There's hope (for impeachment) in the Judiciary Committee yet

There is interest in impeaching Cheney in the House Judiciary Committee (of which NC Rep. Mel Watt is a member) after all.  Representative Robert Wexler of Florida recently started a petition for impeachment hearings against Cheney (see www.wexlerwantshearings.com).  Within 24 hours more than 30,000 people had signed, and 121,179 after 5 days.  Now the goal is 250,000.  A recent poll reveals that 54% of Americans are for impeaching Cheney, and I think that will rise when the official voices in Congress and editorial departments begin to highlight his crimes.  If I remember right, 49% are for impeaching Bush currently, but I expect all of the top Administration officials are about equally guilty.  Unfortunately the head of the Committee, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, formerly a leader on impeachment in the House, has now cynically fallen in line with Pelosi's line, and was again arguing against it on Democracy Now! Thursday.  Maybe he has honestly reevaluated the case and changed his mind about the strategy of impeachment, but I still find his change of heart suspicious.  Hopefully Wexler and two others in the Judiciary Committee will be more resolute and successful than Conyers.      

 

Some outlets in the dominant media are refusing to publish an op-ed by Rep. Wexler and two other members of the Committee, Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).  This is from the campaign:   

 

"More on the Media Blackout

 

The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today, and Boston Globe have all rejected our op ed (though the Miami Herald just put an edited version in its "Letters to the Editor" section). We have heard from the editors of some of these publications and they are telling us that they are getting overwhelmed with phone calls and letters of complaint. (Well done everybody!)

 

In short - we need to keep the pressure on if this news will spread far beyond the Netroots community."

 

Here is the original notice from Rep. Wexler's site: 

 

Wexler Calls For Cheney Impeachment Hearings

Congressman Robert Wexler, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, is calling upon Congress to immediately schedule impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.

Wexler - "For the sake of history, and in order to be faithful to our Constitutional obligations, the Judiciary Committee must immediately convene impeachment hearings to determine whether the official actions of Vice President Cheney constitute 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors' and require that he be impeached. Each day we fail to act is a validation of the misdeeds of the Vice President and damages the credibility of the Democratic Party."

The full text of the Letter:

As a person who supports holding this Administration accountable for their deceptive actions, you may be interested to know about the recent votes in the House regarding H.Res. 333, "Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors."

I share your belief that Vice President Cheney must answer for his deceptive actions in office, particularly with regard to the preparations for the Iraq war and the revelation of the identity of covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson as part of political retribution against her husband. That is why I voted against the motion to table debate on H.Res. 333. Along with only 85 other Democrats, I opposed tabling the measure and supported beginning immediate debate and a vote on the Cheney impeachment resolution. The vote on tabling the Kucinich resolution was rejected, and the House subsequently voted to refer the matter to the Judiciary Committee.

Vice President Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration have demonstrated a consistent pattern of abusing the law and misleading Congress and the American people. We see the consequences of these actions abroad in Iraq and at home through the violations of our civil liberties. 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; and, if it is determined in these hearings that Vice President Cheney has committed High Crimes and Misdemeanors, he should be impeached and removed from office. It is time for Congress to expose the multitude of misdeeds of the Administration, and I am hopeful that the Judiciary Committee will expeditiously begin an investigation of this matter.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. I sincerely appreciate your input and hope that you will feel free to contact me anytime I may be of assistance to you.

With warm regards,

Congressman Robert Wexler

Bill Clinton in Wake County Thursday

I saw in the Herald-Sun today that President Bill Clinton is going to be at private events to raise money for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid Thursday, at the Brier Creek Country Club.  The cost is $1000 dollars per person, or $2300 per person for the cozier reception.  It is not exactly comparable, but I notice that the Republicans' event Wednesday at the Hope Valley Country Club for their current two candidates against Rep. Price in next year's election is $15 dollars per person.  

 

Bush and Co., and their enablers (like Hillary Clinton, Pelosi, Reid, Dole, Burr, and very distantly, Reps. Price, Miller, and Etheridge), should be the main targets of protest now, as Rove was at Duke on the third, but should Clinton get off so easily?  He committed more acts of aggression around the world than Bush has so far, though Bush's acts are graver.  Even worse than Clinton's bombing of a vital medical plant in Sudan, most of the 13 years of sanctions against Iraq were under Clinton's watch.  I think the usual estimate is that 1.5 million Iraqis died because of those sanctions, in addition to the sanctions' effect on the health and education of the survivors.  There is also what happened in Waco, Texas.     

 

The Clinton and Bush administrations are even more alike in corruption and conspiracy around terrorist attacks in the US if The Secret Life of Bill Clinton, written by a British journalist, is true.  That book alleges, among other things, that the Clintons were involved in the drug trade in Arkansas, that Vince Foster was murdered for political reasons (if I recall that part correctly, but it was argued that he was murdered and it was covered up, including by the Kenneth Starr investigation), and that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) knew the Oklahoma City Bombing was going to occur, did not prevent it (possibly they were outfoxed), and have now covered it up.  Government complicit in 9/11 would be even worse if true, because of the magnitude and the deliberate exploitation for a predetermined agenda, but both are horrific crimes against the American people and complicit should destroy confidence in the security apparatus of the executive branch.  I am less knowledgeable about the resulting security crackdowns in the 90's, but Oklahoma City provided Clinton with his own "Patriot Act" moment.  Just as Bush and Co. face potential prosecution for war crimes, Clinton and Co. (and Tony Blair) might also at some point, in their own international court even, at least in a more just world.       

Impeachment debate rescheduled to 1/15

Coalition for the Constitution
       243 Flemington Rd, 
Chapel Hill, NC  27517-5637
www.impeachbushcheney.net

     

NEWS AND CALENDAR ALERT:  December 3, 2007
More info: John Heuer, [ ] ; Heu93 at aol dot com; Al McSurely, [ ] ;lawyers at mcsurely dot com

Historic Fein-Tomasky Debate on Impeachment Re-Scheduled to January 15, 2008.

     The Coalition for the Constitution has re-scheduled the Historic Debate between Republican Constitutional Attorney Bruce Fein and liberal journalist Michael Tomasky until Tuesday, January 15, 2008.

       Mr. Fein worked in Pres. Reagan's Justice Department, and helped draft the articles of impeachment against Pres. Clinton. He has always been an advocate for the United States Constitution and, recently, for charging (impeaching) Pres. Bush and V. Pres. Cheney for their multiple violations of it.  Bill Moyers featured Fein on his PBS program. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html.

       His opponent in the debate, liberal journalist Michael Tomasky is the Editor of Guardian America.  He recently wrote a much-quoted Washington Post essay that said impeachment is the stupidest thing Democrats could do.  

       Fein, who has been ill, and the Coalition for the Constitution agreed this morning to re-scheduling the historic debate.  W. Hodding Carter III, UNC Professor of Leadership and Public Policy will serve as debate moderator on January 15, 2008.  

         The historic debate had been set for December 11th at the Chapel Hill Town Hall.  But due to the high level of local and regional interest in the Debate, the Coalition for the Constitution has decided to find a larger auditorium and more sponsors.  The Debate is modeled after the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates 150 years ago.