Monday, November 05, 2007

Dennis Kucinich Is Going to Embarrass the United States of America

He, and at least 21 of his colleagues in Congress,
including Jan Schakowsky, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Keith Ellison, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, Albert Wynn, William Lacy Clay, Dennis Kucinich, Yvette Clarke, Jim McDermott, Jim Moran, Bob Filner, Sam Farr, Robert Brady, Tammy Baldwin, Donald Payne, Steve Cohen, Sheila Jackson Lee, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Ed Towns, and Diane Watson.

These 21 Congressmen and Congresswomen have signed on to support Kucinich's H RES 333, introducing the Articles of Impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney summarized below:


First Charge:
Cheney has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests
Second Charge:
Cheney purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests
Third Charge:
Cheney has openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States, and done so with the United States proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining the national security of the United States.
Tomorrow, Congressman Kucinich's bill to impeach Cheney will be introduced on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Another pro-Bush or Bush-lite congress member will move to table (kill) the resolution. The vote will come on the 6th, 7th, or 8th of November. If the vote to table the motion carries, this generation of Americans will go down in history as condoning the above stated actions of Dick Cheney as not being beyond the pale of the American Way of governance. Such a stain will be indelible.

We, alone, can help save our country and our generation this embarrassment by contacting our Congressional representatives and urge a "No" vote on the anticipated tabling motion - and in effect, giving impeachment a chance.

19 Moderated Comments:

Blogger TomCat said...

Great minds, Vig. I called my Rep early this morning.

11/05/2007 12:13:00 PM  
Blogger Kentucky Rain said...

Dennis Kucinich?? How could he possibly embarrass a nation led by Dubya and his neo-cons???

11/05/2007 04:48:00 PM  
Blogger Commander Zaius said...

I was embarrassed enough of my fellow country men when today at work during lunch a brief newsbreak spoke about the mounting chaos in Pakistan all they could talk about afterward was the second segment about how Paris Hilton got into some sort of trouble going into porn shop dressed in a skeleton custom with mask.

11/05/2007 06:24:00 PM  
Blogger Messenger said...

The Reasons not to Impeach! Hotlist by Turkana:
Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 01:27:00 PM PDT

Because the Constitution needed shredding.

Because the rule of law is quaint.

Because all those lies that got us into the war have been proved worth it.

Because the war should never end.

Because being an international pariah is kind of cool.

Because international law is silly.

Because torture is fun.

Because ignoring all the screaming alarms before 9/11 was prudent.

Because New Orleans wasn't all that great, anyway.

Because the people of New Orleans and Iraq were expendable.

Because our military personnel deserve to suffer unprecedented abuse at the hands of their own government.

Because it's exciting knowing we're all being spied upon.

Because we missed out on all the fun that was life in the Soviet Union.

Because the Department of Justice is meant to be used as a political weapon.

Because the way to get rid of election fraud is to get rid of elections.

Because every national regulatory agency should be run by former lobbyists from the industries each agency regulated.

Because corporate executives were underpaid and their employees were coddled.

Because our government should be of, by, and for the fossil fuel industries.

Because billions of dollars needed to be funneled from hardworking taxpayers through off-book, no-bid contracts to corporations owned by members of the Administration, and their friends and relatives.

Because our minds just aren't beautiful enough to appreciate a war president commander guy unitary executive.

Because Congressional lawmaking authority was meant to be nullified with the stroke of a signing-statement pen.

Because Rococo art was actually pretty amazing, so the Divine Right of Kings must also have been.

Because global warming doesn't exist.

Because people suffering from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Multiple Sclerosis are less important than single cells in petri dishes.

Because we need to set a precedent that presidents have impunity.

Because Democracy was a failed experiment.

Because the backlash against President Clinton's impeachment proved that the public has no taste for impeachment- no matter the extent of the high crimes and misdemeanors.

Because Congressional Republicans are just dying to sacrifice their careers to defend an imploding Administration.

Because it's scary to be decisive.

Because it's scary to rise to history's challenges.

Because David Broder would write something nasty about the Democrats.

Because all those annoying bloggers might start to believe they were actually right.

11/05/2007 08:13:00 PM  
Blogger Sapo said...

Math quiz!

The Cheney impeachment resolution was introduced in April 2007 (about six moths ago).

If Dennis K. has signed up 21 colleagues in six months, how many more months will it be before Kucinich has the support he needs to pass this beautiful, wonderful, glorious resolution?

11/05/2007 08:41:00 PM  
Blogger LTE said...

MD:

Currently H Res 333 sits in the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Jerold Nadler has done nothing with it for months. He is going to introduce a privileged resolution on the floor of the
U.S. House Tuesday morning to force a vote on his resolution to impeach. The privilege approach allows him to circumvent Democratic leadership, which opposes voting on the measure.

An American Research Group poll this summer found more than half of Americans support Cheney's impeachment.

So, the problem is Congress, and thus it is Congress that will suffer a self-inflicted embrassment, not the American people, when they table the Kucinich's resolution or bury it in committee.

11/05/2007 09:04:00 PM  
Blogger Vigilante said...

FWIW, My short & brief email to Congresswoman Lois Capps:

The Honorable Lois Capps:

Please vote support of this Impeachment measure and against any attempt to table it. Dick Cheney's serial and comprehensive abuses of power are exactly what the Founders had in mind when they included the impeachment provisions (6 of them) in the Constitution. If this Congress does not impeach Cheney, it should amend the Constitution to do away with Impeachment. My wife and I won't bother to vote anymore. Maybe we'll just move to Pakistan.


(Research shows that brevity = clarity = effectiveness when writing to legislators.)

11/05/2007 09:28:00 PM  
Blogger Vigilante said...

I recommend the all-purpose site posted in the right hand column of my pages. It does a cc version to House leadership, too!

11/05/2007 09:30:00 PM  
Blogger Vigilante said...

Congressman Kucinich is introducing H Res 333 as I type this.

11/06/2007 10:47:00 AM  
Blogger Buckeye said...

Let me see if I got this right.

Dennis floats H Res. 333. Then the Dems try to send it to Judiciary Committee never never land. Then the GOP votes against that so the Dems. must procede.

What do they do next? Debate? Indict?

This whole deal has me confused.

11/06/2007 07:36:00 PM  
Blogger Sapo said...

The Republicans want to debate it because they know that the vast majority of Democrats don't have the guts to vote for it.

The Demcratic leadership wants to "disappear" it because they know that the vast majority of Democrats don't have the guts to vote for it.

It's a sad situation.

At the very least let the brave souls who support it have their day at the podium.

11/06/2007 07:42:00 PM  
Blogger Anvendelig said...

I don't get the left's fetishism with impeachment. We can only lose, legally and politically. It's pure activism on Kucinich's part. Even the "Nation" wrote this, some time ago: Impeachment would be the one thing the Republicans need to regroup and reenergize themselves.

Bush and Cheney "won" two elections. The American people brought that upon themselves. Hopefully they've learned their lesson. So, the best way to deal with this sorry bunch is defeat them in 2008. Afterwards, there may be legal means to deal with the crimes the Bush administration committed. But impeachment is not the way to do it. Nixon was the one special occasion when the 2/3 majority was within grasp - Clinton or Bush is an other matter.

Get over it. Defeat the Repugs. On the ballot.

11/07/2007 09:35:00 AM  
Blogger Kentucky Rain said...

I agree completely with Avendelig. Impeachment is not going to happen in the time left and we should not be wasting our resources on retribution, and that is all that it is: retribution. The left needs to focus on keeping th Congress and winning the White House.

11/07/2007 02:06:00 PM  
Blogger Boris said...

? "wasting our resources?"

What resources? You two (Anvendelig & Mike) are sounding just like Diane Feinstein.

Business as usual. We have a busy schedule. Our docket is full. We have bills to pass. Like a new FISA bill. Like legislation to make waterboparding illegal. Like child health care?

WTF??? We already have a FISA law. Amended several times over since 9-11. Waterboarding is already illegal.

What are should we use our 'resources' for? For what are we saving them? Jerk-ass doesn't even have to veto the hard work of Congress; he just re-writes legislation in signing statements.

Wake up and smell the coffee Mike. These Republicans are not like you and me. They are beyond the pale of U.S. history. They play by the rules they make up along the way.

11/07/2007 05:59:00 PM  
Blogger Sapo said...

Impeachment is not retribution.

What they did must be investigated by Congress.

They have lied us into war, authorized torture, spied on Americans illegally, and stripped people of their rights.

The fact that no one gives a shit is appalling.

11/07/2007 06:31:00 PM  
Blogger Vigilante said...

You're absolutely right, M.D. Impeachment is not retribution. Impeachment is restoration.

BTW, Here is the Recorded vote on Dennis Kucinich's HR Res 333.

I'm glad my Congresswoman, Lois Capps, was on the side of the Constitution, and I owe her my thanks.

11/07/2007 09:46:00 PM  
Blogger Vigilante said...

C.W.: I think what's got you confused is that we are not used to seeing our congressional 'mis-leaders' playing chicken. That's not what we elected them to do.

MadMike: The first time I read that, I wasn't sure I understood what you meant by RETRIBUTION. Do you mean retribution for the Clinton impeachment? If so, you are deranged. Clinton is dead to me.

Going forward, Rep. Robert Wexler has sent out a letter to call the HJC to hold hearings on impeachment:

The American people are served well with a legitimate and thorough impeachment inquiry. I will urge the Judiciary Committee to schedule impeachment hearings immediately and not let this issue languish as it has over the last six months. Only through hearings can we bring begin to correct the abuses of Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration; and, if it is determined in these hearings that Vice President Cheney has committed High Crimes and Misdemeanors, he should be impeached and removed from office.

Here's how you can contact you Congressional Representatives and leaders!

11/08/2007 10:03:00 AM  
Blogger Stella by Starlight said...

Bravo, messenger! Thanks to all of you. Unfortunately and uncharacteristically, my rep, Congressman Waxman is still on the fence. He'll be hearing from me... a lot.

H.Res 333 cosponsors from Thomas.

Kucinich is not the only candidate disparaging Cheney.

Great quote from The Hill: "During the weekend, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) referred to the vice president as “a crazy uncle in the attic.” He was riffing on reports that he and Cheney are distantly related."

11/09/2007 05:16:00 PM  
Blogger Vigilante said...

Thanks to you, M.D.:

Busheney Are the Real Issues in this campaign (2008). We need to get the Articles of Impeachment sent to the Senate. Let's get the Republicans on the record defending 'their boys in office'. Maybe we'll catch a Republican Candidate in the nets!

11/13/2007 06:50:00 AM  

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