Impeachment

By David Swanson

The guards at Guantanamo are terrified. Even a man with no legs (amputated after being intentionally exposed to extreme cold by American guards in Afghanistan) is treated as a horrifying threat:

"The bandages wrapped around Abdul's stumps were never changed. When he took them off himself, they were full of blood and pus. He showed the bandage to the guards and pointed to his open wounds. The guards ignored him. Later I saw how he tried to wash the bandages in his bucket of drinking water. But he could hardly move his hands, so he wasn't able to. And even if he had, where would he have hung them up to dry? He wasn't allowed to touch the fence. He wrapped his stumps back up in the dirty bandages.

"When the guards came to take him to be interrogated, they ordered him to sit with his back to the door and put his hands on his head. When they opened the door, they stormed in as they did with every other prisoner. They hit him on the back and pushed him to the ground. Then they handcuffed and bound him so he could no longer move. Abdul howled in pain."

Presented at George Mason University on April 14, 2008
Dedicated to Betty Hall and the New Hampshire State Legislature.
By David Swanson

John Adams, who was later the second president of the United States, wrote some words in the Constitution of Massachusetts that have been quoted approvingly by the U.S. Supreme Court and every state supreme court in the United States. He described a separation of powers among three branches of government and said that this would be done

"to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men."

By David Swanson

On Friday outside the gates of Stratcom, the strategic command center outside of Omaha, Nebraska, that controls U.S. nuclear weapons and military space technology and from which the next war of aggression will be run, a group of activists gathered from all over the world. A number of people gave speeches in the freezing bone-chilling wind and snow. This was mine:

Alex Salmond is the first minister of Scotland. I met him in Scotland a couple of years ago when I went there with Cindy Sheehan. Together with Rose Gentle, a Scottish woman who also lost her son in the occupation of Iraq, we met with members of the Scottish Parliament at the Parliament and then drove to Glagow for another speaking engagement, and it was there that I met Salmond and talked with him briefly about impeachment, which he claimed originated in Scotand. He's been a major advocate of impeaching Tony Blair. He's speaking at the Rotunda at UVA at 2 p.m. today. I'll try to get there. If you do and I don't, please tell him I said Hi.

Here's UVA's page about it.

Podcast will be posted here tomorrow.

Remarks at American University Teach-In on March 22, 2008
By David Swanson

Robert Dreyfuss's presentation that I now have to follow was tremendous and I learned a lot, but I disagree with his pessimism. I am fond of the saying "Let's save our pessimism for better times." It's a choice to be a pessimist, and it is a wrong one, always.

By David Swanson

In a wide-ranging hour-long discussion on live radio, General William Odom said he sees two useful things Congress can do: cease funding the occupation of Iraq, and impeach Bush and Cheney.

Some protest war on streets of Richmond; others pray for peace
By LISA CRUTCHFIELD, Richmond Times Dispatch

Nearly five years after the start of the war, area peace activists remain passionate about their causes.

And their numbers are growing, says Adria Scharf, executive director of the Richmond Peace Education Center.

In 2008 many of us understand that our nation - and even the entire planet - are in a state of crisis. The deep longing for positive, lasting change is the bedrock upon which this conference is based. How do we fix our country and our world? And how can we form one mass movement to address the crisis?

In Radford, Virginia on May 22-25, thousands of activists, academics, journalists, poets, musicians and policymakers will converge at the 2008 "Building a New World" Conference. If you want to participate in building a new world, sign up now. Hotel and dorm rooms are limited.

Learn more about First WPA Summit 2008.

Register now.

Cindy Sheehan, William Blum, Kathy Kelly, Mike Whitney, Alice Lovelace, David Swanson, Gareth Porter, Medea Benjamin, Farid Bitar, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Robert Jensen, Kevin Zeese, Antonia Juhasz, Father Roy Bourgeois and many more leaders and luminaries will join thousands of people from across the country and from other lands as well, for a conference to lay the foundations for building a new world now.

Congressman Conyers Is Waiting for a Push to Start Impeachment Hearings

On Thursday, Chairman John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee held a hearing at which Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he would not investigate torture or warrantless spying, he would not enforce contempt citations, and he would treat Justice Department opinions as providing immunity for crimes.

None of this was new, but perhaps it touched something in Conyers that had not been touched before. Following the hearing, he and two staffers met for over an hour with two members of Code Pink and discussed activism and impeachment, including Congressman Robert Wexler's proposal to begin impeachment hearings on Cheney.

Virginians created and may end the right of impeachment
By David Swanson, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

CHARLOTTESVILLE-- A recent national poll on impeachment, conducted by the American Research Group last November, found that 52 percent of Americans believed Vice President Dick Cheney had committed impeachable offenses.

The numbers for President George W. Bush were only slightly lower.

The governor of Virginia has spoken up for impeachment, saying "Guilt wherever found ought to be punished."

Sadly, that was Gov. Edmund Randolph in 1787, arguing for making impeachment central to the system of checks and balances in the new U.S. Constitution. Our current governor has not said a word about impeaching our current president.

Is It Time to Consider Impeaching the President?
By John W. Whitehead, Rutherford Institute

It’s been almost ten years since the House of Representatives voted to impeach Bill Clinton for lying under oath when asked during a deposition in the Paula Jones case whether he had had sexual relations with a White House intern.

I was one of the lead attorneys in that case and had agreed to represent Jones in her sexual harassment lawsuit because I believed the underlying principle in the case was too important to let it slide. Namely, no one is above the law, not even the president.

United for Peace and Justice
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
P.O. Box 607, Times Square Station; New York, NY 10108

New York, NY -- United for Peace and Justice, the country's largest anti-war coalition with over 1400 member groups, condemns President Bush's continued arrogant and unconstitutional use of signing statements.

On Monday, Jan. 25, 2008, President Bush released a signing statement claiming the right to violate four sections of H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which he had just signed into law. These four sections: 841, 846, 1079, and 1222, Bush announced, would be "construed" in a manner "consistent with the constitutional authority of the President."

One of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who might be expected to join nine of his colleagues led by Rep. Robert Wexler in calling for Cheney impeachment hearings but who has not yet done so is Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott.

Please join in a demonstration outside his Richmond office this Friday at noon.

The address is 501 North 2nd Street (corner of 2nd and Clay Streets).

See updates and pics of past actions at http://www.myspace.com/rva4peace

For background see http://impeachcheney.org

For T-shirts to wear see http://beachblogger.net/barbara

For signs to carry contact CentralFlaVFP@aol.com

To get involved and learn more about actions in Richmond contact rainmadeline@gmail.com

Better late than never, groups are coming around. Now let's hope they'll go after Bobby Scott to join Wexler.

Numerous peace and justice organizations, including student groups taking advantage of Spring Break, are making plans for a week of actions from March 12th to 19th to mark the end of the fifth year of U.S. occupation in Iraq. Events will culminate in a national day of actions on March 19th, the fifth anniversary of the invasion. Congress members will be home on break, and activists hope to organize nonviolent civil disobedience actions in all 435 congressional districts, as well as nonviolent actions in Washington, D.C., focused on war profiteers.

Building up to the 19th, groups are organizing a week of activities focused on Washington, D.C., and beginning with a day of lobbying and nonviolent civil resistance in Congress on March 12th, combined with a rally and lobbying on the 12th opposing the occupation of Iraq and the U.S. military's plans for Africa.

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel

In the space of a few days, nearly 100,000 people have already signed onto a call by Congressman Robert Wexler to begin impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney. Please add your name and encourage everyone you know to add theirs. Please send this link to every list you can:
http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com

Hear Congressman Robert Wexler Live Online at 9 p.m. EST, Thursday, December 20th
Florida Progressive Radio, hosted by Kenneth Quinnell of the Florida Netroots Caucus and the Florida Progressive Coalition. Listen live at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fpc and http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com

Rep. Wexler and other House Judiciary Committee members have opened up the possibility of impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney. There are now at least 8 members of the committee on board. Six of them are among the 24 co-sponsors of Congressman Dennis Kucinich's resolution to impeach Cheney. Learn more, and ask your representative to co-sponsor and call for hearings at http://www.impeachcheney.org

Click for audio of interview with Eve Tetaz and Mark Goldstone

By David Swanson

Remarks at Denver, Col., impeachment forum November 17, 2007, organized by "Be the Change."

For the past year or so, every month the moon gets full, and I suddenly get a couple of hundred emails telling me that Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will allow impeachment hearings if she gets enough emails or phone calls or handwritten letters.

And a lot of the emails I get are along the lines of: “Is it true? Because if it’s true my group can send 5,000 letters.”

And I usually reply along the lines of: “Of course it’s not true, but since when do you need an invitation to act like a citizen of a democracy? Send her 10,000 letters immediately, and do so precisely because it’s not true!”

1. Ask Senator Jim Webb to filibuster the next war funding bill. The funding for the occupation of Iraq can only be stopped by blocking bills, not by passing them. 202-224-4024 or Email.

2. Contact the media and Congress in support of a vote on impeachment that Congressman Dennis Kucinich will force on the House floor next week.

By David Swanson
Remarks at October 27, 2007, rally in Jonesborough, Tenn., preceding march to Aerojet Ordnance, manufacturers of Depleted Uranium weapons.

There are those who think Congress should keep shelling out our grandchildren's money to continue our occupation of Iraq, and there are those who think Congress should pass a bill opposing the occupation. And they are both wrong. Any decent bill on any issue, much less this one, will be vetoed. The way to stop funding the occupation of Iraq is for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to announce on Monday that they will not bring to the floor any more bills to fund the occupation.

1. Pick a pumpkin or three

2. Carve em up

By David Swanson

If you haven't already, you really should read Chris Hedges' book "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning." The portrait of war and wartime propaganda and emotion is brilliant and deadly accurate. But the headline is misleading. War does not give us lasting solid self-assured meaning. War gives us a temporary high that is rooted in desperate self-deception. Hedges' book carries on the cover a photo of people with candles and U.S. flags, holding hands, eyes closed, mouths open. These people are smoking crack, they're taking a two-week cruise of the Caribbean, they're on stage at American Idol, they're kneeling in church, they're tapping shoes in airport men's rooms. These people are escaping from their lives, not building lives that mean something to them.

No buses have been planned from Charlottesville, but car pooling can be done.

Philly ride board here.

Jonesborough ride board here.