"Impeachment Should Be on the Table": Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

~ Ellison at his swearing in ceremony (reuters)


Exclusive for ImpeachforPeace.org by Mikael Rudolph


Four members of ImpeachforPeace.org met with the Honorable Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN 5th) in his Minneapolis offices Saturday morning, April 22nd to discuss the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Early in the meeting, Ellison made clear that his opinion hasn't changed since he introduced a Resolution for the impeachment of President Bush as a Minnesota State Legislator by saying: "Impeachment should be on the table".

In Washington D.C. attending sessions of Congress during the week, Ellison regularly travels home to be with his wife Kim and four children each weekend, taking some time to meet with his constituents as well.



~ from the Ellison Campaign Website

Running a bit late, Ellison explained that he had just gotten a haircut because he "wanted to look good for our meeting", turning his head side to side to show off his barber's work. One member of IFP quipped: "It was well worth the wait".

As everyone settled into their chairs and the laughter subsided, the mood quickly grew more serious as the topic of Ellison's vote for the Veterans’ Health & Iraq War Accountability Supplemental was discussed, which some in the local and national peace movement felt was a betrayal of Ellison's commitment to seeking an immediate end to the Iraq War. A sharply critical letter from an IFP member not present was read and a framed graphic called "The Impeachment Casualty Candle" was set up on the table as a reminder to everyone present of the ultimate price already paid by so many of our troops and the high stakes still facing many American families, not to mention Iraqi families:


~ Graphic courtesy Sgt. Daniel Fearn, "The Impeachment Grunt"

(IFP website reader's responses to his vote on the 'Supplemental' can be found in the comments following this article of March 27th, 2007: War Critic Rep. Ellison (D-MN) Explains 'Yes' Vote on War Funding Supplemental)

Ellison heard the criticism and handled it well, acknowledging and empathizing with the frustrations and anger of those who want the war over and our troops home immediately yet he made it clear that many in the Peace Movement had communicated to him that they understood and supported the strategy of confronting and isolating what even the President's own Intelligence Agencies have identified as failed Iraq policies by passing a bill with a plan to end the war at some point.

Ellison called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who had gathered just enough of a consensus among fellow House Democrats to pass the measure, "a remarkable leader" who is quickly proving herself to be a gifted "cat herder" of the various caucuses in the Democratic Party.

The topic quickly shifted to impeachment, with Rep. Ellison affirming that he is "with the impeachment movement", yet making clear that in order for him to consider supporting impeachment hearings, the charges spoken into the Congressional Record must be strongly grounded in verifiable facts and evidence as well as understood by and backed by the majority of the American people.

Not eager to be assailed by the radical right's bevy of partisan media shills as "the poster child for loonie leftists", Ellison said that the most important thing he and his fellow members of Congress need from constituents is that they "keep the drumbeat up" for impeachment.

Ellison named fellow Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) as "a good friend", saying "we talk every day" during the week in Washington. With Kucinich reputedly poised to introduce Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney this week, Ellison was measured in his commitment to join Kucinich. He made clear that he was supportive of the idea, but not if it only becomes a symbolic gesture. Ellison is only interested in seeing impeachment proceedings actually becoming a reality.

Stressing that he had not yet seen what specific charges Kucinich is intending to bring up against the Vice President, Ellison, formerly a criminal defense attorney, seemed as committed to guaranteeing the habeas corpus for Cheney that the Vice President regularly denies others.

Looking at his blackberry, Ellison said "maybe I'll give Dennis a call this weekend".

Noting that he has an activist's heart, when asked what efforts and strategies in support of impeachment might be most effective, Ellison suggested ... (Read More)

VIDEO-Pro-War Organization Celebrates Torture, Opposes Impeachment

Patriots for Corporate Rights (corporaterights.org) believe they are celebrating America by "standing up against moonbats who dare to dissent and protest torture and the war." They also obviously oppose impeachment.

VIDEO-Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag

ImpeachforPeace.org put together this mock celebration of war, whose real aim is to point out the autrocity of the war in Iraq. It's put to a version of the "Vietnam Song," which was redone by Chumbawamba under the title, "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag." Chumbawamba was kind enough to give IfP permission to use their music in connection with this video. It ends with a call to action for everyone to send in a "Do-It-Yourself Impeachment." It only takes a few minutes, but may help stop this presidency, and this war.

Articles of Impeachment To Be Filed On Cheney

Washington Post -- Looks like he's reached his boiling point.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), the most liberal of the Democratic presidential candidates in the primary field, declared in a letter sent to his Democratic House colleagues this morning that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kucinich has made ending the war in Iraq the central theme of his campaign. He has even taken aim at the leading Democratic presidential candidates in the field for their votes on authorizing the war.


Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to impeach the president, vice president and "all civil Officers of the United States" for "treason, bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." (More)

Kucinich ALSO says he's pursuing impeachment of Bush! Well let's help him out. Sacks and sacks of mail are about to arrive in Dennis Kucinich's office initiating impeachment via the House of Representative's own rules. This legal document is as binding as if a State or if the House itself passed the impeachment resolution (H.R. 635).


Kucinich says he is building his case for impeachment, and is working to build the support of his peers in Congress. He says he intends to impeach. He said he needs us to keep building the groundswell of support for impeachment all over the country. He asks that we send him copies of all the resolutions passed in various States, local Legislative Districts, County Districts and of any petitions with signatures, so that he can present them to the floor of the House. He said he felt that our framing the issue of impeachment in terms of the Constitution is a principled choice, and ultimately more effective than just acting on anger. Here's video of Kucinich addressing the impeachment issue:


Let's answer Kucinich's call with a petition that has it's precedent in history, and it's legitimacy in the Rules of the House of Representatives.

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 Kucinich 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. We're not only having you send them to Dennis now, but also to Impeach for Peace. That way, we can collect them all in one place, and deliver them all simultaneously (with cameras rolling) in July. Be a part of history.

Help Kucinich Impeach Bush

Minneapolis April 28 Impeachment Event - With Canoes

Help us with ImpeachForPeace.org's Minneapolis A-28 event! We will spell out "IMPEACH" with canoes on Saturday morning, April 28th, and again with bedsheets that evening. Be a part of this effort to tell the world that the Twin Cities are serious about impeachment!



To participate in the first event, gather at 10:30 a.m. at the Lake Calhoun Pavilion at 3000 Calhoun Parkway East in Minneapolis. Allow time to find parking. Wear light colored/bright colors to stand out from the lake water. Be on time!

To pay for canoe rental, we’ll need your help. It costs $10 per hour to rent a canoe, and we hope to have two people per canoe. (It may take us as much as two hours, which means the cost may be as much as $10 per person.)

Also, if you know anyone who lives at Lake Place or Lake Calhoun Beach Club Apartments, please contact us! We need to use a lakefront, top floor apartment as a vantage point from which to take a photograph.



Then, that evening, show up at Riverside Park at 7:00 p.m. This is the West side of the Mississippi riverbank, beneath the Route 122 bridge near the UofM Campus.
Here's the Map

We'll need 65 twin bedsheets (preferably white) and as many flashlights as you can carry to form the word "IMPEACH" and underlight the sheets so that they're visible to the jets landing at the airport and the cameras capturing the image.

In order to do this, we’ll need 85 people in the morning and 150 in the evening to commit in advance to these nationally important events! Sign up here:
http://volunteerforchange.org/org/show/547

You won't regret helping to contribute to the restoration of law and the constitution!

Help Kucinich to Impeach Bush

Kucinich says he's pursuing impeachment? Well let's help him out. Sacks and sacks of mail are about to arrive in Dennis Kucinich's office initiating impeachment via the House of Representative's own rules. This legal document is as binding as if a State or if the House itself passed the impeachment resolution (H.R. 635).

Kucinich says he is building his case for impeachment, and is working to build the support of his peers in Congress. He says he intends to impeach. He said he needs us to keep building the groundswell of support for impeachment all over the country. He asks that we send him copies of all the resolutions passed in various States, local Legislative Districts, County Districts and of any petitions with signatures, so that he can present them to the floor of the House. He said he felt that our framing the issue of impeachment in terms of the Constitution is a principled choice, and ultimately more effective than just acting on anger. Here's video of Kucinich addressing the impeachment issue:


Let's answer Kucinich's call with a petition that has it's precedent in history, and it's legitimacy in the Rules of the House of Representatives.

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 Kucinich 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. We're not only having you send them to Dennis now, but also to Impeach for Peace. That way, we can collect them all in one place, and deliver them all simultaneously (with cameras rolling) in July. Be a part of history.

Help Kucinich Impeach Bush

Bush's Impeachable Offenses, Part 5 -- Signing Statements, Freedoms, etc.

The following is the final installment in a series enumerating the impeachable offenses of George W. Bush. That is, until another major impeachable offense becomes known.

ILLEGAL USE OF SIGNING STATEMENTS.

Charge:

George W. Bush has attached signing statements to more than 100 bills before signing them, within which he has made over 1,100 challenges to provisions of laws passed by Congress. This figure exceeds the total number of such challenges by all previous presidents combined, and Bush has used this practice to exempt himself, as President of the United States, from enforcing or from being held accountable to provisions of the said laws. By declining to veto bills, and instead attaching signing statements challenging laws passed by Congress, he has violated Article 1, Section 7 and Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. These articles of the Constitution dictate that the president has the option of signing or vetoing a bill, and upon signing the bill to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

March 20, 2001 - Jan. 12, 2007
Bush issues at least 126 signing statements challenging over 1,149 laws (Christopher Kelley, Ph.D). The exact number of signing statements is unknown as the administration refuses to release this information. Examples of signing statements include:
March 9, 2006: Bush signed the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, which contained requirements for congressional oversight of executive use of the act's powers. In a statement immediately following the signing ceremony, however, it was revealed that Bush "did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers." (Boston Globe, March 24, 2006) Subsequently, by the FBI's own admission they abused this power given to them. "As many as 600 of these violations could be 'cases of serious misconduct' involving the improper use of 'national security letters' to compel telephone companies, banks and credit institutions to produce records." (Washington Post, March 21, 2007)

Dec. 5, 2005 & Jan. 6, 2006: Two Detainee Treatment (Torture) Acts were signed into law accompanied by a signing statement. Part of the signing statement read, ''The executive branch shall construe [the law] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President . . . as Commander in Chief." When asked about the statement, a senior administration official said "the president intended to reserve the right to use harsher methods in special situations involving national security." David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues, said "The signing statement is saying 'I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it's important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me." (Boston Globe, Jan. 4, 2006)

Days after the disaster, Bush looks on.
Oct. 4, 2006: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed a law setting minimum standards for the job of FEMA Director. This was in direct response to the botched job done by Michael Brown, Bush's choice to lead the agency, who had been a politically connected hire with no prior experience in emergency management. The law said the president must nominate someone who has "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and "not less than five years of executive leadership." At the signing ceremony, Bush signed the bill without any hint of objection, but included a signing statement saying the law "purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office. The executive branch shall construe section 503(c)(2) in a manner consistent with the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. " (Boston Globe, Oct. 6, 2006)
Two senator's responded to Bush's signing statement in a letter, "We were dismayed ... by the `signing statement' in which you express your intention to disregard provisions in the law intended to protect against further mistakes such as those that plagued the 2005 hurricane response." (Boston Globe, Oct. 12, 2006)

READ MORE ...

Graduate Student to Walk from Chicago to D.C. Calling for Peace Through Impeachment of Bush & Cheney

Mikael Rudolph - ImpeachforPeace.org
April 2nd, 2007


Mario Penalver, a graduate student in the Humanities Program at the University of Chicago, is walking the seven hundred miles from Chicago, Illinois to Washington D.C. to demand an end to the Iraq War and in protest of the impending attack on Iran. Penalver calls for this to be done through the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney as the chief architects of these acts of aggression in violation of international treaties and for other crimes, misdemeanors and abuses of office.

In an e-mail to World Can't Wait and Impeach for Peace last week, Peñalver said:

"There must be some basic understanding amongst us, as organizers, as leaders of impeachment, as to why all our actions must face the doors of the White House. I could state that understanding in my own words. But I would rather begin with the words of one far greater than I, one whose method has proven itself in the history of civil rights. "I'm here," Martin Luther Kind said from a Birmingham jail, "because injustice is here."
 
Marching to DC is the pinnacle of our efforts because that is where our voices have stopped. Our efforts, in protest - in letter-writing campaigns, in our optimism at the polls - have stopped at the doors of the White House, in which stands one man with his ears covered and his mind set on defiance of the national conscience. How can we continue in our local processes, when those processes, in and of themselves, find no resolve where they matter most?"

Peñalver has committed to embark on his quest on Thursday, June 21st and arrive in our nation's capital by Friday, September 21st.

In accordance with an idea from impeachment activist Sgt. Daniel Fearn through ImpeachforPeace.org, Mr. Peñalver will be carrying with him a small rock, which he will place in a location to be determined near the White House - possibly in the Constitutional Gardens as a memorial to the Constitution of the United States. It is Peñalver's assertion that the Constitution - the citizen rights of which were suspended by Patriot Acts I & II and the Military Commissions Act - is dead. Anyone wishing to meet Mario Peñalver in Washington D.C. and lay a stone with his on September 21st is invited and encouraged to do so.

One stone is insignificant. Piles of stones, or cairns, historically indicate important locations established at critical times. If a hundred people join him, it will be a pile. If a hundred thousand add their rock, a monumental mound will be established.



Anyone wishing to host Mr. Peñalver along the way, providing him with lodging, food, water and other necessities or to arrange for a press conference or speaking engagement along the route can contact ImpeachforPeace.org at: minneapolis@ImpeachforPeace.org

Here is a rough travel route, subject to change as speaking engagements are arranged: March People Mario

Travel progress updates of Mario Peñalver's pilgrimage will be available online at March People Path.

Mario Peñalver's personal statement:

WHY WASHINGTON?

While faced with the threat of unparalleled destruction and the onslaught of a second war, our efforts against the Bush administration require more than failed attempts and variations of the same old thing. So far, four years later, our demands for the war’s end have gone unheeded. Four years have past, and still, our demands for the war’s end have gone unheeded.

There must be some basic understanding amongst us, as organizers, as leaders of impeachment, as to why all our actions must face the doors of the White House. We could state that understanding in our own words, but we would rather begin with the words of one far greater than us. "I'm here," Martin Luther King wrote from a Birmingham jail, "because injustice is here."

Marching to DC is the pinnacle of our efforts because that is where our voices have stopped. Our efforts—in protest, in letter-writing campaigns, in our optimism at the polls—have stopped at the doors of the White House, in which stands the only man between us, and troop withdrawal. How can we continue in our local processes when those processes, in and of them selves, find no resolve where they matter most?

Part of the answer is in the question. We must understand as organizations, from those dealing with domestic violence to those fighting drug use in our urban slums, from those defending public schools to those fighting global warming, that all of these fights are fights against a common foe. A ramshackle school, is a vote against Bush. A victim of domestic violence or drug abuse, is a vote against Bush. A melted glacier and a flooded city, are a vote against Bush. Another dead soldier, another country fallen, another occupied city, are votes against Bush.

More importantly (and to answer the other half of the question), when we realize that it is a common foe in the way of our separate ends, we cannot also continue in our actions if these actions show little positive effect on the problem. We have a tumor in our Body. It’s lied, it’s stolen, it’s avoided the subject, it’s ducked our demands, it is hidden from accountability… It’s fighting and fighting and killing and killing, and it won’t stop, until surgeons come—with precision and diligence—to open the body, and remove it.

Tumors don’t respond when you ask them to. They don’t stop when you demand it. They don’t respond kindly to words. You can hope, pray, write a letter, make a statement, list your demands, sign a petition, wave a flag, spell your name in the sand. But these are not the jobs of surgeons.

We are surgeons, the same surgeons who stood in the streets of Birmingham when its black churches were on fire. The same surgeons who stood in a phalanx before the British army and demanded “India for the Indians.” The same surgeons who stood in the ancient Temple of Jerusalem and refused to obey the self-righteous demands of the Pharisees. We are surgeons whose only faculty is to face the root of injustice that plagues our every corner of the nation. It cannot be fought and dealt with when we remain in the periphery of symptom. We are destined to face the source of symptom, and so our every effort, our every occupation, must face that source until it is uprooted and removed.

That is why we must leave behind our fractured interests for the sake of a common foe. That is why we must go to Washington. Not a single act of ours outside that end will ever lead to victory so long as it remains outside.

We, organizers of the national “March of the People,” believe our president is still in office because he knows some how that his opponents will not succeed in the task of unity. Some how, we think he’d wager money on the fact that liberal (or so-called “liberal”) America will remain as it always has been since the early days of the Iraq War: inconsistent, disconnected, and indecisive. While its surgeons remain fractured in their means and ends, busy fighting weeds and rarely pulling roots, our tumor grows, until one day when there is nothing left to take.

Some believe the issue of the president is different from other issues. We’ve been told that we need to look towards other interests besides the removal of our president. As the argument goes, we are faced with one of many problems in the fight of injustice, so why choose this one, over, say, financial disparities, homophobia, or a fight against cancer. We, students have degrees to finish: What about those?

But avoiding our common effort to redirect the billions spent in waging Bush’s war, we avoid the common fact that if billions were NOT spent on that war, we could afford support for the poor, a fight against hate-crimes, better research for cancer. And as for our degrees, we could finally afford them. In 2003 the military budget for this country was over $355 billion dollars. Today that budget will reach 482. Now forgive us when we say that the Bush policy of “more money, more guns” is a policy that also tells us something else: what Bush thinks of domestic violence victims, cancer research, or our fights for urban renewal.

You know what we think Bush is saying when he spends nearly half a trillion dollars on the military? We think he’s telling us exactly where we can put that degree of ours.

It is impossible for us to see any injustice in our country and not see the face of incompetence and deceit in the highest seat of office. This is the connection that is made when we walk to the Capital. By walking there, we pass through the ruins of infection left by the man who disregards his people. It is high time we banded together, to remind our president that no person, even the president, is beyond the Voice of the People.

As organizers of the longest march in American history, we recognize that there are those who will be unable to join a march of such time and distance, whether for financial reasons, or due to physical limitations of any kind. To those who must stay at home, we ask for their participation in a national strike, a means by which they can join in camaraderie with their fellow protesters and force upon our leaders the Voice of the People, a voice long forgotten since the beginning of the Iraq War. It is also an effective means by which we can put a non-violent pressure on the man standing between us and peace.

We are here, above all else, to end the bloodshed and the disillusionment of the political system. When it so happens that standing between us and that goal is one man, we as organizers feel obligated to do everything in our power to remove that one man. All else, we say, is just detail.

~ Mario Peñalver