Impeachment

Goodbye Bush! We're glad to see you go!

By Barbara G. Hilton

There were about fifteen of us, including Betty, at the NH Democratic Party headquarters in Concord, NH on Tuesday evening to speak to Betty Hall's Resolution on Impeachment before the three Democratic Party Resolutions Committee members, Alexander Lee, Melanie Leveque and Jane Clemons. We had come, seemingly unexpected, on last-minute notice that this was occurring and we were crowded into a very small, hot and uninspired room, crammed for our benefit with as many ugly-looking, much-used chairs as could fit in front of the rickety table set up for the committee members and around the two huge columns that were spaced in the middle of the room equidistant from all four walls. Most of us had only partial views of the committee. Many of us were sitting on tables or standing overflowing out the door and into the hallway.

By Francis T. Mandanici

Regarding whether President Bush and officials in his Administration committed any crimes, Senator Barack Obama told Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News that he would have his new “Attorney General immediately review the information that’s already there” and if that information showed that “crimes have been committed, they should be investigated” because nobody is “above the law.” Bunch in his article stated that many Americans wondered whether an Obama Administration would seek to prosecute Bush officials for crimes that they may have committed. Senator Obama stated that at the present time “I can’t prejudge [whether Bush officials committed any crimes] because we don’t have access to all the material right now.” The other presidential candidates would probably say the same thing.

Ohio's attorney general faces impeachment

Risking impeachment, Ohio's attorney general Monday refused demands from the governor and other fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual-harassment scandal in his office and an affair with a subordinate.

Gov. Ted Strickland said Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Attorney General Marc Dann right away. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday his chamber — which takes the first step in any impeachment — was already reviewing the process.

A sexual-harassment investigation uncovered an atmosphere in Dann's office rife with inappropriate staff-subordinate relationships, heavy drinking, and harassing and threatening behavior by a supervisor. On Friday, Dann admitted to an extramarital affair.

Iranian minister facing impeachment
By Press TV

A group of Iranian lawmakers have delivered a plan to the parliament for the impeachment of Commerce Minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi.

The parliamentarians cited reasons for impeachment as excessive sugar imports that inflicted heavy losses on domestic farmers and producers, as well as a failure to enforce tariff rates set in the country's budget laws for cellphone, sugar and rice imports over the past two years.

The lawmakers also singled out 'wrong' commercial policies leading to instability in domestic market and rise in prices, as well as a failure to regulate the commodity market as other factors for the impeachment.

An impeachment plan for a minister can be submitted to the parliament if it bears signatures of at least 10 lawmakers.

Mir-Kazemi has to attend a Majlis session within the next 10 days.

By DAVID THOMAS, Northern Star

American politicians are finding new uses for impeachment, according to research by NIU professor David Kyvig.

Kyvig’s research has culminated in a books, “The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture Since 1960,” was published April 28.

Impeachment is the process of indicting a public official for criminal behavior, as outlined in Article Two, Section Four of the Constitution. The House of Representatives votes to impeach, while the Senate tries the individual.

Kyvig said he has found as much impeachment activity from 1960 to the present as the country has from its founding to the 1960s.

“It is a reflection of an increasingly-toxic political scene between not only the political parties, but between Congress and the White House,” Kyvig said, indicating that impeachment is becoming a political tool.

www.wethepeopleimpeach.org

Image from Roll Call, April 29, 2008

To get attention from Congress when phone calls and emails are ignored, seek it on Tuesday mornings when they're at coffee in the House cafeterias and enjoying a leisurely read of Roll Call ("The Newspaper of Capitol Hill Since 1955"). Take out an ad that will make them either sit up or gasp. John Edwards took out a full-page ad in Roll Call when he opened his presidential campaign last year. The ad above used the "stopper" that features former President Richard Nixon, as seen by graphic artist Paul Gottlich.

It was placed by our group—plus a Portland (OR) organization—for Tuesday morning, April 29, when the House had just returned to work. It's part of the joint campaign to encourage 44 pro-impeachment House members to repeat the “Nixon Flooding Plan” by filing separate bills against President Bush and/or Vice President Cheney. Back in 1973, 89 of their predecessors joined forces to oust President Nixon by each filing separate impeachment bills. They knew that one bill with 89 cosponsors might be ignored by the House Speaker and/or the House Judiciary Committee chair. But not 89 separate bills (40 were filed in October alone). Nixon quickly resigned a few days before the HJC voted unanimously to impeach him. He knew both houses were poised to quickly oust him, opening the door to a federal trial and possible long imprisonment for high crimes and misdemeanors.

The two groups gambled they could raise enough money to defray the ad's cost ($3,715). They’re still open for contributions if you want to be part of this landmark lobbying effort. (SEE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW.)

The day after the ad appeared (April 30), DC members of CodePink hand-delivered tearsheets of it to those 44 targeted House members.

The next action in the Nixon Flooding Plan will be to point out to those 44 House members that Bush can be impeached on a single charge of bribery (Art. II, Sect. 4) which he just secretly committed in the subprime mortgage scandal. He took $29 billion of taxpayer dollars to bribe one investment bank (J P Morgan/Chase) to bail-out a major subprime mortgage loan shark (Bear Stearns). Bush neither asked Congress for permission to "help" Morgan/Chase, nor did he ask for competitive bids. His bribe opened the door to repeated "bail-outs" of other lenders to save four other troubled banks—Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup.

All it takes to oust—is one article of impeachment. And the “Bear Stearns Bribe” could be it. The two groups are now strongly urging activist groups and angry taxpayers to make phone calls, to send emails, etc. to—the 44 House members to each file such a bill. The bribe is on record so any HJC investigation should be brief. Moreover, these members will find taking such action would guarantee re-election in November, considering the overall anger of American voters about Bush and Cheney’s impeachable deeds.

Links to the 44 members, a sample impeachment article on bribery, and a flier on the Bear Stearns scandal are on this website.

If you want to be one of the contributors to the Roll Call ad, use Paypal.com for credit cards/bank transfersto this email address: DemocracyforOregon@gmail.com. Or make checks payable to Democracy for Oregon at 6428 SE 15th Ave, Portland, OR 97202.

For more information, contact: www.wethepeopleimpeach.org
Marcia Meyers, We the People National Coalition for Impeachment
Joan Coates, South Side DFA MeetUp Group of Portland OR

By Kim Carlyle

The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
--The United States Constitution

Human conduct is guided by mutually-accepted rules. Some are implicit and unwritten such as the cultural mores and customs that guide our social interactions. Others are formal and codified such as the bylaws of the garden club or the articles of incorporation for a business.

Without rules to guide human interactions, some activities would end in chaos (imagine a baseball game in which players disregard the Official Baseball Rules) or possible bodily harm and property damage (when a driver ignores the Rules of the Road).

Video.

The Dave Congalton Show - April 23, 2008, in San Luis Obispo, California.

mp3 Podcast.

From http://www.920kvec.com

AUDIO:
Clip 1.
Clip 2.

Here's one of the best radio shows there is: http://www.theurbanjournal.org

Here's the audio clip.

By David Swanson

There is a widespread myth that an impeachment cannot happen in the space of the nine months Bush and Cheney are scheduled to remain in office. But I'm unable to find any past impeachment that took as long as nine months. It's messy comparing one impeachment to another, as they are complicated and varying processes. But a few things are clear: most impeachment efforts achieve important results quickly, without actually achieving impeachment (think Elliot Spitzer or Alberto Gonzales); it is not uncommon for impeachment efforts to begin later in an administration than where we are now (think Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman); while preliminary investigations of the sort that have been done on Bush and Cheney for the past year and a half can be dragged out for months, impeachments tend not to last long; and while Senate trials can be delayed and dragged out for many months, impeachments in the House tend to be short-lived events.

...of the Governor of Illinois. It worked well on the Governor of New York after the NSA tapped his phone and the FBI devoted a squad of goons to tracking his sexual interests. Anyone care to start a betting pool on how long a President Obama would go without a major GOP push to impeach him? (Needless to say it'd be even faster for a President Clinton but I refuse to join in the pretense that she hasn't lost the nomination.)

By Cynthia Papermaster

CodePink presented a Town Hall the Peoples' Email Network called "The Biggest Progressive Event of the Year." So are peace and impeachment possible? The answer is "yes, no doubt about it". The goal was to mobilize the audience, mainly anti-war activists, to take action because it's up to us to make impeachment happen. The beautiful art-deco Grand Lake Theater was filled with 400 people who listened to peace and impeachment leaders call for impeaching Cheney first! for war crimes, violations of the Constitution, economic crimes and more.

Petition to Commence Impeachment Procedures in the United States Congress

Whereas, the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the people a right to petition the government for a redress of grievances; and,

Whereas, the New Hampshire State Constitution Article 4 provides for "Rights of Conscience"; and,

Whereas, members of the New Hampshire State Legislature and the United States Congress take an oath to support the Constitution; and,

Whereas, the United States Constitution provides a system of checks and balances that is designed to prevent the abuse of power by government and to preserve the power and freedom of the people; and,