Wednesday, October 04, 2006

DIY impeachment - innundate Congress on the 12th

There seems to be a legal precedent for initiating impeachment through grassroots efforts.  It seems like we've been trying this, but numbers would make it more likely to succeed, and this press release proposes a nationwide effort on October 12th. 
 
For more detailed information on the DIY impeachment go to:
http://Impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, OCTOBER 2, 2006, Minneapolis, MN

12 October, 2006   A flood of "Do-It-Yourself Impeachments" inundate the
houses of Congress.

Next Thursday hundreds of thousands of letters demanding Bush's
impeachment are going to be arriving
in the houses of Congress.

Jodin Morey, an organizer for Impeach for Peace (a Minnesota based
impeachment group), researched a method for impeaching the president using
a little known and rarely used part of the Rules of the House of
Representatives that empowers individual citizens to initiate the
impeachment process.

The "Jefferson's Manual" is an interpretive guide to parliamentary
procedure, and is included (along with the Constitution) in the bound
volumes of the Rules of the House of Representatives. It is ratified by
each Congress – including the current one – and has been updated
continuously through the history of our democracy. The section covering
impeachment lists the acceptable vehicles for bringing impeachment motions
to the floor of the House.

Before the House Judiciary Committee can put together the Articles of
Impeachment, someone must initiate the impeachment procedure. Most often,
this occurs when members of the House pass a resolution. Another method
outlined in the manual, however, is for individual citizens to submit a
memorial for impeachment.

After learning this information, Morey found a precedent in an 1830
memorial by Luke Edward Lawless, which had been successful in initiating
the impeachment of Federal Judge James H. Peck. Morey then used this as a
template for their "Do-It-Yourself Impeachment." Now any citizen can
download the DIY Impeachment Memorial and submit it, making it possible
for Americans to do what our representatives have been unwilling to do.
The idea is for so many people to submit the Memorial that it cannot be
ignored.

Impeach for Peace is now certain that it has a legal document that U.S.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert must recognize. The main organizer for the
group, Mikael Rudolph, explains: "He might still toss them all in the
trash, but with House Minority Leader John Conyers also receiving copies,
Hastert can be held accountable by Conyers. Imagine dozens of extra trucks
are called into service to deliver tons of mail to Speaker Hastert and
Congressman Conyers in mid to late October. The DIY Impeachment has been
downloaded over 175,000 times."

The expected media attention surrounding the delivery of these memorials
is being timed strategically to influence the November elections. Rudolph
reasons, "It's like a legal method for voting outside of the scheduled
polling dates. It is incredibly empowering and awakening for individuals
to learn that they can do this." The constitution provides for both the
electoral process and the impeachment process – the latter being necessary
when the elected officials do not honor their oath of office.

According to Rudolph, "Impeachment would lead to the ouster of Cheney,
Rice, Rumsfeld and many others, as they are all equally guilty of war
crimes. In an open impeachment trial, the evidence would come out. It
isn't the only way we'll succeed in impeaching Bush and restoring
democracy, but it is an important avenue."

Contact:

Jodin Morey
Author, DIY Impeachment
Co-founder, ImpeachForPeace.org
jodinwcw at beingism dot org
 

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