New Year's Resolution

"The essence of the lie implies, in fact, that the liar is actually in complete possession of the truth which he is hiding." - Jean-Paul Sartre

In yesterday's radio address, President Bush ended the year 2005 as he began it - by lying to the American people:

{...}we are helping Iraqis build the political institutions of an inclusive, unified, and lasting democracy. And third, our coalition is overcoming earlier setbacks and moving forward with a reconstruction plan to rebuild Iraq's economy and infrastructure. As we help Iraq build a peaceful and stable democracy, the United States will gain an ally in the war on terror, inspire reformers across the Middle East, and make the American people more secure.(...)We'll continue to improve education and job training programs, so our citizens have the skills necessary to compete and succeed in the 21st century. And we will show the compassionate heart of our nation and provide the people of the Gulf Coast the help they need to rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

At least 844 American troops lost their lives in 2005 from this unnecessary war that was launched on false and falsified intelligence.  By President Bush's own admission, more than 30,000 Iraqi civilians have died during the conflict, mostly at the hands of American forces. In the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands of residents remain homeless and are living in abject poverty.  President Bush's promises last September to rebuild the region and tackle the issue of poverty now appears to have been a cruel joke, as he signs a budget that provides more tax cuts to wealthy Americans and cuts funding for programs that provide healthcare and education to poor Americans.  In recent weeks we have learned that President Bush established a massive domestic spying program, in direct violation of his legal authority.

For these reasons, our NUMBER ONE New Year's Resolution is the impeachment of President Bush.  The columnist Molly Ivins adds some excllent points:

We would be safer, as the 9/11 commission has so recently reminded us, if some obvious and necessary precautions were taken at both nuclear and chemical plants — but that is not happening because those industries contribute to Republican candidates. Republicans do not ask their contributors to spend a lot of money on obvious and necessary steps to protect public safety. They wiretap, instead.

You will be unsurprised to learn that, first, they lied. They didn’t do it. Well, OK, they did it, but not very much at all. Well, OK, more than that. A lot more than that. OK, millions of private e-mail and telephone calls every hour, and all medical and financial records.

{...}This could scarcely be clearer. Either the president of the United States is going to have to understand and admit he has done something very wrong, or he will have to be impeached. The first time this happened, the institutional response was magnificent. The courts, the press, the Congress all functioned superbly. Anyone think we’re up to that again? Then whom do we blame when we lose the republic?

UPDATE: Der Spiegel picks up the impeachment thread:  Bushs Gegner erwägen Amtsenthebungsverfahren
bush impeachment