This business with new NIE report on Iran and the revelation of the further astonishing bad faith by Bush and Cheney on little matters such as, oh, war, raises again the issue of impeachment.

If having lied yet again about such matters doesn't constitute grounds for impeachment, pray WHAT DOES?

But the Democrats who control this issue in Congress shake their wise heads, Conyers and Pelosi, and say: Sorry, we just don't have the votes.

Really? Apart from how then will we ever have a chance at an accounting of the radical criminality (no hyperbole) of this Administration, I want to point out this:

Pushing impeachment will not just be a vote count session in Congress. That is a false reductio of the phenomenon. Starting impeachment hearings will launch a social dynamo that will effect the vote count, I can't see how not. Start some serious impeachment activity and you will have media and newspapers--I'll bet on the NY Times, whose editorial board seems wised up to what's happening--calling for impeachment.

You will get masses of folk out in the street everyday, in Washington, in every big and little corner of this country, calling for these usurpers to be evicted from the body politic. (For starters.)

You light some impeachment fire and watch the flames surge across this country. Get hundreds of thousands--millions?--of furious people marching. Then see how the votes start add up then.

Whitney Balliett, the great jazz critic for the New Yorker, had a great line about Big Joe Turner. He said Big Joe Turner has such a huge voice, all he has to do is open his mouth and get out of the way.

Please open your mouths, Pelosi and Conyers, and get out of the way.

Or else what? Hillary or someone comes into office, and we all have bygones be bygones? until the next time?

Appreciations to Uber.com, where this piece first appeared on my blog Brain Flakes.

_______



About author Writer/spoken-word performer Barry Yourgrau is author of the NASTYbooks series for 10 year olds and up (HarperCollins). The latest, Writer/spoken-word performer Barry Yourgrau is author of the NASTYbooks series for 10 year olds and up (HarperCollins). The latest, Yet Another NASTYbook: MiniNasties is out May 1. Barry's older fans know him from earlier adult books, Wearing Dad's Head and The Sadness of Sex, and his appearances on NPR and MTV and clubs in LA and NY. On screen Barry starred in the film version of The Sadness of Sex (dir. Rupert Wainwright, with Peta Wilson). Other film include Fatman and Little Boy, and Terminal Justice. More info at www.yourgrau.com and www.nastybook.com