What politician would want to go about the messy business of impeachment if everyone just accepted the status quo. If WE don't start making noise, I can guarantee you three more years of Bush. As for me, I'll do anything to keep the possibility of a more rapid departure open.

Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive!

Education = Democracy.

Shoot, darn! says the GOP, who knew that would happen?  Heckava job, property tax based education.  Well done!  And right on time...

Anyways, the people don't impeach, only the elected reps can, and they don't have to if they don't want to.

A Democratic House and Senate might want to after 2006, and by that time they might see the impertative to impeach and convict to stop Bush's virtual military/Executive Branch coup d'etat and reinstate the rule of law.

Okay, it's a lot of work to make a Demo Congress happen but that's our only avenue. Let's get to it! All our energy has to be devoted to that objective. Not just to impeach Bush but to get back to sane, competent governance. Together we can do it.  Dean is paving the way in a 50-state buildup of the Demo Party and Feingold is coming up with some good rhetoric reminding Americans we're looking at 1776 all over again. Now if we can just get rid of electronic voting machines and protect the ballot.   We're getting "smoking gun fatigue" because we in the blogosphere are paying so much attention, but a lot of average Americans out there (believe it or not) are starting to wonder -- hey, what's going on here? Even if the American newsmedia sleeps on this story from Britain.

"So what happened?" he asked. "How did things end up the way they are now? Did the military take over?

"No, we didn't wake up one morning and find tanks in the streets, if that's what you're asking; nothing so melodramatic. It was more like the way global warming caused the glaciers to disappear from Glacier National Park . . . an inch at a time. A lot of it started during George W. Bush's administration. He wasn't a dictator himself, at least not in the absolute sense the president is today. But he was the one who set things in motion. He claimed that he had the right to seize American citizens and hold them prisoner indefinitely, based upon nothing more than his own say so. He ordered illegal surveillance of Americans and imposed unprecedented secrecy on governmental affairs. He authorized torture of prisoners, built secret prisons and convinced much of the public that disagreeing with the government was unpatriotic. But most importantly, he established the precedent that the president is above the law . . . free to ignore duly enacted statutes at his pleasure. And that was the beginning of the end. Because no one can be above the law in a democracy and still have it be a democracy."

Joe nodded that he understood.

"The thing is," continued the old man, "we didn't stop him. That's what's really so sad: The truth is that no one took freedom from us. We gave it away."

We can't wait for something big to happen.  We have to take steps to stop this creeping, incremental fascism, NOW.  And a general observation for anyone reading this: if the most you're doing is reading and posting on a blog, you aren't doing enough.