"Remember Mark Sanford, Republican governor of South Carolina, who tearfully admitted last June that he had disappeared for five days because he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina? On Tuesday, a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Greg Delleney (R), will introduce a resolution to begin impeachment proceedings against the governor. The measure is expected to be referred to the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, which would postpone any action until January."

Well isn't this special. In a unanimous vote the United States House of Representatives impeached U.S District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent for sexually harassing two female court employees. The House turned over Kent's impeachment to the Senate for trial. So the U.S. House can come together to impeach a federal judge and a sitting president over sexual improprieties but refuses to impeach a sitting president for lying the country into a war or for ordering the illegal torture of prisoners in U.S. custody.

You’ve got to go pretty far back in U.S. history to find someone impeached for conspiracy to commit torture. Actually, you need to go over the pond to Britain in 1649, when King Charles was impeached. I’m thinking if they could impeach a King back in the 17th century, we should be able to impeach a judge in the 21st. The Alliance for Justice convened a panel of experts on impeachment, ethics and torture to discuss whether it would be appropriate to impeach Judge Bybee for his work at the Office of Legal Counsel. You can view the panel here: http://www.afj.org/bybee-webcast. Scott Horton - We now understand the role that the memos played. When the first memo was released in the summer of 2004, Bybee et al claimed that they were only working on abstract questions of law. We now know that was not true. In fact, the torture program was in place when the memos were written, but push back against the program was coming from within the ranks of the CIA. Some agents understood that the techniques they were being asked to use were illegal. The memos were written to quell this dissent.

If you're anything like me, you read about things like the rampant torture and abuse that took place during the Bush administration and think to yourself "What can I do?" Well, the time has come for you to do something concrete with your anger and rage. Sign on now to the Think Progress campaign to impeach Judge Jay Bybee.

Ask your Congress member to begin impeachment proceedings. Template message is provided.

Blagojevich set a national record that will likely never be broken. He served 6 years as governor before being impeached. The 20th century mark was 32 months. Impeachment is a rare step but taking it when it's needed is the tiny first step toward healing process. Not impeaching those that should be (Bush, Cheney) prevents the healing process from beginning.

Though he's shown nothing but disdain for his own impeachment proceedings in dozens of interviews this week, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich finally made a personal appearance in Springfield this morning. The general assembly gave him 90 minutes to make closing arguments on his own behalf. In fact, he was even invited to remain to answer questions from his former colleagues, which he, unsurprisingly, declined. In the speech that followed, Blagojevich tried everything to avoid impeachment. He even (almost) apologized. For those that missed what may have been Blago's last official speech as governor, here's a summary of his extraordinary tactics.

>NOTE: This poster despises Rod, but the Rule of Law is most important with unpopular defendants.< "Trying to leverage a political appointment into a political advantage is not unprecedented. Doing so while talking like a character from "The Sopranos" is an aesthetic offense, but I'm not sure it's a criminal one. Had Blagojevich consummated a deal for personal gain in exchange for the appointment, Fitzgerald may have had an open-and-shut case. But the governor didn't consummate anything. He just talked and talked and talked, mostly about how nobody wanted to play ball with him. I question whether the tapes are enough to put him in jail."

You don't have to necessarily finish the impeachment process before January 20th, just get the resolutions on record (listing all possible major witnesses) and in open debate in the Judiciary Committee. That should counter Bush's pardons.

The nearly 500-page report details dozens of instances in which the law was broken over the eight years Bush was in office, ranging from warrantless wiretapping to torture to retribution against administration critics to signing statements to the manipulation of intelligence to executive privilege... the list, sadly, goes on. This report is the second of its kind to come out of Conyers' office. The first, which is now published in book form, focused on the lies surrounding the war in Iraq and violations of civil liberties at home. Basically, this new report is old news. But if one looks beyond the mostly stale facts of the report, a veiled apology becomes apparent.

If you live in a place where politics are bad, it's easy to say, "Well, this is the way things are." For those of us in Illinois, we are used to poorly run government. It's not an excuse, but we aren't as shocked by Blagojevich and his madness. We don't like him for some things he has done that are legal. But aren't there some bad apples in other places, too?

The vote was a nailbiter, 114-1 with three reps voting "present." So Rod Blagojevich has been impeached. And by Illinois political standards, in record time. The trial will be held in the IL Senate: 40 of 59 senators have to find him guilty. And Pat Quinn could jump in and appoint a real successor to Barack Obama and get the Senate rolling (except for Franken).

As the draft-dodging, corporation-coddling, obscenity-spewing, torture-sanctioning shredder of the Constitution prepares to leave the position he should have been forced from by Congress, almost two-thirds of Americans rank Veep Dick Cheney as bad or worse than Spiro Agnew, [even] before Cheney acknowledged on national television that he had violated his oath to defend a Constitution that bars cruel and unusual punishment by promoting the use of waterboarding. When asked about the use of torture, Cheney told ABC News, "I was aware of the program....And I supported it." Those are the words not merely of the worst vice president in history but of a man who still can -- and should -- be impeached.

"The Illinois State House voted unanimously on Monday evening to begin efforts to impeach Rod R. Blagojevich, the Democratic governor arrested last week in a web of corruption, including, prosecutors say, efforts to make money off the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama."

The White House now says it won't display a Christmas tree ornament by a Seattle artist that includes a message supporting President Bush's impeachment. Artist Deborah Lawrence says she wanted to salute Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Seattle, a longtime Bush foe who backs impeachment. The nine-inch ball, is covered with swirly red and white stripes and features a picture of McDermott. Tiny glued-on text salutes the impeachment resolution. First lady Laura Bush had asked members of Congress to pick artists to decorate ornaments for the White House Christmas tree. Her spokeswoman, Sally McDonough, originally said there were no plans to pull Lawrence's artwork. But McDonough said Tuesday that the ornament is inappropriate.

If President Bush yields to temptation, he could summon in his defense unseemly presidential pardons to benefit political friends or financial benefactors or to avoid presidential embarrassment or worse. The Founding Fathers expected that pardon abuses would be deterred by presidential impeachments. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken impeachment off the table for Mr. Bush. A far less drastic constitutional measure is available to Congress, however, to deter pardon abuses in the waning weeks of his presidency: namely, a statute that compels the president to testify fully under oath before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to justify pardons for a designated class of former or current high-level executive branch officials. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. The proposed legislation finds a strong precedent in President Ford's Sept. 8, 1974, testimony under oath before a House Judiciary subcommittee to explain the Nixon pardon. The proposed statute would avoid diluting, controlling or limiting the exercise of the pardon power. Its legitimate purpose would be to make a class of presidential pardons demonstrably subject to abuse more accountable to the public and to history.

"Nadler is storming the beach; others should join him. . . If Congress moves quickly and forces the president to focus on impeachment, then he won’t have so much time to push through last-minute regulatory changes that will continue to hurt our country and our ideals....Anyone worried that our congressional representatives can’t tie their shoes and chew gum at the same time, or cannot focus on the economic crisis and impeachment hearings at the same time, will find that many answers to our economic and global defense problems will come from those hearings. . . The only question I have for Nancy Pelosi is this: What are we waiting for?"

Watergate was one break-in. This is 10 and 2 cases of arson. And the FBI does nothing? The DOJ does nothing? As I have said before, both Gonzales and Mukasey have become accessories after the fact by obstructing justice. When this administration leaves office, both Gonzales and Mukasey need to be investigated for their continued obstruction not only in the Siegelman's case, but also the cases of Paul Minor, Wes Teel, John Whitfield, Oliver Diaz Jr., at al. Siegelman is but one victim of this ongoing bigger-than-Watergate series of politically motivated crimes. What are you going to do about this?

'By now, Obama should have rebuilt New Orleans and rebuilt the Constitution.' By R J Shulman 06 Nov 2008 Just hours after an impressive win by Barack Obama over John McCain, Republican leaders are calling for the impeachment of the President-elect. "Obama has lied to the American public about change. Everything was change," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Do you see any change?" McConnell asked. "I don’t see any change." (Satire)

Sarah Palin Broke The Ethics Law In Alaska, And Is Subject To Impeachment And Removal From Office If The State Legislature Chooses To Do So I might be wrong, but this is the way I read the facts, the law, and the Alaska state constitution. The Recently-Released Report Says: "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," But it seems to me that the "personal agenda" of firing Trooper Michael Wooten is exactly the same thing as a "personal interest" in firing Trooper Michael Wooten. And this makes her "impermissible pressure" an actual violation of Alaska state law, not merely an improper thing to do. It appears to me that she violated both Sec. 39.52.110 (Scope of code) and Sec. 39.52.120. (Misuse of official position) The State Law Says: