In case you still thought Republicans in Congress were interested in getting anything done that might help the American people, Republican Michael Burgess of Lewisville put that to rest earlier this week.
Burgess attended a meeting of the Northeast Tarrant County Tea Party, and spent most of the meeting defending his Yea vote on the debt-ceiling deal. Thankfully for Burgess, someone distracted the crowd with a question about whether or not Republicans should pursue impeachment, for the sole purpose of tying up government and preventing President Obama from getting anything done.
Because the Republican Congress hasn't been sufficiently spectacularly effective at that as of yet.
When one attendee suggested that the House push for impeachment proceedings against Obama to distract the president and keep him from getting things done, Burgess was immediately receptive.
"It needs to happen, and I agree with you it would tie things up," Burgess said. "No question about that."
Pretty clear: the Republican Party's priority for America is procedural delay, to prevent President Obama from doing anything that might actually help working or unemployed Americans. They don't really care about helping the people of our country, they just care about destroying the economy and hurting our nation to the point where they can recapture the Presidency. But hey, at least they basically admit that to their fringe Tea Party faithful!
One of the resolutions that got killed Saturday was the one that would have put a referendum on Iraq on the primary ballot. This was the second round in the fight to get the Iraq referendum on the ballot. The Iraq referendum resolution had already passed the Resolutions Committee at the last SDEC meeting a few months ago and it was even brought up to the full SDEC meeting back then. It would have passed the full SDEC then, but it was unnecessarily tabled at that earlier meeting because party leaders were ignorant of the Texas statute that allowed the SDEC to put referendums on the ballot. They had to go look up the statute after the meeting and then found out that the grassroots activists were right and the SDEC could put referendums on the ballot just by a vote of the SDEC. It is unbelievable that the party tabled the proposal on such a lame motion. The parliamentarian or the person chairing the meeting should have been aware of the rules and allowed a vote on the resolution. Such ignorance of the rules is a joke. We need to elect party leaders at the next convention who have a basic understanding of state laws pertaining to party business.
Thanks to the undemocratic refusal of party insiders to allow a vote, the resolution failed to pass a second time last weekend. So now there will be no referendum on Iraq on the Texas Democratic Party ballot. I wanted to find out what happened, so tonight I called a few people on the phone. Madeleine Dewar, a member of the SDEC and one of the official sponsors of the Vote Us Out of Iraq resolution, called the meeting a "disaster" and said that she had the thirty two votes needed to pass the resolution in advance of the meeting. Scott Cobb, who initiated the campaign, last summer to get the referendum on the ballot said: "In California, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that had passed the California legislature on Aug 31 to put a referendum on Iraq on the ballot in California. The Texas Democratic Party should be ashamed of itself for acting like Schwarzenegger and preventing a referendum on Iraq from being on the ballot."
There is a big impeachment rally in Austin next Saturday, the 15th. If you're within driving distance of Austin, you should come! Information from the flyer I got is below the fold. Also, plans to publicize the rally (stuff I copied from the website)
I know that there is also a nationwide Iraq Moratorium Day on the 21st, but I haven't heard if there's a rally here or not. If you do know - please post info here!
Also - note - there is a peace rally by Muslims on Sunday - please go show your support! (I'm going to run quickly by before church)
I know you didn't hear about it (see URL below) before this or I would have read something about it in emails or other sources I pore over daily. I didn't hear about it either. Don't you think such a far reaching edict should receive prime time air? Front page two inch headlines? WAKE UP America!! Your life's blood is pouring out!
Now I know that you receive at least five emails each day telling you the sky is falling and asking for your time and your money, and frankly, we have all become desensitized to alarms. That is exactly where George and Dick want us to be. But hear me out, please.
Ask yourself this: Given this typically sneaky power grab and the many other recent indicators that the President is above the law--no, he IS the law-- and given the Speaker's edict that impeachment is OFF the table, what do you think is going to happen at the end of the current administration?
Do you think maybe GWB will anoint himself emperor?
Do you think that if by some strange quirk there is no third Pearl Harbor before November and magically, a Democrat is elected President, that new President will give up a single one of those unconstitutional powers Bush has seized during his reign?
Do you think that the Congress's decision NOT to impeach doesn't mean that they are making law of this? Did you ever hear of stare decisis (precedent)?
If you don't think they are carving a new form of government in stone you are WRONG!
CALL TO ACTION: This won't take more than an hour of your time. Is the Constitution worth it? Is habeas corpus worth it? Is government of the people, by the people, and for the people worth an hour (or less) of your time? If not, then read no further, because you don't prize what the Founders gave us enough to be wasting your precious time on these petty issues.
But if you care, it is now your obligation (and mine) under the US Constitution to overthrow this regime and all the precedents it has tried to cast in stone.
Here's what we have to do.
Call, email, AND write Nancy Pelosi and tell her it is her duty to put impeachment of Cheney and Bush on the table in fast track, because they have deliberately put this nation at peril. They have seized powers that never were intended to be theirs. And the Congress has failed to perform its sacred duty to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Here are the contacts you need to do this:
Nancy Pelosi , Speaker of the House
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0100 http://speaker.gov/c...
Stop whatever you had planned for this day until you have made these telephone, email, and US mail contacts. If you don't it is fascist dictatorship for all of us. DO IT NOW!
It generally takes me a while to come around on such a dramatic decision as impeachment. I believe the case has to be as clear as daylight, and much like going to war, there needs to be overwhelming evidence to support it because of the natural strain and scrutiny it puts on the public domestically and internationally.
One thing is quite clear to me by reading this intense, startling, and incredibly revealing Washington Post series; Cheney has openly, blatantly, and competently rewrote the constitution of the United States and exempted himself from any and all oversight, which completely undermines the checks and balances system. This is an unprecedented move that is even supported by the President of the United States. To claim the Vice President does not fall under the executive branch of office; therefore, oversight is non-essential, begs the question, “Why have a constitution at all?”
Ladies and gentlemen, in the spirit of celebrating our Independence in the next week, we must rally to protect this blatant violation of our democratic foundation. Our constitution is under clear assault by Vice President Dick Cheney.
If you care about the United States of America, as well as respect and honor the articles and amendments that govern our country, then you too will join me in calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Oklahoma Democratic Party had their 2007 state convention last week and passed a bunch of resolutions. The resolutions look a lot like a platform the way they are presented on their blog, but they call them resolutions instead of a platform. Maybe, unlike the TDP, they don't have separate platform and resolutions committees in Oklahoma. At any rate, one of the approved resolutions says,
"IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY
We support an investigation by the United States House of Representatives that will in our opinion lead to the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
This news article from NewsOK.com mentions the impeachment resolution. I am guessing that they first had a stronger statement and it got watered down to the one that passed.
At the 2006 TDP State Convention more than 30 percent of the delegates signed an impeach Bush resolution, but it failed on the floor of the convention. Watch the video of that floor debate.
There are a lot of Texans who live on and near the Texas coast. For the sake of all the coastal Texans of all political backgrounds, I don't want to go through another Hurricane season with Thelma Bush and his Louise GOP.
Please count Ohio's ballots now, during Hurricane season to save all our families on the coast. And, please count Ohio's ballots now, because the Climate is collapsing faster than scientists had earlier thought.
Also, time is running out as bee colonies are dying out this year. Bees need to be recovered this year.
If voter disenfranchisement bills pass in Texas, my vote in 2008 and beyond may not ever count again. That is already a big problem with the Republican owned "No Evidence" and "Hidden Evidence" Voting machines (kept in place if Holt's HR 811 passes) with which you have had to deal (will deal?). Our political power is being taken by elites who do not have the skills (nor intention if apocalyptic or profiting from catastrophy) for us to survive global warming.
Instead of waiting voteless and so powerless, for a meaningless 2008 election while our rulers drive us all over a cliff with Climate Collapse, we need to consider something different and meaningful.
If you are waiting to be asked, then I am begging, please count Ohio's votes now. And, if you won (which you may well know beforehand as each ballot has been copied/photographed for documentation), then hire Al Gore, John Edwards, Jim Webb, and James Lee Witt, among many other strong, caring and competent people to clean up the Bush/GOP disasters, help us through hurricane season, and save our Democracy, our Climate, and therefore, Us.
Cynthia McKinney just introduced legislation to hold the Bush administration accountable for impeachable offenses. McKinney's resolution talks about President Bush's manufacturing a case for war with Iraq and misinforming Congress and the American people. It also cites the Bush administration's illegal wiretapping of American citizens.
If we're serious about demanding accountability from our government, ordinary citizens need to speak up and stand with McKinney. 87% of those responding to an MSNBC poll said that if Bush lied to the American people, he deserves to be impeached. Congresswoman McKinney has done her part to change the course that the Bush administration is taking, and now it's up to the American people to decide if they will stand with her.
She just gave a press conference at the House. Here's a link to a story about it, including where there'll be a video link posted soon: http://www.gnn.tv/ar...
The “Impeach Bush Resolution Campaign” delivered 1357 signatures to the party signed by more than 30% of the delegates to the 2006 Texas Democratic Party state convention in Fort Worth. The resolution called on the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach President George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors and for willfully violating his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The resolution failed in a close vote on the floor of the convention.
Hooman Hedayati, 19 and a student at The University of Texas at Austin, took the video and edited it into its current form. He spent about 20 hours collecting signatures at the convention, along with several other people.
WHEREAS, President Bush has broken federal laws, intentionally violated the Constitution, and abused the power of his office to the extreme detriment of the country and the people's interests, constituting high crimes and misdemeanors; and
WHEREAS, President Bush has publicly admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to violate provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, specifically authorizing the Agency to spy on American citizens without warrant, a violation of the Fourth Amendment and a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison; and
WHEREAS, Evidence suggests that President Bush authorized the use of certain acts of torture to be used in the interrogation of detainees in American detention centers; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration has held American citizens and citizens of other nations as prisoners of war without charge or trial; and
WHEREAS, The United States government has been embarrassed by revelations of torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib and other American detention facilities around the world; and
WHEREAS, article 13 of the Geneva Conventions states that, "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated," and article 17 states that " No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever."
WHEREAS, the United States is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and article IV of the United States Constitution provides that "…all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land."; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration's defiance of the Geneva Conventions has potentially threatened the lives and well-being of American soldiers captured as prisoners of war in future conflicts; and
WHEREAS, the War Crimes Act of 1996 establishes that a person who acts in breach of the Geneva Conventions has committed a war crime and is subject to punishment under federal law; and
WHEREAS, President Bush conspired with others to defraud the United States of America by intentionally misleading Congress and the American people of the United States regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war against the sovereign nation of Iraq in violation of Section 371 of Title 18 of the United States Code; and
WHEREAS, Saddam Hussein was a despotic leader who had used chemical weapons against Iran, and the Kurdish and Shia people, and required appropriate attention by the United States and the international community; and
WHEREAS, Iraq posed no threat to the territory or people of the United States; and
WHEREAS, in March 2003 prior to the Iraq invasion, United Nations weapons inspectors were on the ground in Iraq, uninhibited from performing their job of monitoring Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities; and
WHEREAS, prior to the Iraq invasion, the U.S. controlled over 60% of Iraqi airspace, while Saddam Hussein's military only controlled 80% of its own territory; and
WHEREAS, the 2003 invasion of Iraq has resulted in over 2400 American military casualties, tens of thousands of American wounded, tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians, and has caused the United States to incur over $285 billion of dollars in unnecessary expenses and diminished military readiness; and
WHEREAS, The Bush administration's defiance of international law to invade Iraq has tarnished the United States' reputation as a country based in principles of human rights and threatened America's integrity in the international community; and
WHEREAS, The Bush Administration leaked classified national secrets to further a political agenda, exposing an unknown number of covert U. S. intelligence agents to potential harm and retribution while simultaneously refusing to investigate the matter; and
WHEREAS, The Republican-controlled Congress has declined to fully investigate any of these charges to date; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE Texas Democratic Party, that the President of the United States, George W. Bush, has willfully violated his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and should be impeached by the U.S House of Representatives; and be it further
RESOLVED, That George W. Bush, if found guilty of the charges contained herein, should be removed from office and disqualified to hold any other office in the United States.
