[Texgreen] Impeachment Is Back on the Table

[margaret]

"We should be encouraging our Congress members to proceed immediately 
with
key investigations (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/investigations) 
and to
not be afraid to use subpoenas. We should also be encouraging state
legislators in our own and other states who take up the cause of 
democracy.
We need them to do so from their positions as elected officials closer 
to
the people and further from the big dollars."

(see petitions links at bottom)

from misc.activism.progressive
sent by Evan Peterson - Jan 28, 2007

(1) An essay by Dave Lindorff will almost certainly make your day with 
its
report that House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has rebelled against 
Nancy
Pelosi and the DLC to put impeachment back on the table again

(2) David Swanson reports that the New Mexico state legislature, and
several others, are serious about petitioning Congress to impeach both 
Bush
and Cheney

- - -
(1)
ThisCantBeHappening.net - Jan 25, 2007
(once there, scroll down to his entry for Thursday, 1-25-07)
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/

CONYERS PUTS BUSH ABUSE OF POWER BACK 'ON THE TABLE':
HOUSE JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN SAYS SUPPORT FOR IMPEACHMENT
NOT NECESSARILY 'OFF THE MENU'

by Dave Lindorff

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have taken impeachment "off the table," 
but
House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (D-MI) is about to put it back on the
menu.

Conyers may have been blocked by a timid Pelosi from initiating 
impeachment
hearings immediately into President Bush's crimes against the 
Constitution,
but he's taken the first step anyway, with the anouncement of plans to 
hold
hearings into what is surely the President's gravest abuse of power.

The congressman, a veteran of the Nixon impeachment hearings who 
recently
published a book on Bush's crimes, today announced plans to have his
Judiciary Committee hold hearings on Bush's rampant use of so-called
"signing statements." These are the documents the president has claimed 
give
him the power, as a commander-in-chief, to ignore laws duly passed by 
the
Congress.

Bush has used this bogus claim to ignore all or parts of some 1,200 laws
passed by Congress. He has done it willfully, and he has done it
deceptively, often adding the signing statement saying he will be 
ignoring a
law after having first hosted a friendly photo-op signing session at 
which
he offer no indication that he had any problem with a measure.

The first Judiciary Committee hearing is set for January 31.

Hopefully this will be followed by more Judiciary hearings into the
president's other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Readers should encourage Conyers in his efforts, and urge him to follow
through, by sending messages of support to: John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

[ Dave Lindorff is an independent journalist and the co-author, with 
Barbara
Olshansky, of "The Case For Impeachment" (St. Martins, 2006). Please 
visit
Dave's website here: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/ ]

- - -
(2)
Global Research - Jan 24, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/32tq9b

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT AND IMPEACHMENT
by David Swanson
Executive Director of AfterDowningStreet.org.

There is a decent chance that within the next month or two the New 
Mexico
State Legislature will ask the U.S. House of Representatives to begin
impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President 
Cheney.
And there is the definite possibility that a Congress member from New 
Mexico
will take up the matter when it gets to Washington.The Jefferson Manual,
rules used by the U.S. House, allows for impeachment to be begun in this
manner. It only takes one state legislature. No governor is needed. One
Congress member, from the same state or any other, is needed to 
essentially
acknowledge receipt of the state's petition. Then impeachment begins.

Last year the state legislatures of California, Minnesota, Illinois, and
Vermont introduced but did not pass resolutions to send impeachment to 
the
U.S. House. The State Senator who introduced the bill in Minnesota is 
now a
member of Congress, Keith Ellison. He is one of many Congress members
waiting for the right moment to impeach Bush and Cheney. The state of 
New
Jersey has a strong activist movement working to introduce and pass
impeachment this year. There's a race now to see which state can do it
first, which state can redeem these United States in the eyes of the 
world.
New Mexico is jumping into the contest in a big way, with a terrific 
leading
sponsor of the bill, strong Democatic majorities in both houses, and a
citizens' movement ready to hold its government to account.

Of course, it is cities, not states, that have really taken the lead on
impeachment, as on ending the war. Dozens of cities have already passed
resolutions for impeachment. Dozens more have introduced them, and they 
are
pending (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resourcecenter). A handful 
have
introduced them and voted them down. On March 6th about 100 towns in 
Vermont
will vote at public meetings for impeachment. But by March 6th, 
impeachment
may already be underway.

There is a conflict brewing between Congress and the White House over 
the
war and over the division of powers created by the U.S. Constitution and
eliminated by this administration. If Bush attacks Iran and/or Syria 
without
approval from Congress, or escalates the war in Iraq without approval 
from
Congress, we may finally see Congress fight back.

This President has rendered Congress almost meaningless. He reverses 
laws
with "signing statements." He disregards laws at his whim, openly 
bragging
about doing so. And he makes many operations secret, hidden even from
Congress, refusing requests for information, including those filed 
under the
Freedom of Information Act. When this President does communicate with
Congress, he often provides false or misleading information, most 
notably in
making the case for the current war.

Vice President Cheney has already said that he will likely refuse to 
appear
before Congress if subpoenaed. The White House will likely refuse 
subpoenas
of any sort, and openly professes to believe the President can function 
as a
"unitary executive." White House spokesperson Tony Snow said on January 
8th:
"The President has the ability to exercise his own authority if he 
thinks
Congress has voted the wrong way."

Americans voted in November of 2006 for Congress to stand up to this 
assault
on our democracy. We voted against the war, but we even voted out
Republicans who were opposing the war. We threw out candidates who 
allowed
Bush to campaign for them, and left in office those who refused.

While it is public knowledge that Bush launched the opening stages of 
the
Iraq War in secret, without Congress's approval or awareness, illegally
using funds appropriated for Afghanistan and elsewhere, it has not 
always
been as clear as it is at this moment that Bush will not end the war 
even if
required by Congress to do so. Growing awareness of this fact is 
leading the
peace movement to join the impeachment movement.

Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers so many years ago,
recently argued that it was only the pressure of the peace movement that
allowed the impeachment of President Nixon to proceed, and that it was 
only
the exposures and threat of impeachment that persuaded Nixon not to 
veto the
bill that finally cut off the funding for the Vietnam War. As Congress
exposes the crimes of Bush and Cheney to public view, it will move us 
closer
to impeachment. As Congress members begin to object to their powerless 
role
of court jesters, they will move us closer to impeachment and also to
bringing our troops home.

We should be encouraging our Congress members to proceed immediately 
with
key investigations (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/investigations) 
and to
not be afraid to use subpoenas. We should also be encouraging state
legislators in our own and other states who take up the cause of 
democracy.
We need them to do so from their positions as elected officials closer 
to
the people and further from the big dollars.

In New Mexico, a leading light of that state's politics, State Senator
Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque, will be leading the way on 
impeachment.
He deserves the support of all the world, and you can thank him at
jortizyp@aol.com or 505-986-4380. Let's help him make New Mexico the 
land of
enchantment and impeachment.

[Dave Swanson is Executive Director of AfterDowningStreet.org. He is a
progressive activist in, and an organizer of, the pro-peace,
pro-impeachment, pro-social justice movements.
Please sign our petition supporting the impeachment of Messrs. Bush and 
Cheney here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/petition
Finally, please sign our important petition, "DON'T ATTACK IRAN!", here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/iran ]