Vermont senate passes impeachment resolution.

You read it her, folks; Vermont's state senate passed an impeachment resolution against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, by a vote of 16-9. If the resolution passes the state's house of representatives, it will be forwarded to the U.S. House of Representatives where -- by the oldest rules governing that legislative body -- the articles of impeachment must be brought up.

Whether or not any impeachment process succeeds or fails is debatable. What is not debatable, however, is the growing demand across the nation for Congress to carry out its Constitutional duty to impeach and remove lawbreaking executives. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi prematurely took impeachment "off the table," but this cowardice is sustainable only as long as the American people's outrage remains relatively low enough to justify it. As things stand, it is increasingly clear to the public that Alberto Gonzalez's Justice Department, under direct orders from the Bush White House, politicized its prosecutions while at the same time purging itself of anyone who put the law and the good of the country above "pleasing the boss." This alone would be enough for impeachment to gain strong support from the majority of Americans, but there is also the outing of a CIA operative and the lies leading up to war in Iraq; illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens; torture policies; criminal negligence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; and much, much more.

So it all comes down to Vermont, and whether its impeachment resolution passes the statehouse. For the sake of our country, our Constitution and our very future, let's pray it does.