By Dave Lindorff

The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power
held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged
farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a
grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both
testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and
of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the
enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation’s democracy
by two aspiring tyrants in the White House.

It's impeachment day 1 thanks to Rep. Dennis Kucinich!

David Swanson is liveblogging with impeachment activists on Capitol Hill. Kagro X has a diary on Kos explaining how Kucinich and Robert Wexler pressured Pelosi into having hearings, who will testify, and why no one can call Bush a "liar." Ralph Lopez has a diary at Kos with Corporate Media links - tell them to cover today's impeachment hearing!

#2: 9 a.m. Pacifica starts live coverage. David will be a guest at 9:30.

Tell your Representatives to support impeachment by cosponsoring H. Res. 1345:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/142

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has led the fight for impeachment since April 2007, when he defied Speaker Pelosi and courageously introduced 3 Articles of Impeachment (H.Res. 333/799) against Vice President Cheney. On June 10, Kucinich defied Speaker Pelosi again and introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment (H.Res. 1258) against President Bush.

When Pelosi refused to allow hearings on any of the 38 Articles of Impeachment, Kucinich returned to the floor of Congress to introduce one more Article of Impeachment against President Bush (H.Res. 1345).

Thanks to massive pressure from Democrats.com and our pro-impeachment allies, Speaker Pelosi finally allowed Chairman Conyers to hold a hearing this Friday. Kucinich will finally get a few minutes to argue for impeachment, along with Rep. Robert Wexler, former Rep. Liz Holtzman, and former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson. Kucinich made a video to thank us for our efforts.

By Dave Lindorff

The sorry performance of the US corporate media, which blacked out
stories questioning the official line on the so-called “Iraq Threat”
until the nation was deeply mired in to pointless, bloody war in that
country, and which has almost completely ignored a three-year,
nation-wide movement calling for the impeachment of the president and
vice president, has continued.

By Dave Lindorff

There are two ways to view the news that the House Judiciary
Committee will be holding a hearing on impeachable crimes by President
George W. Bush.

One view would be that this is all a charade and that after all, it
will not be a real impeachment hearing, but rather, simply a hearing
into the impeachable crimes of the Bush administration. As committee
Chair Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) put it, “We’re not doing impeachment,
but he [Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who introduced 36 articles of impeachment]
can talk about it.” Viewed that way, this is not such a big deal. Rep.
Kucinich gets to make his case that the president is committing high
crimes and misdemeanors and abuses of power and war crimes, but then
Congressional Democrats will continue to ignore all the crimes as it
has done since taking control of Congress in November 2006.

To Democrats.com;  Although I was PLEASED! to hear that Dennis Kucinich,read these 35 articles of Impeachment ON the House of Representatives Floor, I UNFORTUNATELY, have the following PROBLEM,...It is; Dennis Kucinich, is looked upon by a LOT of Democrats,and ALL Republicans,as a "NUT!!" and a "Troublemaker"!!  If,...I repeat IF!, YOU,Democrats.com,..want your "Impeachment" message to be taken >SERIOUSLY!!< I advise the following;   GET ANOTHER CONGRESSMAN or SENATOR to DELIVER YOUR(Democtrats.com & the American People's)  MESSAGE,...O.K.??!!

By a bipartisan vote of 251-166, the full House of Representatives sent Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee.

That means Chairman John Conyers now has the power to decide whether to hold impeachment hearings - or not.

Incredibly, 24 Republicans voted with 227 Democrats; the 166 no votes came exclusively from Republicans.

       I stayed up with Rep Kucinich for his entire reading into the record. I am so delighted to see that we have such quality of courage in the Congress. He's taken a giant step to restore its credibility.

       But, I admit to being totally unknowledgable regarding the process of impeachment at this point. I know it begins in the House of Representatives and tried in the Senate, but where to we go from here with his presentment? I will feel more empowered if we can get the details or appropriate links to get this information. 

       Now, in light of the Democrat's surge to the finish line to sweep the board, it will be interesting to see just who among our Congressmen and women will step up to the plate and give their support. It is high time for them to show their true colors and the quality of their mettle.

At the Huffington Post, Joseph Palermo cheers:

Kucinich's lengthy and detailed indictment of this wayward president is the most thorough and powerful case made to date. He outlined a litany of high crimes and misdemeanors and showed without a shadow of a doubt that George W. Bush deserves to be impeached and removed from office. Kucinich made clear that Bush has violated his oath of office and his Constitutional duty that the laws be "faithfully executed."...

The House Judiciary Committee should vote on the Kucinich resolution and split it up into Articles of Impeachment. All the committee needs is one Article to impeach Bush, Kucinich has provided dozens of potential Articles...

History is in the making as I type: Rep. Dennis Kucinich has taken to the floor of the House and has begun reading 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush. (Watch the first 5 minutes. Read the full Articles.)

At last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can be sure Kucinich will come under furious attack by the White House, the Republican Party, the Corporate Media, and even Bush Democrats. So let's inundate Congress with emails and calls showing our full support for Rep. Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment!

http://www.democrats.com/35-articles-of-impeachment

Click "read more" for our press release:

Democrats.com Applauds Dennis Kucinich for Introducing Articles of Impeachment