Saturday, May 31, 2008
Updating New Hampshire HR24 Issues…
Impeachment bill is misunderstood
Published: Saturday, May 31, 2008
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/OPINION02/182068116/-1/news
State Rep. Betty Hall, vilified in the letters to the editor, lauded in the blogosphere and other media, is an elder statesman who struggles on to be understood. Unfortunately, most folks really don't "get it" as to what Betty Halls' still pending impeachment resolution is actually all about.
Every American knows something about the litany of wrongs alleged against the current Bush administration. Whether the administration did or did not do those things has no part in this debate.
The vote in the New Hampshire legislature on June 4 will be on only one question – shall we, speaking for the people of the sovereign state of New Hampshire, ask the U.S. House to begin investigations to determine if there is sufficient cause or evidence to hold elected leaders in Washington accountable?
That's it! No more; no less.
It's the first step in the constitutional procedure that our forefathers provided for us as a remedy when we find ourselves engulfed in wrongs. Why would anyone fear using the tool we're given just for times like these?
At the very least, the investigation could lay bare some truth for public scrutiny. It may or may not lead to an impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate which, alone, has the authority to determine guilt or innocence, and punishment or no punishment. This initial step does not offer any guarantee that there will be additional steps.
At the Democratic state convention on May 17, the delegates adopted Betty Halls' resolution. This marks the second convention in a row, in spite of every conceivable roadblock thrown in our path, that the wishes of the party leadership were overturned.
Call your state representative and strengthen their courage. You can find your representative and let your voice be heard at http://www.gencourt.state. nh.us/house/members/.
Tell them not to hide and refuse to vote; tell them to stand tall and put their name out there so you'll know if they respect you enough to acknowledge that you, as a mere citizen, are entitled to and want to know the truth.
Without truth we cannot hope to make good choices in November; nor can the candidates effectively articulate their positions.
There were only 95 state representatives courageous enough to vote against tabling this resolution back in mid-April; 73 representatives didn't vote at all. On the last voting session, 124 representatives were no-shows on this question; that's nearly one-third of the House not voting.
Check the roll-call vote on HR24 in this newspaper on Sunday, June 8. See if your representative is among those voting, and remember in November.
Mary Ellen Martin
Nashua
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mary Ellen Martin served 16 years as a state representative from Nashua (1990-2006) in District 26, which includes Wards 5, 8 and 9.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Brookline, New Hampshire - Democratic State Representative Betty Hall called on Chairman Ray Buckley of the NH Democratic Party to begin immediately to publicize the adopted platform and resolutions passed at the NH Democratic Party Convention on May 17, 2008 and by posting them prominently on the NHDP website.
All candidates for the nomination of the party need to receive a copy of the platform and resolutions when they file to run in the September Primary. The filing period opens on June 4 and continues until June 13.
Furthermore, the Impeachment Resolution passed by the Convention requires delivery not only to the members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives but also to the United States House of Representatives and its Judiciary Committee. These actions must be taken in a timely manner if they are to be effective.
On June 4th, Representative Hall will seek to amend House Resolution 24 to conform to the Impeachment Resolution passed by the Democrats at their Convention. Also Hall will introduce a second floor amendment, the Newbury Resolution, brought by the town of Newbury, NH. These floor amendments can be adopted by a simple majority vote when the House votes to remove HR24 from the table. The Republican poison pill amendments can be disposed of at the same time by the Democratic majority.
House Republicans have been informed they will not be invited back to be a member of the Republican caucus, if they should record their vote to remove HR24 from the table. For this reason, House Democrats will need to be unified in supporting the Resolution as amended and as adopted by delegates at the Democratic Convention.
WHY SHOULD HR24 BE REMOVED FROM THE TABLE?
1. HR24 has been rewritten to address legislator's concerns. Confusing sections regarding Section 603 of Jefferson's manual have been removed. The Resolution now rests on the right of the NH House to petition Congress under the Article 4., of the New Hampshire Constitution and Amendment I., to the United States Constitution. Language that stated "warranted" guilt, now reflects sufficient evidence for an investigation. Some of the charges have been removed as not self evident.
2. Recent events have added weight to the argument that Bush may have committed impeachable offenses:
a. At a hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, new evidence was presented by former prisoners of Guantanamo and their lawyers that indicated torture had occurred. An FBI Report issued in May indicates that the decision to allow torture was made from the White House.
b. Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's book, "What Happened Inside The Bush White House And Washington's Culture Of Deception," claims that President Bush and his advisers used propaganda to sell the war in Iraq to the American public.
c. Recent testimony given by Concord Attorney, Paul Twomey, in Congress about the possible connection of the White House with the NH phone jamming scandal. The Alabama Governor Don Siegelman case is another incident currently under investigation. Karl Rove has defied the subpoenas from both Senate and House Judiciary Committees demanding he testify about the White House involvement in these egregious incidents.
3. All Congressional attempts to get information from the Administration have been ineffectual. Only investigations pursuant to impeachment can give the American people the information they need to restore our constitutional checks and balances.
Contact
Rep. Betty Hall
18 Old Milford Road
Brookline, NH 03033
603-672-8712
hallmfg@charter.net
Additional Note (Ed.): With the development of the past few days it is Imperative that we place more pressure on The Judiciary Committee than ever before to broaden the scope of Hearing Actions to include: Yoo, Rove, Addington, McClellan, Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Meiers,Bolten, Tenet, Mueller,Wolfowitz, Fielding and Ashcroft among others.
Support Wexler's initiative and keep the emails and phone calls on a daily basis. A one day blitz is nice but what we need now is a daily deluge. We have never been so close as we are at this moment.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Begin A National Strike September 11, 2008
To Impeach, Indict, Convict
and
Bring This Administration To Justice.
Ray McGovern does not go far enough! Stand Up Walk Out; Shut this Nation Down and BRING THIS ADMINISTRATION DOWN. TAKE BACK THIS NATION. TAKE TO THE STREETS. TAKE THE STREETS. TAKE BACK AMERICA!
So what is the answer?
First I would encourage everyone to go to
www.pledgetoimpeach.org and contact Anthony at Admin@pledgetoimpeach.org
and offer your support for a true National (not symbolic) STRIKE! And then after making a commitment here, wrap your mind around the totality of what it is going to take to organize and produce a true National Strike. In the end; like "It's the economy Stupid." it will in the style of a Chavez , be: "It's the pocket book stupid!"
(1) Prepare and execute a Genuine National Strike.
(2) Stay on top of the House Judiciary Committee for Impeachment and administration personnel hearings and investigations.
http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-judiciary-committee-stupid.html
http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/impeach-bush-cheneythe-pelosi-page.html
(3) Seize every local opportunity to make your point, and
(4) don’t be polite. Elected officials are either going to do their jobs or they are going to be out of jobs.
(5) Prepare to demand action from both the Republican and Democratic Conventions in the Streets of Denver and Minneapolis.
(6) Move this Issue to the point where No Candidate for office, President, House Member or Senator can escape it at any meeting or any Public Debate.
(7) Be prepared to picket and protest at Media outlet Corporate Offices.
(8) Make the Issue…THE NEWS! STRIKE AND STAY OUT UNTIL THEY ARE OUT!
If you don’t want a traditional Revolution; then for the Sake of everything we believe in and for the sake of this nation;
SHUT THIS NATION DOWN IN A NATIONAL STRIKE THAT CONTINUES UNTIL THIS ADMINISTRATION IS FORCED TO STEP DOWN!
We don’t need a symbolic one-day, easy to ignore STRIKE. We need THE ACTION that brings this nation to a grinding halt with the streets of America filled with the people. not cars as usual rolling down the road to everyday work.
Start now!
You would not know it for the news blackout, but New Yorkers of Rep. Jerrold Nadler's district held a Town Hall/Impeachment Forum last Sunday to encourage Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney.
Panelists included former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, former Reagan Justice Department attorney Bruce Fein, human rights attorney and Harper's commentator Scott Horton, and John Nirenberg, the activist who at the turn of the year walked from Boston to Washington, D.C., in a futile attempt to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on impeachment.
The organizers had asked me to be on the panel, but I had to send regrets and submitted a statement instead (see below). A video of the proceedings will be posted on afterdowningstreet.org.
Taking Stock
In a post mortem the next evening, the organizers reflected on what seemed to be a mixed picture of good and bad news.
On the positive side, Judson Memorial Church was crammed to overflowing with 300 folks. And this, despite the fact that most were already aware that Nadler had announced (late Friday afternoon) that he would be a no-show. He did not even send a representative.
The panelists' remarks were compelling. Blame for inaction on impeachment was laid squarely on our invertebrate Congress. (But ouch, that familiar whining can get a bit tiresome.)
The audience was described as well-educated, nonfringe, and polite.
On the negative side, despite Herculean efforts to interest the "mainstream media," no one showed. And the enthusiasm of those hardy souls trying to spur action on impeachment was dampened by continuing frustration at the obstacles, as politicians like Nadler continue to put political expedience above their sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution.
Tories back in charge
It took some 230 years, but the Tories are back in charge -- I mean the Nadlers, the Conyers, the Pelosis, so bereft of the courage of our forebears to defy a new King George, preferring to let him dis us the people and trash the Constitution. Remember those stirring final words of the Declaration of Independence? "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." We have come a long way. Surely, the Founders are rolling over in their graves.
Many of our forebears were also well-educated and nonfringe; fortunately, they were NOT polite.
Is it not clear, finally, that the time for politeness is over?
(I have made this point repeatedly, and repeatedly folks continue to search for yet another Ghandi-like peaceful way of protesting. It is a waste of time unless you are willing to cause and participate in a NATIONAL STRIKE!)
The time for talking is over. Impeachment proceedings must begin. And no one is going to get that done but us.
The Founders knew that, human nature being what it is, abuses like these were inevitable somewhere down the line. That's why they took such pains to provide an orderly political procedure to enable us to deal promptly and responsibly with such high crimes and misdemeanors. I doubt it ever entered their minds that their successors, for perceived partisan political advantage, would shun that orderly procedure upon which so much now depends.
I mean us. Can we handle the truth? Can we press for our rights as courageously as the Founders? Everything hinges on our answers to these questions.
Sooner or later all freedom loving Americans will realize that the only way to stop those who would bleed our nation dry, dismantle our constitution, and dissolve our national sovereignty is to say I will not work for you, buy from you, fight for you, or die for you, until the criminals are gone from the halls of our government.
(In those words there is an answer!)
A NATIONWIDE STRIKE MUST BEGIN ON THAT DAY AND IT MUST CONTINUE UNTIL THIS NATION IS SO ANGERED TO ACTION THAT IT IS IN NEAR UTTER CHAOS AND THE DEMAND IS HEARD IN THE STREETS TO END THIS ADMINISTRATION IN IMPEACHMENT OR RESIGNATION, AT LEAST.)
Tell the government that we're fed up with lies, war, torture, corruption, & special interest funding our elections & our media.
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error".
U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communication Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442
1) Sign up with your email address HERE in order to get updates,
2) Mark the day on your calendar and plan to be at a protest in your community,
3) Send this URL to all your friends, post it to forums, put it on your personal pages,
4) Be a volunteer activist, ask us how.
5) Take the lead and help organize a protest on 9/11.
Statement
Is Impeachment Necessary to Protect the Constitution?
Town Hall Meeting/Impeachment Forum
March 9, 2008
Congressman Nadler, I am Ray McGovern, born and bred in the Bronx a bit north of your district.
I regret not being able to be with you in person to give my perspective on whether impeachment is necessary to protect the Constitution -- and specifically, whether the manufacturing of false intelligence to "justify" an unprovoked war fits the category of "high crime or misdemeanor."
I was an analyst at the CIA for 27 years after serving as an Army infantry/intelligence officer in the early '60s. You may recall that we first met on June 16, 2005, in the basement of the Capitol, the only room made available to congressman John Conyers to take testimony on the Downing Street Minutes.
The minutes were the official British record of a briefing of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair on July 23, 2002. At that briefing, the chief of British intelligence reported on his discussions with his counterpart in Washington, who told him three days earlier that, President George W. Bush had decided to make war on Iraq and that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
In my testimony in the Capitol that day I drew attention to the words of Vice President Dick Cheney on August 26, 2002 -- words that framed the discussion for the next 45 days during which Congress was deliberately misled into giving the president approval to make war on Iraq.
This is what Cheney said:
"We now know that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Among other sources, we've gotten this from the firsthand testimony of defectors -- including Saddam's own son-in-law."
This was a lie.
Saddam's son-in-law told us just the opposite when he defected in 1995.
You can find it on page 13 of his debriefing report. He said: "All weapons -- biological, chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed."
Cheney continued:
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction ... Many of us are convinced that [Saddam] will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon."
In a memoir published last year, then CIA Director George Tenet complained that Cheney did not follow the usual practice of clearing the speech with the CIA, and that what Cheney said "went well beyond what our analysis could support." Tenet added his "impression" that "the president really wasn't any more aware of what his number two was going to say." Yet, Tenet admits that he did not raise the issue with either the president or vice president. Tenet was all too well aware that the intelligence was being "fixed around the policy."
The power to intimidate
Intimidated by the vice president, Tenet ended up ordering his analysts, my former colleagues, to prepare a National Intelligence Estimate to Cheney's terms of reference -- you remember, the one that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties with al-Qaeda; the NIE that appeared just ten days before Congress voted to give the president the power to make war on Iraq.
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, and who chaired the preparation of Powell's Feb. 5, 2003, speech at the United Nations, was asked about all this when Wilkerson testified before Congress on June 26, 2006.
The question came from Republican Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina: Why was it that a small number of individuals got so much power in the administration that they "had more influence than the professionals?"
Wilkerson gave a three-word answer: "the vice president."
Torture
It is an open secret that Vice President Cheney was, and continues to be the prime mover behind torture. As some will recall, speaking on open radio Cheney called the use of water boarding a "no-brainer."
It was his lawyer, David Addington, who prepared the Jan. 25, 2002, memorandum signed by then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, recommending that the laws against torture could be circumvented.
George Bush applied that advice in his own presidential memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002, launching our country onto "the dark side," as Cheney has put it. That memorandum opened the gaping loophole through which the administration drove the Mack truck of torture.
High crimes? Misdemeanors? Who will argue the point?
The Constitution
Congressman Nadler, articles of impeachment for Dick Cheney have sat in your in-box since last November. You are chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution; you have refused to take action.
As an Army officer I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. You took that same basic oath as a congressman.
With all due respect, let me suggest you have a duty to act on that oath -- and not on some promise you may have made to avoid anything that could be viewed as divisive and thus jeopardize Democratic Party election wins in November.
I hope you will agree that the transcendent value is to protect the Constitution, and for that, impeachment is indeed necessary. Please take the articles of impeachment regarding Dick Cheney out of your in-box and launch the investigation.
Thank you.
Ray McGovern
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
© 2008 Consortium News All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/79761/
A Repost From: 4/29/08 With Some Additional Suggestions
I am not even going to question the assertion that my personal comments as regards the nature and necessity for a National Strike to end the war and bring down this administration in a combination of Indictments and Impeachments, was buried in the post (linked), and that it should be posted separately. I am all to happy to, and quite willing to honor the deluge of requests to do so.
I will also, as suggested, blog roll and have blog rolled, this post through every group and alliance with which I am affiliated. Thank for all the encouragement and compliments. We can do this if we put our minds and bodies to the task.
I have long held that the day of polite protest, the barrage of words, and the relentless petition signings would come to an end as this nation, like an alcoholic, hit the bottom.
The bottom of the bottle is in clear view. I know many do not like to be reminded that not every battle can be won with words and public protest gathering. Those who would resort me with the words of Ghandi, and plead for “peaceful protest” find in me now profound deafness. “The Pen is Mightier than The Sword” is nice altruistic expression that does not account for the reality of the human experience and human nature.
This nation was born in a Revolutionary War fashioned of “The Word and the Sword”! We were once a nation when the unity and solidarity of the voice of the people meant something because it was fortified by the willingness to ACT! When John L. Lewis said: STRIKE! ... The shovels were heard hitting the bottom of the mine pits and grim, determined faced American workers marched to the picket line and there was going to be hell to pay if someone confronted that line.
I dare say anyone reading this would have fool enough to do so to suggest to those workers that, they should be patient and passive. Sam Adams. “The Grand Incendiary”, Father of the Revolution was no pacifist, not Henry and not Jefferson who declared that:
“Every generation needs a new revolution”; “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
“Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”,
“"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." --Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776.’
“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
and “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government”.
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." --Thomas Jefferson—
We are again at the point in our history where a paradigm shift is demanded to merely preserve the foundation of the nation, that is; we are on the verge of revolution, the only question remaining to be answered is whether it shall take the form of blood, fire and steel in the streets or massive upheaval in such a way as this government cannot continue to function in the corrupt fashion of the moment, a massive upheaval that demands that criminally guilty be driven from, resign from power and or to be prosecuted by every applicable law of this land and international law.
Let us assume that you wish the transformation to be accomplished without massive violence and conflagration. Your answer is a national strike of such proportions that this administration cannot survive nor its supporters and collaborators.
What is be offered. Proposed for May 1 is indeed only the first step to such an action. All other avenues have failed and while I will not suggest that anyone abandon their personal and local efforts it is time for a serious change in direction.
It is time to call together the leaders of all activist organizations: peace, impeachment and immigration, all American Labor Unions in marshalling a comprehensive national strike on heretofore unheard of proportions. Failure to do so and to execute such an approach will leave no other course of action but that thought of a traditional revolutionary approach.
The ports and harbors must be closed. Trucks must be parked, there rotor removed blocking thorough fares and bridges across the land. Railroad traffic must cease. Unions must strike and workers disbursed to other meaningful tasks of shutting the nation down. The streets must be filled with the masses so traffic and commerce cannot flow. Those who are now working should surround the offices of every major media outlet in America so that cannot ignore the people. The management and workers of those “institutions” should have to attempt to wade through a sea of humanity to get to their desks and microphones, and they will try as they have the consciences of scabs and the integrity of Judas.
The police powers should be reminded that they are Americans first before they are the Blue Line of puppets, and if they insist on macho enforcement of silly proportions they can expect that they will never see another voter levy to support their salaries for the next twenty years at least. Yes, that is a call to leave their posts and join the masses!
Mall parking lots should be empty, stores, hotels and theaters empty and silent. The teachers of America, public private and collegiate should leave their classrooms and students should join with adults in the demand to restore this land to the people.
The Halls of the Senate and House should bulge with Americans swarming into elected leaders offices delivering a few simple messages. The message: “Shut up and bring our men and women home from the Middle East; plan and execute now…no more talk and excuses about staying another 20, 50 or 100 years until we are satisfied and they are pacified. That is an illusion, a delusion, a lie and a formula for raging terrorism and warfare that must end in a nuclear confrontation sooner or later, a formula for insanity.
They should get the message that if they are not going to abide by and uphold and enforce The Constitution and International Law by bring Bush, Cheney and all other guilty parties to justice, that they will never see another red cent in campaign contribution and will never enjoy your vote again because they will be removed from office. Say it; mean it; do it. Finish them off. Bring the work of the House and Senate to a stop until they are ready to Impeach!
We have seen in recent days that actions in DC which disrupt everyday business and traffic get attention, so swarm on DC and bring it to a standstill. Work to get every Metro employee in every major city to strike. Shut down the trains and buses. Enlist taxi drivers to strike. Get to the pilot’s union and airline employees union and get them to strike. Silence the air, silence the roads, silence the rail lines…shut it all down.
While you’re not working swarm on the nearest defense contractor’s office and manufacturing sites; Blockade them. If you have a major store Wal-Mart, Penny’s, Sears. K Mart, Target whatever… that attempts to stay open swarm pickets on and block the parking lots….shut them down.
Shut everything down beginning September 11, 2008. You can be peaceful, loud and forceful. All you have to do is be in the streets with everyone else.
Can America stand up to being shut down for a week or two weeks? NO!
Don’t go to professional sports arenas or stadiums. Leave them empty. Swarm outside the buildings and stadiums in protest, but don’t give them a dollar.
Target offender and defenders of this administration and overload their email systems and phone switch boards.
Resistance, Rebellion, Revolt and ………….. There Is Nothing As Powerful As An Idea Whose Time Has Come.
