Congress a Bigger Threat to Constitution than Bush

I'm not so worried about Bush. Sure he is a corrupt President who has killed thousands of people and nearly destroyed America. And yes, he has violated many parts of the Constitution. But he does not threaten the integrity of the Constitution itself. That is because the authors of the Constitution were very smart. They knew there would be corrupt Presidents and provided a remedy just in case. That remedy is impeachment. When a President commits "high crimes and misdemeanors" the Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach, hold a trial, convict and remove from office the wayward miscreant.

This is not unlike the laws against robbing banks. People rob banks all the time. But people are not worried about the law itself being undermined. That is because the police and the courts catch most banks robbers, try them and send them to jail. The law works well in this case.

But imagine if the police said they weren't going to bother with catching bank robbers because it was a distraction. And suppose the courts said they were not going to try bank robbers because it would tie up the courts. Or even worse, imagine if the sheriff wanted to use the high crime rate to help win the next election, so he let the bank robbers go. If that happened then the laws against robbing banks would become meaningless. Banks would become obsolete. This behavior by the police would threaten the rule of law far more than the actual robbing of the banks.

Well this is exactly what happened when Pelosi said "Impeachment is off the table." The inaction of the Democrats in the face of these obvious crimes is doing more to undermine the Constitution than Bush's original crimes. Bush is just a crook. But Congress is far worse. They are the crooked cops who look the other way.

Every member of Congress takes an oath of office to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". They don't take an oath to bring home the pork or to get reelected. It is time for Congress to do their most important job and to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney.

There are a few members of Congress who take their Oath of Office seriously. Dennis Kucinich has introduced HRes 333 to impeach Dick Cheney. He now has over 20 cosponsors. But the central leadership of the Democratic party continues to be complicit in Bush's crimes. If Congress does not impeach then history may judge them more harshly then it judges Bush and Cheney.

Bush Freezes War Funds for Iraq

July 17, 2007 - In a surprise move, President Bush issued an Executive Order that has the effect of freezing all funding for his war in Iraq. His message to Congress blocks any funds which are used to commit any violence in Iraq that threatens the "peace or stability of Iraq" or that undermine "efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people".

He probably meant for this to apply to "the insurgents" but I cannot think of anyone who has done more to threaten the "peace or stability" of Iraq than George Bush himself. Over half a million Iraqis have been killed and over 4 million have fled the country since he invaded Iraq in 2003.

Saddam was a bad leader who condoned the torture of prisoners and killed many Iraqis. But one could walk down the street back then without fearing for one's life. Since Bush took over, foreigners have to hide in the "Green Zones" and the role of torturer has been taken over by our own military.

Bush is now in the difficult position of having to violate his own order if he continues the occupation of Iraq. Oh well. It is just one more law to break and he is above the law so I doubt this will slow him down.

You can read the text of the resolution here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html

It is becoming increasingly clear that the only way to end this occupation of Iraq is to impeach the man who misled us into it.

More at: http://www.impeachbush.tv/

Pelosi: Do Nothing, Get Elected

Did you ever wonder why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "Impeachment is off the table". Now we know.

In an interview with bloggers on June 28, 2007, Pelosi revealed the true motives of the Democratic leadership. It is not about protecting and defending the Constitution. It is not about restoring the delicate checks and balances that keep America from turning into a dictatorship. It is all about getting elected in 2008. Apparently their strategy is to investigate and catalog all of the crimes by Bush and Cheney and then do absolutely nothing about them. Then in 2008 they can say "Look how bad they are. Vote for us!".

In the interview, Pelosi spoke about the many impeachable offenses that Bush has committed and said "The American people really don’t even know the half of it..." She described assaults by Bush on judicial review and habeas corpus. But rather than following the Constitutional remedy of impeachment Pelosi summed up their strategy as follows: "So again, build the record, make it known to the public, understand that this flies in the face of everything our country stands for, and use it in the campaign and then do it right when we are in power, which I am absolutely certain we will be – I’m certain we will win the White House." [Pelosi 6/28/07]

Franky, I don't care if they win the White House. If the Democrats simply use these crimes to get elected then they are no better than the Republicans who use these crimes to promote their own agenda. If the Democrats do not defend the Constitution by impeaching Bush or Cheney then they do not deserve to win. I will vote for a third party if the Democrats cannot fulfill their oath of office.

Pelosi needs to be careful. Her plan could backfire. A third party candidate can use the Democrats list of crimes against both major parties. They can simply say "Look at what the Republicans did. Look at what the Democrats knew and did absolutely nothing about!"

Politicians may care about getting reelected. But as a citizen, I care more about what they do when they are in office. The Democrats have a sworn duty to defend the Constitution. I expect them to honor their oath and impeach Bush and Cheney.

Impeachment is for Wimps

I am puzzled when I hear Democrats saying that impeachment of Bush or Cheney is too extreme. Anyone who follows the news will admit that serious crimes have been committed. But those same people are unwilling to pursue impeachment. They act as if impeachment were some kind of lynching or revolutionary act. But impeachment is simply a process by which a President can lose their job. That's it. They just get fired. There is no prison or tar and feathering involved. Impeachment is pretty wimpy when you think about it.

Imagine you are the boss of a company and one of your managers lies to the other managers and leads you on a fools errand that results in the deaths of 3400 employees and half a million customers. Oops. He also spied on other employees, kidnapped thousands of customers and is holding them in secret dungeons where they are routinely tortured. Egad. This employee has also had years of poor performance reviews and is showing no sign of improvement. He claims that he is trying to help the company but the company is suffering and his buddies are getting rich from shady deals that he has made over the years. So what do you do?

It goes without saying that this guy loses his job. It would be ridiculous and dangerous to let him stay. After that it is up to the police or the FBI.

Now you might think that this situation does not apply to President Bush because he is the boss of the USA. But you would be wrong. We are the boss, the American people. We elect the President and Vice President and our Constitution, Article II Section 4, says we can fire them if they commit "Treason, Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors". Our Representatives in Congress have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and that includes impeaching the President and Vice President if necessary. They work for us too and we expect them to do their job.

Some Democrats have argued that Bush's crimes are not serious enough to warrant impeachment. But people get fired for stealing office supplies or showing up late for work. Lying and killing thousands of people is arguably worse. So let's go Congress. Do the wimpiest, most minimal, thing that these crimes deserve. Fire Bush and Cheney by voting yes for Articles of Impeachment.

Read more at http://www.impeachbush.tv/