Impeachment

By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith, www.thenation.com

Retired General Antonio Taguba, the officer who led the Army's investigation into Abu Ghraib, recently wrote in the preface to the new report, Broken laws, Broken Lives:

"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Should those who ordered war crimes be held to account? With the conclusion of the Bush regime approaching, many people are dubious, even those horrified by Administration actions. They fear a long, divisive ordeal that could tear the country apart. They note that such division could make it far harder for the country to address the many other crises it is facing. They see the upcoming elections as a better way to set the country on a new path.

I wish I were kidding. Of course Chairman John Conyers knows how important the Constitution is to people. That's why he wants to publicize Bush and Cheney's violations of it. Yet, at the same time, he imagines nobody gives a damn about defending the Constitution against those abuses. This, I think, involves a crazier mental leap than Ford's sheer ignorance.

Netroots Nation or Nation of Sheep: Nancy Pelosi and Al Gore Address the Netroots Nation Conference
By: Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Grassroots Netroots Alliance, http://www.GrassrootsNetroots.org

Saturday morning, July 19. Sitting here at the Netroots Nation conference in Austin, Texas with several thousand other online activists. Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Party Speaker of the House, the third most powerful politician in the United States, is up on the podium, doing her best to damp down the mounting criticism of the Democratic Party's shameful collaboration in funding the war and aiding and abetting the Bush administration's shredding of the Constitution.

By Philip A Farruggio, Populist Party

You know, guess what? Yeah, I am ' mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore ' to quote the character Howard Beale from the film Network . So, I write columns like this one ( 4 or 5 a month ) , I write letters to the editor, and I do the single most important thing I do with my life: I stand on the street corner of my town in peaceful protest.

Sadly, after 5 years of this travesty in Iraq , at a cost of over 600 billion of our tax dollars, I am lucky to attract 4 or 5 to stand with me each week. For the rest of the ( literally ) thousand drivers that cruise by our corner protest........ Silence!

From http://www.usalone.com

We made a commitment to you that when the time came, we would do everything we could to help Cindy Sheehan. That time is now.

Cindy Sheehan is making a courageous run for the Congressional seat in San Francisco, to challenge Nancy Pelosi, who has done nothing but cave in to the Bush/Cheney criminal war agenda, while the approval rating of Congress drops into single digits for the first time ever.

But FIRST Cindy needs to get on the ballot, and to do that as an independent she still needs another 6,000 petitions signatures in the next couple weeks.

Even with her many valiant volunteers, you can really help now by making a donation to put more paid signature gatherers for Cindy Sheehan on the street to give the voters of San Francisco a pro-courage choice. Help put Cindy safely over the top with enough margin of petition signatures that they cannot keep her off the ballot.

From Joan Wile:

I thought you'd be interested to know that today I read Article IV of Kucinich's impeachment resolutions for WBAI. They are recording a number of peace activists who each will read one of the Articles. I, of course, represented Grandmothers Against the War. Pete Seeger had preceded me in the studio to read. I believe the entire reading will be aired next Thursday, but I'm not sure. You can get more info from WBAI, undoubtedly.

UPDATE: Janet Coleman, the Artistic Director of WBAI, gets credit for this project.

By Peter Biello, WHQR

WILMINGTON, NC (2008-07-18) Republican Congressman Walter Jones voted to hold a hearing to examine President Bush's reasons for going to war with Iraq.

The resolution to do so, sponsored by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, accused the President of taking the nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses. The revised version of the resolution does not call for his removal from office.

Jones is the only Republican in the state's delegation to vote in favor of the hearing to be held before the Committee on the Judiciary.

Seven other members joined Jones, including Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please e-mail us, we'd like to hear from you. news@whqr.org

Why Karl Rove Should Go To Jail, Huffington Post

Again last week, we saw the arrogance of former White House advisor Karl Rove when an empty chair sat for him in front of the House Judiciary subcommittee where he was required by subpoena to testify. Not only did he refuse to appear before the committee -- let alone testify -- but he defiantly left the country thereby blatantly ignoring his obligations under the congressional subpoena served on him. When he did return to the country, Rove found the time to gab with TV reporters on a summer press tour in Beverly Hills, but failed to stop by the Judiciary Committee in Washington.

What would you like to ask Nancy Pelosi about? Do it here.

• Bringing the troops home?
• Impeachment?
• Mortgage mess?
• Impeachment?
• Banking meltdown?
• Impeachment?
• Credit crunch?
• Impeachment?
• Skyrocketing energy costs?
• Impeachment?
• Food safety?

VISIT THE LA TIMES BLOG ON THIS TOO!

By Elliott Adams

A CALL TO ACTION FOR IMPEACHMENT
http://www.veteransforpeace.org

An intense 7-day VFP campaign of calls to congress for impeachment. Get everyone you know to call Congress before July 25 demanding for impeachment now

Lobbying Day for Impeachment - July 24th Wash, DC
VFP attends Judiciary Committee Hearing - 10AM July 25th Wash, DC
VFP meets with Chairman of Judiciary Committee, Rep. Conyers - 12 Noon July 25th Wash, DC

Dear VFP Members

Believe it or not, we finally had to threaten a sit-in.

After more than two months of trying to schedule a brief meeting with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to deliver VFP's 23,000 impeachment signatures, we politely informed the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, in writing, that we would drop by his Washington office with them. And we would sit there until he met with us or hauled us off in handcuffs.

Deb Price, Detroit News

WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Conyers announced Thursday that he will hold Judiciary Committee hearings next week on the "imperial" Bush presidency -- a step the Detroit Democrat's allies on the political left quickly trumpeted as "impeachment begins."

Conyers, however, was careful in his news releases not to use the word "impeachment," which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders have repeatedly said is off the table.

Instead, Conyers said the hearing next Friday will look at "credible allegations of serious misconduct" by Bush administration officials and "what many would describe as a radical view" of power.

White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo dismissed the hearing.

"Perhaps this is why Congress' approval rating is at 14 percent," Mamo said. "That won't do anything to address the problems of Americans, like high gas prices."

"God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States -- a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Sadly, Congress is well ahead of the least popular president in history in the unpopularity polls, by one measure having dipped into the single digits in approval, something even Dick Cheney has not yet managed.

Bush and Cheney set out to shift all power to the White House, operate above the rule of law, be held accountable to no one for nothing, build massive permanent military bases in Iraq, drastically enlarge the Pentagon, defund useful government programs, bankrupt the government, enrich their cronies, spy on and terrorize their political opponents, acquire the power to detain without charge, torture, and murder their enemies completely outside any judicial process, and transform the Justice Department and other federal agencies into arms of the Republican Party.

Nancy Pelosi, bless her heart, thinks they've failed.

June 2005 - Ranking minority member John Conyers holds unofficial hearing without subpoena power and is not taken seriously.

December 2005 - Conyers proposes the creation of a special committee to investigate impeachment.

May 2006 - The Republican National Committee baselessly claims talk of impeachment will benefit Republicans, Nancy Pelosi promises never to impeach.

August 2006 - Conyers publishes a lengthy report in which the Judiciary Committee minority staff documents impeachable offenses, including numerous felonies, committed by Bush and Cheney.

November 2006 - With polls showing the public believing that a Democratic Congress will mean impeachment, the public overwhelmingly elects a Democratic Congress.

July 2008 - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, who still has no subpoena power, holds an unofficial hearing, expects to be taken seriously this time.