Impeaching George Bush is a damn good idea. But the full page ad in the Jan. 12 New York Times by ImpeachBush.org appears to be a bid by the unrepentantly Stalinist Workers World Party to garner mainstream liberal support, probably to keep pace with the Maoist competition. The ad reads "Articles of impeachment drafted by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark." We have repeatedly noted that Ramsey Clark is a totalitarian pseudo-left huckster who supports fascism. The ad also plugs the March 17 anti-war march in Washington sponsored by WWP's front group International ANSWER. Significantly, it does not plug the Jan. 27 march on Washington sponsored by the rival United for Peace & Justice—which has the usual problems with elitism and timidity, but is, at least, not crypto-fascist.

As we have noted, this is the latest in a wave of dangerously specious terror cases which have produced an atmosphere of paranoia in New York City. Now it seems the convict's entire family is to be deported. From the Washington Post, Jan. 11:

NEW YORK - A day after a man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiring to bomb Manhattan's Herald Square, his parents and sister were detained by federal immigration officials seeking to deport them.

Francisco Lopez Barcenas writes for La Jornada, Jan. 10, via Chiapas95:

On January 1 of this year, Oaxaca woke up with one more municipality, that of San Juan Copala, created by Triqui communities who officially belong to the Mixtec municipalities of Juxtlahuaca, Putla y Constancia del Rosario, in the western part of the state; municipalities controlled by mestizos. But this isn't just one more municipality out of the 570 in the state. This one is autonomous, like those that indigenous peoples are constructing in different parts of the country as a way of defending their rights and building their own future.

Its last effort having resulted in a mistrial, the Justice Department is again trying to get narco-terrorism charges to stick against a Colombian guerilla commander. From BBC News, Jan. 9, emphasis added (note to BBC fact-checker: learn how to spell "Ricardo"):

What's really depressing about this opinion piece is that the writer really appears to believe his absurd thesis that Israel must assert its independence from the US by nuking Iran—whereas we have argued again and again and again that Israel is playing US imperialism's fool in preparing aggression against Iran. From the LA Times, Jan. 12 (link added):

Big news is that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has brokered a ceasefire in Darfur. The small news is that no, he really didn't. And maybe, contrary to media portrayals, the JEM is correct not to take the bait, given that previous "ceasefires" have only co-opted Darfur's guerilla resistance into instruments of the Sudan regime's ethnic cleansing. From AP, Jan. 12:

We can only hope. How interesting that Iran's opposition lawmakers manifestly have more courage than Washington's Democrats. From the Italian news agency AKI, Jan. 9:

TEHRAN - Iranian reformist lawmakers have started collecting signatures in Parliament to demand the impeachment of the country's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So far, 38 signatures have been collected out of the 72 required to formally summon Ahmadinejad and request his impeachment. Noureddin Pirmouzen, a deputy with the reformist minority, says it is nonetheless "positive to question" the head of the executive branch.

From BBC News, Jan. 11:

US forces have stormed a building in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six people said to be Iranians, prompting a diplomatic incident.