In the 72 hours since she has taken the mantle of the next Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi repeated her pledge that “impeachment is off the table.” In her victory press conference, she didn’t speak of the need to repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that revoked habeas corpus and legalized torture. She didn’t decry the unending death and destruction that is daily terrorizing the people of Iraq. She did not pledge to stand firmly against the new war being prepared against Iran. Nor did she make a peep about defending women’s right to abortion and gay rights – even as Roe V. Wade is under increasing threat and gay marriage bans passed in an additional seven states.

Instead, she recast this election as a mandate on manners and effectiveness: "The American people spoke out for a return to civility to the Capitol in Washington and how Congress conducts its work…And Democrats pledge civility and bipartisanship in the conduct of the work here, and we pledge partnerships with the Republicans in Congress and the president, not partisanship."

I DID NOT VOTE FOR GOOD MANNERS AND BIPARTISANSHIP.
I VOTED TO CHANGE THE MESS MADE IN THE LAST 6 YEARS.....WITH THE COMPLICITY OF THE DEMS. I MIGHT ADD. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE....DO NOT SCREW IT UP WITH MEALYMOUTHED DRIVEL.

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Democratic Party talking heads are already out there talking about how the election results are not only the best thing since sliced bread, not only the biggest political event of the last 200 years, but also an abrupt end to everything that the neo-cons stand for.

According to these characters Bush and the neocons were uniquely responsible for the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, the erosion of civil liberties, , the economic changes that have resulted in the rich getting richer, and all else that's not right with the world.

Okay...then it's put up or shut up time!

Let's see the Democrats rescind the complete Patriot Act. No tinkering around the edges - the whole thing has got to go.

And while they're at it, let's see them dismantle the 1996 Anti-terrorism and pro Death Penalty Act that Clinton signed.

Let's see them restore the right to habeas corpus.

Let's see them end the use of torture by the US military, CIA, private armies paid for with tax dollars, and countries whose governments are under US control.

Let's see them declare to the world that the US will no longer try to overthrow Castro, Chavez, Ortega or any other progressive leader who stands up to the US government and tries to bring about better conditions for their people.

Let's see them reject every appointment of another war-mongerer that Bush tries to make. Let's see them start with Bush's new Defense Secretary. Filibuster until January and then vote it down.

Let's see them put a litmus test on ALL nominations to the federal courts: either you're going to strike down anti-civil liberties laws or you don't get appointed.

Let's see them immediately withdraw (not redeploy) all US troops from the mideast. Moving them from Iraq to Saudi Arabia or Jordan is simply not enough. Get them out of there.

Let's see them end the blatant imperialism of the last 2 decades. No more US soldiers stationed anywhere outside the US. They should be a defense force.

Let's see them tie Bush's hands with a law that says the US will never again attack another country in a so-called "preventive" or "pre-emptive" war.

Let's see them cut the US military down to a size that could only be used for defensive purposes - say a 90% cut in the military budget to begin with.

Let's see them end the whole regimen of high stakes testing in schools that subjects our young people to a regular racist assault on their futures.

Let's see them end the current abuse of the legal system that results in the arrests of about 900,000 people a year for marijuana with the result that the rich get their records expunged while the poor are faced with reduced economic opportunities due to their police records in addition to jail time.

Let's see them end the stealing under the name of privatization that has been accomplished by Halliburton and their allies. But let's see them also end the stealing by the Democratic allied corporations like the ones building the useless arena in Newark or the shopping center next to Giants Stadium (soon to be renamed with some corporate logo.)

We have a chance to see if there really is a difference between Democrats and Republicans.

But the signs are already out there. Conyers has been told to shut up. And he's obeyed. No more talk of impeachment said Pelosi and she's going to be the new Speaker of the House.

Somehow, I foresee that rather than any real pro-people changes, we're instead going to see a lot of posturing, spin control, excuse making and blatant lying about why they can't do any of these things...and then they'll ask us to vote for more Democrats in 2008 to "solve" the problem.

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What do some of the readers of Alternet want, ONE PARTY RULE?? This is what we have to work with in this country now- Democratic flaws, warts, IMPERFECTION!
I know, why don't we progressives tell the Repugs that they can have the election back, it was just a silly sick liberal joke. We know we can't really run the country without their bigoted, misogynistic, fascist brand of "democracy."
I'm getting sick of all the anti Dem whining, which by the way parallels conservative pundit post election commentary. My Repug brother would love some of the comments on Alternet, which makes me wonder, WHO is really posting?
I suggest every single reader of Alternet go immediately to www.Driftglass.Blogspot.com for a smart, humorous dose of reality.
From Driftglass:
"As long as they could ignore those Outside their Fundy/Neocon Bubble with impunity – as long as the media and 50.0001% of the voting public remained compliant and complicit -- this is where we were headed. A permanent, obedient, One Party majority ruling through “fear and hatred and cruelty” forever.

Which is why not wasting breath on trying to convert the hardcore, mouthbreathing Republican base, but using the naked insanity of the base as a fulcrum to move the "One out of Ten" to action, was so vitally important.

Winston (from Orwell's 1984) is right. Such a system “…would have no vitality” because hatred and fear are exhausting. These elements were, in the end, all the GOP had to run their Party. They are terribly powerful, toxic fuels, burning very hot and very bright, but they quickly shred the engine and cripple the passengers.

And without opposition, such a system can endure for a very long time. Just ask a North Korean. Or Soviet communist. Or 16th Century Catholic. Or an 18th Century Virginia slaveholder. Or a 20th Century Mississippi segregationist. The State can putrefy from the inside year after year – or century after century -- until the breeze from the wings of a single dragonfly can bring it down...but only from the Outside.

This is why the GOP has spent billions and decades erecting an Alternate Reality where it was not just safe but actually considered virtuous and noble to tell the Outside world to fuck off. An Alternate Media, Alternate Politics, Alternate Economics, Alternate Religion…all built to create and nurture a pathologically inhumane “Fuck Everyone But Me” cult of unadulterated, life-hating Solipsism..."

Go Read The Rest.

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HAS PELOSI LOST HER MIND? HAS HER LIFE BEEN THREATENED? HER REMARKS MEAN THAT THE WICKED BUSH REGIME MAY CONTINUE TO LIE ,TORTURE, MAIM AND MURDER HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS. THAT THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THE PREMEDITATED MURDER OF THE PEOPLE ON 911 IS O.K. SEE www.911Truth.org
THANKS ,BUT NO THANKS. TRAITORS MAY BE ACCEPTABLE TO PELOSI BUT NOT TO TRUE AMERICANS!

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Okey, Nancy doesn't get it! Maybe the power has already gone to her head. She doesn't automatically accend to the role of speaker. If enough people feel the criminals currently in office must be removed before they do more harm, we may need a different speaker. The internet is very powerful and last Tuesday showed that. Lets put pressure on her or find a different candidate to get behind. There isn't much time but enough if we get busy. She seems like a very nice lady, but maybe that has been one of the party's biggest problems. To nice and naive.

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Christ! Nobody has had a chance to do anything, and some of youse guys are screaming for the murder and mutilation of Pelosi.

If the first order of business is to be impeachment, then the first order of business is also to lose the 2008 election in both the legislative and executive branches.

The rant about the repubs and dems being the same has some small smack of truth. The only reason for this is the manner in which we finance elections. The dems better do something about that, right after we get the hell out of Iraq, provide our citizens with living wages and fix this health care debacle. If these things don't happen, good-bye in 2008.

If the dems started the show with impeachment, I would vote repub for the first time in my life, and I voted for McGovern!

I want to see these pigs in prison as much as anyone else. Doing the positive things first only enhances the credibility of the democratic congress when the courts start to look at the evidence.

Settle down. Give these people we just voted for some credit. A lot of them are smart effective people, eh.

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