Impeachment a la Shumlin
Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 10:32:59 AM PDT
This Saturday morning, Vermont State Senator (President Pro Tem) Peter Shumlin will address the Democratic State Committee - where he will discuss one of the most important issues facing our country - the Constitutional crisis posed by an out of control President.
Senator Peter Shumlin may discuss other topics as well - such as the property taxes that affect us all, but he also plans to ask the committee to urge the legislature to begin the solemn process of repairing the US Constitution. For this, he will ask the committee to urge the legislature to transmit an impeachment resolution to the US house.
Senator Shumlin has opened a dialog with House Leader Gaye Symington, urging her to let the bill (which seems to be under lock-down) in the House Judiciary Committee to come to the floor.
Follow me below the fold...
[cross posted on Green Mountain Daily]
[update: State Senator, not State Rep, heh...]
The following resolution is on the agenda for the State Democratic Committee meeting:
WHEREAS, on April 8, 2006 the Vermont Democratic State Committee by unanimous vote adopted a resolution calling for the impeachment, trial and removal from office of George W. Bush, President of the United States, and directing the State Committee Secretary to send the resolution to the Vermont General Assembly for "appropriate action", and
WHEREAS, twenty-one members of the Vermont House, including many Democrats, are co-sponsoring Joint Resolution 15 (JRH 15) that incorporates substantially most of the April 8, 2006 State Committee resolution, and
WHEREAS, on February 15, 2007 JRH 15 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee where it awaits action, and
WHEREAS, on March 6, 2007 more than three dozen Vermont towns passed resolutions calling for the impeachment, trial and removal of George W. Bush as President of the United States, and
WHEREAS, the State Committee recognizes that a President can abuse his or her authority and power, thereby oppressing the people, diminishing
their liberties, imperiling their lives and impoverishing their substance in illegal wars and conflicts, all in subversion of the Constitution and the rule of law, and
WHEREAS such abuses and subversions can, and should, be checked and restrained by the Constitutional engine and remedy of impeachment,
NOW THEREFORE, the Vermont Democratic State Committee strongly supports and advocates, as "appropriate action" early passage of JRH 15 for the State of Vermont, under Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice, for the US House of Representatives to submit as soon as possible impeachment charges against George W. Bush for his trial and removal as President of the United States.
There will likely be a friendly amendment when it's introduced, adding Vice President Cheney to the list of impeachable characters.
The bill in the House had an identical twin sitting ready in the Senate (it's a joint resolution - meaning it comes from both halves of the legislature).
Oddly enough, THAT version has also been stuffed into committee to die with no action.
The committee chairs in both houses swear they will not let the resolution see the light of day. They will not allow the people we elected to discuss and vote on this essential piece of legislation, legislation that the people of Vermont asked them to write.
Rumor has it that the pressure on them has come from above - Senators Leahy and Sanders, who have served us so well at the national level over the years, don't want to have to deal with the messy process of permanently ending the precedents set by this President. Precedents such as:
- Invention of the Magical Signing Statement Pen - which Mr. Bush believes gives him the power to legislate from the oval office, even though the Constitution says that's illegal.
- Ignoring Article 6 of the Constitution, which turns any treaty we sign - even the Geneva Conventions against torture - into Federal Law.
- Taking away the right to freedom of speech, having people arrested or barred from events because of the words on a shirt, or the bumper stickers on a car, or the political party to which they belong.
- Taking away the right to freedom of assembly, by stuffing people in to mini-prisons, and insultingly calling them "free speech zones."
- Taking away not just the right to a speedy trial, not just the right to a trial by a jury of your peers, but your right to a trial at all, your right to know the charges against you, and your right to see or hear the evidence against you.
- Taking away your right to privacy, and worse doing so in direct violation of the law that was passed in direct after Nixon's out-of-control spying on innocent people, and even worse, doing so intentionally, and even worse, when he got caught, saying he'll continue to break the law.
- Diverting troops and funds from a war to capture those who attacked us to a new, one against innocents, killing and wounding thousands upon thousands, and causing grave injury to our Democracy.
- And so much more ...
As a matter of fact, there are so many ways in which this President has violated the law and threatened the Constitution - the only protection between us and dictatorship - that entire books are required to catalog them all.
Some are afraid that using tough love on President Temper-Tantrum will be unpopular, that it could cost them votes. But in those places around the country where a few brave souls ran for office with a "get tough" stance, they've won. Even in our neighboring red state, New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state, Carol-Shea Porter handily beat Jean Shaheen, her much better funded Democratic opponent. Shea-Porter beat the candidate who played it safe, the one followed the conventional wisdom that said "don't stand strong against this President."
It turns out that the "wisdom" derived from fear was unwise. The people see what the media doesn't report. The talking heads on TV may spin and smear, but they DO NOT speak for us.
So thank you to Senator Peter Shumlin for taking a stand against the very conventional "wisdom" that failed Jean Shaheen, is failing our legislators, and is failing our country.
Speaker Symington needs to let the existing bill out of committee, allow the House to vote on it, and get the little waiver needed to send it to the Senate.
In the Senate, the bill also needs to emerge for a vote.
And then the Joint Resolution needs to be sent to our Freshman Congressman, Peter Welch, who can take his place in history, by beginning the process of healing our wounded Democracy.
It's time to put this administration on the short leash.
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