Recent revelations from the upcoming book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan cite the increasing need to confront the impeachment issue immediately.

Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida has vigilantly pursued the necessity of impeachment hearings and of holding government officials, beginning with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, accountable for potential "high crimes and misdemeanors" under mandate of no less than the U.S. Constitution.

As so many continue to point out, this duty to pursue commission of high crimes and misdemeanors by those charged with upholding the U.S. Constitution violates that document and deems it necessary for them to answer such charges.  There is a duty to pursue such acts of grievous misconduct and, when the facts warrant, remove the responsible parties from their positions of power.

McClellan reveals that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney lied about their roles in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, actions constituting an obstruction of justice.  

...but there's still someone in the GOP who thinks attorneys should put the law before politics:

Add Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox to the list of Republicans taking hard shots at President George W. Bush.

Cox harshly criticized Bush on Wednesday for commuting the prison sentence of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, saying the action sends the wrong message.

"Scooter" Libby apparently attempts to turn up the heat on the White House


Washington, DC (Rotters) - In a stunning development, former vice presidential counsel I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby waved the estimated five weeks grace period in place before he would have to officially report for incarceration. He reported early today to an undisclosed federal penitentiary to begin serving his 2 1/2 year sentence for his role in the Valerie Plame scandal. Libby appears to be embracing a tactic employed recently by a number of other celebrities, including Martha Stewart and Paris Hilton.

While Mr. Libby's motives remained unclear, many Washington insiders felt that Libby and his legal team were attempting to take advantage of the groundswell of support from conservatives all over America and turn up the heat for an official pardon from President George W. Bush.

There is an ad currently running on Comedy Central for David Spade's show in which the comic says that Michael Jackson is having a 50 foot robot of himself built which will roam the desert shooting laser beams from it's eyes. He then asks the viewer, "Wouldn't we be more shocked if he didn't?"

Looking around the net this morning and perusing a few of the thousands of "will Bush pardon Scooter?" stories, that ad kept popping into my mind.

I think that Bush will pardon Scooter, I will be shocked if he doesn't, the real question, for me, is when?

You can be sure the question is being discussed in hushed tones in the West Wing this morning, but the hand wringing is audible out here in the heartland.

"Obviously, there'd be a significant political price to pay," said William P. Barr, who as attorney general to President George H.W. Bush remembers the controversy raised by the post-election pardons for several Iran-contra figures in 1992. "I personally am very sympathetic to Scooter Libby. But it would be a tough call to do it at this stage."

In the West Wing, Pardon Is A Topic Too Sensitive to Mention
By Peter Baker - Washington Post

Scooter Libby - The former Chief of Staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in a grand jury investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame.

Paul Wolfowitz, -- After using his position of former Deputy Secretary of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld, was pushing hard for the Iraq War to go forward in the fast lane.  Later Bush appointed him head of the World Bank.  He used his position to help arrange a large pay raise for his female companion.  This incident has intensified calls for his resignation.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - Fighting to hold onto his job amid a congressional investigation into his role in firing eight U.S. prosecutors.  At a congressional hearing when asked specific questions he constantly replied, "I don't remember."  But the TV audiences that watched this evasive cover-up response would remember what a tight-lipped clipped answer as he snapped, "I don't remember" like a tape recording that got stuck.

Roger Stillwell - Former Interior Department official, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor when he never reported tickets given to him by convicted lobbyist grafter Jack Abramoff.

Notwithstanding testimony a week ago by James Knodell, Director of the White House Office of Security, evidence suggests that the White House did, actually, investigate the leak of classified information about Valerie Plame's covert CIA identity; but, only after President Bush revised security clearance laws in ways that would get leakers - and himself - off the hook. Rather than have Knodell investigate, it appears Bush tasked Joshua Bolten, then Director of the Office of Managment and Budget (OMB), to provide oversight of the process, per a little noticed Executive Order.

Overall, the evidence suggests a deliberate attempt by the President to legitimize staff leaks and to insulate the leakers from meaningful accountability.

President bush speaking to employees at a Tennessee ethanol pruduction facility


Raleigh, NC (APE) - President George W. Bush yesterday took a tour of Novozymes North America Inc. a manufacturer of enzymes designed to harvest ethanol from various renewable resources. Bush touted ethanol as an answer to virtually all of America's problems, from oil independence to all controversies both foreign and domestic. Bush then took a quick jaunt via Marine one to tour another ethanol distillery in nearby Tennessee to emphasize the point.

Whenever you see a service man or woman struggling, adjusting to a prosthetic device to replace their lost arms of legs, that is your legacy.

No matter how many limos or planes transport you to your lovely homes or fine offices, this represents but one outcome of your fateful Iraq war vote.  This is your legacy.  You and your children and grandchildren must live with this forever.

I can almost hear your quick explanation, "I voted for the Iraq War when Bush and his entire Administration insisted the U.S.A. was dangerously threatened by Saddam's weapons of mass destruction."

The reality is this.  You were duped by a series of liars using forged documents.  The Bush propaganda war machine resorted to distortion while running the flag up the pole and using patriotism in the most shameful way, to generate a conflict against an adversary that posed no discernible immediate threat to America's security.  

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Washington, DC (APE) - Pundits  and administration supporters alike were left sputtering yesterday with the release of court transcripts from the Patrick Fitzgerald investigation that revealed that authorization for the leaking of classified intelligence which resulted in the destruction of Valerie Plame's undercover status with the CIA came from none other than president Bush himself. Common speculation is that this will be the lynch-pin of Libby's defense, implying that all involved in the incident are absolved of any wrongdoing because it was an executive order that was being carried out. This appears to be a position that the Bush administration has apparently embraced, as a White House aide jokingly put it, "Screw it, We all did it!"

Via Josh Marshall, a stunner from tomorrow's Washington Post:

Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed.

In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive, according to a statement Woodward released yesterday.

Woodward's Statement is here (pdf file).

Further, in the main Post article:

Woodward did not share the information with Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. until last month, and the only Post reporter whom Woodward said he remembers telling in the summer of 2003 does not recall the conversation taking place.

In his lastest article for The National Journal, Murray Waas states that Fitz might be waiting for Libby's testimony before indicting Karl Rove in the Plame/CIA Leak case, and gave some interesting insight as to why Fitz decided not to indict Rove in October.

Not that anyone has missed this, but I wanted to add a bit more about David Addington replacing the disgraced Scooter Libby.

Harbor no illusions, here: ADDINGTON is a HARD CORE NEO-CON. Here's the money quote from Fitzgerald's indictment regarding Addington, via think progress:

18. Also on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with the Counsel to the Vice President in an anteroom outside the Vice President's Office. During their brief conversation, LIBBY asked the Counsel to the Vice President, in sum and substance, what paperwork there would be at the CIA if an employee's spouse undertook an overseas trip.

Did ya get that reference? "Counsel to the Vice President."

How will Tuesday's Closed Door Senate Session play in America's Heartland?  Just ask Cindy Sheehan and the hypocritical callers to Milwaukee talk radio.

In the formerly blue collar city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we're all about accountability and transparency.  It's practically in our genes.  You see, we obtained these characteristics from the generations before us, who taught us that above all else stands honesty, and integrity, and a hard day at work.  And yes, you probably already know this from watching Laverne and Shirley reruns -

"Nothins gonna turn us back now.
Straight ahead we're on the track now.  
We're gonna make our dreams come true!"

As Georgia10 noted earlier, Senator Harry Reid invoked Rule 21, a rule that automatically removes all Senate staff, visitors to the Gallery, reporters, cellphones, PDAs, and television cameras, in order for the Senate as a whole to discuss classified intelligence.