It only takes a moment to help convince Nancy Pelosi to Impeach Bush/Cheney..
Pelosi most likely said impeachment was "off the table" to remove any appearance of conflict-of-interest that would arise if she were thrust into the presidency as a result of the coming impeachment.
What we need to do is to pressure Pelosi not to interfere with impeachment maneuverings within her party. Sending her Do-It-Yourself impeachments legitimizes her when she is forced to join the impeachment movement in the future.
Sacks and sacks of mail are about to arrive in Nancy Pelosi's office initiating impeachment via the House of Representative's own rules this Monday January 15th. This legal document is as binding as if a State or if the House itself passed the impeachment resolution (H.R. 635).
There's a little known and rarely used clause of the "Jefferson Manual" in the rules for the House of Representatives which sets forth the various ways in which a president can be impeached. Only the House Judiciary Committee puts together the Articles of Impeachment, but before that happens, someone has to initiate the process.That's where we come in. In addition to a House Resolution (635), or the State-by-State method, one of the ways to get impeachment going is for individual citizens like you and me to submit a memorial. ImpeachforPeace.org has created a new memorial based on one which was successful in impeaching a federal official in the past. You can find it on their website as a PDF.
You can initiate the impeachment process and simultaneously help to convince Pelosi to follow through with the process. Do-It-Yourself by downloading the memorial, filling in the relevant information (your name, state, etc.), and sending it in. Be a part of history.
http://ImpeachForPeace.org/ImpeachNow.html
9 comments:
Causal,thanks for stopping by and explaining the impeachment process (and Pelosi's situation) so clearly in the comment on my blog. I think I'll link to some of your posts to hopefully add to the momentum of this endeavour..
thanks
Ingrid
Causal
Thanks for the heads up. I will link to this information and pass it on. I plan on getting involved in this one. Excellent information on the impeachment process BTW.
good thoughts good words good deeds
G:
Impeachment of President Bush
As President, George W. Bush has committed acts that violate both statutory and constitutional law. As I have stated in an earlier post, it is necessary that presidents be held accountable when they break the law. So how should Bush be held accountable?
Well, he should be IMPEACHED AND SUBSEQUENTLY REMOVED FROM OFFICE.
Crimes committed by Bush:
Warrantless Wiretapping
In my view, this is Bush’s gravest offense. By authorizing warrantless wiretapping, he has broken FISA and violated the constitution. Not only has he broken the law, but he doesn’t even have a good reason for doing it.
Let me provide some background into the controversy.
In 1978, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which prescribes the procedure by which the government can surveil Americans who are communicating with parties in other countries. The act set up a special, secret court from which the government must receive a warrant in order to eavesdrop on Americans engaged in international communications, e.g., telephone calls, e-mails. In order for the court to grant a warrant, the government must show probable cause that the target of surveillance is a danger. The FISA Court rarely rejects applications for warrants. In fact, it has only rejected five applications out of nearly twenty-thousand applications since the courts founding and has only modified around two-hundred. Also, under exigent circumstances, the government can conduct emergency surveillance and seek a warrant after the fact.
Despite the fact that it rather liberally grants warrants, Bush has chosen to ignore the court. He has illegally wiretapped Americans without any kind of judicial oversight. This violates FISA and the 4th amendment to the Constitution. Bush claims that he is exercising self-restraint in his warrantless wiretapping. He says that he is careful not to violate civil liberties. But why should we trust him?
We shouldn’t trust him. That is why we have a system of separation of powers, and Bush has breeched that separation.
Signing Statements
When Congress passes a bill, the president may either sign the bill into law, veto the bill or let the bill expire without signing it (which is effectively vetoing it). He may not sign a bill into law and ignore certain parts of the bill. This is called the line-item veto and has been found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Despite this, Bush has been engaged in selectively ignoring certain provisions of bills.
Bush has used this self-granted power to expand executive authority. By altering bills, and selectively ignoring provisions, the President has taken on a legislative role. This is a clear violation since, as we know, legislative authority belongs solely to congress.
Some examples:
By using signing statements, the president has granted himself the authority to open Americans’ mail without judicial oversight despite laws to the contrary, and he has granted himself the right to authorize the use of torture, despite laws to the contrary.
Misled the Country into the War in Iraq
You can’t really impeach a president for lying, but you can if the president willfully misleads Congress into voting for his proposal under false pretenses. I’m talking about the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution.
The Bush Administration was interested in invading Iraq well before 9/11. Former members of the Bush Administration have admitted to this. In fact, many current and former members of Bush’s administration wrote a letter to Bill Clinton in the 90s, as part of the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative think tank, advising him to pre-emptively invade Iraq and topple Saddam’s regimes.
It is clear that the Bush Administration’s desire to invade Iraq was part of a geopolitical vision, not because they considered Iraq to be a threat; however, they tried to garner support by asserting that Saddam's regime was a danger to the United States. They cherry-picked the intelligence to support their now disproven claims that Iraq had ties to Al Qaida and possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Administration went so far as suppressing, threatening and even punishing members of the intelligence community who disagreed with their assertions, e.g. the outing of Valerie Plame.
Conclusion
I should state that I do believe that Bush acts with the best interests of the nation at heart. When he breaks the law, he does so because he believes it is good for America. However good-intentioned, this is unacceptable. This “ends-justify-the-means” thinking is antithetical to the American tradition of government. We can’t give the president (both current and future) this extensive authority for he might be wrong in his judgments, or worse, he might be ill in his intentions.
Impeaching Bush and removing him from office will set an important precedent, that indeed there are consequences for Presidents when they break the law. It will cement an important principle that contributed to the great success of our nation: The Rule of Law. It is essential to our future success that we hold our leaders accountable. We ought not to abandon this sacred principle that has done so well for us over the course of our history.
I see that you stopped by my blog, the SRV. I linked to your post on my blog.
I am all for having Bush arrested and facing trial, impeach him too ...
If you do a word search on Steven G. Erickson you'll know why I am so disappointed with Bush beyond the obvious.
How about a nationwide impeachment march on Washington?
Check out March to Impeach.
Pelosi's been a mixed bag so far, but I'm hopeful. If nothing else, it's nice to have someone cunning enough to match the Roves of the world in that position.
I just saw this, puts the impeachment issue in a hilarious light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-FcX0tVf7E
Make it rain subpoenas...
Freaks.
Thanks for the info, Casual. Count me in!
I urge you and your readers to take a few minutes and examine:
http://www.usalone.com/cgi-bin/transparency.cgi?paper=1&qnum=pet45
It's a list of the 25 most recent comments made by real Americans participating in an online poll/letter-writing campaign concerning the impeachment charges recently filed against Vice President Cheney, which are now being evaluated by the House Judiciary Committee. Comments can be sent to elected representatives and local newspapers at your option. The participation page is at:
http://www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment.php
Since this campaign began, three members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors, in part due to hearing from their constituents. Make your voice heard!
Post a Comment