A FEW THINGS AS I AM OUT THE DOOR

We head out very early in the morning for Atlanta and the U.S. Social Forum (see below for more details.) Will be gone for five days. Not sure how often I will get to the blog but will try to do what I can.

The Washington Post has an article today about Dick Cheney and the growing GOP problem of what to do with him. They report, "The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office. Even before this week's blockbuster series in The Post, discontent in Republican ranks was rising."

"As the reputed architect of the war in Iraq, Cheney is viewed as toxic, and as the administration's leading proponent of an attack on Iran, he is seen as dangerous. As long as he remains vice president, according to this thinking, he has the potential to drag down every member of the party -- including the presidential nominee -- in next year's elections."

It is pretty obvious that the Dems are just sitting back and watching the wound fester. Instead of moving forward to hold Bush and Cheney accountable for their crimes the Dems are feeling fine about letting the whole thing dribble out.

The Post article says the Repubs just might move Cheney out soon, bring in someone "fresh", and then have the new guy be the top contender for the GOP presidential candidate in 2008. All the more reason the Dems need to bring the impeachment charges to the House floor on Cheney before he slips out the back door.

I saw during Ronald Reagan's tenure how the Iran-Contra Scandal was allowed to go away without anyone seriously facing any real penalties for their crimes against the Constitution. It's amazing how the powerful seem to get away with their big crimes but the average Joe out there has to pay the price with years of hard time when they make a mistake.

I heard yesterday that the U.S. Postal Service was trying to privatize some postal carrier routes in the Tampa-St Pete area in Florida. If any of you reading this hear of anything like that please let me know. My friends who work in the post office are interested.

Our Maine Senate race in 2008 is going to be very interesting. Incumbant Republican Susan Collins will be facing Democrat Tom Allen. Allen has been the member of the House of Representatives for the southern half of the state - including my community. He has voted 7 out of 8 times to fund the Iraq occupation, he refuses to support impeachment, and he does not support single-payer universal health care. He recently told a friend that Dems might appear to be "vengeful" if they pursued impeachment. There is a possibility that an Independent progressive candidate will be running in that race as well. Should turn out to be very interesting. The Dems are going to pour big money into the race as they see it as a possible pick-up. So far the Dems strategy has been to start running media ads critical of Sen. Collins for voting to fund Bush's war. It's amazing how the Dems seem to lack a sense of shame.

I have a cable access TV show that now runs in eight Maine communities. Today I taped my 56th show interviewing Kathleen McGee, a well-known social justice activist here in the state who has worked for years to ensure that social progress be supported at the state level. She said today that the Dems in Maine are wanting to cut the budget which means education and health care will be further cut. They are also wanting to give more tax breaks to corporations. You can watch some of my recent shows just by clicking on the TV icon on the left side of the blog home page. I call the show This Issue in memory of a dear artist friend who started a newspaper with me by the same name in the early 1980's in Orlando, Florida. He died unexpectedly in the mid-80's and was a wonderful soul. John Beardsley was his name.

Talk with you all again soon. Stay at it.