Kucinich reads Bush Articles of Impeachment on the House floor

I flipped on my television at approximately ten-thirty Eastern time on Monday night, and I was pleasantly surprised to find Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) speaking on C-Span. Kucinich was talking about President Bush and his various crimes against the United States, and I soon became aware that the Representative was introducing Articles of Impeachment against President Bush (also known as House Resolution 1258).

Dennis Kucinich had begun his long trudge through the Articles two hours earlier, and he would continue his reading, to an almost empty House chamber, for nearly another three hours. There were 35 Articles in total, each one detailing a crime that Bush had committed that warranted impeachment. I congratulate Kucinich for having the courage and conviction to undertake this task.

A summary of each offense for each Article, as provided by the index of the Articles of Impeachment, reads as follows: Read more

The Strengthening American Defense At Home Act

The Republicans are very good with words. For that, they have Frank Luntz to thank. Luntz knows words. Basically, he is a political consultant and pollster who knows how to use the right words to get people to support his candidates. As I recall, Luntz was the guy who coined the term “amnesty” for illegal immigrants to put the democrats on the defensive. Nobody wants to support “amnesty.” George Bush is a big fan of this practice of manipulating words.

Laws championed by Bush like the No Child Left Behind Act, PATRIOT Act and Healthy Forests Initiative all do the exact opposite of what their names say. For example, the Healthy Forests Initiative expands logging rights inside national forests.

The Democrats should start trying these tricks. I have a suggestion for Dennis Kucinich and Robert Wexler. A new bill to introduce into the House of Representatives. I call this bill the Strengthening American Defense At Home Act. This bill includes a reference to strength, America, defense and another reference to America.

What would the SADHA include in its text? Well, first, it would have to be very long. Long enough that nobody would ever read the entire thing. In the text, there would have to be lots of things like giving more money to homeland security and establishing a new database of terror suspects in a way that somehow doesn’t infringe on civil liberties. It’s bound to pass. Anybody voting against it would be labeled an unpatriotic supporter of terrorism. And then we would play a little trick on those lazy politicians who vote for whatever bills the public tells them to vote for…

Hidden in the middle of the bill there would be a tiny little sub-clause bringing about the impeachment of Dick Cheney. Kucinich’s articles of impeachment against Cheney have been doomed to committee hell, and they need to be brought back. Maybe this is the way. We’ve seen time and time again that politicians vote for bills with pretty names no matter what is inside the bill just because they can’t be seen voting against a bill with a name like the PATRIOT Act.

Now, I know this might sound a little underhanded, but we can do it. We need to impeach Cheney and the rest of them, and hiding their articles of impeachment in the middle of a super-patriotic bill like the SADHA is the only quick and sure-fire way to do something so controversial.

Low Congress Ratings due to Republican Control

Two inter sting things happened relating to congress today. First an immigration bill granting children citizenship in the US after meeting certain criteria was struck down. Second a controversial judge, who overwhelming sides with corporations, was elected to the 5th Circuit Federal Court.

But last November Americans voted out the current leadership in congress. But some politicians haven’t realized Americans want change from twelve years of Republican mismanagement. But they’re still voting for (the Iraq war, uncontrolled spending) and blocking (children’s health care, immigration reform), the same policies that Americans are disgusted with. Unless the Republicans can let the Americans have a voice, more can look to loose their seats in 2008.

And it’s time for Democrats to be Democrats. I want to see Lyndon Baines Johnson type strategies. Not Democrats defecting, and siding with the Republicans. Many of the issues that have failed to be solved are just as important, if not more than the Civil Rights Movement.

Racism is making a resurgence in America (not that it was ever gone), for instance the State Department wants to shut down a Muslim school, because curriculum doesn’t “Meet their standards.” The head of the voting rights protection agency feels “The white vote is the most important to protect.” And there is a tremendous government/Republican started backlash against legal and “illegal” immigrants.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid need to become true leaders, willing at any cost to pass important legislation. But blame cannot be entirely placed on the leadership, Democrats need to stop being bullied by Republican tactics. And Americans need to stop being intimated by Republican fear mongering (ever noticed how a new Osama tape appears when Bush needs more money?). Lets live by the motto “Give me freedom or give me death.”

No Word Yet on Who Will Pay for Iraq

The Democrats tried to find a way to fund the Iraq war, by creating a tax surcharge. Top Democrats, and Republicans as a whole blasted the idea. The idea reported by MarketWatch actually seemed simple and responsible:

The proposed legislation, offered by House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., and Democratic Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, would require low- and middle-income taxpayers to add 2% to their federal taxes, according to news reports, while higher-income taxpayers would see a surcharge of 12% to 15%.

Obey said the measure would help draw a contrast between President Bush’s threat to veto several Democratic spending measures because they exceed his fiscal 2008 budget request by around $22 billion.

“Just as I have opposed the war from the outset, I am … opposed to a war surtax,” said Pelosi, D-Calif., according to the Associated Press.

Someone needs to pay for this war. Obviously the oil money we where promised would finance a war that would go no higher than $50 billion, has gone somewhere else. Probably in Bushes pocket. But my idea for war financing is even better, how about congressional districts that support the Iraq war - as determined by their representatives votes - would have to the tax burden.

This puts the Republicans where their mouth is. First it funds this “All so important war,” which everyday is looking more like a Bush/Vigilante setup (Bush gets to put oil money in his pocket, hateful conservatives gets to watch Blackwater shooting brown people). And besides money, Al-Qaida has warned that anyone who pays taxes, is as guilty as Bush for Iraq and Afghanistan. So why not have the people who support this war be the sole bearers of the blood and money?

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 2.0

The Senate passed the vote to expand the fine print of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last night. The vote tallied in at 60 - 28. 16 Democrats and Joe Lieberman (Independent) joined 43 Republicans in supporting the bill.

The changes to the bill include things such as not needing a warrant to monitor phone calls domestic, or international calls that are leaving the US. Emails may also be monitored. This will be conducted by the NSA.
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House Judiciary Committee issues contempt citations for Bush aides

Today the House Judiciary Committee, led by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), issued Contempt of Congress citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and President Bush’s former legal counselor, Harriet Miers, as a result of President Bush claiming Executive Privilege over these two testifying. Read more

Anti-War Activist Cindy Sheehan to run against Pelosi

Anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan has announced that, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Bush by midnight last night, Sheehan will run against Pelosi for her San Francisco seat. Says Sheehan, “Not only am I going to run against her, but I will beat her.”

Honestly I’m not sure what effect this will have. Thus far Pelosi has made no comment. I have looked around some of the other blogs, and it appears that as a result of this run Sheehan has lost the support of more central Democrats who supported her efforts previously. While I am certainly not a centrist, I am certainly opposed to this run. Read more

3 Congress Members Away from Impeachment, Senate Plans Censure

In a remarkable turn of events in the past weeks, the White ‘House’ is falling down on the President. Congress is making improvements to end the war, and with an approval rating at 25% and a disapproval rating at 71%, impeachment doesn’t seem too far away.

Congressman John Conyers announced that he is 3 congress members away from moving forward on impeachment.

Senator Russ Feingold announced that he plans to publicly disapprove of George W. Bush’s presidency by calling for a censure. A censure will publicly shame the president as the worst in history. For the illegal wiretapping, the War in Iraq, and the whole throwing the rule of law out the window.
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Will it pass?

NO: Yesterday the House Of Representatives voted for a COMPLETE withdrawal from Iraq. And SURPRISE it will get vetoed again. You can’t make a controversial vote with an ignoramus as president can we? The only thing we can do to save this country is to Impeach the president, then Impeach Cheney. And finally, I am not a fan of her, but she is better then Bush, Nancy Pelosi will become president .My prediction is we will be in Iraq ’til Jan. 20 , 2009 UNLESS we Impeach Bush. Bill Clinton was Impeached for having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Bush has killed almost 100,000 people and he is not Impeached? Until that day of Jan. 20 we will live in Bush’s world of highering spending and cutting taxes; the absolute recipe for disaster.

House Passes ‘Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act’

If you saw the action live on C-Span 1 for the debate over “Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act” it was very exciting. The Democrats and Nancy Pelosi are getting tougher when it comes to pushing legislation to actually END THE WAR. President Bush seems to want us to be patient when it comes to seeing us ‘win the war’. It’s not gonna happen, the war is getting worse and worse, and there is no end in sight. The deeper we dig ourselves into Iraq, the longer it takes us to get out.
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