Just thinking.

As I write this, we remain bogged down in the quagmire that is Iraq and Osama Bin Laden remains at large, free after almost six years to plot and conspire against the peace and well-being of the homeland, and our citizens while traveling abroad.

What is difficult to understand, is why the Adminstration remains so steadfast, unwilling to give reasonable consideration to opposing views and positions. Originally, the war was going to be left to the generals. Which is good, since this president has not been in harm's way in any military action or campaign, and neither has his vice president. However, the Secretary of Defense broke with the tradition of re-nominating the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs because he was not as supportive of the war as the president had hoped. I agree the president should have advisors in whom he/she can repose his/her faith and confidence, but if the conduct of the war is to be the job of the professionals in uniform, why is anyone who takes issue with policy quickly minimized and out of the picture?

How can Congress act? If they attempt to force a policy showdown with the Administration over the war, they run the very real risk of being perceived as not supporting the troops, as the Administration is artful in using the veto. Unfortunately, the president and his Adminstration were left virtually unchecked for the first six years of his term, with the rubber stamp Congress, lead by the indicted former House Majority Leader from the president's home state of Texas, Tom Delay. I just hope Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid can find a way to bring a competent and reasoned voice to the discussions and moderate their chambers so that a bi-partisan debate can be undertaken and reasoned and rationale solution to Iraq can be found.

San Francisco Trip Comes to an End

Today we head home to Rockford, Illinois after 7 fabulous days in San Francisco, California.

We brought my sister and her husband, fulfilling a long-time desire of my sister to visit the famed city on the Bay.

Of course, the trip included the typical tourist venues, Alcatraz Island, Monterey and Napa Valley wine country.

We are headed to San Franciso International Airport for travel on what promises to be a travel day from hell. All of the travel pundits are predicting a travel day frought with perils, frustration and delays. We will have to see.

Today as I was driving to work, I was listening to President Bush speak to the need for Congress to act on his request for revising the rules of interrogation so that the CIA may resume its interrogations of "detainees" being held in secret CIA prisons abroad. He said that he needed these rules so he could "protect America".

When will he realize that many of his actions since September 11, 2001 have actually harmed America? We are a country who believes in a free and open society. Yet, every time an American's telephone calls are listened to without the benefit of a search warrant we are a less free and less open society.

The current Administration would classify my comments as un-American. However, questioning our government and its actions is the core of America. Our ability to stand up and declare openly and freely our opposition to policies and practices we find objectionable is what makes us the beacon of hope to other democracies around the world.

Let's not allow the intensity of that beacon be diminished by our actions. Let us continue to stand for liberites and freedoms.

Today the Senate committee investigating the veracity of the intelligence the president used to justify the invasion of a sovereign nation released its findings. The committee found that even Saddam Hussein considered the al-Qaida terrorist organization as a threat--not the ally the president and vice president has insisted it was to Iraq.

Additionally, the White House today said that its errors in the past are not important. What is important is to continue to prosecute a war, sacrificing more American lives and billions of taxpayers dollars.

Where is congressional oversight? This is an administration that does not believe in accountability, does not feel an obligation to the truth and believes it is above the law.

Secret CIA prisons? Is this the United States of America? It's sounds like a headline from a Cold War era newspaper decrying the human rights violations of the Evil Empire!! Not the admission of a US President speaking about the actions of the United States of America. What happened to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the rights guaranteed by the Constitution? How do we claim the moral high ground? How do we allow ourselves to lower ourselves to the level of the enemy? Depriving human rights? Torture? Secret prisons? Indefinite detention? What happened to a defendant's right to confront the witnesses and evidence presented against them? Military tribunals designed to guarantee convictions, rather than a civilian court of law, with the protections our system of justice is supposed to guarantee. Sadly, it appears the terrorists are winning.

Privacy has been sacrificed in the name of patriotism and the war on terrorism. The ideals and beliefs of the United States, for which countless numbers have shed their blood and sacrificed their lives, have been relegated to memory and not the character of the United States.

“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Article II, Section 4, US Constitution

The president has been dealing with inquiries regarding his authorization of domestic wiretaps on citizens of the United States. It appears he authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct these wiretaps under the guise of the authorization he received from the “Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq”.

Unfortunately for the president, no where in the resolution does it specifically grant him the authority to circumvent existing US law regarding the use of the NSA’s spying apparatus to monitor the communications of US citizens. Further, the president declined to follow the law, which would have required him to apply for a warrant from a special federal court established to decide just these types of questions.

I am curious to know why Henry Hyde of Illinois, or Bob Barr of Florida, or Tom DeLay of Texas are silent on this issue of lawlessness on the part of the president? Are these not the same men who were steadfast in their condemnation of Bill Clinton? It would appear, for at least these vigilant public servants that spying on Americans and using the resources of the NSA in violation of several US laws does not rise above, or at least to the level of, lying about the nature of a personal, sexual relationship.

It would also appear that these type of offenses rise to the level, as specified by our Constitution’s framers, of an impeachable offense. Since the bar for what constitutes an impeachable offense was lowered during the Clinton administration, then George W. Bush, president of the United States should be impeached for his conduct of the war in Iraq and for his actions regarding the use of the NSA to conduct a domestic witch hunt, further compromising American civil liberties and freedoms.