Oooh, nuance!

There is good news this morning from Madam Speaker regarding our ongoing Constitutional crisis. The House Judiciary will charge Harriet Miers with contempt of Congress this week, according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Congress this week will take the next step to force the Bush administration to hand over information about the dismissal of U.S. attorneys and the politicization of the Justice Department, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday.

The House Judiciary Committee will bring contempt of Congress charges against the administration this week, said the San Francisco Democrat. She did not specify who the subject of the action would be, but Pelosi spokesman, Brendan Daly, said later it would be former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who defied a House Judiciary Committee subpoena to appear.

"They have disregarded the call of Congress for information about their politicizing the Department of Justice. We can document that. Those are actual facts and we will bring the contempt of Congress forth," said Pelosi, who spoke with reporters at a San Francisco workshop for people who want to become U.S. citizens.

She also shared her thoughts about impeachment. While admitting there is a call across the country for impeaching Bush and Cheney, she basically came right out and said that it would be impossible to get Presidential impeachment past the Congressional Republics.

Pelosi also reiterated Saturday that she would not engage in what would perhaps be the biggest confrontation possible with the White House -- seeking the impeachment of Bush over the Iraq war.

The speaker said she had "no hesitation" criticizing the president about his handling of the war, but said there were more important priorities for lawmakers -- such as health care and creating jobs -- than the divisive pursuit of impeachment.

"Look, it's hard enough for us to end the war. I don't know how we would be successful in impeaching the president," Pelosi said.

Speaker Pelosi very carefully states that she doesn't think she can impeach the President. However, she makes no promises regarding impeaching...the Vice President.

Representative Dennis Kucinich, as you may know, recently introduced House Resolution 333, which calls for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney on three counts:

1) manipulation of intelligence to show that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq;
2) manipulation of intelligence to show that there was a relationship between Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda; and
3) open aggression and threats against Iran.

The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, is almost ready to start the proceedings.

We've reached the impeachment moment for Vice President Dick Cheney. We are now at what Rev. Lennox Yearwood calls the lunch counter moment in the impeachment movement. We've pushed the cosponsor list for H. Res. 333 up to 14. Chairman John Conyers says that if we get 3 more he'll begin impeachment proceedings [against Vice President Dick Cheney].

Mr. Kucinich knows that Cheney is the one who wants to torture, to bomb Iran, to continue the war forever and ever, to declare Bush emperor of the world. He is the real President and Bush is the genial front man used to put a pleasant face on Cheney's fascism. Remove him, and Bush collapses like a puppet with his strings cut.

Slowly but surely, the rusty wheels of our democracy, unused for the past 6 years, are beginning to turn. Accountability, so long postponed, is coming for the corrupt, power-mad, war-mongering Bush Administration.

What can we do? We've all got a responsibility to contact our Congresscritters in the House of Representatives and beg them to sign on to Dennis Kucinich's bill, or at least call Mr. Conyers in support of impeachment of Dick Cheney. Click here for help and a complete list of actions.

Our democracy needs us. Citizens, unite!

UPDATE: Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten to be charged with contempt of Congress.