Unimpeachable

Second time’s the charm.

Monday evening, Dennis Kucinich took to the floor of the House for some 290 minutes to present his 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W ‘I Regret Your Regrets About My Regrets’ Bush, which were also supported by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) (h/t Josh Marshall). The (Flash) video is here. Some people thought it was boring, I guess.

Kucinich had barely finished speaking, or perhaps he was still going (or at least, we were talking about him) when the gang at Glenzilla’s forked a thread (right about here) about the NYT’s feckless regurgitation of RW FISA talking points (while I was coincidentally reading this piece , subsequently recommended by bamage , making the arguments Glenn has made repeatedly) to talk about the merits of impeachment.

The disagreement, which has got to be at least somewhat representative of what you’d find outside that august venue, is whether it will matter. Adnoto , for one, thinks it does, and offers this link for those of us willing to do a little letter writing (as well as the suggestion that we're punks if we don’t). Jebbie points out that with seven months left in this administration, it ain't gonna happen ... but that prosecution next year shouldn’t be ruled out. And finally, like Mary Lyon , others think the real crime is that Nancy Pelosi is likely to continue ensuring that impeachment is as ‘off the table’ as it was two years ago, when we sent the Dems in to clean house.

Afterwards, one could imagine Kucinich contemplating his performance at home, looking across the table at his lovely wife over a drink, or perhaps up on his roof scanning the stars for a fresh visit from his alien friends . You can imagine these things, but of course none of them happened; if they had, they doubtlessly would have gotten more media coverage than anything he might have done to fulfill his congressional oath to defend the constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. Wonder why?

The sole exception in the crickets' chorus was Countdown, where Chris’s former law prof John Turley opined that the symbolic importance of impeachment … or any official condemnation … is weighty, even if there is no substantive fallout. See the link for video, and bookmark Chris’ site while you’re there.

Elsewhere, Norman Soloman’s outfit has a page up with some solid analysis on the merits of impeachment. Joseph Palermo notes that the articles could be helpful in potential future war crimes trials (*cough* victor’s justice *cough*). Characteristically, Scarecrow takes the longer … and sadder … view about the real stakes.

Today, Kucinich forced a vote that ended with the articles' referral to John Conyers’ Judiciary Committee, which has been sitting on similar Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Dick ‘I’d Shoot You In the Face but West Virginia Won’t Return My Hunting Rifle’ Cheney since last November. Happily, 24 Republicans joined with Democrats to pass the measure, 251-156 .

I say ‘happily’, of course, because now that Kucinich has made his brave, mostly solitary and all-but-ignored stand, we can focus on the things that really matter.

Admin notes

Damn ... it's been a week since I posted? How the hell did that happen?

Just a quick note to apologize for my inconsistency, and to say there'll be more up soon. In the meantime, I'm trying to spruce up the neighborhood a bit, and would be open to some advice:

Features : I thought this would be a good spill-over site for all those side conversations that either spill over into the land of WAYofftopic, or whose lives are tragically cut short by the closing of a letters thread or the intrusion of daily life.

But Blogger's comments section sucks. Any suggestions? I'm looking at HaloScan, and there are a bazillion templates and I don't know how to choose. Any particularly useful features you've come across, or desirable layouts, of whatever, that I really ought to include here?

Off-topic topics: I thought it would be good to summarize (*cough* mock *cough*) some of the tangents I run across; to extend thoughts about interesting ideas we start to pursue (the better to prompt their continuation here), and the like. All well and good.

But what the hell do I do when everyone behaves and stays within the lines? One idea: Some of you are quite interesting. I think it would be fun to interview you so that others could see just how fascinating you really are. Plus, you get to see your name up in lights (if I can find a way to install that feature ...) . What think you?

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions ... and I'll be back with something new shortly.