Sunday, April 20, 2008
Naomi Klein has said: "the time has come to prosecute and jail."
It’s long overdue as is a Ballot Box Revolution to remove at least 300 of the 435 members of the House in the 2008 elections, and Pelosi would be Party Enemy #1!
And we’re supposed to have some sort of loyalty to our “LEADERSHIT”! I’m sorry but {BuShit=PeloShit}à Formula for more: lying, failure, killing, war crimes, ruined lives and national bankruptcy. (See Below)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats in Congress, seeking to avoid a vote on funding the Iraq war during the fall campaign season, are considering combining President Bush's two pending requests into a single bill to be voted on this spring.
House Democratic aides said Thursday that Bush's $108 billion request to finance military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30, the end of the 2008 budget year, may be combined with his $70 billion request to continue the war into the next president's term.
"You vote one time and get the money out of the way," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House panel responsible for the Pentagon budget. He cautioned that House leaders have not officially endorsed the idea.
But votes on war spending bills inevitably generate tension among Democrats and unhappiness among their core supporters, who are strongly opposed to providing money for the war. That has leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hoping to avoid a second vote in the fall.
AND….. If The John Birch Society Is On That Mission, Shouldn’t we beat them to the punch?
Educate enough fellow citizens as to the power we have in our representative government. Get organized with like-minded people (as in the JBS.org Freedom Campaign) and start building relationships and influence with the candidates up for election to the 435 seats in the U.S. House. Where entrenched incumbents exist, who are not willing to serve the interests and defend the freedoms of we the people, make them personas non-grata in their own districts. Even bad congressmen can be influenced to do the right thing on occasion.
Proposal for May First
By davidswanson
May 1st is shaping up to be quite a day of resistance, with strikes by the ILWU, the Teamsters, Postal Workers, plus immigrant rights rallies, and peace and impeachment activities. (More info here.) It's Mission Accomplished Day, ...
AfterDowningStreet.org - Impeach... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
Former Colonel Speaks Out Against War
By Eric Schwartz : The Chronicle: Washington State
A retired U.S. Army Colonel who resigned from her post as a diplomat for the state department because of the invasion of Iraq spoke to local residents and activists Thursday in downtown Centralia.
Mary Ann Wright grabbed worldwide media attention in March 2003 when she submitted a letter of resignation to then Secretary of State Colin Powell a day before the invasion of Iraq. Wright, who was one of three State Department employees to step down, spoke to a crowd of 30 people in an afternoon talk at the Centralia Carpenter’s Building on North Pearl Street.
Her free-ranging talk lasted more than an hour, and touched on issues from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to civil liberties as they pertain to the Patriot Act and the Bush Administration’s rhetoric with regards to Iran.
Wright, who spent 29 years in the military, said that it was the administration’s decision to invade without United Nations authorization that eventually led her to resign. At the time, she was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Mongolia. She said that it is alarming that much of the same rhetoric is being lodged against Iran in the same way that it was leading up to the War in Iraq.
“You don’t know what can happen until you try it,” she said. “And I firmly believe we should be engaging in talks with the Iranians” over their weapons program.
The former diplomat, who helped reopen the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan in 2002, is a friend of Lewis County activists Bill and Lela McNutt. The couple said they met Wright at Camp Casey near President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
“Ann was the backbone,” said Lela McNutt, who said she slept in ditches and was bitten by bugs while at Camp Casey, which was named after the son of activist Cindy Sheehan. “She was the first to show up, cleaning up trash, and the last to leave.”
Bill McNutt, a former Marine, saluted Wright at the conclusion of the talk, which ended with a question and answer session. Wright was introduced to the crowd by Rick Burnley, a musician and poet who Lela McNutt said was the official laureate of Camp Casey. Burnley introduced Wright over the phone while Lela McNutt held a microphone to the receiver.
“In the White House, at the helm of our nation, we have a murderous clown,” Burnley said, adding that “rising up during this time of darkness are several points of light.”
Wright followed the introduction by thanking local activists who hold weekly demonstrations against the war in downtown Centralia. She said that though public opinion polls indicate that the effort to gain support against the war has been a success, the effort to gain support from electeds has not been fruitful.
“It is very frustrating,” Wright said during an interview following her talk. “We have expected in the past in our country that elected officials would be responsive to their constituents. ... When they’re not, that’s what’s really called a dictatorship. It is a government that doesn’t reflect the will of the people.”
Wright said that the only reason the country has avoided the implementation of a draft is the large number of contractors that have been dispatched to the Iraq region. This, she said, is just one example of how corporate interests have begun to trump the interests of the American people. Wright issued statements concerning Powell as well. Her letter of resignation to Powell cited the war in Iraq, along with the situations in North Korea, Israel and Palestine, and the unnecessary curtailment of rights in America.
“I think he was more loyal to the Bush family than he was to the public,” Wright said of Powell. “I think he really did let us down.”
Much of Wright’s talk was highlighted by examples of officials in the U.S. and other countries who have spoken out against the War in Iraq. Her recently published book, “Dissent: Voices of Conscience” was part of the reason for her visit. Wright is currently on a book tour, she said.
Eric Schwartz covers municipal government and health for The Chronicle. He may be reached at 807-8245.
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Addington, Haynes, Feith, Bybee, Yoo ...
By davidswanson
The US's most senior general was "hoodwinked" by top Bush administration officials determined to push through aggressive interrogation techniques for terror suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, the Guardian can reveal. ...
AfterDowningStreet.org - Impeach... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
Experts Weigh in on Top Officials Talking Torture With Bush's Approval
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/
Debate Questions Will Bunch Would Have Asked
By Nancy Willing(Nancy Willing)
Torture Impeachment Petition Collects 25000 Signatures! On Monday, we asked you to sign our petition to Congress to impeach Bush and Cheney for approving torture. Your response was incredible! In just two days, we delivered 25000 ...
Delaware Way - http://delawareway.blogspot.com/
Cindy Sheehan barely fits into her "campaign limo," her sister's blue Hyundai Tiburon. She ducks low to avoid hitting her head on the way in, and her knees are nearly at her chest when she sits, even with the seat rolled all the way back. Traveling over the Oakland Bay Bridge, her campaign manager at the wheel--steering with one hand and scrolling through e-mails with the other--the 6-foot-tall antiwar activist turned congressional hopeful tries in vain to stretch out in the passenger seat. It's raining when they pull into a parking spot near Berkeley City College, where Sheehan is about to give a speech, but she opens the window anyway; it's the only way to exit the car. The interior handle is broken, so the door must be opened from the outside.
It's not easy--but then little on Sheehan's long and improbable journey to this place has been. When she first set up her lawn chair outside George W. Bush's Texas ranch in the summer of 2005--a grief-stricken mother demanding to speak to the president about the death of her son Casey in Iraq--she had no idea how she would capture the media's imagination and spark a movement. Her 26-day roadside vigil three years ago drew thousands of supporters to Crawford, Texas, and prompted marches and protests across the country. But her celebrity came with steep costs; divorce, heartbreak and exhaustion caused her to quit her antiwar activism in May 2007 to return home to Dixon, Calif., to mother her surviving children.
Her retirement didn't last long. Earlier this year, Sheehan moved to San Francisco and filed to run as an independent against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom she blames--along with Bush--for perpetrating the war in Iraq. When Pelosi, a Democrat, refused to hold impeachment hearings against Bush last summer, the Speaker found herself in Sheehan's cross hairs. "Her refusal to hold George Bush and Dick Cheney accountable is when I just said, 'That's it. We have to hold her accountable'," Sheehan told NEWSWEEK at her San Francisco campaign headquarters.
Sheehan's battle is all uphill. After all, Pelosi was re-elected to her 11th term in 2006 with 90 percent of the vote in one of the most reliably Democratic districts in the country. In September, 56 percent of San Francisco Bay area voters approved of Pelosi's job in Congress, according to research by the Public Policy Institute of California. But Sheehan insists she can gain traction against Pelosi by playing off San Francisco's fierce--and often theatrical--antiwar sentiments. In 2006, 59 percent of voters approved a ballot measure to impeach Bush and Cheney. Last year, protestors from the antiwar group Code Pink held an around-the-clock vigil outside Pelosi's house in the city's upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood to protest the Speaker's failure to introduce legislation to cut war funding and bring the troops home. Even though Pelosi has said she favors a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, antiwar activists are disgusted by her failure to do more to cut off funding for the war, and Sheehan thinks she can persuade the city's voters that Pelosi is a sellout. "She is a supporter of the status quo, the establishment and the elite," Sheehan says.
A spokesman for Pelosi says that while the Speaker "shares the frustration" of those who want to end the war, she disagrees with Sheehan--and others--who say that impeaching Bush is the way to do it. Attempting to impeach Bush during the final months of his term, says Drew Hammill, Pelosi's press secretary, "would create a divisive battle, be a distraction from Congress's efforts to chart a new course for America's working families and would ultimately fail." Pelosi has already raised $1.6 million for her re-election campaign; Sheehan has a war chest of only $49,000.
Her strength, Sheehan says, lies in her human resources. "I'm superconfident we're going to win because we have the people on our side," Sheehan said. "With my name recognition, my face recognition, I can't walk down the street without someone stopping me." She has a campaign manager, a paid staff, armfuls of volunteers and a storefront office in the city's gritty Mission district. The antiwar movement got a boost last month when Ralph Nader, announcing his 2008 presidential campaign, tapped a San Francisco politician, former city supervisor and Green Party mayoral candidate Matthew Gonzalez, as his running mate. Gonzalez endorsed Sheehan last December and has since been on board as an adviser and speaker at public events.
But Sheehan will need to bulk up her platform if she intends to be a real threat to Pelosi. "If she wants to be taken seriously as a candidate, she has to have views about health care and views about Social Security reform and the whole set of domestic issues, immigration and so on," says Bruce Cain, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "She's got to have a complete platform or she'll be giving the impression that it's merely a protest vote."
Sheehan takes issue with the idea that she's not in it to win it. "If this was just a symbolic campaign, we'd set up an office, and we'd just come in and play Solitaire all day," she said. She is running hard. A day on the campaign trail starts at 10 a.m. and is nonstop for the next 11 hours--a morning meeting at campaign headquarters, a speech to a crowd of 200 at Berkeley City College at noon, strategic planning meetings with her campaign consultants in the afternoon, a meeting with San Francisco Unified School District high-school students in the late afternoon and an intimate dinner with supporters, hosted by Gonzalez, to plan upcoming events. She takes one day off each week to do what she had intended when she retired from activism last May: spend time with her children. Each Sunday she travels to Sacramento to cook dinner for Carly, 26; Andy, 24, and Jane, 22, who is pregnant with a son due in May.
The coming weeks are crucial. In order to secure a spot on the ballot in November, Sheehan must collect 3,000 signatures from registered voters in the district, beginning April 25, and submit them to the county elections office by July 24 or pay a $1,652 filing fee. By Aug. 8, Sheehan must submit 10,198 nomination signatures--3 percent of the number of registered voters in the Eighth District prior to the 2006 general elections. Her aides hope the compact nature of the terrain will help them reach that goal. "The advantage of being in the second-smallest district in the U.S. is that we will be able to literally walk every street and shake hands with each of the 600,000 constituents," said Sheehan's campaign manager, Tiffany Burns. But even if the door-knocking and hand-shaking convinces voters to cast their ballots against Pelosi, Sheehan will also need to persuade them that she is the best alternative to Republican candidate Dana Walsh, Libertarian Philip Berg and Democrat Shirley Golub, who is challenging Pelosi in the June primary.
Sheehan knows that her fortunes will turn largely on the way folks in the Eighth District feel about the war, a conflict whose artifacts--Casey's military portrait, a picture of the Purple Heart he was awarded at his funeral, a congressional commendation from New York Rep. Charles Rangel--decorates Sheehan's otherwise cheerfully painted yellow office. "If there's any good to come out of Casey's death, I hope it is to make this country the country he supposedly died for," she said. Despite her busy schedule, Sheehan is still grieving her dead son. She cries in her office and again at dinner. She laments the fact that her grandson will never meet his Uncle Casey. Despite the activists who took to the streets Wednesday to protest the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, polling from the presidential primaries has shown that the economy has become the leading issue in voters' minds. Sheehan says this only helps her campaign: "Our tanking economy is directly connected to the war economy," she says. "An economic-stimulus plan that no one's talking about is bringing our troops home and putting that money into America."
Sheehan declines to discuss what she'll do if this campaign falls short. "I haven't even looked that far," Sheehan says. "I don't put that negative energy into the universe because I'm pretty sure I'm already going to win. I'm already decorating my office in Washington, D.C., in my head."
If The John Birch Society Is On That Mission, Shouldn’t we beat them to the punch?
Educate enough fellow citizens as to the power we have in our representative government. Get organized with like-minded people (as in the JBS.org Freedom Campaign) and start building relationships and influence with the candidates up for election to the 435 seats in the U.S. House. Where entrenched incumbents exist, who are not willing to serve the interests and defend the freedoms of we the people, make them personas non-grata in their own districts. Even bad congressmen can be influenced to do the right thing on occasion.
Impeachment: Two Years' Worth of Ideas
By Daily Kos(Daily Kos)
Yet impeachment is the logical and appropriate means within our system of government to deal with tyrannical executive branch officials and to restore Congress's and the people's rightful power. So long as I am to be honest in ...
Daily Kos - http://www.dailykos.com/section/Diary
By Dan Fejes
The Handmaidens Of Torture
Last week's torture news received little attention because of the combined effects of decorous politicians, indifferent media and the administration's reflexive defenders. To change these dynamics we may need to change how we approach the issue
By Jason Leopold
Chertoff's Legal Advice Led To First Case Of Waterboarding
When the CIA wanted assurances in the summer of 2002 that their agents would not be prosecuted for using brutal interrogation methods against a so-called high-level detainee in custody the agency turned to Michael Chertoff, the former head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.
By Eric K. Yamamoto
Who Will Hold The President Accountable?
If the judicial system fails in it's duty of checks & balances it then falls to the people to hold the president accountable.
Impeachment is the only way they don't get away with torture
By clammyc
... each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. ...
Docudharma - Recommended Diaries - http://www.docudharma.com
Impeachment is the Only Way They Don’t Get Away With Torture
By Booman Tribune(Booman Tribune)
... each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. ...
Booman Tribune - http://www.boomantribune.com/
How Long to Impeach?
7 days from initiation to final impeachment for Andrew Johnson. "On Monday, February the 24th, 1868, the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States resolved to impeach Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, ...
iBrattleboro Feed - http://www.ibrattleboro.com
Why Impeach? | Lies | Uranium/Niger | Torture | Aluminum Tubes | Wiretaps | Treaties | HJR114 | Talking Points |
Talking Points to use with Members of Congress
Updated 3/20/08 at 6:00 PM
These talking points argue that Bush should be impeached by Congress. We present an opening script followed by rebuttals to Congress members' common objections.
Note: It is assumed here that the listener already agrees that Bush has committed impeachable offenses.
Some Possible Opening Statements
- Do you support Congressman Wexler's call for impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney?
- We all know that Bush and Cheney have committed impeachable offenses. We understand that impeachment is difficult. But our system of Democracy is threatened and we need you to protect and defend our Constitution. Only you can do that for us.
- Bush has resisted every effort at Congressional oversight. He has used executive privilege and the state secrets act to protect himself. Impeachment is the only mechanism we have left that can prevent further abuse of office.
Rebuttals to Common Responses
- If you hear any new objections please let us know.
When they say "We need to work with the Republicans to pass legislation."
- We need to work with the Republicans to protect and defend the Constitution. If the Republicans are opposed to protecting the Constitution then you are working with the wrong side.
- Bush has been nullifying any meaningful legislation from Democrats by issuing signing statements or vetoing the legislation.
When they say "Impeachment would distract us from more important matters."
- The war in Iraq, the price of oil, the faltering economy, our foreign relations are all suffering because of Bushes crimes. Those problems will get worse unless we impeach.
- Bush has broken our constitutional system of government. That must be fixed before we can use the government to solve other problems.
- Impeachment hearings and even the trial in the Senate can take place in committee. The rest of Congress can attend to other business.
- Members of Congress take an Oath of Office promising that they will defend the Constitution from "enemies both foreign and domestic". This is their primary duty. When the Constitution is safe then they have the luxury to attend to other matters.
When they say "The Republicans and the powers behind the President would retaliate."
- When American citizens are afraid of their President then Democracy is in danger.
- When Congress is afraid to impeach then Democracy is lost.
- The Democrats might suffer from this process. But American soldiers are dying in Iraq and the COnstitution is being shredded. We need for Congress to be brave.
When they say "There is not enough time for impeachment."
- If Congress decided to impeach Bush or Cheney then it could happen fairly quickly.
- Andrew Johnson fired Edwin Stanton on February 21, 1868. On March 2nd, ten days later, the House voted to impeach him for that crime. The trial lasted two months. The Republicans who led the impeachment against Johnson won the Presidential election later that year with 53% of the popular vote.
- On July 27th, 1974, the Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon for spying on Americans and ignoring subpoenas. On August 8th, twelve days later, Nixon announced that he would resign. [BBC]
- The House voted to initiate impeachment hearings for Bill Clinton in October 1998. He was impeached two months later on December 19th. The trial began January 7th after the Winter break and ended one month later on February 6th.
- An aide to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) once said that the impeachment of Bush might take longer because the crimes were so much more serious and more numerous and there was so much more evidence. But we could focus on one or two of the most serious crimes to begin with. Bush or Cheney need only be convicted on one Article of Impeachment in order to be removed from office.
- At a minimum, we can at least start impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee. Representative Wexler and others are asking John Conyers to begin hearings.
When they say "Bush will leave office soon anyway."
- If Bush is not impeached for his actions before leaving office then the next President will inherit his expanded powers. It will be nearly impossible to impeach a future President who commits the same crimes.
- Bush has severely damaged America's reputation in the international community. Impeachment will send a message to other countries that America rejects his aggressive policies.
- Starting in March 2008, Bush will have 10 months left in office. Bush can do an incredible amount of damage, even start a war with Iran, in the time he has left.
- Bush and Cheney may be actively destroying evidence and needs to be stopped as soon as possible.
- It is important to educate the American public about why we are truly in Iraq and why America is in such dire straights. We will need that knowledge to solve the problems Bush has created, which could take many years. Impeachment can reveal the truth about his corruption. It will be very difficult to find out the truth after Bush leaves office.
When they say "Impeachment would hurt the Democrats in the next election."
- Many polls show a majority of Americans favor impeachment.
- More than 70% of democrats and a majority of all Americans favor impeachment. 88% of Democrats in Pennsylvania favor impeachment. It may be political suicide to be on the wrong side of this issue. [AmResGrp] [Zogby] [Polls]
- Only 57% of Republicans opposed censure in a March 15 poll by American Research Group. 23% of Republicans supported impeachment according to a January 2006 Zogby poll. Contrary to claims that have been made, impeachment will not galvanize the Republican base. Many Republicans oppose Bush.
- History shows that pursuing impeachment can help in the next election.
- Democrats won in a landslide in the election after drafting Articles of Impeachment against Nixon. (Nixon resigned before he could be officially impeached.)
- When the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton, against the will of the people, they kept both houses of Congress and the White House, losing only a handful of seats in the Senate (which had acquitted), but maintaining the same majority in the House.
- Republicans won the election of 1868 shortly after leading the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
- If Democrats push for impeachment then it might force John McCain to take unpopular positions supporting Bush.
- The Democratic victory in 2004 was considered to be largely a referendum against Bush. Impeaching Bush in 2008 could help build on that victory.
- Legislators take an oath to protect the Constitution so it is their duty to protect it from Bush's crimes by calling for impeachment regardless of the political consequences.
When they ask "Why bother with hearings when we need 218 votes in the House to impeach?"
- Bush or Cheney may resign before the extent of their crimes are revealed in hearings.
- It is better to fight for justice and lose then to accept injustice.
- If we can force a roll call vote and some Republicans vote with Bush then we will have them on record as being on the wrong side of history.
- We cannot predict the final vote. But impeachment hearings will probably increase support for impeachment.
When they ask "Why bother with impeachment when we need a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict?"
- After investigations and the trial, it will be obvious to everyone that Bush is guilty of serious crimes. At that point, many Republicans will feel compelled to vote for a guilty verdict.
- Many Republican politicians oppose Bush because they feel he is hurting them politically. Many Republican voters are calling for impeachment. If Senators want to get reelected they may have to convict Bush.
- To convict Bush we only need 16 Republican Senators in addition to all the Democrats. It is quite possible that we will get them.
When they say "My constituents are not asking for impeachment."
- A majority of Americans want Congress to begin impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney. A total of 70% of American voters say that Cheney has abused his powers as vice president. 63% of Democrats say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses and Cheney should be impeached and removed from office. [AmResGrp] [Zogby] [Polls]
- Many voters feel that there is no point in writing to their Congress members because Congress is not listening. "Impeachment is off the table." But when a confusing email led people to believe that Pelosi was conducting a poll on impeachment, her office was inundated with calls and letters.
- Pete Stark put a poll on his website and asked if people wanted impeachment. Based on the majority of people who wanted impeachment he decided to co-sponsor HRes 333 to impeach Cheney.
- Congress does not need to be asked to defend the Constitution. They already took an Oath of Office promising to do that.
When they say "There aren't any crimes that rise to the level of impeachable offense."
- Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing his Secretary of War improperly. Clinton was impeached for lying about a sexual affair. If Bush misled us into a war with Iraq then that is clearly an impeachable offense.
- The Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment against Nixon for spying on a small group of American citizens. The FISA laws were created as a result. Bush spied on millions of Americans without a warrant in violation of those FISA laws and the 4th amendment. Bush is more impeachable than Nixon.
- You're putting the cart before the horse. There is sufficient evidence currently in the public record to warrant impeachment hearings. The hearings will determine whether there is enough evidence to file articles of impeachment. The House will decide whether to impeach. The Senate will hear testimony and ultimately determine where impeachable offenses were committed. All we are asking for now is impeachment hearings.
When they say "But John Conyers needs to make the first move."
- You can help convince Conyers to act. He is looking to other members of Congress for support.
- You can express your thoughts to Conyers by signing Wexler's letter calling for impeachment hearings or by co-sponsoring Kucinich's impeachment resolutions.
When they say "But we are pursuing criminal and civil contempt charges against Miers and Bolten. Isn't that enough?"
- Miers and Bolten are not the problem. The problem is that Bush uses loyal servants to help him break the law.
- Attorney General Mukasey says executive privilege trumps criminal contempt charges. [ABC] Bush and Cheney cannot hide behind executive privilege during the impeachment process.
When they think but don't say "We need to occupy Iraq and steal their oil to protect our future."
- This type of strategy hurts America by creating more enemies and driving up oil prices, as we have already seen.
- We should have spent a trillion dollars developing alternative energy sources so that we do not need Iraqi oil.
- By violating international law we can no longer lead other nations by example.
- It is illegal, immoral and unwise to do so. That should be reason enough.
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=499
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