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A Blueprint for Impeachment;:The
Constitution Still in Crisis
Cindy Sheehan
opednews.com
Tuesday November 20, 2007
This pattern of immunity for presidents must stop. Impeaching
George Bush for lying to get us into war will not only protect
us from him, but also send an unmistakable message to future presidents:
Never again. Elizabeth Holtzman, former Congresswoman in the forward
to: Constitution in Crisis by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. and
Staff
I was recently given an award by the Cranbrook Peace Institute
and the ceremonies were held in Detroit, the hometown of Rep.
John Conyers. I was pretty surprised that he agreed to introduce
me at the event considering that the last time I saw him I was
being hauled out of his office in DC in handcuffs and I have been
very outspoken about the Democrats failure to hold BushCo accountable.
I must give the Congressman a lot of credit to always show up
to events where he knows he is going to be harassed about impeachment
and he gave me a nice introduction reading part of my testimony
in Congress regarding the Downing Street Minutes that Rep. Conyers
conducted in a cramped room in the basement of Congress on June
16, 2005. In the intro he called me the “mother of the modern
peace movement.”
John Conyers and I have had a cordial relationship that goes
back to that June day when we believed that we were taking profound
first steps in peacefully and lawfully overthrowing the Bush crime
regime. Rep. Conyers wrote the intro to my first book: Not One
More Mother’s Child; I am mentioned in his brilliant analysis
of the reasons to impeach BushCo and I was with him at the People’s
State of the Union in 2006 just hours before I was arrested at
the War Pig State of the Union address for wearing a t-shirt.
Whenever I am in DC, I just have to call his office and he always
makes time to see me. His commitment to our country is decades
long: from being a veteran of the military and Civil Right’s
campaigns to serving in Congress for over 40 years. He is on the
right track by seeking universal, single payer health care. He
has been correct on so many issues that progressives hold dear
and that’s why it is so puzzling to me and the so many others
in the progressive community why he will not institute impeachment
proceedings for the criminals who are only getting worse since
Conyers wrote the book on impeachment, not better. It’s
not as if BushCo has found a new propensity to follow the law
and as a matter of fact, the 110th Congress has made a habit of
legitimizing and legalizing the crimes.
(Article continues below)
A brief recount of the reasons Conyers lists for impeachment
in his book is: Deception (lies that led to war), manipulation
(of intelligence and the tragic events of 9-11), torture (our
new AG is not so sure about torture), retribution (against “enemies”
i.e.: Valerie Plame and Bunnatine Greenhouse: Halliburton whistleblower),
illegal surveillance (which Congress recently approved) and cover-ups.
All of the charges are brilliantly documented and proved by John
Conyers’ brilliant staff, that has also inexplicably become
anti-impeachment along with most of the rest of the failed and
failing 110th Congress.
At the peace events in Detroit, I also had the high honor of
holding a dialogue with young peace and social justice activists
in the Detroit area. A young Hispanic girl had the floor and she
recounted the feeling of hopelessness that she and her peers were
feeling about the future. She cried when she said: “We feel
like we have no future.” If BushCo are allowed to continue
their crimes against peace, humanity, civil rights, basic human
rights and the environment, unchecked, then the young lady may
be tragically correct in her analysis.
The Democratic leadership has made a mockery of our Constitution
by excising “awkward” parts out of it. For example,
by invoking “Title X” (Contempt of Congress) which
is a harsher punishment against protesters that leads to harsher
penalties, such as being banished from Capital Hill for a determined
amount of time, they have killed the pesky First Amendment Rights
to free speech and peaceable assembly.
By confirming Michael Mukasey for Attorney General and approving
the Military Commissions Act, Congress has stripped away our Eighth
Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. By
suspending habeas corpus we are denied our Sixth Amendment rights
to fair and speedy trials and to confront our accusers with an
attorney present. Congress has also abrogated its Constitutionally
mandated role of declaring war to a bloodthirsty Executive Branch
and have invalidated Article II; Section 4 which states that a
President and Vice-President “shall be removed from Office
on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other
high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
The Dems were swept back into power off of the backs and energy
of the anti-war left and they have betrayed us by surgically removing
important parts of the Constitution. Cardinal Mahoney of the Los
Angeles Diocese calls such picking and choosing of what to believe
or disbelieve in the Church as “Cafeteria Catholicism,”
I call disregarding parts the Constitution: “Treason,”
and the only way that Congress can redeem itself from infamy is
to follow the road map that has been laid out for us centuries
ago and declare the phony “War on Terror” over and
restore our country to sanity by impeaching the people who have
led us down this highway to hell.
We must not let Congress off the hook by allowing them to let
BushCo off the hook.
We are collecting handwritten letters to Speaker Pelosi to deliver
to her office demanding that Resolution (H Res 799 introduced
by Rep. Dennis Kucinich) to impeach the cruel and callous puppet
master, Dick Cheney, be given the attention and resources that
are needed to go forward with an indictment in the house and a
trial in the Senate on the crimes outlined by the Resolution.
We already have a couple thousand and we will deliver them to
the Speaker when we reach 10,000. Let’s flood her office
with letters as if she is Santa and we want impeachment on our
Christmas table.
We need to leave the young people of the world with hope that
rule of law will be restored in the US and that future presidents
will know that their hands are at least restrained by two co-equal
branches when it comes to invading countries contrary to international
law, US law, and basic human dignity.
Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or
congress people:
demand
the Speaker go forward with HRes 799
Click
here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps
and local newspapers
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, who
was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President
of Gold Star Families for Peace and the author of two books: Not
One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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