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keane
Joined: 09 Jul 2007
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 Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:54 am Post subject: Impeachment: Back on the Table |
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Impeachment: If not now, when?
Lawmakers need to stand up for the Constitution and support impeachment
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By LINDA BOYD
GUEST COLUMNIST
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| 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. -- Article II, Section 4 |
On Nov. 6, Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney on the floor of the House of Representatives. For one shining moment the will of the majority of Americans and the promise of this nation's founders were truly represented.
The detailed charges were solemnly read from the House podium... Pelosi was defied by 85 Democratic members who voted against tabling the impeachment resolution. This includes John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and six committee members. The resolution was quickly voted back to the Judiciary Committee, where it is not resting quietly.
Judiciary Committee member Bob Wexler wrote, "The American people are served well with a legitimate and thorough impeachment inquiry. I will urge the Judiciary Committee to schedule impeachment hearings immediately and not let this issue languish as it has over the last six months. Only through hearings can we begin to correct the abuses of Dick Cheney and the Bush administration."
Impeachment is squarely on the table, and momentum is building. A year ago, almost no elected official breathed the word impeachment. Now impeachment has hit the House floor, and our electeds have gone on record. Millions of Americans are demanding an end to executive abuse of power.
After six years of state of emergency, the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, continual war and occupations, our Constitution is deeply in crisis. Americans are in danger of losing our system of government and civil rights if they do not roll back the Bush administration's assault on the rule of law.
Allowing Cheney and George W. Bush to finish their terms without being impeached means future presidents are free to copy their lawless behavior...
Polls show that 74 percent of Democrats and the majority of American adults support impeaching Cheney...
...For the first time in the history of the Gallup Poll, 50 percent of respondents say they "strongly disapprove" of the president.
The vice president is accused of:
# purposely manipulating intelligence to fabricate a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in order to justify an attack on Iraq;
# deceiving Congress about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida;
# threatening aggression against the Republic of Iran, absent any real threat to the United States.
These violations of the Constitution and international treaty are just the tip of the iceberg. More articles of impeachment can be added at any time, and ample evidence to convict is on the public record. Representatives need to introduce articles regarding:
# illegal war, in violation of both international treaty and the Constitution;
# widespread domestic wiretapping in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a felony. Bush already has admitted to this;
# condoning torture in violation of federal laws and international treaties;
# rescinding habeas corpus, the cornerstone of Western law since the Magna Carta;
# obstruction of justice regarding U.S. attorney firings;
# subversion of the Constitution, abuse of signing statements and rescinding habeas corpus.
...In light of Bush's steady drumbeat for war with Iran, Kucinich said he will consider an impeachment resolution against him.
"Impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran," he says.
"The most conservative principle of the Founding Fathers was distrust of unchecked power. Centuries of experience substantiated that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Constitution embraced a separation of powers to keep the legislative, executive and judicial branches in equilibrium," Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer and associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration, said in the October 2006 edition of Washington Monthly.
If Congress were serious about oversight, there already would be dozens of bills and resolutions calling for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. The "Unitary Executive Theory" violates the principle of balance of power in the Constitution. The president cites this "unitary" power in hundreds of signing statements that say he can ignore laws passed by Congress.
...The Military Commissions Act allows U.S. citizens to be detained without due process if they are declared enemy combatants...
Congress has failed to provide oversight and exercise its authority to rein in a criminal administration.
...George Bush and Dick Cheney promote an imperial presidency. They assert that the executive is the most powerful branch of government, undermining the judiciary and Congress in violation of the Constitution's bedrock principle of shared power among three co-equal branches. This subverts the very nature of our system of government.
"This is an attempt by the president to have the final word on his own constitutional powers, which eliminates the checks and balances that keep the country a democracy. ... That's a big problem because that's essentially a dictatorship," Fein said.
...The issue is not about removing Bush and Cheney as much as it is about preserving the Constitution and redeeming the office of the executive. The Constitution is the contract of governance between the people and the government. What happens when major portions of the contract are violated?
Congress has failed to call the president and vice president to account, so citizens must turn up the heat. Members of Congress who fail to demand investigations are covering for criminals. Every elected official has sworn an oath to "support and protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic." Anything less than impeachment and a full repudiation of the Bush administration's crimes and violations of the law is a dereliction of duty and a betrayal of the public trust.
If we want our democracy back, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work to clean out the House. |
Amen. |
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Funkdafied
Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Location: In Da House
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| Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:00 am Post subject: |
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| I think the most illegal thing Cheney did was declaring he was not a part of the executive and refusing to hand over important documents. The other stuff builds the case, but that should be the centre peice, that and removing habeus corpus, and approving torture, and the wiretapping. Lying about WMB is not impeachable. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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| So you think it's a good idea to get the presently demoralized Republican supporters of Cheyney all riled up so they go out in an election year and work for and vote for a Republican? |
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The Perfect Cup of Coffee
Joined: 17 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| So you think it's a good idea to get the presently demoralized Republican supporters of Cheyney all riled up so they go out in an election year and work for and vote for a Republican? |
Too true. That and the majority of the Dems are spineless farktards anyways. One thing I admire about the GOP though, is their commitment to see something through to the end, good or disastrous. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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their commitment to see something through to the end, good or disastrous.
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That can also be said of neurotics. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Funkdafied wrote: |
| I think the most illegal thing Cheney did was declaring he was not a part of the executive and refusing to hand over important documents. The other stuff builds the case, but that should be the centre peice, that and removing habeus corpus, and approving torture, and the wiretapping. Lying about WMB is not impeachable. |
Is that it? Surely there's gotta be more.
Quite interesting all the same.
What's WMB btw? |
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