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    <title>Broomfield County</title>
    <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/group_rss/BroomfieldCounty</link>
    <description>Stay connected to other progressives in Broomfield County.   Click on the &quot;Join Group&quot; button near the top of the page.  </description>
                        <item>
            <title>Musharraf Resigns under threat of Impeachment (tyrants can be brought down)</title>
            <description>From a story in the  Economist  
 
&quot;UNPOPULAR, isolated, and facing the humiliation of impeachment, Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of Pakistan on Monday August 18th.... 
they (the people)were dancing in the streets.&quot; 
------------------------------------------------ 
 
We here in America can cause accountability for President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but you have to take action before the election.  You the voter have the power to force our Incumbent Democratic Congressmen(and women) to honor their oath of office to protect our Constitution by calling for immediate impeachment hearings.   
 
It is not necessary that impeachment hearing be finished prior to the election, only that they are started.  We the voters have the power to make this happen, but you will have to call your congressman repeatedly over the next two months.   
 
Contact information for Colorado congressmen can be found   here .  
 
In addition, US House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is calling the membership of the House Judiciary Committee back from their Fall recess to investigate Ron Suskind&#039;s revelations about the forged letter that falsely said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. 
 
It has been reported that the order to the CIA to have the letter forged came on White House Stationary. 
 
On Democracy Now today Conyers said &quot;The 110th Congress isn&#039;t over. We&#039;re starting our work, and then we&#039;re doing it in a period where the Congress is in recess. I&#039;m calling everybody back. We&#039;ve got a huge amount of work to engage in.&quot; 
 
Please contact the Judiciary Committee to 
urge them to impeach now: 
 
202-225-3951 FAX: 202-225-7680 
 
THE GRAVES OF THE 4,134 Murdered US Soldiers  
CRY OUT FOR IMPEACHMENT for the WMD LIES 
 
Impeachment. More important than ever.  
Plenty of time. 
 
Impeachment Is Coming! 
 
John H Kennedy, 
43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Democratic Convention, and organizer of the 
IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION  ImpeachCO.com </description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4F</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4F/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:36:48 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4F</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
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            <title>House Judiciary cutting Recess short to investigate Forged WMD Letter/order to CIA on White House Stationary</title>
            <description>US House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is calling the membership of the Judiciary Committee back from their Fall recess to investigate Ron Suskind&#039;s revelations about the forged letter that falsely said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.   
 
It has been reported that the order to the CIA to have the letter forged came on White House Stationary. 
 
On Democracy Now today Conyers said &quot;The 110th Congress isn&#039;t over. We&#039;re starting our work, and then we&#039;re doing it in a period where the Congress is in recess. I&#039;m calling everybody back. We&#039;ve got a huge amount of work to engage in.&quot; 
 
Here&#039;s the link to  Democracy Now  
 
Please contact the Judiciary Committee to  
urge them to impeach now:    
 
202-225-3951       FAX:  202-225-7680 
 
Please help by contacting all media outlets and  
  members of Congress . 
 
Impeachment.  More important than ever.  Plenty of time. 
 
Impeach Colorado Coalition    ImpeachCO.com  
 
IMPEACHMENT IS COMING 
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4c</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4c/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:46:49 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq4c</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
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                    <item>
            <title>House Judiciary to examine claim of White House intel forgery</title>
            <description>The blockbuster claims that White House officials conspired to forge evidence linking Iraq to 9/11 plotters and ignored clear intelligence indicating Saddam Hussein&#039;s lack of WMDs may not be getting as much attention as it should in the US press, but some key lawmakers are beginning to take notice. 
 
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers says his staff will investigate these allegations and others aired in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind&#039;s new book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism. 
 
&quot;I am particularly troubled that the decision to disseminate this fabricated intelligence is alleged to have come from the highest reaches of the administration,&quot; Conyers said in a press release Tuesday evening. &quot;The administration&#039;s attempt to challenge Mr. Suskind&#039;s reporting appears to have been effectively dismissed by the publication of the author&#039;s interview recordings and transcripts. I have instructed my staff to conduct a careful review of Mr. Suskind&#039;s allegations and the role played by senior administration officials in this matter.&quot; 
 
The announced probe garnered quick praise from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has waged a months-long campaign to convince his colleagues and Democratic leaders in the House to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Suskind has said the allegations outlined in his book could be   impeachable offenses. 
 
 
 The rest of the story is here   
 
John H Kennedy,  
43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Democratic Convention, and organizer of the  
IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION   ImpeachCO.com  
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP9</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP9/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:29:16 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP9</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
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                    <item>
            <title>Whispers of a Watergate for Bush- The Financial Times-  FT.com</title>
            <description>Whispers of a Watergate for Bush 
 
By Clive Crook the FT&#039;s chief Washington commentator. 
 
The response in the US to startling new allegations that the White House directed the forgery of evidence to support its case for the war in Iraq has been surprisingly muted so far. The charges may be false, of course, but if they are seriously examined and turn out to be true, this is - or ought to be - a Watergate-sized scandal. 
 
Ron Suskind is a heavyweight: a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and the author of a well-regarded book on the administration&#039;s security policies, The One Per Cent Doctrine. His new book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, which was published last week, contains the extraordinary new charge. It says that late in 2003 the White House ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to forge a memo dated July 2001 from Tahir Jalil Habbush, Saddam Hussein&#039;s intelligence chief, to Saddam himself, affirming that Mohammed Atta, the September 11 2001 bomber, had contacts with the regime and that Iraq had an ongoing weapons of mass destruction programme. 
 
YOU need to read this Now! 
 
 The rest of the story is here  You may have to Register (for free) to read it. 
 
John H Kennedy,  
43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Democratic Convention, and organizer of the  
IMPEACH COLORADO COALITION   ImpeachCO.com  
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPY</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPY/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:21:12 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPY</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
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                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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                    <item>
            <title>Democrats short-circuit health care reform debate by accepting Republican framing</title>
            <description> When Democrat Mark Udall debated Republican Bob Schaffer in July, he made no effort to refute Schaffer&amp;rsquo;s distortions surrounding health care reform. In fact, he essentially short-circuited meaningful debate by adopting the nebulous right-wing description of single-payer health care as &amp;ldquo;government health care,&amp;rdquo; thus capitulating to Republican framing of the issue.   Just what is government health care? Is it the more than 60 percent&amp;nbsp;of all health care costs that are paid by taxpayers, including subsidies for inflated costs of private insurances? Private insurers skim the cream and game the system for profit, and count on government (taxpayers) to pick up the health care costs of all whose coverage they reject. Does government health care include the 70 percent&amp;nbsp;of our legislators&amp;rsquo; health coverage that is funded by taxpayers?   Democrats who facilely echo GOP talking points grossly misrepresent single-payer health care. In fact, contrary to assertions by the right-wing &amp;ldquo;free market&amp;rdquo; chorus, only single-risk-pool insurance provides true free choice of private providers, the same as traditional Medicare before Republicans moved to privatize Medicare (at 12 percent&amp;nbsp;higher cost). Private insurance plans limit choice to &amp;ldquo;in plan&amp;rdquo; doctors, often requiring change of providers when plans are changed. Only single payer is capable of providing comprehensive, continuous health care benefits and protection against medical bankruptcy.   Our leaders should vigorously protest the abomination of Medicare prescription drug reform that was written by insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated profits to benefit their bottom lines, while prohibiting negotiation of bulk drug prices.   Instead of privatizing Medicare-for-profit, why not improve and expand its coverage for everyone? Traditional Medicare has lower overhead costs &amp;ndash; less than 4 percent&amp;nbsp;&amp;ndash; whereas private insurances divert 25&amp;nbsp;percent or more to profits, lobbying, marketing, exhorbitant CEO salaries and wasteful administrative costs. Profit is a perverse incentive for health insurance, which protects its bottom line by reducing benefits and shifting ever-greater costs to consumers.   The insulated political class in Washington, dependent upon corporate money and privy to 70 percent taxpayer-subsidized health coverage, seem out of touch with the U.S. people. Polls by Pew and others have revealed that increasing numbers &amp;ndash; 54 to 65 percent &amp;ndash; support a national single-payer health care plan. A recent study reported in the  Annals of Internal Medicine  (3-31-08) that 59 percent of U.S. physicians &amp;ldquo;support government legislation to establish national health insurance,&amp;rdquo; an increase of 10 percent since 2002.   Notably, more than 20 federal and state studies since 1990, including the 2007 Lewin Group evaluation in Colorado, have demonstrated that single-payer health insurance is the only reform model that can both save money  and  provide comprehensive health care benefits for all. The Colorado single-payer proposal and Rep. John Conyers&amp;rsquo; national health care bill, HR 676, both deserve serious further study.   We have everything to gain from an honest dialogue about quality-, saftey-centered universal single payer health care, in place of profiteering health insurance gatekeepers. </description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:50:53 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs</guid>
            <dc:creator>Michele S</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
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                <db:author_name>Michele S</db:author_name>
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            <title>&quot;Our Health Freedoms&quot; Educational Seminar August 21</title>
            <description>&quot;Our Health Freedoms &quot; Educational Seminar 
Oriental Theater (http://theorientaltheater. com) Denver, Colorado 
 
THURSDAY AUGUST 21, 2008 
9a.m. to  6p.m. 
 
A unique opportunity for the public, interested parties, patients, and holistic professionals to gather and learn about a new program designed to help their client base, while assisting veterans, other social work cases, and the general public on the road to better health utilizing a wide variety of complimentary therapies.   
Our forefathers worked hard to see through the Freedoms of Democracy, and NOW is the opportunity for us to work hard at assuring, &quot;Our Health Freedoms&quot;, instead of those being dictated by BIG PHARMA&#039;s multi-Billion dollar daily lobbying efforts diverting our government in unhealthy directions.   
 
Registration is ONLY $35.,  payable by CASH ONLY the day of the event, or by depositing via credit card 
payment through paypal account (paypal.com) deposit $35. to account name  goldnkid@earthlink.net .   
 
Your conference payment includes continental breakfast, lunch (hamburgers and hot dogs), and Colorado made &quot;HEMP I SCREAM&quot; afternoon treat.  Within walking distance remain several restaurants including Swing Thai, Mexican Jalapeno Grill, and others.  It should, however, be noted that there will be a lunch time speaker that you might not want to miss.  Warning, your conference fee does NOT automatically entitle you to 
 concert entry for the 1st THC National Convention in the evening.  Tickets may be purchased separately online through the box office at http://theorientaltheater.com   
Please Note: Due to the considerable excitement surrounding these unique events and due to the fact that thousands of individuals will be coming to Denver for the Democratic National Convention, ticket availability is going fast.  Get yours today, and DON&#039;T get left out in the cold!) 
 
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 
 
•	8a.m. to 9 a.m. REGISTRATION &amp; SET-UP ACTIVITIES &quot;Meet &amp; Greet&quot; time. 
•	9a.m. to 10a.m. Continental Breakfast with Opening Speaker 
•	10a.m. to 11:15a.m.  &quot;Why a Collective or Cooperative?&quot; 
•	11:15 a.m. to 1p.m. Lunch with speaker. 
•	1:00p.m. to 3p.m. Breakout Sessions including:  
1.	Growers(Balcony) 
2.	Caregivers &amp; Patient Advocacy 
3.	&quot;Holistic Practitioners -enhance your client base&quot; 
4.	&quot;The Business of Cannabis (medical) in Colorado&quot; 
•	3:00p.m. to 3:30p.m. BREAK TIME  (complimentary Colorado HEMP ICE SCREAM served). 
•	3:30p.m. to 5:30p.m. &quot;FREE SPEECH DIALOGUE&quot;-with numerous representatives of the politics of the day.  Included will be a Recreate 68 representative (recreate68.org) and an Alliance for Real Democracy representative along with other speakers, and  having moderation by the U.S. Department of Peace.   A unique experience following the concept of &quot;Community Mediation&quot;. 
•	5:30p.m to 6:30p.m. Networking and Cash Bar. 
 
 
  
 
THE FIRST HEMP AND CANNABIS NATIONAL CONVENTION 
http://thcnationalconvention.com                            http://www.myspace.com/thcnationalconvention 
Official Gear:  http://www.cafepress.com/THCNC 
 
The HEMP CANNABIS NATIONAL CONVENTION 
Oriental Theater (http://theorientaltheater. com) 
Denver, Colorado 
 
THURSDAY AUGUST 21, 2008 
6 p.m. to Midnight 
 
PUBLIC INVITED 
•	6:30p.m. to Midnight Continuous Live Entertainment including: 
BIG BUDS BLUES BAND        
ONE MANNA (Anna, the one woman band)           
APEX VIBE 
            Comedians and More   
                                         POLITICAL ACTIVISM, EDUCATION, COMMUNITY 
This will be a celebration of Our Freedoms following a daylong seminar for 
 Medical Marijuana in Colorado 
HIGHLY PRIZED &amp; extremely limited $10 tickets 
(now available Online at http://theorientaltheater. com or at the Oriental Theater Box Office) 
Complimentary VIP for ALL legal Colorado Medical Marijuana patients at the door with package including buffet, limited laminate, official THC National Convention t-shirt, 
&quot;Green Cross&quot; goodie bag and more!) 
Sorry, price of the Concert is NOT included in the educational conference fee.  BE WARNED, this event and conference WILL sell out early)   If interested, please obtain your $10. concert tickets separately online  at http://www. theorientaltheater.com  
 
Very limited Sponsorship Opportunities and Vendor Booths remain available (Deadline for paid application: August 10, 2008) contact Bobby at 720-628-6291.</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/timothytipton/CqPP</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/timothytipton/CqPP/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:42:22 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/timothytipton/CqPP</guid>
            <dc:creator>COmidnightrider46</dc:creator>
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                <db:author_name>COmidnightrider46</db:author_name>
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            <title>Everyone invited! Progressive Democrats and The Nation are hosting &quot;Progressive Central&quot; the week of the Democratic National Convention</title>
            <description>Progressive Democrats of America with  The Nation  magazine are setting up headquarters at Central Presbyterian Church (1660 Sherman St.), where they have scheduled issues forums over 5 days of the Democratic National Convention.   Free daily panels moderated by  The Nation &#039;s John Nichols at 11 AM, are followed by additional panels covering Health Care on Monday, August 25, followed the rest of the week with forums on Media and Election Reform, Economic Justice, Global Warming and Constitutional Law.   Participants include Reps. John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Keith Ellison and Lynn Woolsey; Tom Hayden, Jim Hightower and authors David Sirota and Vincent Bugliosi; various writers and publisher of  The Nation ; journalist and radio host Laura Flanders; Jeff Cohen, author and founder of FAIR; and many others.   For schedule and more info, check Web site  http://pdamerica.org , click on  &amp;quot;Progressive Central&amp;quot;  in green bar at page top. Watch for posting of PDF event flyer.  Also, check link to HCAC page for  Democratic Convention Actions around Health Care .</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:00:39 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk</guid>
            <dc:creator>Michele S</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture></db:picture>
                <db:author_name>Michele S</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
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            <title>ex-CIA official says Cheney likely ordered letter linking Hussein to 9/11 attacks, letter came
on White House stationery, Is this the &quot;smoking gun&quot;?</title>
            <description>Is this the &quot;smoking gun&quot;? 
 
Will our Democratic Congressmen honor their Oath and call for Impeachment Hearings? 
 
Tape: Top CIA official confesses order to forge Iraq-9/11 letter came on White House stationery. 
 
In damning transcript, ex-CIA official says Cheney likely ordered letter linking Hussein to 9/11 attacks  
 
A forged letter linking Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was ordered on White House stationery and probably came from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a new transcript of a conversation with the Central Intelligence Agency&#039;s former Deputy Chief of Clandestine Operations Robert Richer. 
 
The transcript was posted Friday by author Ron Suskind of an interview conducted in June. It comes on the heels of denials by both the White House and Richer of a claim Suskind made in his new book, The Way of The World. The book was leaked to Politico&#039;s Mike Allen on Monday, and released Tuesday. 
 
See the rest of this story at:  RawStory.com   
 
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP BRING ACCOUNTABILITY TO BUSH &amp; CHENEY 
 
Rep. Kucinich and five other co-sponsors of his articles of impeachment (Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Hank Johnson) are calling on all Americans to contact their representatives 
 
 (202-224-3121) 24 hours, seven days a weekand 365 days/year 
 
and urge them to join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing  
PRIOR TO THE ELECTION. 
 
You can call after normal business hours and leave a message urging your Congressman to  join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. 
ALSO And Very Important: 
PLEASE CALL ALL of Colorado&#039;s Democratic Congressmen/women  
and demand they immediately Call For Impeachment Hearings Prior To The Election. 
 
 Contact info  for Colorado&#039;s Congressmen 
 
------------------------------------------------ 
 
And if you have time on any Saturday around Noon-1:00 pm 
 
Our group holds an Impeachment Protest at East 6th &amp; Speer in Denver every Saturday.  We have lots of Impeach Signs so just show up and help.  OR JUST DRIVE BY REPEATEDLY and HONK TO IMPEACH. 
 
John H Kennedy, organizer  
Impeach Colorado Coalition    ImpeachCO.com  
 
( other groups around Colorado do similar events and are listed on our Calendar at   ImpeachCO.com   ) 
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP8</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP8/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:46:13 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP8</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
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                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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                    <item>
            <title>Fridays House Judiciary Hearing on Impeachment: A Victory and a Challenge</title>
            <description>Friday&#039;s House Judiciary Hearing on Impeachment: A Victory and a Challenge  by Dave Lindorff at  Commondreams.org  
 
The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation&#039;s democracy by two aspiring tyrants in the White House. 
 
As Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the committee, made clear more than once during the six-hour session, this was &quot;not an impeachment hearing, however much many in the audience might wish it to be.&quot; He might well have added that he himself was not the fierce defender of the Constitution and of the authority of Congress that he once was before gaining control of the Judiciary Committee, however much his constituents, his wife, and Americans across the country might wish him to be. 
 
At the same time, while the hearing was strictly limited to the most superficial airing of Bush administration crimes and misdemeanors, the fact that the session -- technically an argument in defense of 36 articles of impeachment filed in the House over the past several months by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) -- was nonetheless a major victory for the impeachment movement. It happened because earlier in the month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has sworn since taking control of the House in November 2006, that impeachment would be &quot;off the table&quot; during the 110th Congress, called a hasty meeting with Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Conyers, and Rep. Kucinich, and called for such a limited hearing. 
 
It was no coincidence that shortly before Pelosi&#039;s backdown, peace activist and Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan announced that her campaign had collected well over the 10,000 signatures necessary to qualify for listing on the ballot as an independent candidate for Congress against Pelosi in the Speaker&#039;s home district in San Francisco. Sheehan has been an outspoken advocate of impeaching both Bush and Cheney. &quot;Pelosi is trying to throw a bone to her constituents by allowing a hearing on impeachment,&quot; said Sheehan, who came to Washington, DC to attend. &quot;It&#039;s just like her finally stating publicly that Bush&#039;s presidency is a failure -- something it has taken her two years to come to, but which we&#039;ve been saying for years.&quot; 
 
So determined were Pelosi and Conyers to limit the scope and intensity of the hearing that they acceded to a call for Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to adhere to Thomas Jefferson&#039;s Rules of the House, which prohibit any derogatory comments about the President, which was interpreted by Chairman Conyers as meaning no one, including witnesses or members of the committee, could suggest that Bush had lied or deceived anyone. Since a number of Rep. Kucinich&#039;s proposed articles of impeachment specifically charge the president with lying to Congress and the American People, this made for some comic moments, with witness Bruce Fein, a former assistant attorney general under former President Ronald Reagan, to say he would reference his listing of crimes to the &quot;resident&quot; of the White House. 
 
In the end, the rule imposing a gag on calling the president a criminal fell by the wayside, with witness Vincent Bugliosi, a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney, accusing Bush of being guilty of the murder of over 4000 American soldiers and of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians because he had &quot;lied&quot; the country into an illegal and unnecessary war, and with committee member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-CA) suggesting that the president may have committed treason in invading Iraq, and that he appeared to be preparing to do it again with an unprovoked invasion of Iran. 
 
Conyers also acquiesced in a Republican effort to minimize public monitoring and involvement in the hearing, allowing the minority party to fill most of the available seats in the hearing room with office staffers who showed little interest in the proceedings. Only a few dozen of the hundreds of pro-impeachment activists who had come to the Rayburn Office Building at 7 am in order to get seats in the Judiciary Committee hearing room were allowed in, with the rest having to remain in the hall or go to two remote &quot;overflow&quot; rooms to watch the proceedings on a TV hookup. Conyers also went along with a call by Republican members of the committee to have some of those who did make it into the hearing ejected simply for wearing buttons on their shirts calling for impeachment (the Republican members referred to these as &quot;signs&quot;), though such small personal tokens are routinely allowed in congressional hearing rooms. 
 
It was clear that this was to be a tightly controlled and strictly limited hearing. 
 
It was also clear that it was intended to go nowhere. 
 
At one point, after hearing witnesses like Fein, Bugliosi, former representative and Nixon impeachment committee member Elizabeth Holtzman, former Salt Lake City mayor and impeachment activist Rocky Anderson, former House Clinton impeachment manager Bob Barr, former Watergate Committee counsel and current senior counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice Frederick A.O. Schwartz, and Elliott Adams, president of the board of Veterans for Peace, lay out the administration&#039;s crimes and abuses of power -- which included charges of usurping the legislative powers of Congress, violating international treaties, war crimes, lying to Congress, an illegal war, felony violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Fourth Amendment, defying Congressional subpoenas, obstruction of justice and more, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chair of the Constitution subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, appeared convinced that the abuses were real and serious. 
 
But Nadler, who for two years has been a major obstacle on the Judiciary Committee to any efforts to move impeachment to a formal hearing, said, &quot;No president has been removed from office through impeachment.&quot; He asked the witnesses, &quot;How would you approach impeachment today so it would be a viable option?&quot; 
 
Former Rep. Holtzman responded, &quot;The real remedy to a president who believes he is above the law is impeachment. There is no running away from that.&quot; She said, &quot;An impeachment inquiry, handled fairly, could work. Maybe I&#039;m a cockeyed optimist, but I believe it could work.&quot; 
 
The basic point, made by Holtzman, by Fein and by many others, including this writer, is that worrying about the political opposition to impeachment, both in the House, and in the Senate, not to mention among the broader public, is completely wrongheaded. Even when impeachment articles were first filed against Nixon, the public and the bulk of the Congress were against the idea. It was during the hearings that the tide turned, as evidence of malfeasance, criminality and abuse of power became evident through hearing testimony. The same would happen in the case of President Bush and/or Vice President Cheney. Most Americans don&#039;t even know that the president made up evidence to justify the war against Iraq out of whole cloth. They don&#039;t know what the Geneva Conventions are with regard to torture. They don&#039;t know why Congress passed the FISA act, which Bush has been feloniously violating to spy on them (it was passed because Nixon was using the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without judicial warrants!). They don&#039;t know the Bush has been refusing to enact laws passed by the Congress. Public hearings by an impeachment panel would make all these high crimes and misdemeanors clear on national TV to all sentient Americans. Moreover, as Holtzman pointed out, the president would not be able to use the claim of &quot;executive privilege&quot; to withhold testimony from aides in an impeachment inquiry, the way he has done when they have been subpoenaed by other House and Senate committees. Impeachment would be about violations of the very executive actions he would be claiming privilege on. As well, an impeachment committee, unlike any other committee of the Congress, is specifically sanctioned and empowered in the Constitution, meaning that even strict &quot;constructionist&quot; Federalists on the bench would have a hard time backing presidential obstruction. 
 
As Holtzman noted, &quot;There is no executive privilege in impeachment, because refusing to testify is itself an impeachable offense.&quot; 
 
Committee Republicans, aided by two law professors they had brought in to testify, Stephen Presser of Northwestern University School of Law and Jeremy Rabkin of George Mason University School of Law, tried to argue that impeachment was only meant for crimes in which the official, or the president, was seeking personal gain. This nonsense was knocked down by most of the speakers, who quoted numerous founders who made it clear that what high crimes referred to were actions -even taken with the noblest of intentions -- that undermined the Constitution or abused the powers of the office. As Rep. Nadler said, &quot;Impeachment has nothing to do with intentions or with good faith. Impeachment has to do with abuse of power which weakens the balance of power.&quot; 
 
In the end, the hearing petered out, taking no action of any kind -- exactly the result that Pelosi, Hoyer and Conyers cynically intended. 
 
Now it is up to the public and the impeachment movement to call their bluff and take impeachment to the next level. Noting that even Rep. Conyers ended the hearing by saying, &quot;We are not done yet, and we do not intend to go away until we achieve the accountability that Congress is entitled to and that the American people deserve,&quot; Rep. Kucinich and five other co-sponsors of his articles of impeachment (Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Hank Johnson) are calling on all Americans to contact their representatives (202-224-3121) and urge them to join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. 
 
They are also calling on everyone to contact their local and national media, nearly all of whom have blacked out news of impeachment. Incredibly, the New York Times, for example, has not even reported on Friday&#039;s hearing, even as a news &quot;brief.&quot; Those news organizations, like the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer, that did report on the hearings did so only in short, inside articles. Though the hearing was aired in full on C-Span (and is still available for download), many Americans don&#039;t even know it happened. 
 
Time is short, but even at this late date, it would be a simple matter to impeach the president on some issues. As several of Friday&#039;s witnesses pointed out, President Bush has essentially dared Congress to act, admitting that he openly violated the FISA law -- a felony, and openly admitting that he has refused to enact laws passed by the Congress, claiming a power-unitary executive authority not even mentioned in the Constitution. He has openly admitted to having known about, and approved, &quot;enhanced interrogation techniques&quot; devised by his subordinates -- techniques like waterboarding which clearly violate the Geneva Conventions and US law. No hearings would be required to establish these high crimes and misdemeanors. They could simply be voted on by an Impeachment Committee and sent to the full House for a vote. 
 
Even if there were no time for a Senate trial, the simple act of impeaching the president for one or more abuses of power would serve notice on future presidents that future such abuses would not be tolerated. Failure to do so, and allowing this administration to leave office unimpeached, would send the opposite message: that Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government, but is merely a consultative body, at best, and that a president is in effect a dictator. 
 
That Pelosi buckled and permitted a hearing on impeachable crimes by the Bush/Cheney administration is a major victory for the impeachment movement, but it must not be the end of the line. Impeachment activists need to now redouble their efforts to make Congress do its Constitutional duty, and initiate a formal impeachment proceeding. 
 
As former Republican representative Bob Barr, now the Libertarian candidate for president, told Friday&#039;s hearing, &quot;We had a nuclear clock during the Cold War. In the &#039;90s we had a debt clock. Now we have a Constitution Clock.&quot; 
 
That clock is getting close to midnight, and it is ticking. 
 
Dave Lindorff is a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist. 
 
---------------------------------------------------- 
 
Rep. Kucinich and five other co-sponsors of his articles of impeachment (Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Hank Johnson) are calling on all Americans to contact their representatives (202-224-3121) and urge them to join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. 
 
This phone number is staffed 24 hours, seven days a week and 365 days per year.  You can call after normal business hours and leave a message urging your Congressman to  join in co-sponsoring those articles and in calling for a formal impeachment hearing. 
------------------------------------------------ 
 
And if you have time on Saturday around Noon-1:00 pm 
 
Our group holds an Impeachment Protest at East 6th &amp; Speer in Denver every Saturday.  We have lots of Impeach Signs so just show up and help.  OR JUST DRIVE BY REPEATEDLY and HONK TO IMPEACH. 
 
John H Kennedy, organizer  
Impeach Colorado Coalition    ImpeachCO.com  
 
( other groups around Colorado do similar events and are listed on our Calendar at   ImpeachCO.com   ) 
 
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            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPX</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPX/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:36:25 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPX</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
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                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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            <title>Judiciary Committee approves resolution holding Rove in contempt of Congress</title>
            <description>According to a  RawStory.com  article just published the Judiciary Committee approves resolution holding Rove in contempt of Congress.  &quot;The House Judiciary Committee has voted 20-14 to approve a contempt of Congress resolution against former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his failure to appear after a Congressional subpoena. 
 
Voting along party lines Wednesday morning, the committee said Rove broke the law by failing to appear at a July 10 hearing on allegations of White House influence over the Justice Department, including whether Rove encouraged prosecutions against Democrats. 
 
The committee decision is a recommendation. It remains unclear whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will allow a final vote.&quot; 
 
Are our House Democrats growing a spine?  We can hope.   
 
A six hour preliminary Impeachment Hearing last Friday and Now This. 
 
IMPEACHMENT IS COMING! 
 
John H Kennedy, Denver CO, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention and organizer of the  
Impeach Colorado Coalition   ImpeachCO.com </description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP5</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP5/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:24:51 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqP5</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
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                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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            <wfw:commentRss>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqP5/</wfw:commentRss>
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            <title>Turley fears Dems will let alleged &#039;Bush crimes&#039; stay buried forever</title>
            <description>&quot;The Democrats are trying very hard to show ... that they&#039;re not going to re-open these issues and that the Bush crimes will remain buried for all time,&quot; Turley told MSNBC&#039;s Keith Olbermann on Tuesday. &quot;It would start a new administration on the same level that George Bush left it. And that&#039;s a very sad thing.&quot; 
 
&quot;Turley was particularly concerned about a recent statement by law professor Cass Sunstein, an Obama adviser, that only &quot;egregious&quot; crimes by Bush officials should be prosecuted by an Obama administration.&quot; 
 
&quot;There are very few obligations that a president has to do under the Constitution, but one of them is not to violate the laws that he is supposed to enforce,&quot; explained Turley. 
 
Turley further pointed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#039;s refusal to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president, saying, &quot;I don&#039;t understand why some Democrats can&#039;t just simply accept a very straightforward proposition, that we&#039;ll prosecute any crimes committed by this administration, an Obama administration, a McCain administration. Because they&#039;re crimes. They&#039;re all egregious.&quot; 
 
From an article by  
 RawStory.com  
 
John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention and organizer of the  
Impeach Colorado Coalition    ImpeachCO.com  
 
Join our Impeachment Protests, see the Calendar on the website 
 
.. 
 
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            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPg</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPg/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:47:00 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPg</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
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                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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            <title>13 witnesses-&quot;Imperial presidency&quot; Hearing in US House Judiciary Committee Fri 10:00 am (on CSPAN)</title>
            <description>Kucinich, Barr, Bugliosi, Holtzman,&quot;Rocky&quot; Anderson, and Elliott Adams, President of the Board, Veterans for Peace are among those testifying. 
 
The House Judiciary Committee has released a witness list for its hearing to examine &quot;the imperial presidency&quot; of George W. Bush. 
 
Testifying Friday morning will be Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has introduced several resolutions calling for President Bush&#039;s and Vice President Dick Cheney&#039;s impeachment; former Rep. Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential candidate who led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998; Vincent Bugliosi, author of the just-released book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder; and 10 other current and former members of Congress, constitutional experts and human rights activists. 
 
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday on Capitol Hill and will be carries on CSPAN. 
 
Late Thursday afternoon, the committee released the full witness list, broken down into two panels. 
 
Panel One 
 
The Honorable Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Ohio 
The Honorable Maurice Hinchey, Representative from New York 
The Honorable Walter Jones, Representative from North Carolina 
The Honorable Brad Miller, Representative from North Carolina 
 
Panel Two 
 
The Honorable Elizabeth Holtzman, Former Rep. from New York 
The Honorable Bob Barr, Former Rep GA Nominee for President                    
The Honorable Ross C. &quot;Rocky&quot; Anderson,  
Stephen Presser, Raoul Berger,Northwestern Univ.School of Law 
Bruce Fein Asst.Dep Atty General 81-82 Chair  
Vincent Bugliosi, former Los Angeles County Prosecutor 
Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason Univ 
Elliott Adams, President of the Board, Veterans for Peace 
Frederick A O Schwarz Jr Senior Counsel, NYU School of Law 
 
Conyers (D-MI) previously laid out six areas the hearing would explore: 
 
 
    (1) improper politicization of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys offices, including potential misuse of authority with regard to election and voting controversies; 
 
    (2) misuse of executive branch authority and the adoption and implementation of the so-called unitary executive theory, including in the areas of presidential signing statements and regulatory authority; 
 
    (3) misuse of investigatory and detention authority with regard to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, including questions regarding the legality of the administration&#039;s surveillance, detention, interrogation, and rendition programs; 
 
    (4) manipulation of intelligence and misuse of war powers, including possible misrepresentations to Congress related thereto; 
 
    (5) improper retaliation against administration critics, including disclosing information concerning CIA operative Valerie Plame, and obstruction of justice related thereto; and 
 
    (6) misuse of authority in denying Congress and the American people the ability to oversee and scrutinize conduct within the administration, including through the use of various asserted privileges and immunities. 
 
Rep. Kucinich has offered four impeachment resolutions so far: 
 
 
&gt;According to article on Rawstory.com  
 
 
John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention and organizer of the  
Impeach Colorado Coalition    ImpeachCO.com  
 
Join our Impeachment Protests, see the Calendar on the website 
 
.. 
 
.. 
 
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPC</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPC/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:44:28 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqPC</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
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                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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                    <item>
            <title>1st Amendment rights Violated by Hickenlooper?</title>
            <description>USAToday.com has published an editorial criticising Denver Mayor Hickenlooper&#039;s handling of free speech issues that affect all voters who treasure their Constitutional right to speak out.  The Mayor wrote his own rebuttal and I added my comments about the threats our Impeachment Group received from the Denver Police recently. 
   
 Both the USAToday Editorial, Hickenloopers opposing view &amp; My Comments  are at this url.  My Comments are below the Mayor&#039;s piece (Opposing view: We support free expression 
By John Hickenlooper). 
 
John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention. 
Impeach Colorado Coalition   http://ImpeachCO.com   
   
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            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq74</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq74/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:23:55 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cq74</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
            </db:profile>
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            <title>Kucinich presents single article of impeachment of Bush for WMD Lies that got 4,100 Soldiers Killed, over 30,000 Maimed</title>
            <description>Kucinich said he was doing it for our Soldiers whose &quot;Commander in Chief sent them on a mission that was  
based on falsehoods about the threat of WMDs from Iraq.&quot; 
 
 RawStory.com        
 
Join us in Calling The House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers to demand that he allow the Judiciary Committee to immediately begin Public Impeachment Hearings.   
 
Call Chairman Conyers at 202--225-3951  
Or 800-828-0498 (ask for the House Speaker&#039;s Office) 
 
John H Kennedy 
43 yr Democratic voter,  
Obama delegate to the Denver County Convention,  
organizer of  
Impeach Colorado Coalition   ImpeachCO.com  
	    
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqy2</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqy2/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:38:09 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqy2</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
            </db:profile>
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            <wfw:commentRss>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqy2/</wfw:commentRss>
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            <title>U.S. Conference of Mayors pass resolution in support of national health care, HR 676</title>
            <description> Read Resolution overwhelmingly passed by U.S. Conference of Mayors at their Jun 22-24, 2008 annual meeting. </description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:39:24 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5</guid>
            <dc:creator>Michele S</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture></db:picture>
                <db:author_name>Michele S</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
            </db:profile>
            <db:comment_count>0</db:comment_count>
            <wfw:commentRss>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqy5/</wfw:commentRss>
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                    <item>
            <title>60% increase in numbers of underinsured - Failure of profit-centered health insurance</title>
            <description> A study published in Health Affairs (6-10-08) documents a sharp (60%) increase in numbers of underinsured between 2003-2007. Underinsurance rates nearly tripled among those with incomes above 200% of poverty. Consequently, 42 percent of U.S. adults were under- or uninsured in 2007, reporting high levels of access problems and financial stress.   Even among those with incomes over 400% of poverty, 15% are underinsured. The study indicates that the move toward greater consumer cost-sharing for minimum benefit insurance policies in recent years is pushing millions of insured non-elderly adults toward spending large shares of their incomes on health care. The clear impact is to increase the share of families at risk for medical debt and loss of savings for retirement, college, or other long-term needs.   Our current insurance system is working well only for the wealthy, who can afford high costs. Politicians&#039; promises that &amp;quot;you can keep the insurance you have&amp;quot; also apply to the wealthy.&amp;nbsp;  Read the Report    Following is a 650-word piece I wrote about the failure of profit-centered health care that has been picked up by several newspapers around the state.    &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;  Failure of U.S. profit-centered health insurance    Spending almost twice as much, the U.S. has worse health outcomes than other industrialized nations. Uniquely, U.S. health care is dependent on over 1200 for-profit health insurances, functioning as gatekeepers. Underwriting &amp;ndash; the art of risk evaluation and avoidance &amp;ndash; insures profits by covering the healthy and rejecting everyone else as a &amp;quot;pre-existing condition.&amp;quot;   Profit is a perverse incentive for quality health care: imagine for-profit fire or police protection. &amp;quot;Market-driven&amp;quot; health care treats health as a commodity, to be negotiated like a car or a house. The free market has also spawned &amp;quot;designer hospitals,&amp;quot; offering only the most profitable specialties, e.g., cardiac procedures, and eliminating less profitable services, e.g., emergency and mental health.   No reform proposal by current presidential candidates addresses the failure of the private health insurance industry, characterized principally by decreasing benefits and greater costs and risks shifted to consumers. In turn, more are subjected to underinsurance and unpaid medical bills &amp;ndash; now the leading cause of personal bankruptcies. Premium increases of 87 percent over 6 years have outpaced both cost-of-living and median family income increases.   Incremental reform proposals demonstrate lack of political will &amp;ndash; the same failure to confront corporate profit-taking by insurance and pharmaceutical industries that wrote Medicare prescription drug reform with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated profits to benefit their bottom lines.   Commercial health insurance  is  the 800-pound gorilla, responsible for over 25% of health care dollars siphoned to excessive administrative costs, lobbying, marketing, CEO salaries and profit-taking: $30 billion annual health insurance profits; $32 billion insurance underwriting and marketing costs (McKinsey Group, 2007).   Gaming the system for profit has given rise to the annual $20 billion business of &amp;quot;denial managment&amp;quot; &amp;ndash; health insurance middlemen who search claims for excuses to delay, deny or renege on reimbursements.   Responding to double-digit premium increases, more employers are opting to move employees into underinsurance &amp;ndash; high-deductible catastrophic plans. Simultaneously, the American Hospital Association reports that both family out-of-pocket health expenses and unpaid medical bills have risen approximately 60% over a decade &amp;ndash; still more costs ultimately shifted to taxpayers and consumers.   Notably, more than 20 federal and state studies since 1990, including the 2007 Lewin Group evaluation in Colorado, have demonstrated that single-payer health insurance is the only reform model that can both save money and provide comprehensive health care benefits for all. Indeed, the single payer model is the only truly efficient, equitable, and sustainable financing system, enabling universal coverage by spreading risk across the entire population.   Contrary to assertions by the &amp;quot;free market&amp;quot; choir, only single payer insurance permits true choice of pubic and private providers; private insurance is limited to &amp;quot;in plan&amp;quot; doctors. Only single payer provides comprehensive benefits and protection against medical bankruptcy.   Rather than comprehensive health care reform, most current proposals revert to a Massachusetts-style nostrum, preserving insurance profits and requiring an individual mandate to purchase minimum-benefit insurance, subsidized by taxpayers as needed. It is a formula for continued inflationary consumer health costs and decreasing benefits.   National single payer bill, HR676, calls for a progressive 3 to 4 percent employer and employee payroll tax to replace all health deductibles and premiums. Full-coverage costs for a family of four earning $40,000 annually would drop to $110 a month, from recent levels of $273/month for employer-sponsored coverage, or $489/month for an individually-insured family (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007).   A political class dependent on corporate money (and privy to 70 percent-taxpayer-subsidized health coverage) sidesteps meaningful reform. Nevertheless, polls by Pew and others have revealed increasing numbers &amp;ndash; 54 to 65 percent of people &amp;ndash; support a national single-payer health care plan. A recent survey reports that 59 percent of U.S. physicians now support national health care, up 10 percent from 2002.   A grassroots movement and political reforms, including publicly-financed campaigns, may be necessary to instill the political will for meaningful reform. We have everything to gain from quality-, saftey-centered universal single payer health care to replace U.S. dependence on profiteering health care gatekeepers.  </description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:35:09 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45</guid>
            <dc:creator>Michele S</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
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                <db:author_name>Michele S</db:author_name>
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            <title>It will take lots of pressure on our Colorado Congressmen to make them defend Our Constitution</title>
            <description>The Bush Impeachment Resolution H Res 1258  was refered to the Judiciary Committee today.  Nearly all Democrats voted for it to be buried in the Committee. 
 
I find it very strange that an experienced legislator like Kucinich would not call for a vote on floor debate first (as he did with the Cheney Resolution),  as opposed to instead calling for a vote to refer the measure directly to committee where he knows that no action will probably be taken, ever. 
 
It is my belief that Kucinich was allowed to introduce the measure by Pelosi with the requirement ( or expectation) that the only vote would be one referring it to committee, which would then allow all House Democrats to claim they voted to study the resolution rather than vote to kill it. It is a smoke screen to make it plain to the voters and the media that the   
impeachment issue is dead for good. 
 
Once again the House Democrats prove they are not worthy to call themselves patriots. 
 
The only way to get the House Democrats to honor their oath and protect the Constitution is to make them fear losing their jobs.  Of course some of us don&#039;t have the willingness and courage to make that happen. 
 
   A recent post you might be interested in     
 
 
John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate 
Impeach Colorado Coalition   ImpeachCO.com  
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmD</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmD/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:17:17 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmD</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
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                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
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                    <item>
            <title>CNN Doesn’t Cover Impeachment As Breaking News and ProgressNow Ignores our request for Front Page Placement</title>
            <description>From  http://justanothercoverup.com/?p=494   
 
If attempting to impeach the President of the United States isn&#039;t &quot;Breaking News&quot;, then what is?  
 
&quot;If CNN would have covered this important event, Americans could have tuned into C-Span and understood the many crimes that the Bush administration has perpetrated against the American public. 
 
It is the lack of knowledge of the general public that has allowed President Bush to break our laws with impunity!  
 
It is the enabling of news sources such as CNN that are partially responsible for this criminal administration, and they share in the blame of the many crimes that President Bush is guilty of.&quot; 
 
And of course there is ProgressNowAction.org  
  
On Tuesday I sent an email to ProgressNow asking to have my posting about the AOL.com Impeachment Poll placed on the Front Page so that members would have the best chance of knowing about the new legislation to Impeach President Bush, and would have the opportunity to vote in the AOL.com Impeachment Poll while it was still news.  We were ignored, but the very next posting was placed on the Front Page, though not near as important as an Impeachment. 
 
If an impeachment resolution isn&#039;t something that should get on the Front Page I cannot imagine what would be.  How much do these people Hate Our Constitution that they will suppress important political event news.  I do not think the word Hate is inappropriate.  They have made it very plain that impeachment advocates should just shut up and go away.   
 
Is ProgressNow attempting to dumb-down their members?  Keep them in the dark about Bush&#039;s crimes? Do they provide this website so Progressives can discuss issues or so they can manipulate the members? 
 
It would have been nice to at least get a reply to our email message. 
 
Impeachment may not occur but it will not fail because of the Republicans but because of the corruption within the Democratic Party and organizations such as this one. 
 
John H Kennedy 43 yr Democratic voter,Obama delegate,organizer  
Impeach Colorado Corporation   http://ImpeachCO.com  
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmK</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmK/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:59:22 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmK</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
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            <db:comment_count>5</db:comment_count>
            <wfw:commentRss>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqmK/</wfw:commentRss>
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                    <item>
            <title>Vote in the AOL.com Impeach Poll today, NOW</title>
            <description>All Colorado voters who believe that Cheney and/or Bush lied about the reasons to invade and occupy Iraq should immediately  
go to the following links and vote in these two  AOL.com  
IMPEACHMENT POLLS 
 
 AOL Polls on Impeachment  
 
 AOL Polls on Impeachment-Alternate link  
 
RESULTS SO FAR Today: 
 
In answer to the question:  
What do you think of Rep. Kucinich&#039;s bid to impeach President Bush?   
 
57% answered &quot;Thumbs Up&quot; (Favor Impeachment) 
 
In answer to the question:  
Do you believe President Bush deliberately misled the nation into going to war against Iraq?   
 
61% said &quot;YES&quot; ( Bush lied about WMD) 
 
Appears to us that the Voters Want The Democrats  
To Hold IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS Now! 
 
John H Kennedy, 43 yr Democratic voter, Obama delegate, 
Impeach Colorado Coalition   ImpeachCO.com  
 
Please try to attend our Impeachment Rally next Saturday at East 6th &amp; Speer in Denver at noon-1:00 pm 
 
..</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmF</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmF/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:27:00 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CqmF</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
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            <db:comment_count>0</db:comment_count>
            <wfw:commentRss>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqmF/</wfw:commentRss>
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                    <item>
            <title>Impeachment Happening in Congress Right Now!</title>
            <description>Per Dave Sawnson at AfterDownStreet.org 
 
Impeachment Happening in Congress Right Now! 
 
Congressman Dennis Kucinich is on the floor of the House of Representatives right now introducing 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush. 
 
Yes, 35.  He&#039;ll be reading for a while. 
 
Watch C-Span Now! 
 
If you don&#039;t have cable, go to a bar and tell them to put it on C-Span 1! 
 
Or watch at the Video/Audio tab at 
 c-span.or  
 
Take your laptop outside and turn the volume up! 
 
More details coming later tonight! 
 
Action in the House coming later this week! 
 
e</description>
            <link>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqmc</link>
            <comments>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqmc/commentary#comments</comments>
            <pubDate>Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:32:12 MDT</pubDate>
            <guid>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/Cqmc</guid>
            <dc:creator>John H Kennedy</dc:creator>
                        <db:profile>
                <db:picture>http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg</db:picture>
                <db:author_name>John H Kennedy</db:author_name>
                <db:school></db:school>
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