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The lies,the lies. They can no longer be brushed off. Yes, the heretofore unthinkable subject--calls for impeachment of President Bush--is being heard more and more. And what is surprising is that it is being voiced not only in liberal bastions like Massachusetts and Vermont. I do not believe that the process will actually reach the stage when the president will have to appear at impeachment hearings. Nevertheless, it is a heartening sign of how growing number of Americans feel about the president and his actions during the past five years. "HOLYOKE, Mass. -- To drive through the mill towns and curling country roads here is to journey into New England's impeachment belt. Three of this state's 10 House members have called for the investigation and possible impeachment of President Bush." Thirty miles north, residents in four Vermont villages voted earlier this month at annual town meetings to buy more rock salt, approve school budgets, and impeach the president for lying about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and for sanctioning torture. Window cleaner Ira Clemons put down his squeegee in the lobby of a city mall and stroked his goatee as he considered the question: Would you support your congressman's call to impeach Bush? His smile grew until it looked like a three-quarters moon. "Why not? The man's been lying from Jump Street on the war in Iraq," Clemons said. "Bush says there were weapons of mass destruction, but there wasn't. Says we had enough soldiers, but we didn't. Says it's not a civil war -- but it is." He added: "I was really upset about 9/11 -- so don't lie to me."

Reading one of the much-quoted Bushisms one wonders who he was talking about. You, me, all of us? "There's an old saying in Tennessee --- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee--- that says, fool me once, shame on--— shame on you. Fool me-- you can't get fooled again." —President George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002" Whenever the president is without a script and teleprompter he is likely to utter strange, tortuous mumbo jumbo. There are hundreds of examples. The signs are clear,however, that he is failing to fool us again. His exhortations are falling on deaf ears. He has been tuned out by all but his core supporters and even some of them are unhappy because they feel that he has not done enough for them!"Is Anyone Listening?"We are seeing a new Bush. Scratch the suface and you'll find the old Bush. Richard Wolffe and Holly Baily in Newsweek: " The banner hanging over President George W. Bush read united to victory. But as Republicans listened to Bush slog through his familiar pep talk at a $2,500-a-head fund-raiser last Thursday night, the party faithful knew they were anything but united."

André Schwarz-Bart's "The Last Of The Just"Last year I wrote about the Holocaust when the world remembered Auschwitz and the unprecedented acts of barbarism committed against the Jews in Europe during Hitler's Third Reich. This year I failed to mention it. There are people who deny that the Holocaust occurred. I am not one of them.I recently did what many other booklovers do. In the absence of something new to read we go back to old favorites. I pulled out a book from my meager collection and re-read it. A work of fiction, but fiction with Holocaust in the background contains historical facts.Le Dernier des Justes by André Schwarz-Bart appeared in print in French in 1959. It was translated by Stephen Becker and published in 1960 as "Last Of The Just" by Atheneum House. "André Schwarz-Bart, a French Jew of Polish descent, was born in Metz in 1924. Fifteen years later the Germans arrested his parents and shipped them to one of the extermination camps. Mr. Schwarz-Bart joined the Resistance, was arrested, escaped and rejoined the Maquis. Last of the Just, his first book, won the Prix de Goncourt, France's most important literary award.""Yes, at times one's heart could break in sorrow. But often too,preferably in the evening,I can't help thinking that Ernie Levy,dead six million times,is still alive somewhere. I don't know where.....Yesterday,as I stood in the street trembling in despair, rooted to the spot,a drop of pity fell from above upon my face. But there was no breeze in the air,no cloud in the sky.....There was only a presence."Great writing. The copy I have is a somewhat battered Bantam paperback, published October 1961.

Thomas Edsall writes in Washington Post that "Millions of dollars in taxpayer funds have flowed to groups that support President Bush's agenda on abortion and other social issues." The president and his administration make no secret of their support of "faith-based" organizations, so the news that funding for them has taken a quantum leap should cause no surprise. It is part of a pattern. The goal is to politicize religious organizations. It paid dividends for the Republicans during the election of 2004 when pulpits were used to sermonize against candidates who supported women's right to choose. They are continuing to pursue the theme, empowered by money pouring in from our taxes.Payola or Patronage by Federal Government ? Under the auspices of its religion-based initiatives and other federal programs, the administration has funneled at least $157 million in grants to organizations run by political and ideological allies, according to federal grant documents and interviews. An example is Heritage Community Services in Charleston, S.C. A decade ago, Heritage was a tiny organization with deeply conservative social philosophy but not much muscle to promote it. An offshoot of an antiabortion pregnancy crisis center, Heritage promoted abstinence education at the county fair, local schools and the local Navy base. The budget was $51,288. ...

Just get the flight suit ready for another appearance. That should have more impact than dark suits. Continue to speak the truth---as you see it. The real truth? Who gives a damn. What the nation needs are more "Bring 'em on" and "Smoke 'em out" speeches. The polls? You don't pay any attention to them anyway. Perhaps Karl Rove does. Three years of upbeat White House assessments about Iraq that turned out to be premature, incomplete or plain wrong are complicating President Bush's efforts to restore public faith in the military operation and his presidency, according to pollsters and Republican lawmakers and strategists. The last two weeks have provided a snapshot of White House optimism that skeptics contend is at odds with the facts on the ground in Iraq.

One way is to kill 15 innocent civilians to avenge the death of one marine. BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Residents gave new details Monday about the shootings of civilians in a western Iraqi town, where the U.S. military is investigating allegations of potential misconduct by American troops last November. The residents said troops entered homes and shot and killed 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine."Collateral damage" is a term that has been grossly abused to describe deaths of civilians. But this was not death from the sky. The civilians were shot at close range.

Cold and overcast morning. The weather man said "chances of showers". Could happen. The signs of spring,however, are everywhere. The days will turn brighter and warmer, and then the heat of the sun will turn the lush green meadows brown. The seasons, they are wonderful.Cherry Blossoms© finfish,stock.xchng Cherry Tree in Spring© slonecker,stock.xchng For winter's rains and ruins are over,And all the season of snows and sins;The days dividing lover and lover,The light that loses, the night that wins;And time remembered is grief forgotten,And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,And in green underwood and coverBlossom by blossom the spring begins.---Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)Atalanta in Calydon (1865)

Piety and Politics * Reform, What Reform?Christian zealots and venal politicians working together to continue their Taliban-like activities. Will the mid-term elections mean more pro-active position against women's right to choose and gay rights; promotion of intelligent design; pressure on educational institutions to allow prayer and teaching of Christianity; abstinence only sex education; ban on contraceptive drugs, and so on? Members of the moral values gang,who apparently remained chaste until they got married or,like our president, engaged in youthful indiscretions but emerged with clean slates when they became Born Again Christians,want the rest of us to follow them. Their hypocrisy is monumental. From the BBC: Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections. Their message to Congress, controlled by Republicans, is "must do better". Support from about a quarter of Americans who describe themselves as evangelicals was a factor in President George W Bush's two election victories. The Republicans will need to keep them onboard if they are to retain control of Congress in November. Death of ReformBusiness as Usual. The much ballyhooed reform in Congress has succumbed to the power of the lobbyists. Lawmakers have retreated from their position. Some of Washington's top lobbyists say that they expect to find ways around congressional efforts to impose new restrictions on lobbyists' dealings with lawmakers in the wake of the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal, and that any limits will barely put a dent in the billions of dollars spent to influence legislation.*Neanderthals on the MarchHave you heard of HIMMA? It spells out as "Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization And Affordability Act". Whew, a mouthful! This bill---a payback to the insurance industry---is being piloted through the senate by Mike Enzi, R-Wy. If passed, HIMMA would destroy State Mental Health Protection. In addition, mindful of the clout of the Christian Right, Senator Enzi has included provision to strip women's rights to obtain birth control pills and contraceptives (Contraceptive Equity Protection) under State laws. Comments Anonymous — 2006-03-21 This is a TERRIBLE bill. Those state level requirements were put in place to protect their citizens. Health insurance doesn't do people any good if it doesn't cover important things like diabetes or mental and reproductive health.

A Father in America writes about his son * An Iraqi Woman writes about her countryIn the plethora of reports about the invasion of Iraq what stands out is that the situation is murky. All is going well and it is just a matter of perseverance and time according to Donald Rumsfeld, while a report in The Observer/Guardian describes a mess, bleak and hopeless. Are the Iraqis better off three years after we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom? Riverbend,the Iraqi woman blogger wrote on March 18th: "I don’t think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. I’m so tired of it all- we’re all tired. Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like it’s on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots." The former Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (he was our man) spoke of a civil war raging. "Iraq is in the middle of civil war, the country's former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has told the BBC. He said Iraq had not got to the point of no return, but if it fell apart sectarianism would spread abroad. The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war, but Mr Allawi suggested there was no other way to describe the sectarian violence.""A War Through A Father's Eyes"Reading Henry Barry Holt's account of his feelings about his son who served in Iraq and returned home, made me think of other parents who have gone through such experience and of those whose sons and daughters are still out there. Then there are those in whose hearts there is ache and emptiness because their loved ones have given their lives. I do not belong to any of the above categories. I opposed the war before the first bomb fell in Baghdad. With all the facts that are now known about taking the nation war, my position has solidified against the war. In that sense, those who believe in it are strengthened by their conviction. It helps them through the long, sleepless nights. May all the soldiers return home soon.

What are they to do! In the absence of terrorists from one of the evil nations (take your pick: Iran,N.Korea,Cuba,Venezuela) the groundwork is being laid for preemptive strikes based on assumptions and secrets known only to a selected few. It is the prelude to Iraq all over again. This time it might be more difficult but the warriors---deskbound almost without exception--- are busy working at it. "This morning's news that President Bush is reasserting his doctrine of preemptive war is a bit of a surprise because, well, I think most people thought the Bush Doctrine was dead.How can Bush still argue for attacking another country based on his suspicions about their intentions -- when the first time he tried it, his public case turned out to be so utterly specious?" (Washington Post, March 16,2006). Great cartoon by Tom Toles. March 17, 2006