Reasons why Impeachment Proceedings should begin

[ewagner]

If I remember my Watergate history correctly, the offending events happened during Nixon's first term but the proceedings (investigations) kept going into the second term. The proceedings need to start now just in case the unthinkable happens and dubya steals another election.

If Dubya is defeated in November, the hearings/investigations could provide the basis for criminal proceedings after "executive privilege" is no longer an issue.

Also, hearings, investigations into the $700 Million will provide a platform to show how the Repubs have diverted funds from the War On Terror to the War against "my daddy's" enemies. It would be useful to keep this bumped during the campaign season.

It would also place serious doubts about dubya's credibility in the minds of the precious and vaunted swing voters.

I know it's close to the election but I think the proceedings should begin anyway.

What do you think?

[rogerashton]

1. The Republican party

of 2004 is too corrupt and totalitarian to allow one of its own to be impeached -- this time.

[lutherj]

2. I'm all for it; only problem is, Republicans control congress. n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Tell that to the corrupt republicans that has the majority.

[ewagner]

4. Although that seems to be a consensus

I still don't think the Repubs could get away with stonewalling at least a cursory investigation of the $700 Million debacle.

It would be political halitosis which, if the election is deemed to be close, they can't afford....

and...

if they do stonewall it, it just becomes more grist for the mill....

[riverwalker]

5. keep the issue in the media

even if it's an impossibility. Just the talk of it will highlight the crimes and lies, and increase the publics awareness of them.

[ewagner]

6. Any downside to this?

I couldn't think of any............

[Turbineguy]

7. I think that Bush will be impeached

after he "wins" the election regardless. I am firm in this belief as Bush will be incapable of actually putting forward any policy. Also Cheney is far more qualified intellectually. I think the Repubs will do everything in their power to keep impeachment proceedings from taking place before then.

In addition, to impeach (and throw out) the guy just before the election is unfair to Republicans as they could not put forward a new candidate in the interim. Unless they think they could ramp up McCain fast enough. Only if the Repubs think they can still win with a new candidate will an impeachment get off the ground. Considering how much money would have been squandered on the Bush re-election so far, I don't think so. Realistically, the time to impeach has past until after the election.

Either we go forward with the election (and it's honest) and Bush looses, or we get Cheney as President in the summer of 2005.

Another possibility however, is to dump Cheney soon and put in somebody more appealing. That might still work for them, but not for the neocons.

My 2 cents.

[ewagner]

8. I disagree only for one reason:

The investigations/hearings etc will take a long, long time to bear the fruit of Articles of Impeachment....certainly much longer than this summer or even the fall. It's also insurance for after the election.

[dennis4868]

9. WHY LIMIT....

the impeachment to only the 700 million dollars diverted to the Iraq invasion....Bush violated the law when he lied in his Determination to Congress after the war when he was suppose to prove to congress that Iraq was a imminent threat and that Saddam was connected to 911....the media keeps saying that Bush was given a blank check to invade Iraq but that is not true....the resolution granting him authority to invade was conditioned on Bush filing a Determination with Congress 48 hours after the war began....that Determination was all lies proven by Joh Dean in his newest book...Bush violated federal law which is an impeachable offense....also, what about outing a CIA agent and liring about the medicare bill...aren't those 2 crimes impeachable?

[ewagner]

10. Good Point

I forgot about that one.........

same logic holds true though...begin now....

[maggrwaggr]

11. but I was just watching cable news, and everything is fine!

CNN, MSNBC, everybody seems to think that none of this is any big deal. Colin Powell forcefully refuted what was said, Bush's poll numbers are up ......

Everybody must be quite approving of the way Bush is handling all of this!

[swinney]

12. 124 reasons to Impeach

1. Cut the Veteran’s Administration budget by $25 billion as he began his war in Iraq.
2. Reneged on a promise to increase funding for education and failed to fund the so-called “No Child Left Behind” Act.
3. Promised $15 billion in AIDS funding for Africa in 2003 State of the Union Address then – oops – left it out of the budget submitted a few weeks later.

4. In May 2001, Bush gave $43 Million to the Taliban.
5. Repealed the Alternative Minimum Tax for corporations, which was enacted in 1987, and REFUNDED all taxes paid, by corporations under the AMT since its inception.
6. Won’t reveal who participated in Cheney’s energy policy meetings.
7. Opposed affirmative action at Michigan State in the Supreme Court case.
8. Charles Pickering, Pricilla Owens, Miguel Estrada. Packing the courts with extremists.
9. Appointed Elliott Abrams, who was convicted during Reagan administration in Iran-Contra, to the National Security Council.
10. Sealed documents from the Reagan and Bush administrations that would have revealed illegal dealings in Iran-Contra.
11. Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
12. Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric training.
13. Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
14. Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
15. Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons. This, from a candidate who would readily fire-up his Spanish-speaking skills in front of would-be Hispanic voters.
16. Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2001).
17. Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks.
18. Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety, environmental and other federal laws.
19. OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
20. Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
21. Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest conservation.
22. Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
23. Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
24. Suspended rules that would require hard rock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands.
25. Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
26. Proposed to eliminate a federal program, designed and successfully used in Seattle, to help communities prepare for natural disasters.
27. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
28. Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
29. Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
30. Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move from welfare to work.
31. Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
32. Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing.
33. Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure - to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
34. Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
35. Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
36. Rescinded the rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
37. Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker health and safety.
38. Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
39. Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
40. Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and Outreach.
41. Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive - to post of Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
42. OK'd Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast of eastern Florida.
43. Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
44. Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national monuments.
45. Gutted White House AIDS Office.
46. Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate worker’s rights and safeguards for the environment.
47. Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
48. Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the Interior.
49. Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
50. Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
51. Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness.
52. Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research projects.
53. Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
54. Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
55. Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco company lawsuit.
56. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
57. Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
58. Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying "If you want to do something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear power plants." (Vice President %@!#$& Cheney on "Meet the Press.")
59. Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the Council of Economic Advisers. (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001.)
60. Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action - to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
61. Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect.
62. Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get credit cards.
63. Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program that gives free books to poor children.
64. Is pushing for development of small nuclear arm to attack deeply buried targets and weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
65. Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton - attorney responsible for the recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act - to federal appeals court judgeship.
66. Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
67. Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program, which taught School children about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and citizenship.
68. Appointed John Bolton - who opposes nonproliferation treaties and the U.N. - to Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
69. Nominated Linda Fisher - an executive with Monsanto - for the number-two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
70. Nominated Michael McConnell - leading critic of the separation of church and state - to a federal judgeship.
71. Nominated Terrence Boyle - ardent opponent of civil rights - to a federal judgeship.
72. Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high mileage cars.
73. Nominated Harvey Pitts - lawyer for teen sex video distributor - to head SEC.
74. Nominated John Walters - strong opponent of prison drug treatment programs - for Drug Czar. (Washington Post, May 16, 2001.)
75. Nominated J. Steven Giles - an oil and coal lobbyist - for Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
76. Nominated Bennett Raley - who advocates repealing the Endangered Species Act - for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.
77. Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during WWII.
78. Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and drug abuse prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not secular equivalents.
79. Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
80. Nominated Ted Olson - who has repeatedly lied about his involvement with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill Clinton - for Solicitor General.
81. Proposes to ease permit process - including environmental considerations - for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric dam construction. (Washington Post, May 18, 2001.)
82. Proposes to give government the authority to take private property through eminent domain for power lines.
83. Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative renewable energy come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve.
84. Appoints Army Secretary Thomas White who is being investigated for selling Enron stock just before Enron posted losses. White was a former Enron executive who is alleged to have dumped his stock after being contacted by an Enron official.
85. Took 3 months of vacation of first 9 months in office as president.
86. Had absolutely no concern about terrorism before 9-11.
87. Many of his big campaign supporters are crooks who doctored their books in order to screw investors.
88. Wants to fulfill a personal vendetta against Hussein causing a huge and costly war with destabilization of the Middle East and Russia and china siding with the Arabs.
89. Wants to kill minimum wage and its enforcement so that people work at slave wages for his corporate supporters.
90. Wants to take away benefits from the elderly and children in order to compensate for giant tax cuts for super rich.
91. Gave the Taliban 38 million in may, 2001 so that they would allow pipelines for his buddies at Enron.
92. Wants to create the most polluted country on earth by eliminating anti-pollution laws so that his super rich factory owner supporters can get richer.
93. Exploiting 911 families to justify NMD/SDI. Nuclear deterrence is still working against China, Pakistan's Islamic dictatorship, and all 7 Rogue states. It worked in Gulf War 1 against Saddam; has worked since 1991 and will continue to work indefinitely just like N. Korea since 1953.
94. Pushed for USA Patriot Act.
95. Creation of Deptartment of Homeland Security. During Hitler's reign, Germany was protected by the HSA, the Reichshauptsicherheitamt, which roughly translates into "Main Office of Homeland Security."
96. Exploited 911 families' pain & suffering in order to justify naked aggression against Saddam's conventional and pathetic military forces even though they're still contained within Iraq. Gulf War2 = Pearl Harbor2 = Schlieffen Plan2 = Barbarossa2.
97. Bush tried to appoint Henry Kissinger as head of the September 11 commission.
98. Used Homeland Security Act to protect Eli Lilly from autism suits.
99. Gave $95 million to North Korea for nuclear program and waived the part of the agreement that required inspections to ensure no weapons grade plutonium had been hidden away.
100. Abrogated the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty while squandering billions in chasing the chimera of national missile defense.
101. Undermined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty while expressing support for testing new nuclear weapons and refusing to rule out a nuclear first strike against non-nuclear nations.
102. Derailed negotiations to improve international inspection systems to monitor and prevent the production of biological and chemical weapons.
103. Repudiated an international scientific consensus and withdrawn from global efforts to curb global warming.
104. Renounced the U.S. signature on the treaty to create an International Criminal Court and campaigned aggressively to exempt all U.S. personnel from its jurisdiction, even threatening to veto UN peacekeeping operations if it does not get its way.
105. Dismissed the need for broad international cooperation in its war on terrorism, preferring to act alone or with selected allies.
106. Treated human rights as an obstacle to rather than an essential component of civic security at home and abroad.
107. Undermined the Oslo peace process, condoned the Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian territory, and rejected UN Security Council resolutions supported by previous administrations that provide a framework for conflict resolution containing strict security guarantees for both Israel and the Palestinians.
108. Slighted global efforts to mobilize an offensive against the spread of AIDS, instead privileging the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies over the need for affordable life-saving medicines.
109. Suspended U.S. support for the UN's family planning programs and balked at supporting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
110. Continued to pursue a global economic agenda that is of, by, and for transnational corporations and blocked efforts to build international rules to enforce labor and consumer rights and environmental protections.
111. Bush team prevented thousands of eligible voters in Florida from voting. That is how the elections were stolen.
112. Bush deceives Americans about the terrorists’ motives to shield U.S. foreign policies from public scrutiny; his first concern is the special interests he serves.
113. Cynically and callously exploiting "terrorism," most of all with regard to the memory of those killed or injured in the September 11 attacks, as well as concern for their loved ones, as a means of (1) justifying his and his administration's attacks on the Constitution and on Americans' most basic rights and (2) diverting public attention from his absolute incompetence--and utter lack of concern--over the very real economic and financial terrorism being visited upon millions of middle-class, working-class, and poor Americans while padding the pockets of corporations and the rich!
114. Former President Clinton requested numerous meetings with George W following the election to discuss making terrorist activities a priority of the new administration. Finally a staff underling rudely gave Clinton a hearing. The information, which was for the President’s ears, only was never passed on.
115. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
116. Went AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard for 18 months making him ineligible to be commander-in-chief.
117. Allowed looting to continue in Baghdad and around Iraq while guarding only the oil ministry.
118. Because over 4000 innocent civilians were murdered in Iraq and he said that counting them didn't matter.
119. Because art and antiquities were stolen from the Baghdad Museum by professional art thieves who allowed to operate and smuggle the objects out of the country for private collectors.
120. Because hospitals were looted in Iraq without the army being given any direction to protect them.
121. Because nuclear facilities were looted in Iraq without the army being given any direction to protect them.
122. Because schools were looted in Iraq without the army being given any direction to protect them.
123. Because antiquities were looted from the national library without the army being given any direction to protect them.
124. Because no weapons of mass destruction - the excuse for going to war - were found.

[Tellurian]

13. Yes, I noticed this morning news has been tamped down

quite a bit, compared to the last several weeks when WH fires were erupting one after the other.

Today is the The 911 Commission's turn to have something important to say. We need to keep those embers stirring daily via a round robin of documented information pillorying Bushco at every turn.

The Thirteenth Rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.