Senate aide tells Mother Jones the committee could begin contempt proceedings as early as next Thurs

On the Attack: Are the Dems Moving Toward A Contempt Vote?

Washington Dispatch: For months, the Democratic leadership has held off on a confrontation with the White House over the U.S. attorneys scandal. A ruling today may signal that they're returning to the offensive.

By Nick Baumann

November 29, 2007


Is this the return of the summer showdowns between Capitol Hill Democrats and the White House?

The Senate Judiciary Committee moved a big step closer to contempt citations against top Bush administration officials today. Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) ruled that White House claims of executive privilege "are not legally valid." A Senate aide tells Mother Jones the committee could begin contempt proceedings as early as next Thursday if current and former administration officials do not comply immediately with the subpoenas.

.................

Leahy's ruling today may be a signal that the process is finally moving again. If the Judiciary committee does debate contempt citations next week, the full Senate could conceivably be voting on the issue before the end of the year. "The Senate Majority Leader has a very ambitious agenda for the next three weeks," says Erica Chabot, a spokeswoman for Leahy. "But that doesn't mean it can't change should something develop" before Congress recesses over the Christmas holidays.


more at:
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/11/contempt-leahy-summer-showdowns.html

My face is turning so damn blue from holding my breath.....

if you ask me. this is all bullshit. The more this goes on the more I'll have to hold my nose when it comes time to vote for any of these bastids, except'n of course for Dennis, cause as was said on here a while back, he's the only candidate for president who a squirrel could go up one leg and come down the other and not be hungry, just saying.

too much hemming and hawing to suite me on all these illegalities of the bush/cheney cabal being held up to scrutiny

I think Leahy's done a lot- thus my faith in him.

Most just want more!!

There is no question that the Democratic majority has altered the political landscape. DC is practically another planet, and a lot of perps have gone home, to jail, or to seek expensive legal counsel.

Problem is that the Corrupt Bastards Club controls the very powerful Executive branch, including the Department of Justice.
Another problem, the very volume of scandal investigates is nearly impossible to deal with while still conducting the usual business of statehood.

DUers know Leahy has earned his pay this session, perhaps at an historical level, even if they wish the schedule was more accelerated!

most DUers don't seem to see Leahy as you and I do. I know people want more- I get antsy too, but the tendency to strike out, even at those who really don't deserve to be bashed, is disconcerting.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3082533&mesg_id=3082533

The degree of political infiltration on these open boards means we are often reading what stealth freepers are writing.

Infiltrated posts often use foul language to limit search engines returning DU in their results, and emotional rants against Dems. Soooo transparent!!

I've got Di Fi for a Senator, grrrrr.

talking.

And he has made a lot of idle threats.

If you think that's a lot, I am thrilled for ya.

i hope he wastes all his time on these criminals.

K & R

a damn thing. And Leahy is really good when it come to talking tough, but in the end it's always all show and no go.

Ask Bolton, Meiers, Rice, Gonzo, and everybody else who's thumbed their noses at any and all 'investigations' they've held. They know nothing will happen. And the smart ones here do too.

And if Leahy hadn't had the gavel, and Arlen had, Rove and Gonzo would likely still be safely ensconced in the admin.

Maybe L.Coyote is right. Not all posters are DUers.

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:crazy:

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:rofl: :spray:

you wouldn't know intelligence or honesty if it slapped you across the face.

:hi:

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He would have really blown your mind.

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“The hell realm is pervaded by aggression. This aggression is based on such a perpetual condition of hatred that one begins to lose track of whom you are building your aggression toward as well as who is being aggressive toward you. There is continual uncertainty and confusion. You have built up a whole environment of aggression to such a point that finally, even if you were to feel slightly cooler about your own anger and aggression, the environment around you would throw more aggression at you. It is like walking in hot weather: you might feel physically cooler for a while, but hot air is coming at you constantly so you cannot keep yourself cool.

The aggression of the hell realm does not seem to be your aggression, but it seems to permeate the whole space around you. There is no space in which to breathe, no space in which to act, and life becomes overwhelmingÿ.

In the hell realm we throw out flames and radiations, which are continually coming back to us. There is no room at all in which to experience any spaciousness or openness. Rather there is a constant effort, which can be very cunning, to close up all the space. The hell realm can only be created through your relationships with the outside world, whereas in the jealous god realm your own psychological hang-ups could be the material for creating the asura mentality. In the hell realm there is a constant situation of relationship: you are trying to play games with something and the attempt bounces back on you, constantly recreating extremely claustrophobic situations; so that finally there is no room in which to communicate at all.

At that point the only way to communicate is by trying to recreate your anger. You thought you had managed to win a war of one-upmanship, but finally you did not get a response from the other person; you one-upped him right out of existence. So you are faced only with your own aggression coming back at you and it manages to fill up all the space. You are left lonely once more, without excitement, so you seek another way of playing the game, again and again and again. You do not play for enjoyment, but because you do not feel protected nor secure enough. If you have no way to secure yourself, you feel bleak and cold, so you must rekindle the fire. In order to rekindle the fire you have to fight constantly to maintain yourself. One cannot help playing the game; one just finds oneself playing it, all the time.”



Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Hell is a very spacious place, by all accounts....

:hi:


Anger can be a good thing

You are familiar with the rules of Democratic Underground regarding civility and harrassment, certainly.

just because she always uses a lol does not mean her posts are innocent. I see a lot of aggression and anger here Sir


Does this sound personal, Sir

lol
you wouldn't know intelligence or honesty if it slapped you across the face.

And give someone a chance to set some doubtful matter straight for the record.

If I were to say



lol
you wouldn't know intelligence or honesty if it slapped you across the face.


Wish I could say that you provided some amusement, but your banal and vaguely paranoid posts cribbed right our of the Counterpunch philosophy for Dummies text, just isn't very entertaining.


I guess maybe be if I start all my posts with a lol everything would be alright with you?

because a Republican would have done even less.

Gotcha.

Oh and I AM definitely a DUer.

He's done yeoman's work over the past 10 months- and years before that. Read L.Coyote's post. I'm hardly the only one saying that Leahy's doing a good job as JC. And he's done a good job as a Senator. You won't find too many Vermonter liberals and progressives who don't think that.

Just a blowhard.

He's damn lucky to have you in his corner.

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:sarcasm:

just a thought.

:hi:

:hi:

We've heard this before.

Action <-- has meaning

It's NOT 'work' until something (anything) is accomplished. In physics, 'work' is force applied over a distance - i.e. something actually moves. Making a (possibly) carefully-calibrated 'effort' that accomplishes nothing is NOT work. Indeed, if the direction of movement isn't in a desirable direction, it can't be called 'progress' either.

I'm seeing neither 'progress' nor 'work.'

:shrug:

The DOJ, even under "new management" will just sit on any contempt citations dished out by Congress.

The ONLY way for Congress to effectively assert its Constitutional power in this matter is inherent contempt - skip the DOJ and the courts completely as they've been corrupted, and have the Sergeant at Arms arrest any witness who thinks subpoenas are optional.

But if that was in the cards, it would have happened already...

You still need a floor vote for inherent contempt. And no way would it even come close to passing. That's the political reality, like it or not.

If inherent contempt was going to happen, it would have happened already.

But all of the Republicans and most of the Democrats are on the corporate take, so it isn't going to happen.

And again, we the people are screwed.