Impeachment: If not now, when?

[babylonsister]

Impeachment: If not now, when?
Submitted by MikeHersh on Sat, 2007-12-15 22:48. Activism | Impeachment

Lawmakers need to stand up for the Constitution and support impeachment
By LINDA BOYD | GUEST COLUMNIST | Seattle Post-Intelligencer


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 and televised on C-Span. House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer made a motion to table the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lobbied hard for votes to table.

In a stunning turnaround, House Republicans changed strategy and voted decisively to prevent tabling the impeachment resolution. 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.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/29383

[zorahopkins]

1. Exactly.

"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."

Exactly right.

It may already be too late.

But we MUST -- SIMPLY MUST! -- get Bush and Cheney OUT OF OFFICE.

Now.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Well, OK.

Now works for me.

[autorank]

3. K*R #1 - Excellent question. It's a leap year sort of thing. We woudn't understand.

The trouble with you sister is that you don't remember this - it's not called Washington Babylon for nothing.

Since today's Babylon is no longer, "big shots" from the capitol looked for the most corrupt place on earth to learn how to wheel and deal in the style of pure corruption. It took them 3 years in Suharto's Jakarta to learn just how much money you can steal of you break every single rule.

They've done a fine job. Now, relax and stop pushing them. It's a hard job, a hard job...

Jakarta criticizes World Bank memo on corruption
Asian Economic News, August 24, 1998
http://tinyurl.com/368bzv
JAKARTA, Aug. 20 Kyodo

The Indonesian government has criticized a World Bank internal memorandum which says government officials are believed to have siphoned off more than 20% of the bank's loans to the country, a newspaper said Thursday.

''The 20% figure is a big question mark,'' the English-language Jakarta Post quoted Budhy Tjahjati, deputy for foreign economic cooperation at the National Development Planning Board, as saying.

The agony of East Timor
Date 15 Sep 1999 20:11:07
http://www.wfn.org/1999/09/msg00141.html
13-September-1999
99299

By John Filiatreau
Special to The Courier-Journal

What is happening in East Timor these days is merely a continuation of
a systematic program of genocide that Indonesia has been pursuing there,
with the complicity of the United States, for a quarter of a century.

Writer/activist Noam Chomsky says the small island territory, a
predominantly Christian enclave in mostly Islamic Indonesia, has suffered
"perhaps the greatest death toll relative to the population since the
Holocaust."

[Lugnut]

4. I couldn't agree more. K&R n/t