“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke
Welcome to Day 12 of ImpeachmentWatch™, your daily diary that tracks Impeachment, whether the Mainstream Media covers it or not.
Washington, DC (June 21, 2008) Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) released the following statement regarding Major General Taguba’s comments on the committal of war crimes by the Bush Administration.
“Major General Taguba’s comments confirm my long standing assertion that President Bush and Vice President Cheney have committed war crimes in violation of the War Crimes Act, Section 18 of U.S.Code § 2441. Commission of war crimes is an impeachable offense,” Kucinich said.
“Having led the Army’s investigation at Abu Ghraib, General Taguba is an authoritative voice on the Administration’s rogue policies and systematic use of torture. His words remind us once again why Congress must act to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney,” said Kucinich.
“The Administration can deny the use of torture all they want but the truth is clear and no amount of lying can cover it up.”
Impeachment Video of the Day
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Recent Highlights
I believe we should let George Bush get away with breaking the law because the attempt to hold him accountable is being led by someone that people like to make fun of.
My problem with the “not the right time” argument is that it has been used for too long to give our leaders of today a free pass while passing the buck on to our leaders of tomorrow. We are expected to have blind faith that the Democrats, once elected, will take on the important issues. But there is always an upcoming election. There are always public opinion concerns. There will always be a better time.
What would Washington and Jefferson say if they learned about secretly removing a citizen of a foreign nation to a nation bereft of constitutional safeguards and interrogating ruthlessly without any specified time frame?
What about snooping through libraries to determine what people have been reading without any warrant or explanation why such information is being gathered?
How about refusing to allow terrorist suspects right to counsel and indefinitely torturing them, including waterboarding?
Rep. Kucinich: This is what the founders anticipated in putting in the Constitution, in seven different places, the impeachment power and in making the House the sole guardian of that power. And so this is really an attempt to re-establish democratic governance, have the principle of accountability and the rule of law made central again to our public affairs and to take America, return America to a condition of true democracy.
Disclosing their crimes, taking away their ability to carry out further mischief, taking away their base of power, and imprisoning them is the way to protect ourselves.
But no one did. Even when Democrats retook the House and Senate, the first thing they did was declare — almost pridefully — that “impeachment was off the table.” It was like a fire chief announcing that “response to house fires is off the table,” or a district attorney declaring that “rape prosecutions are off the table.”
“This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred,” said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. “It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth.”
“We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice,” Velvel said. “And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war-criminals in the 1940s.”
Velvel said past practice has been to allow U.S. officials responsible for war crimes in Viet Nam and elsewhere to enjoy immunity from prosecution upon leaving office. “President Johnson retired to his Texas ranch and his Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was named to head the World Bank; Richard Nixon retired to San Clemente and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was allowed to grow richer and richer,” Velvel said.
He noted in the years since the prosecution and punishment of German and Japanese leaders after World War Two those nation’s leaders changed their countries’ aggressor cultures. One cannot discount contributory cause and effect here, he said.
“For Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Yoo to spend years in jail or go to the gallows for their crimes would be a powerful lesson to future American leaders,” Velvel said.
The corporate media does not want to take on this issue and will not be able to handle its actual existence the way it handles the threat of impeachment proceedings. If impeachment hearings get underway, the corporate media will have to deal with the substance of the charges. It will be impossible to simply avoid the matter or treat it dismissively. You know the substance of the charges as well as anyone, but apparently you have not considered what all that information could accomplish.
The blogs are alive with the sound of Impeachment. The notices are rolling into my computer faster than I can open them, sign them and send them out to friends or family. That’s called activism, pushing back against this destructive force called Bush.
Upon hearing the 35 pages of crimes committed by Bush, Pelosi and Reid fell into hysterical laughter at the prospect that any Congressman or Senator would pretend to do their jobs. Issuing a joint statement in response to Kucinich, they said, “What does he think this Congress is going to do, work? Fulfill the will of the people? He has lost site of our real purpose as leaders. Our job is not to conduct oversight on illegal presidential acts. It is not our position to investigate these truths. We will let history judge the president and us. We can’t waste time on matters of importance.” Pelosi then excused herself
saying she had more pressing issues such as “naming new Post Offices” to deal with.
I think, perhaps, we are focusing on issues of impeachment through the wrong end of the telescope. We keep asking: how might this, potentially, negatively affect our Dems in the coming election cycle. Maybe we should turn the telescope around, for a wide-angle perspective, and ask: how might impeachment negatively affect every Republican running for office in the upcoming election?
The more Bush’s dirty laundry is aired for all to see, the worse John McCain will do in November. The fact that John McCain supported the very things Bush could be impeached for should tell Democrats that going forward against Bush is great strategy.
The alternative is to give Bush, Cheney and others in their administration a pass — a “get out of jail free” card. If we were to issue that now, regardless of what they might do in the seven months they still have in office, they’d have free rein to operate outside the law.
The Speaker’s excuses are frivolous. One does not agree to remain complicit with tyranny on the illusion fact finding might be divisive. Division is the intent of the Framers: To ensure power is not centralized, and divided. Pelosi supports centralizing unchecked power under tyranny.
For this blackout to be broken, Progressive Democrats of America, Move On and every other progressive group need to call for Senator Obama to publicly call for Impeachment.
“The limitation of the period of his service, was not a sufficient security … He might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation or oppression.” — James Madison
“There’s a way to bring an end to those practices, you know: vote the bums out… That’s how our system is designed.” – Barack Obama
That’s not how our system is designed.
The promise of another election was not enough to stop an Executive from abusing power in James Madison’s opinion but unfortunately, the Democratic candidate for president, much of the Democratic Party, and its constituents find the promise to be enough. And incidentally, it has never been enough.
“The system should be designed so that the two parties are so similar the people can ‘throw the bums out’ at anytime, without a substantial change in policy.” — Carrol Quigley
Vital Links
Full Text of the Articles of Impeachment (PDF)
Full Text Version of the Articles of Impeachment (TXT)
List of the Articles of Impeachment (TXT)
Entire Kucinich Impeachment Video (complete) [thanks to cspanjunkie]
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
“Ernest Hemingway once wrote, ‘The world is a fine place and worth fighting for’. I agree with the second part” — Seven
Mainstream Story Counts
front pages as of 10:00 am PST – 2008-06-21
CNN.com: 0
FoxNews.com: 0
MSNBC.com: 0
Google News: 0
Reuters: 0
AP: 0
Google News Search: Impeachment: 5,757 – (13) – (1,131)
Number of Days until Rep. Kucinich plans to re-introduce the 35 Articles of Impeachment: 18
Current Co-Sponsers: Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19], Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6], Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9], Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22], Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2]
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. — Margaret Mead
Daily Impeachment Tracker
Day 12 – 2008-06-21
RAWSTORY: Dem Rep. calls for impeachment at McClellan testimony (video)
BUSINESS-AND-MEDIA: Lou Dobbs: Bush Should Be Impeached for Salmonella Outbreak
ADS: Lou Dobbs finds his reason to impeach Bush… food safety (video)
ADS: Major General Taguba’s Comments Add Weight to Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment
ADS: White House Refuses Another Subpoena
ADS: At Congressional Hearing, Conyers Talks About ‘Impeachable Offense’
SCOOP: Kucinich: Impeachment Not “Off the Table”
THE-FREE-PRESS: Support Dennis Kucinich
Day 11 – 2008-06-20
ADS: McClellan and Impeachment (video)
SELF-RELIANCE: Dianne Feinstein”s Answer to Impeachment
LANCASTER-EAGLE-GAZETTE: Ohioan, patriot delivers articles of impeachment
EVERYTHING-JERSEY: Open impeachment hearings
OREGONIAN: A vote for impeachment
SALEM-NEWS: Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment: A Three-Part Guide
CBSNEWS: McClellan: “White House Has Chosen To Conceal” Plame Details
Day 10 – 2008-06-19
WAPO: Kucinich Vows More Impeachment Articles On the Way (video)
TIMESARGUS: Push Congress on impeachment
CONSORTIUM: Bomb Iran? What’s to Stop Us?
THINKPROGRESS: Taguba: “The current administration has committed war crimes” and needs to “be held to account.’
TIMES-HERALD: Where’s impeachment news?
OEN: We the People on the eve of Countdown to impeachment
TIMES-STANDARD: Impeachment is still on the table
NEWS-LEADER: Bush has bent American system
GJ-FREE-PRESS: Where are the Democrats?
ARGUS-LEADER: Discover truth about Bush
SMIRKINGCHIMP: What Does Treason Have to do with Impeachment?
ADS: Cheney Linked To Torture Tactics
OEN: Force Impeachment – Hit The Streets
GLOBALRESEARCH: Kucinich threatens 60 impeachment articles if Judiciary doesn”t act
YOUR-THREE-CENTS: Kucinich to call for 60 ARTICLES of Impeachment
OEN: Congress Worse Than Bush & Company
INTERNATIONAL-NEWS: Movement is underway to impeach US President George W. Bush
Day 9 – 2008-06-18
OEN: Support Rep. Kucinich’s and the Articles of Impeachment Against George Bush
BLACKAGENDAREPORT: Cynthia McKinney’s Call to Action in Support of Dennis Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment Against Bush
BLACKAGENDAREPORT: Freedom Rider: 35 Crimes
ATLANTICFREEPRESS: When is doing the right thing ” the wrong thing?
RAWSTORY: Kucinich threatens 60 impeachment articles if Judiciary doesn”t act
ADS: Bush”s High Crimes and Misdemeanors
ADS: General Accuses WH of War Crimes
BANGKOKPOST: Whither American accountability? Go after Bush Jr.
Day 8 – 2008-06-17
ADS: Brattleboro Reformer Editorializes for Impeachment
ADS: McKinney Says People Must ‘Flip the Script” Again, Urges Mass Mobilization Supporting Impeachment
HERALDBULLETIN: Never too late to impeach
VENTURACOUNTYSTAR: Impeach Bush, Cheney
ADS: Impeachment on MTV
ADS: Bush Greeted With Cries for Impeachment in Rome, Italy
CONSORTIUMNEWS: Kucinich Comments on Impeachment
OEN: I Thought We Didn’t Negotiate With Terrorists
TMPCAFE: A Question to Democrats: If Not Now, When?
Day 7 – 2008-06-16
ADS: Ducking Impeachment in Congress and the Newsroom
ADS: Philadelphia Inquirer Editorializes on Impeachment
ADS: Wiretapping: Impeachment Not Immunity
ADS: Audio of Questioning of Senator Byron Dorgan About Impeachment (audio)
COURANT: Courant Quiet On Impeachment
ADS: PLEASE SUPPORT CONGRESSMEN ROBERT WEXLER and DENNIS KUCINICH
ADS: Impeachment vs. ‘get out of jail free’ card for Bush, Cheney
ADS: LAW SCHOOL TO ORGANIZE BUSH WAR CRIMES TRIAL
STATESMANJOURNAL: The case for impeaching President Bush
Day 6 – 2008-06-15
ADS: Is Fascism an Impeachable Offense?
ADS: It’s Just Plame Impeachable
METROWEST: Greene: Clear reasons for impeachment
OEN: You Can’t Take a Poll to Decide if the Law Should Be Enforced
AZSTARNET: In support of the call for impeachment
GATHER: To Impeach or Not to Impeach, That is the Question
Day 5 – 2008-06-14
WSWS: Kucinich, the Democrats and the impeachment of Bush
JAVNO: NO INVESTIGATION: Kucinich Impeachment Proposal Refused Due To Fear
IPP: Cindy Sheehan criticizes Pelosi for not supporting impeachment
OEN: Questions for Obama: WHERE do you stand on IMPEACHMENT? Is it “Off the Table” for YOU too?
OEN: POLL: Is the news media doing it’s job?
OEN: Please write to Gwen Ifill: 35 Articles of Impeachment Censored
PEOPLES VOICE: ‘George W. Bush has gotten away with murder’
ADS: Cindy Sheehan: Why Not, Nancy?
ADS: U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler takes issue with editorial on impeachment
CONCORD MONITOR: Impeach Bush
OEN: Followup Letter to Congress: Impeach
35 Reasons to Call (202) 225-5126
TMPCAFE: Your DA, State AG Must Prosecute This Sitting President
TMPCAFE: President Must Be Prosecuted For Directing Illegal FBI Information Warfare For Political Objectives
CELEBRITYSATIRE: Congress Responds to Kucinich Impeachment Bill (satire)
Day 4 – 2008-06-13
PROGRESSIVE: It’s Conyers’s Time to Act on Impeachment
DEMOCRACY NOW: Despite Opposition from His Own Party, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich Vows to Continue Impeachment Effort Against Bush (video/audio)
ADS: Veterans For Peace deliver 23,000 impeachment petitions to House Judiciary Chair Conyers
ADS: Bush Tried to Destroy Medicare
PACKET: Bush actions merit impeachment
SPOKESMAN REVIEW: Why no coverage of impeachment debate?
DESERT SUN: The Bush administration: Is impeachment coming?
BUZZFLASH: Dennis Kucinich Says He’s Not Giving Up on Impeachment: Morality and the Law Require It.
VENTURA COUNTY STAR: Your letters: Time to Impeach
NEWS MINER: Impeachment is Extremely Significant
ONLINE JOURNAL: Kucinich vows new round of impeachment articles against Bush if measure dies
ONLINE JOURNAL: The blogs are alive with the sound of Impeachment!
TPMCAFE: House Must Preemptively Impeach Bush On Iran
DKOS: Instructions: How to make an Impeachment Pie
DKOS: Bush Impeachment Polls
TPMCAFE: Evidence Showing Pelosi Must Recuse Herself On Impeachment
DKOS: Rebutting propaganda @ Dennis’s Articles of Impeachment
Day 3 – 2008-06-12
STARTRIBUNE: Animals aloft are a sign that impeachment might fly
RAWSTORY: O’Reilly, Kucinich spar over impeachment, unite on gas prices (video)
ADS: Dennis Kucinich on the Urban Journal (audio)
ADS: Obama Must Learn From Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment: Election Theft is Real
RAWSTORY: Cafferty: Why won’t Congress consider impeachment? (video)
DEMOCRATS.COM: Impeachment Cosponsors Wanted!
ALTERNET: Kucinich’s Mammoth Case for Impeaching Bush
DETROIT FREE PRESS: President’s misdeeds go on record
OEN: Has Kucinich Exposed the Dems Complicity?
TPMCAFE: President Must Be Impeached to Forever Deny Him Any Pardons
DKOS: The 35 Articles of Impeachment
SENTINAL: Why Impeachment Is Good Electoral Strategy
DKOS: TELL PELOSI: Bush impeachment polls as high as Nixon when he resigned
Day 2 – 2008-06-11
WAPO: Kucinich Vows to Keep Up Impeachment Fight
CNN: Kucinich effort to impeach Bush kicked into limbo
RAWSTORY: Kucinich: Judiciary Committee must begin review of impeachment articles
ADS: Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) Supports Effort to Impeach President Bush
BLOG: Americans Want Bush Impeached Far More Than They Ever Supported Clinton Impeachment
TRUTHDIG: Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment
DEMOCRATS.COM: PETITION: Put Kucinich on Meet the Press
TMPCAFE: Speaker Must Be Removed For Her Illegal Position on Impeachment Investigation
DKOS: My letter to Conyers addressing his “5 points against impeachment” – and how you can help
Day 1 – 2008-06-10
COUNTDOWN: Olbermann on ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT (video)
DKOS: I believe we should let George Bush get away with breaking the law because…
RAWSTORY: Mainstream media yawns as Kucinich offers impeachment
DEMOCRATS.COM: Impeachment: Where Olbermann, Turley, and Fineman Are Wrong
DEMOCRATS.COM: Full Text of Articles of Impeachment
DKOS: Wexler Co-Sponsors First Bush Articles of Impeachment
DKOS: The Purpose of Impeachment
DKOS: Why there is time and reason for impeachment of Bush
DKOS: Daily Kos
Poll: When will corporate media cover the impeachment hearings?
DKOS: Five reasons Impeachment is never too late
Day 0 – 2008-06-09
RAWSTORY: Kucinich presents Bush impeachment articles (video)
Pre-Impeachment
ALTERNET: Colbert says Impeach Bush now or you’re a bunch of pussies… (video)
MSNBC: Poll: Do you believe President Bush’s actions justify impeachment? – 89% YES, 700,218 votes
RAWSTORY: Murtha revises: Impeachment is ‘on the table’
ALTERNET: Why Is Impeachment Important? (video)
ALTERNET: George McGovern Calls for Bush and Cheney’s Impeachment
ALTERNET: Olbermann & Maddow: Why Are Democrats Afraid to Impeach Cheney? (video)
ALTERNET: Obama and Clinton believe accountability is “off the table.”
ADS: If the People Want Impeachment, Why Can’t it Happen?
TIMESNEWS: The President “serves at our pleasure” and I’m not pleased
DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND: International Justice: The World Has its Eye on George W. Bush
PBS: Moyers: Tough Talk on Impeachment (video)
How to Help
We need to put serious pressure on Conyers, Pelosi and the rest of the House Judiciary. FAX them. A fax, unlike a voicemail or an email, is a physical piece of paper that CANNOT BE IGNORED or easily deleted. Use FaxZero to send 2 free faxes everyday. [h/t Randgrithr]
Nancy Pelosi: 202-225-4188
Harry Reid: 202-224-7327
Jerrold Nadler: 202-225-6923
John Conyers: 202-225-0072
Sending them the List of the Articles of Impeachment might not be a bad idea. Maybe they just haven’t had a chance to read the list yet. Or maybe they’d like the complete text.
Other Ways to Help
- Write a letter to your local newspaper in suppport of Impeachment.
- Write a letter to your Congressman supporting impeachment.
- Post stories about Impeachment on your blog and other political websites.
- Wear Orange Every Friday! (and ask your friends and family to wear orange)
Don’t let the talk of Impeachment die. Dennis will re-introduce in less than 20 days. It’s up to us, the independent bloggers of the internet to keep this story going. The RULE OF LAW demands that we Impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney for the high crimes and misdemeanors they have committed against the people of this country and the world. We are the media now. Stand up and help Rep. Kucinich. Keep this story alive!
Be the change that you want to see in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi
Wexler Questions McClellan in House Judiciary Committee
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