investigations of corruption in the nation's capital and elsewhere will be seriously and perhaps fatally stymied."

McCain Says Allegations That He Did Favors for D.C. Lobbyist Are Untrue (By Howard Kurtz)

CAMPAIGN TOOL BOX

Everyone needs a Chuckle now and then, So…
.
Eggnog is arguably the one drink that is most identifiable with the Christmas/Holiday/Winter Solstice Season (I think I got them all).

It consists of eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and brandy/rum, with greater percentages of the latter being added as the holiday draws near.

However, the exact origin of this noggy beverage has been a subject of debate for years, among those who care about the origins of semi-popular seasons drinks.

Luckily, the I-Mockery archives contain the true story of the origin of eggnog.

It began centuries ago in Europe during the Dark Ages. As you may have surmised from the name, these were not good times, and so the people of the day sought even the slightest bit of whimsy to distract them from their miserable serfdom.

One of the main sources of such distractions (and also one of the main sources of medical knowledge at the time), were wizards.

Not all wizards were created equal, however.

Case in point: the wizard Nöggen.

Whereas other wizards would shock and delight audiences with impressive feats of prestidigitation,

Nöggen had only one trick, namely that he had the incredible ability to separate egg whites from egg yolks.

It was most impressive, yes, but Nöggen felt that he could do so much more with his trick, if only he knew what to do with it.

Then, a stroke of genius led him to discover that adding milk, sugar, and alcohol to his magic byproducts gave him a tasty drink that he sold during his shows to make a little extra money.

Unfortunately, the first alcohol that he applied in his new drink was communion wine, and the Church had poor Nöggen burned at the stake for heresy, and for wasting good eggs.