Barbra Streisand: The Importance of Balanced Power in Congress

[kpete]

The Importance of Balanced Power in Congress
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2006-03-04 00:56. Impeachment
By Barbra Streisand
http://www.barbrastreisand.com

The party that holds the majority in both the House and the Senate controls the entire congressional agenda. Everything from what bills are considered, to how long committees debate them, to whether bills get reported out onto the floor, and finally whether a vote gets scheduled, is all determined by the leadership of both the House and the Senate. In the past, there have been instances when members of congress, in their oversight of the President, were courageous enough, regardless of their party affiliation, to step up to their constitutional obligation to be a check and balance on the White House. In the 1970’s, during the Nixon Adminstration, serious political curruption arose and the Republican leadership stepped up and took responsibilty by holding hearings and subpoening administration officials. Eventually, the President was forced to resign rather than face impeachment preceedings that likely would have been successful. It is clear that today's Republican Congressional leaders are not prepared to hold this President accountable. Therefore, it’s critical that people elect members of the Democratic party to the House and Senate so that a new leadership can take control. Only if this occurs, can we even begin to imagine a time when there will be a myriad of investigations so desperatly needed on so many issues…let alone the ultimate investigation which would involve the conduct of the President of the United States and the determination of whether his actions warrented impeachment proceedings.

What more will it take for the Republican leadership to finally show some integrity and hold Bush accountable for his actions? Our congress, who is supposed to serve as the checks and balances of the executive branch of government, has completely lost their voice. First, Bush ignored clear warnings before 9/11 about an impending terrorist attack. He then lied to the public about the presence of WMDs in Iraq and rushed to unilaterally invade the country after promising to work with the United Nations. Now, more than four years after the worst attack on American soil, Bush and his adminstration have yet to capture Osama bin Laden, the person responsible for 9/11. The Republican majority continued to be silent during the President’s horrible mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina. They turned their back when the President appointed inexperienced inept buddies to the most important government positions. They looked in the other direction when their fellow Republican leaders came under indictment for fraud and corruption. And they continued to do nothing as the President trampled on the American public’s most basic rights by wiretapping phone lines and conducting warrantless searches ouside of the congressionally mandated rules of the Federal Court

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lots more:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8509

[rodeodance]

1. "What more will it take for the Republican leadership"? she asks and I

have no answers.

[murray hill farm]

2. I love that site!

She has a way of presenting that so clearly lays it out and explains a situation so simply and clearly.