don't know what it'll take

[solarbird]

Impeach
President
Bush
NOW

And get rid of Vice President Cheney while you're at it. I mean, for the love of god, what does it take? What do you need? Honestly, how much more abusive do you have to get than this:

Douglas Kmiec , who as head of the Office of Legal Counsel helped develop the Reagan administration's strategy of issuing signing statements more frequently, said he disapproves of the ``provocative" and sometimes ``disingenuous" manner in which the Bush administration is using them.

Kmiec said the Reagan team's goal was to leave a record of the president's understanding of new laws only in cases where an important statute was ambiguous. Kmiec rejected the idea of using signing statements to contradict the clear intent of Congress, as Bush has done. Presidents should either tolerate provisions of bills they don't like, or they should veto the bill, he said.

``Following a model of restraint, [the Reagan-era Office of Legal Counsel] took it seriously that we were to construe statutes to avoid constitutional problems, not to invent them," said Kmiec, who is now a Pepperdine University law professor.

By contrast, Bush has used the signing statements to waive his obligation to follow the new laws. In addition to the torture ban and oversight provisions of the Patriot Act, the laws Bush has claimed the authority to disobey include restrictions against US troops engaging in combat in Colombia, whistle-blower protections for government employees, and safeguards against political interference in taxpayer-funded research."

[...]

One prominent conservative, Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago Law School, said it is ``scandalous" for the administration to argue that the commander in chief can bypass statutes in national security matters.

``It's just wrong," Epstein said. ``It is just crazy as a matter of constitutional interpretation. There are some pretty clear issues, and this is one of them."

Where do you have to go? Where? What's it take? Tell me. Please.

Comments

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

Amen.

I already mentioned this to you, but in case your other readers are interested: ITMFA (http://www.itmfa.com/).

[brombear.livejournal.com]

I got a feeling that Der Fuerer is using the "War on Terror" to invoke "Wartime" Special authority.

Sorry kiddies...this is a police action...The supreme court ruled that terrorists are not uniformed military.

By the way...lets get Rummy out of office as well...and seize all their bank accounts and put the money back into the US. (Rummy had to liquidate a lot of his defence stocks..not ALL of them...due to a "conflict of interest". Tell me he's NOT raking it in...)

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

What does it take, you ask? A real opposition capable of winning elections and willing to exercise its power to investigate and hold the administration accountable.

The problem is that the opposition is still too timid, and lacks real popular support. It's that way because of a deeper malaise of public life that has taken a healthy distrust of goverment regulation and over the last three decades turned it into an anti-government religion that claims to venerate the individual while in practice ripping off most individuals for the benefit of a narrow minority. The biggest problem with the knee-jerk anti-government ideology is that it erodes public confidence in the very institutions that are the only obstacle to tyranny. It breeds a cynicism that approaches that of people living under totalitarian systems. In the absence of democratic principles and institutions of limited government, the ideologies of "government over all" and "government as the problem" produce the same thing--the raw exercise of power. We've got more food and toys than the Soviet Union ever did, but if we don't restore our traditions, there's not that much meaningful space between us and them.

This is larger than Bush. The depressing fact is that a political decapitation, even one that lops off several heads of the hydra, isn't going to be enough. But hey, it sure would be a nice first step.

[brazilrascal.livejournal.com]

I'll point you to my last post for another aggravating facotr.

Until the late 80's, it was harder to try something as brazen as this. But after Nixon, the hardcore conservatives decided they needed a media of their own. They poured billions into it and now, it's kicked into gear. It was strong enough to prevent Clinton from governing, but not to impeach him. It killed the 2000 elections voter-registration scandal, glossed over Bush's record previous to 2000, and has been whitewashing everything since.

It doesn't even require a conspiracy. The media has been integrated into the power structures of DC. The vehicles are not going to risk themselves to expose Bush because the corporations and institutions that ssondor them have benefitted from his tax cuts, deregulations, and more.

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Uh, Clinton _was_ impeached. He wasn't removed from office as a result, but he was impeached.

[banner.livejournal.com]

And yes, I sat down and read all of these too.

Unclaimed Territory: If there wasn’t a war on, I’d (maybe) feel different about this, but remember how ALL of the press was pushing for whoever ‘outed’ Valerie Plame to go to jail? Well as yea reap, so shall yea sow. So right now I can’t feel ANY sympathy for these people, again, especially as there is a war on. Journalists ARE NOT entitled to any special rights over anyone else. If they were to give up their sources, the people who are feeding them national security secrets during a war, I’d consider not throwing them in jail, but as their actions are very obviously being taken to hurt this country, hurt the war effort, and to support our enemies, I say fuck ‘em all. They’ve earned it. Especially as several of these stories have turned out to be fake.

Take a look at what Presidents have done during war time in this country in the past. This is –nothing-. In peace time, or if these stories weren’t obviously being shopped to hurt the US and help Al Qeada, I’d feel a lot different.

The Independent: Umm, I see a nice teaser from a very left wing newspaper. I see no facts or anything else.

Washington Post: Oh gee, the ‘prepackaged news’ BS. First off the GAO really isn’t a legal body, nor does its opinion count for anything. Secondly this is something that presidents have done for ages. The fact that we always find out about it shows just how ‘secret’ it is. Calling it ‘propaganda’ is a bit of a stretch, saying this is grounds for impeachment is really hysterical, sorry.

Unclaimed Territory part II – okay, this again. Well first off, that information isn’t private. Anyone can (and often does) get it. Secondly, if it’s not being used for criminal prosecution (and going after foreign agents isn’t criminal and they are not entitled to 4th amendment protections) I don’t see what the issue is. Granted if we were not involved in a war currently with foreign agents here in the US I’d want to see a law passed restricting this kind of behavior. But again, calling this grounds for impeachment? What law has been broken? None! What constitutional amendment has been violated? None!

[solarbird]

It's the part where he's claiming the unilateral authority to ignore any law he wants to, and to spend money in ways Congress has specifically forbidden. C.f. the section I quoted in the original post. It's illegal, it's unconstitutional, and he doesn't give a fuck. The only way to reign that in at this point is through impeachment. Therefore, since in my opinion this must not be allowed to stand, he must be impeached.

[banner.livejournal.com]

Congress can not tell the President what to do short of an amendment to the constitution. Separate but equal. They cannot limit his power, they cannot attach 'strings' to things to get around that either. If they don't want him doing something, they can refuse to fund it. But they can't say 'we'll give you the money for it but only if you spend it this way'.

It just doesn't work that way. And lets not even get into executive orders (Which I wish congress would get off their ass and write an amendment not only prohibiting, but repealing!)