There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.

DNC calls on the FEC for a new investigation into McCain's campaign finance violations:

With the Federal Election Commission scheduled to address John McCain's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the federal matching funds program on Thursday, the Democratic National Committee today called on the Commission to remove that item from its agenda and instead proceed with a full investigation of the charges made against McCain in the administrative complaint filed by the DNC in February. In a conference call with reporters this morning, DNC General Counsel Joe Sandler discussed a letter he sent to the FEC last night that argued that the Commission should not consider McCain's decision to withdraw from the matching funds program because there is no request for permission pending and the Commission hasn't yet conducted an investigation as required by the law.

Read more.

I realize everyone is desperately seeking revenge for the last eight years, but eventually we will have to come to terms with the fact that we are not going to see the current administration investigated or punished to any great extent.

What will happen is what ALWAYS happens. A few low level flunkies will take some heat and maybe even do some short stint in a country club prison. The real movers and shakers responsible for the reprehensible nature of the Bush Administration will be beyond the reach of justice.

The fact that they have broken the law is immaterial, and no amount of wishing and hoping, wailing and gnashing is going to change that fact. I realize this is a viciously unpopular stand at the moment, but I believe in beating the rush: Get. Over. It.

And you what the real kicker is? That's what is best for the United States.

Disability Rights Advocates has been conducting an investigation into VA hospital access.

While their investigation is being targeted on the Veterans Care issue with the below recent report we can see that the Military Care issue, i.e. Walter Reed and More, is still having the same problems that finally came forward through great investigative reporting and shouldn't have existed nor still exist as to care for the returning active duty Military Personal especially from these theaters of occupations.

Remember the uproar over a supporter of Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton asking a question at the Republican Presidential debate? The problem was not that Retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr asked a question. It was that he and CNN didn't identify him as a co-chairman of Clinton's National Military Veterans Group.

A similar case of non-transparency happened recently involving a person with strong ties to Minnesota Congressman John Kline and his campaign. The UpTake investigated and found the lack of transparency was only the tip of the iceberg in this story. More in this video from Mike McIntee.

Transcript and links after the jump

Also Request Oversight Hearing to Investigate NAIS Activities

For liberals who have a familiar list of issues they consider politically urgent, it's time to look at farming issues in that light.

Farming issues reveal a worldwide movement by multinationals to control all food, animals, water, land.  NAIS is a totalitarian plan to oversee every farm animal in the country under the guise of food safety (though it contributes nothing to that safety and skirts the need to investigate and clean up the corporate feedlots, animal factories and slaughterhouses), with a data bank of global tracking information on small farmer and ranchers's to be run by and stored with corporations, and intolerable costs borne by farmers and ranchers, along with loss of all privacy and independence, and including penalties that are massive and destructive.

The sustainable agriculture movement, the independence of our farming and ranching communities, and our democracy itself are at stake with NAIS, which is, incidentally being pushed by Monsanto (and the big meat packers).  

I totally wish I was in Austin this weekend for Netroots Nation, especially after I learned this week that former Alabama Governor Don Sieglman would be there.

Air America Radio has upstream video from Don Siegelman's appearance at this weekend's Netroots Nation conference in Austin.

-- Benji @ http://fishbowlamerica.com

Since day one, Pelosi has held that impeachment is off the table, but is that what she REALLY means? I think not! Follow me below the fold to find out more.

It is the policy of the Department of Justice to seek to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, age, or physical or mental handicap in employment within the Department and to assure equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment.

- DOJ official policy on nondiscrimination

...the Screening Committee inappropriately used political and ideological considerations to deselect many candidates.

- Today's DOJ official report on the politicization of the Justice Department's hiring practices

We have a problem.

Philadelphia columnist Will Bunch reports that Barack Obama is considering whether or not he will undertake a criminal investigation of the Bush Administration should he be elected President.

According to the blog Attytood, Obama told Bunch that any inquiry would need to be very cautious because it would immediately be dismissed as partisan politics but that no one is above the law.

(cross-posted at The Dead Guy)

In "George Bush ... War Criminal" - I lay out one case in which I believe that President Bush and his cronies can be tried by the United States and International Courts.

Last night, over at Philadelphia Daily News, Will Bunch asked Senator Barack Obama a very important question about if he is elected President whether his Justice Department  "would aggressively go after and investigate whether crimes have been committed." Obama's response?

What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued ...

(more after the jump)

Cross-posted at The Dead Guy

You would think I wouldn't have to say more. That we have all heard the news. That we all knew what was done was against the law - both domestic and international. One day, maybe soon, we all will know. One day, maybe soon - we'll see our 43rd President, along with current and former members of his administration, hauled before an international court for crimes against humanity in time of war.

In today's interview with ABC News, President Bush admits he was aware and approved of his senior advisers were making decisions, on a case by case basis, on what interrogation techniques (including waterboarding and other extreme inhumane activities) would be utilized.

I know all the arguments against impeachment.  It’s too late.  The process is cheapened.  "We can’t win".  Whatever else.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah.

But at this point, all of that is moot - even though technically a Democratic president, a Democratic Attorney General, and a larger Democratic Congress can step up and at least mark some of the criminals that infested this Executive Branch over the past 8 years tagged with the stain of their heinous behaviors.

At this point, "we" have already lost in the court of public opinion.  "We" most certainly do torture.  "We" certainly knew that a hurricane was about to devastate an entire region of the country.  "We" manufacture evidence to invade other countries on false pretenses.  "We" are arrogant, belligerent and stubborn.  

The debate around Iraq has been vague, general and shallow, essentially iterating over and over that neither Obama nor Clinton would immediately withdraw all troops. Don't wanna look too dovish!

So how is it Barack Obama will end the occuption?  The corpus of my diary. And not only that, he's already worked on legislation for oversight of these robbers--the defense contractors who've looted a trillion or so--in Iraq.

Be merciful to me and don't let me get on your way by being unjust.

char·i·ty
–noun, plural -ties.
1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's life to charity.
2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms: She asked for work, not charity.
3. a charitable act or work.
4. a charitable fund, foundation, or institution: He left his estate to a charity.
5. benevolent feeling, esp. toward those in need or in disfavor: She looked so poor that we fed her out of charity.
6. leniency in judging others; forbearance: She was inclined to view our selfish behavior with charity.
7. Christian love; agape.

As this post and others show, support for impeachment is only at a plurality, not a majority right now.

I don't understand why we aren't talking about investigating impeachable offenses rather than actually starting impeachment.  My understanding, which may certainly be wrong, is that the House can begin investigating whether people within the administration have committed impeachable offenses without actually submitting charges to the Senate.  It's also my understanding that in such an investigation, the administration would not be able to rely on Executive Privilege as much as it has on other issues.

More below...

Rudy Giuliani's pre-9/11 actions, specifically his no-bid contract involving radios for the fire department, need to be investigated.  You can help by signing this petition and calling attention to what should be a huge issue for Rudy -- his pre-9/11 cronyism and security failures.

As the firefighters know, in 1994 after the first World Trade Center bombing, the department knew its radios were defective, and yet it took seven years to replace.. with defective radios yet again, courtesy of Motorola's no-bid contract!  

These are horrifying statistics. Many of these "camps" are run by fundamentalist Christians who believe the Bible commands strict physical discipline of kids with behavior problems.

Excerpts from a USA Today article, GAO study reveals boot camp 'nightmare':

The first federal inquiry into boot camps and wilderness programs for troubled teens cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states in 2005, a congressional investigation out Wednesday reveals.

The study, by the Government Accountability Office, also looked at a sample of 10 deaths since 1990 and found untrained staff, inadequate food or reckless operations were factors..........

The House Committee on Education and Labor is investigating these camps, which are not regulated by the states.