Tag: Impeachment

More Journalists Have Been Killed in Iraq Than In Vietnam

Trish

More journalists have been killed in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began less than three years ago than were killed in 20 years in Vietnam, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The 2005 roundup shows that you young folks considering a career in journalism might want to brush up on your math and science skills instead

For the third year running, Iraq was the world’s most dangerous country for the media, with 24 journalists and 5 media assistants killed. 76 journalists and media assistants have been killed there since the start of fighting in March 2003, more than in the 1955-75 Vietnam War. Terrorist strikes and Iraqi guerrilla attacks were the main cause but the US army killed three of them. Iraqi TV producer Wael al-Bakri, 30, was shot dead by US troops on 28 June. A US Third Infantry Division spokesman admitted the next day in Baghdad that a US unit was involved in his death and said an enquiry had been opened. No result has been announced, nor in the other investigated killings.

The publication of this milestone came before that of the latest kidnapping, of American journalist Jill Carroll. Reuters:

Carroll, 28, working for The Christian Science Monitor, was abducted earlier this month by unknown kidnappers who killed her Iraqi interpreter…

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: “We will make every effort to work with the Iraqis to bring her back safe and sound as soon as possible.”

I know that makes me feel better.

Does anyone remember the flap over Bush “joking” to Tony Blair about bombing the headquarters of al Jazeera? It was a whole three months ago, so it might have slipped everyone’s minds. Not to mention that the MSM doesn’t mention it.

Meanwhile, the 2005 roundup shows that you young folks considering a career in journalism might want to brush up on your math and science skills instead. Last year:

– 63 journalists and 5 media assistants were killed
– at least 807 journalists were arrested
– 1,308 were physically attacked or threatened
– 1,006 media outlets were censored

I hope Jill Carroll is rescued or released immediately because her loss would be senseless and tragic. It would also be further evidence, if anyone needs it, that we are losing this war on terror.

Poll: Impeachment Favored 52% to 43%

Jon Ponder

Poll was by Zogby:

By a margin of 52% to 43%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge’s approval, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

The poll was conducted by Zogby International, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,216 U.S. adults from January 9-12.

The poll found that 52 percent agreed with the statement:

“If President Bush wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge, do you agree or disagree that Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment.”

…”The American people are not buying Bush’s outrageous claim that he has the power to wiretap American citizens without a warrant. Americans believe terrorism can be fought without turning our own government into Big Brother,” said AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder Bob Fertik.

Specter Says the ‘I’ Word

Jon Ponder

Impeachment: It happened this morning on ABC’s This Week. Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, confirmed the obvious. If President Bush broke the law, he should be impeached:

SPECTER:[When we found] the disclosure of the surveillance, I immediately said the Judiciary Committee would hold hearings, and I talked to the attorney general, and we’re going to explore it in depth, George. You can count on that.

[GEORGE] STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, if the president did break the law or circumvent the law, what’s the remedy?

SPECTER: Well, the remedy could be a variety of things. A president — and I’m not suggesting remotely that there’s any basis, but you’re asking, really, theory, what’s the remedy? Impeachment is a remedy. After impeachment, you could have a criminal prosecution, but the principal remedy, George, under our society is to pay a political price.

For Now, Anyway

Trish

In April 2004, while discussing the Patriot Act, Bush remarked that the administration does not conduct wiretaps on Americans without court approval. When that “fibbing” was exposed, Bush complained about the “shameful” leak to the Times, adding that “the fact that we’re discussing this program is helping the enemy.” Actually, the fact that we’re discussing it means we live in a democracy.

– The Week, Jan. 11, 2006

Bush’s Presidency Is at Stake in November – Vicious Campaign to Stave Off Impeachment Starts Today

Jon Ponder

Must-win: The start of 2006 signals the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a nasty election year. As of today, Team Bush is officially in war mode. Every move they make from now until November will be calibrated for maximum benefit to GOP candidates in the mid-term elections.

The GOP faces a political disaster roughly the magnitude of Watergate, and there is every reason to expect that this will be the most hard-fought mid-term election in memory. Fortunately for them, they have one factor working in their favor: Their enemy is us.

What is at stake is Mr. Bush’s viability as president. In public, Republicans may sneer at the idea that the president could be impeached, but if the Democrats regain control of either body, investigations into the administration’s actions on a whole host of matters would begin forthwith. Any one of those investigations could reveal crimes and/or cover-ups – and everybody knows it.

The list of Bush scandals that have been whitewashed by the corrupt Republicans who control the Congress is breathtaking. Here are the major ones:

  • Voting irregularities in 2000 and 2004
  • Cheney’s Enron-designed energy plan in 2001
  • Response to 9/11
  • War lies and/or gross official negligence in sending the nation to war on bad intel
  • The CIA leak and cover-up
  • The Downing Street memos
  • The disastrous Katrina response
  • Abramoff lobbying scandals
  • Deliberately and repeatedly violating the FISA law

Pursuing just two or three of these items, the Dems could keep the Republicans on the defensive all the way up to the 2008 presidential election.

The GOP knows it faces a political disaster in the order of magnitude of Watergate. They are cornered and there is every reason to expect that this will be the most hard-fought mid-term election in memory.

Fortunately for them, however, they have one factor working in their favor: Their enemy is us.

Yesterday, on the Sunday news chat shows, Liberal Oasis spotted two leading Dems still playing softball – or was it footsie? – with Mr. Bush:

[…]

Bush vs. the Bill of Rights

Trish

Funny what you see when you’re getting your oil changed: The waiting room had FOX News going, so I got a rare glimpse. The anchor, a scary-looking woman with way too much eye makeup, was trying to get the requisite two opposing sides to say that because “all” the people Bush spied on were “really bad guys” that what he did was O.K. And because Bush did the noble thing and admitted he was doing this, these “really bad guys” are going to get off on a technicality.

Illegal evidence – evidence obtained in an illegal search – is not made more legal in light of what it reveals

Our team explained that the 4th Amendment is not generally regarded as a technicality but a pretty important foundation of our society.

What he didn’t say was what I learned in Constitutional Law 101: illegal evidence – evidence obtained in an illegal search – is not made more legal in light of what it reveals. Murder cases have been thrown out over this fact. It’s not new, and it’s not directed at the Bush White House. It’s just bedrock law in America. Or it was until Bush came to town.

Impeachment Goes Mainstream

Jon Ponder

Who’s scoffing now: As constant readers of these pages know, we have been advocating impeaching President Bush since before the fall of Iraq. (Shorter: The promotion of the war was either based on lies or the grossest case of official negligence and incompetence in the history of modern warfare. Either option represents a threat to our national security and urgently requires corrective measures – even more urgently than, say, punishing a president for lying about sex. )

“Impeachment would be about the power of Congress to set wiretapping rules by law, and it is about the obligation of the president to follow the rules in the Acts that he and his predecessors signed into law.”
— Barrons

Until recently, our clamor to impeach President Bush has been greeted with eye-rolling, nervous titters, groans and name calling – including being pegged as “liberal extremists” by an odd little troll.

What has changed regarding impeachment lately, of course, is the fact that Mr. Bush has openly admitted that he committed an impeachable offense. He chose to break a law that prevented him from spying on U.S. citizens, and not just once – Mr. Bush has confessed to violating the Foriegn Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) hundreds of times.

As a result, no less than Barrons magazine (via Echidne of the Snakes) is discussing the “I word” —

Willful disregard of a law is potentially an impeachable offense. It is at least as impeachable as having a sexual escapade under the Oval Office desk and lying about it later. The members of the House Judiciary Committee who staged the impeachment of President Clinton ought to be as outraged at this situation. They ought to investigate it, consider it carefully and report either a bill that would change the wiretap laws to suit the president or a bill of impeachment.

It is important to be clear that an impeachment case, if it comes to that, would not be about wiretapping, or about a possible Constitutional right not to be wiretapped. It would be about the power of Congress to set wiretapping rules by law, and it is about the obligation of the president to follow the rules in the Acts that he and his predecessors signed into law.

Bush Already Knows If You’ve Been Naughty or Nice

Trish

The Washington Post is carrying Bush’s holiday greetings to Americans, which features three messages – one each for people celebrating Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa. In the future, these missives will be even more personalized…

“The season of hope and joy is upon us, although from what I hear in your phone calls to your mom, you need to get in the spirit a little more before the big visit. And quit calling Moviefone to get Christmas day showtimes – you’re going to hang out with your family and you’re going to like it.

You’ll be paying for that PSP for years, if you’re not in federal prison by then for supporting public radio, which I can’t help but notice you’ve been doing.

At this time of year, we must remember the less fortunate, which you’re going to be come January when all those credit card bills we’ve been monitoring come due. Remember, minimum payments are going to double and I’ve made it impossible for little folks like you to get bankruptcy protection. You’ll be paying for that PSP for years, if you’re not in federal prison by then for supporting public radio, which I can’t help but notice you’ve been doing.

And another thing – what’s up with buying that Al Franken book at Barnes & Noble? Your library records show you already checked it out, why do you need to own it? In the store security video, it was right next to the Bill O’Reilly book but your receipt shows you not only bought Franken, you bought the Jimmy Carter book too. You got some ‘splainin’ to do, buddy.

Let’s also ask God to protect those getting shot up in Iraq and Afghanistan for whatever reason they were supposed to be fighting over there. That reminds me – you need to use more gas and turn up the heat. Our DOT traffic surveillance cameras are in place on all major highways and bridges (I know you’ve noticed them, those little stands with the solar panels and antennas), and you’re not making enough trips – especially solo trips – in the SUV. Our economy depends on constantly increasing demand for oil, and you need to do your part until we come to drag you away in the middle of the cold, dark night.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed holiday season for all Americans, and by that, I mean the ones who support us which you obviously don’t.

God Bless America! – George W. Bush”

Forget Impeachment, Let’s Have a National Recall

Trish

California might be on to something, according to syndicated columnist and cartoonist Ted Rall, who made the case for a national recall instead of impeachment, and made it before the latest round of revelations. Rall wrote last month, when we thought exposing CIA agents they didn’t like and maintaining secret torture prisons was all Bush-Cheney were up to.

To “kill the hydra,” we have to get rid of them all, and that means a new election.

…our constitutional system only allows for impeaching individuals, not whole administrations. If Cheney is indicted and forced to quit, Bush will appoint a replacement–Washington scuttlebutt points to secretary of state Condi Rice. If Bush falls, Rice ascends. If something happens to Rice, the person she chose as vice president succeeds her. All the political hacks who lied and schemed and whose incompetence led to the current crisis of leadership–Donald Rumsfeld, Stephen Hadley, Karl Rove–stay in place. The hydra lives.

Rall rightly points out that simply impeaching Bush (and finding him unfit for office) would make no substantive change. To “kill the hydra,” we have to get rid of them all, and that means a new election.

One solution is to establish a California-style recall system on the national level. If a significant percentage of Americans loses confidence in the president and his administration to the extent that they’re willing to sign a recall petition, a special election should be held within three months. The number of required signatures should be high enough–California’s system calls for 12 percent of the number of people who cast votes in the preceding election–to ensure that recalls are only held as the result of widespread disgust among the citizenry.

To avoid disruption, the constitutional amendment creating the recall provision could prevent such elections from being held more often than, say, annually. And a recall won’t automatically result in a new party taking over the White House–just a new administration. But it would replace our current system of political stagnation with a more dynamic democracy.

“A more dynamic democracy.” I like the sound of that. Where do I sign the petition?

Retired Quakers Considered Credible Threat by Bush Spies

Trish

[Editor’s note: Two stories from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel were used in compiling this post]

A South Florida peace group is calling for a congressional investigation of domestic surveillance after finding itself a target.

The Truth Project, a group of largely Quaker retired folks, uses puppets, placards, and home-printed flyers to warn high school students about heavy-handed military recruiting efforts. Its targeting was uncovered this week in a Department of Defense document.

“I’m disabled, I’m 59 and if I’m a credible threat to the government of the United States, then either the government is terribly paranoid or terribly weak”

The 400-page document obtained by NBC described the group as both a “threat” and “credible…”

“I’m disabled, I’m 59 and if I’m a credible threat to the government of the United States, then either the government is terribly paranoid or terribly weak,” said Rich Hersh of Boca Raton…

[Michael] Foley, [associate professor of politics at Catholic University] said spying on groups like the Truth Project can be an inefficient use of government time and money. “There’s a lot of retirees, a lot of older people who are involved in protesting,” he said. “There’s not much alarming here. What do you expect Quakers to do?”

The government’s spy skills are almost as subtle as the activists are threatening.

[One member] said his group…has attracted government agents to meetings in private homes. Though the agents were disguised as anarchists, Del Papa said their footwear gave them away: Nike or Reebok running shoes, which to anarchists represent corporate greed.

“No anarchist is going to wear Nikes or Reeboks to a protest,” Del Papa said…

…several people reported hearing mysterious clicks and echoes during recent telephone conversations and noticing cars they considered suspicious pass by during meetings.

During one outdoor gathering by a Lake Worth canal, Marie Zwicker said she had seen men in a Boston Whaler cruise by, posing, unconvincingly, she added, as fishermen. “It was the wrong time of day,” she said.

Bush continues to lie, saying just yesterday that the only people being spied on were those on the giving or receiving end of international phone calls, with links to al Qaeda, or who represent a credible threat to America. He obviously can’t distinguish between someone disagreeing with him and the entire country being under attack. The man is mental and needs some serious – possibly residential – therapy.

Instead, his poll numbers shoot up with every lie, as Americans, eager for it all to go away, accept at face value both Bush lies and guys in suits fishing on a falling tide.