The Impeachment Hearing Room

The Final Abuse Of Power, The Planned Bush Self-Pardon: The Cyber Headline That Just Won’t Go Away Today!

There is no reason not to press Conyers, The Judiciary Committee and your Congress person to move on Impeachment now that the elections are over.  There is no reason not to convey them that if they don’t Civil Persecution, pardons notwithstanding, are available to   the citizenry at a state level, and the march to The Hague is very much on the minds and in planning stages with the most avid advocates of justice.  Failure to act on the part of Congress will not absolve them from their guilt and nonfeasance. And it will not free them from events down the road.   

IT IS UP TO US TO CONTINUE TO PURSUE EVERY AVENUE AVAILABLE TO US!

High Court May Consider Legality of Detention

By Jerry Markon

Washington Post Staff Writer 
Sunday, November 9, 2008; Page A02.

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri was close to going on trial for fraud when prosecutors marched into an Illinois courtroom with a demand. Dismiss the charges, they said, because President Bush had just designated the defendant an enemy combatant.

Marri's attorneys protested, but U.S. Attorney Jan Paul Miller declared that the military had already taken custody of the Qatari national, now deemed an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. "There is no longer a judicial proceeding before this court," he said.

With that, Marri was whisked to a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., where he has spent more than five years. His case raises a question with vast implications for presidential power and civil liberties: Can the military indefinitely detain, without charge, a U.S. citizen or legal resident seized on U.S. soil?

The Supreme Court is now being asked to consider the legality of Marri's detention, which is one of the broadest and most controversial assertions of executive authority since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Marri's attorneys want the court to overturn an appellate ruling that backed the administration. The final brief is due Monday, and the justices are expected to decide soon whether to take the case….

Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda

WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeldsigned in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States…

Sarah Palin Blamed by the US Secret Service Over Death Threats Against Barack Obama

Saturday 08 November 2008

by: Tim Shipman, The Telegraph UK

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

The revelations, contained in a Newsweek history of the campaign, are likely to further damage Mrs Palin's credentials as a future presidential candidate. She is already a frontrunner, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to take on Mr. Obama in four years time.

November 10, 2008: Rep. Conyers Promises Post-election Impeachment Hearing

Conyers: Obama's More Important Than Justice, Impeach Later

Filed under: Impeachment Progress News — Jodin Morey @ 8:58 am

By Josiah Ryan, CNSNews.com [CNSNews has since removed the article] – At a gathering of liberal activists in Washington on Tuesday, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) was asked if he would commit to holding the Bush administration accountable once a Democrat is in the White House and illegal acts have been pinned on President Bush.

"Yes, you have my word on that," Conyers replied. He then shook the questioner's hand as a sign of his commitment.

Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told an audience at the liberal Take Back America Conference that he is wrestling with the idea of beginning impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but he believes that such an effort might hamper Sen. Barack Obama's chance of winning the presidency.

However, Conyers guaranteed his liberal audience that he will pursue legal action against Bush after the November elections.

"There are those who said, if you elect Democrats to Congress, we will guarantee you two things: Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) will become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and he will raises taxes; and Conyers will become chairman of the Judiciary and he will impeach President George W. Bush," Conyers said. "You want to make them half right?"

The audience replied with thirty seconds of hearty applause. Conyers was speaking at a panel discussion entitled "The Republic Against the Rogue Presidency."

"A dear friend, this [impeachment] is a decision I am struggling with, and I want to share it here. Do I want to jeopardize the election by taking up this issue?" Conyers asked. "The problem is, this could become the issue of the 2008 election. This brilliant, talented Senator (Obama), who has more delegates and more votes than anybody else, could get derailed."

When Cybercast News Service asked Conyers to clarify the statement, he said, "I am afraid they would raise it in the campaign, and that they will use it against us, and that we would end up getting McCain. I would regret that for the rest of my life," he said. "That's the only reason. That would be my fear."

But Conyers told Cybercast News Service this does not mean the Bush administration will not be held accountable. "We can win this election and go get these guys afterwards. But we just don't want to jeopardize November 4th," he said.

Different panelists offered perspectives on why they think President Bush deserves to be brought before a court.

David Cole, a law professor at Yale University and a legal correspondent for The Nation magazine, said Bush's refusal to yield to the constitutional system of checks and balances is one of his biggest crimes.

President Bush has decided he has "unilateral, uncheckable power with respect to the enemy," Cole said. "The only checks and balances this president believes in is check and balances within the White House," he added.

Conyers has his own list of complaints against the Bush administration. "You get cocky, you get arrogant and you think you can do anything. And frequently you will try to do anything," he said.

Conyers told the crowd there is one scenario that could trigger immediate impeachment proceedings against the president: "If Bush goes into Iran he should be impeached," Conyers said, noting that "many members of Congress" have signed their names to a letter warning Bush not to invade Iran.

The fifth annual Take Back America Conference includes forums that allow liberals to discuss important issues, including how to recover from the "ashes of this conservative era," as the Web site put it.

Conyers is one of the Bush administration's chief antagonists in Congress, opposing the president on almost every issue, including the Iraq war, health care, terrorist surveillance, and other issues.

Just last week, his Judiciary Committee took the rare step of filing a civil lawsuit against former White House aides Joshua Bolten and Harriet Miers for failing to obey a committee subpoena. Conyers wants to force the two to testify about the firings of nine federal prosecutors in 2006.

The House cited Bolten and Miers for contempt of Congress last month….

Write  and/or Call Congressman Conyers and Encourage Him To Keep His Word!

Rep. John Conyers
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov
Website
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax

AfterDowningStreet.org | Convict Bush and Cheney!
While listeners said that a Wall Street Journal editor spoke up for prosecuting Bush and Cheney on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR recently, the transcript ...

Holding murderers accountable: The case against Bush, Cheney et al.

Preemptive Impeachment to Prevent Pardons!
By Chip 
All of the "politically pragmatic" excuses for NOT Impeaching George and the boys are now....off the table! There is now no excuse for excusing their crimes. But... As always when there has been some sort of trauma...and we have had ...
AfterDowningStreet.org - Convict... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

Now It's Time To Clean Up The Mess Left Behind. The First Thing To ...
OpEdNews - Newtown,PA,USA
It's time to impeach both Bush and Cheney now and seat Obama and Biden to get on with fixing things before Bush can do any more damage. ...

Protesters ‘willing to risk jail’ to urge Bush, Cheney indictment
By Whisleblower(Whisleblower) 
The group has worked closely with Code Pink, Iraq Veterans Against the War and others to protest US involvement in Iraq and urge President Bush’s impeachment at myriad demonstrations over the last several years. ...Tipping points - http://blog-Reporter.blogspot.com/

Final Shot at Impeaching the Criminals: Will Bush Pardon Himself?

By admin 

immediate impeachment of both Bush and Cheney for what is already known. At the very least the defiance of congressional subpoenas at the behest of the White House is an open and shut case for accountability now. ... StarrTrek - http://owstarr.com/

The New Trough

The Wall Street bailout looks a lot like Iraq — a "free-fraud zone" where private contractors cash in on the mess they helped create

NAOMI KLEIN Posted Nov 13, 2008 12:00 AM

A Justice Department inquiry into secret eavesdropping is on again

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has reopened an inquiry into the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program after its investigators received security clearances that President Bush once blocked.

Tuesday's acknowledgement of the probe by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility came days after retired federal judge Michael Mukasey was sworn in as attorney general.

H. Marshall Jarrett, counsel for the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, announced that he was investigating Justice Department lawyers' roles in the "authorization and oversight" of the surveillance. Investigators also would determine whether department lawyers complied with laws that require court authorization for eavesdropping, Jarrett said in a letter to U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey.

Hinchey, a New York Democrat who demanded a probe in January 2006, called the development "very positive."

"I'm encouraged by the way in which the attorney general's office is now beginning to operate," he said.

White House and Justice Department officials said they couldn't comment on the timing of the latest probe or on why investigators were granted security clearances that Bush had denied.

Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the National Security Agency, which conducts high-tech spying, began wiretapping Americans' international phone calls, e-mails and other electronic communications without court authorization when at least one party was suspected of supporting or engaging in terrorist activities.

The disclosure of the program by The New York Times in 2005 provoked an outcry from civil liberties groups and members of Congress, including some Republicans. At the time, administration officials asserted that the president had the power to authorize eavesdropping without court oversight.

Beating a retreat last January, the Bush administration disclosed that it had obtained approval for its domestic surveillance program from a special national security court and no longer would resort to warrantless wiretaps. It's unclear whether the secret court has set up a special program that gives broad authority for wiretaps or requires the administration to seek individual warrants.

Hinchey called the Office of Professional Responsibility investigation "very important," although it won't be looking into larger questions of the program's constitutionality.

In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the latest inquiry would focus on whether lawyers "complied with their ethical obligations of providing competent legal advice to their client and of adhering to their duty of candor to the court." He declined to elaborate.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is the second agency to investigate the program. Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine announced a separate probe in November 2006, saying he'd look into whether the program complied with government procedures.

Fine's investigation is continuing, and Hinchey said he's been told it that will be completed by the end of this year or early next year. A spokeswoman for Fine said she couldn't comment.

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding

WASHINGTON—Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called "water-boarding," which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said at one point in an interview.

Cheney's comments, in a White House interview on Tuesday with a conservative radio talk show host, appeared to reflect the Bush administration's view that the president has the constitutional power to do whatever he deems necessary to fight terrorism.

The U.S. Army, senior Republican lawmakers, human rights experts and many experts on the laws of war, however, consider water-boarding cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that's banned by U.S. law and by international treaties that prohibit torture. Some intelligence professionals argue that it often provides false or misleading information because many subjects will tell their interrogators what they think they want to hear to make the water-boarding stop.

Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have said that a law Bush signed last month prohibits water-boarding. The three are the sponsors of the Military Commissions Act, which authorized the administration to continue its interrogations of enemy combatants.

Graham, a military lawyer who serves in the Air Force Reserve, reaffirmed that view in an interview last week with McClatchy Newspapers….

Is the GOP Looking to Newt Gingrich?

Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly at 4:10 PM on November 8, 2008.

After Tuesday's embarrassing rout, Republicans need a Moses to lead them out of the political wilderness.

2012  SPECULATION? ALREADY? ... As far as I can tell, there was very little positioning among Republicans for the next presidential race for about 48 hours after Barack Obama became the president-elect. But with only 1,460 or so shopping days until Election Day 2012, that apparently didn't last long.

Mitt Romney is off on a Caribbean cruise with influential conservative leaders. Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee are stepping up to help Sen. Saxby Chambliss' runoff campaign in Georgia. Huckabee is poised to kick off a national book tour ... in Iowa.

And then there's Bob Novak, fresh off his bizarre argument that Obama lacks a mandate, promoting his new favorite as the Republicans' future leader.

In serious conversations among Republicans since their election debacle Tuesday, what name is mentioned most often as the Moses, or Reagan, who could lead them out of the wilderness before 40 years?

To the consternation of many Republicans, it is none other than Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House.

Gingrich is far from a unanimous or even a consensus choice to run for president in 2012, but there is a strong feeling in Republican ranks that he is the only leader of their party who has shown the skill and energy to attempt a comeback quickly.

Even one of his strongest supporters for president in 2012 admits it is a "very risky choice." But Republicans are in a desperate mood after the fiasco of John McCain's seemingly safe candidacy.

Gingrich, of course, distinguished himself as a giant of the 2008 presidential campaign, arguing that "Saturday Night Live" should be sued for its skits about Palin, and laughing like a school-boy about the notion of improving fuel efficiency with properly inflated tires.

But Gingrich's ridiculousness notwithstanding, it's interesting how Republicans like Novak continue to look backwards. While Democrats chose a new, forward-thinking leader for the 21st century, Novak is arguing that the Republican Party needs to look to a failed former Speaker who made his mark in 1995, before becoming widely loathed by the electorate, and ultimately forced from office by his own Republican colleagues.

The GOP's Moses? I don't think so.

And Yes There Is This To Think About!

Palin Faces Rough Road To Stevens' Senate Seat
By John O'Hara, AlterNet
After Sen. Frank Murkowski's engineered his daughter's path to the Senate, Alaskans have limited a governor's appointment powers. Read more

Wouldn’t She Just Love To Pull This OFF!