Articale II Section4
[All Civil Officers removable by Impeachment]
The President, Vice President, and ALL Civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for , Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Dear Mr.Bush,
In the past month we have learned that American Citizens have been spied on by their Own Government. I realize that you want to call it "Eavesdropping". Eavesdropping is what strangers do in an elevator, what you have been doing is NOT eavesdropping.
You have been spying on Citizens, secretly, under false pretenses and utilizing multiple agencies to carry out your demands. We learned two weeks ago that Pentagon has been keeping files and investigating Peace Activists and Anti-War Protestors, and others of" Concern". That means that you and Mr.Rumsfeld are afraid of Quaker Grandmothers that Bake cookies and hold "meetings" ? What makes them terrorists? We have watched you and Mr.Cheney fight our Elected representitives over Torture, as more and more stories come out about Rendtion: secret prisons and planes and Individuals tortured. And now we find out that you have been spying on American Citizens Illegally for Over three years, and misusing powers and laws and agencies to do so. We learned that even though you had the access and power of the FISA court and the Patriot Act you Needed Other ways to Spy on citizens. You have Violated the Constitution that you promised to Faithfully Uphold and the very laws that you vowed in January 2001 to Faithfully Execute.
Presidents that Lie to the Citizens and the Congress and do not uphold Our Laws are Impeached.
We have learned that 1000's of Citizens have been monitored, emails and also phone calls. We also know that you have authorized the FBI working in Conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security to monitor and Investigate people's records, including Library Records, as well as Medical records, and book purchases. If the Patriot Act even allowed your Administration do spy in this manner, WHY would you need More Ways to Spy by using the NSA in an illegal Manner. And we know that since the NSA was involved it will be almost impossible for Americans to learn WHO you thought were and are Terrorists in your mind.Tonight before you go to bed, you need to take a Long look in the mirror and ask , Who does threaten you Mr.Bush, WHO is the Enemy Within ?
Are they Muslims? Are they People of Non-Christian Religion that you do not feel comfortable with? Buddhists? Are they People with Names that you can't pronounce? Are they people that speak in a different language? Or are they Anti War Grannies? Are they Gold Star Mothers that have lost children in your Oil War? Are they Scientists? Are they Researchers ? Are They College students studying Political Science ? Are they Lawyers that represented People that you do not respect ? Are they Military Leaders that did not Agree with you on War Tactics? Are they Writers ? Are they Ex-Ambassadors ? Are they Whistle Blowers that went to the Press and tried to get the Truth out ? Are they Vets who happen to be against your war ? Are they Ex-Federal Employees who left in disgust with your regime changes? Are they Civil Rights Activists ? Are there any Environmental Or Health Activists and Advocates on your lists ? Are there any Nurses and Moms on the Lists of People You authorized to be spied on ? Were The People on Your Lists that you felt Threatened this Country just " Fair Game" ?
The Founding Fathers wrote Laws and Created Our Constitution to help Protect us as a People against Abuses of Power and Hubris. They wrote laws to Protect us, We the People, from Tyranny, from the Enemy Within.
( originally posted December 19th, 2005, some Quakers asked me to move to January...I will post the links in the Comments about Quakers being on spy lists now- Jan.14th, 2006)
22 comments:
A note from e4e, I have to warn my little posse of readers that for me, this issue is more than personal, so please bear wtih me these next few weeks. This regime has ruined lives, and harmed good honest citizens. As usual rude comments will be deleted.
Nicely done Enigma. I like your passion.
History repeats itself and we keep bringing to power men who repeat it. Having learned nothing from Nixon's crimes and his ultimate fate, this arrogant administration repeats the Nixon crimes and, so far, is getting away with it. We'll see if the America is so benumbed that these men will never be held to task. Only time will tell. Keep in mind, also, that Bush has three more years in which he can expand his crimes and misdemeanors.
I really find three more years to be unfathonable. This letter excellently sums up the concerns of millions. I think I'll be adding you to my links. Well done.
.....and, and.....citizens removed from the hall before their president shows up in the same space because a spy satellite saw an anti-war sticker on their bumper out in the parking lot? Or, or, people who are confined to "free speech" zones miles from the route the president's entourage will use to visit your community? (God forbid he sees or hears you--he might soil himself.) Or, maybe she's an African American girl who won't allow the president to put his arm around her in front of her totally demolished neighborhood from hurricane Katrina for his photo op of him as her protector and savior? Blah, blah, blah.....sorry to go on with your answers to who the president's enemies are that compel him to violate the law of the land and spy on them. Excellent post e4e--as usual, you *kick ass!*
Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic about the next 3 years, 1 mo. more of this *stuff*. And because the outrage seems insufficient to shake the other 'checks and balanceless' branches of government that's supposed to oversee abuse of power, maybe we should just keep repeating the mantra, reminding ourselves, "It's what the people want." (Of course, that's a lie to most Americans save for the psychically numbed, the president himself, and his buddies who manufacture the voting machines.)
Sigh, "It's what the people want."
Thank you for the Comments, that are wise insightful and also made me smile. Not alot to make the Enigma smile these days. Please do read Rockefeller's letter to VP and it is interesting, it says that batches and numbers ( IP ) numbers were to be targeted for surveeillance, this is odd, and means that LARGE numbers were being surveilled, not just someone named Ali or with a "connection
to terrorists". It shows that NO PROBABLE CAUSE.
I have a notion that one day I will come home and find a telescreen bolted to one of the walls of my living room, with some power-that-be's eyes glaring down at me, requesting my undying allegiance. The eyes are always the same, only the face changes every four to eight years.
e4e here again, the last part of my statement got cut off when my computer went down...so what I was saying in above comment was- that NO PROBLABLE CAUSE must have been originally used to surveill 1000's, did they get the IP numbers LEGALLY- NO- they must have been somehow obtained from the Broadband companies- did the Military get the numbers and create the batches ? Rummy the same asswipe that could not figure out how to see the CD-ROM with the AbuGahrab photos, suddenly sat down with Alberto and devised a way to get Batches of IP Numbers and avoid FISA ? so there are 1000's of us the King expects us to believe are talking to Osama daily ? Really ?
Letting them get away with this will be among the most shameful moments of our history. I hope you sent that letter. I hope you all send letters. But moreover I hope you all do more than send letters because letters are not enough. Even blogging is not enough. Although, it's pretty good.
To paraphrase Hamilton, it's the tyranny of the minority.
Good piece, Abbie.
What is statutable?
It is an old fashioned word for something written in statute.
Did you realize that in the first fifty-odd years of America's existence there were a few impeachments? Not of the President, as you likely already know, but of other officers?
And not one impeachment was over any statutable offense?
A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution, Page 84.
More thoughtful comments...and I am confused Josh- what is the deal ? what is your point about statuates? I got lost?...but I am curious ?? ;)
Nice post E4E,
I caught the administration in another lie today. You can check it out, but the lies are endless and getting easier to spot. Unlike people who tell the truth, these folk really need to pay attention to what they are saying and doing. Honest people never have to recall what they said yesterday, the day before that or last year. But unfortunately for the W, Rove and Co, the electronic trail and tail of the beast of and batch of lies they have pitched us is long. Certainly, it's attached to the ugliest dog at the party, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take these dogs out back and kick em around a bit.
okay, I'd settle for impeachment.
Blog on.
Impeachment. Jail.
Send 'em to Gitmo for Christmas.
Josh up above if he stops back raised "statuates", whelp- over on Debunker today Dec21st there is a whole piece about that Statuates have NOTHING to do with the Constitution- and that this whole Illegal Spying issue is ALL about the Constitution= phew- that is a relief...not good but less complicated for those of us that are not lawyers...
and thanks for all the comments....Impeachment..impeachment.... :)
Thank you! Your post makes clear exactly why what they are doing is WRONG. I have heard many conservative talking points on the matter in the past few days - and they are saying that Clinton and Carter did it, too, so why is everyone jumping on Bush for it?
In response to this statement, I say, "Okay, who cares who authorized this spying on American citizens? Does the fact that Clinton and Carter did it too make it right?"
And the answer to that is always "no," and that includes conservatives. No one should authorize this kind of spying, and I don't care which political party is involved.
Bush came out today and again whined and moaned , and incriminated himself saying that Patriot Act NEEDS to be passed ( aka resusitated), that we will be in danger after January 1st. ( really-so the terrorists are waiting for the law to expire- hmm, that sounds a bit irrational....) And he said that it was wellrun and Had Ample oversight. Really ? By WHOM?
and if it was SO effective WHY did the president have to use
OTHER MEANS to Surveill Citizens : like the NSA, Pentagon, and possibly CIA ( this will come out- Tenet was part of the group that made decisions about NSA abuse- so it will unravel further....) WHY is Mr.Bush is such a panic about the Patriot Act- says he won't even sign a 3 Month Extension ? Hmm, that doesn't seem very responsible. So fine let the Act DIE....It has already Killed our Civil Liberties.
King George is NOT going to get What he wants from Santa....
I never thought I'd link a Conservative...much less an op-ed in the Washington Times... but this guy is pretty dead on about this whole matter.
Link
Enigma, have you heard the wonderful news? We Ohio peeps are going to be getting our own special little Patriot Act! And these are the people that were fighting so hard to defeat totalitarianism back during the Cold War!
oh. goody our very own little patriot act-well slap me happy and put on the spyware!!!...( Like that is going to help Taft and his 6% Approval Rating and also maybe find that Coingate doe-ray-me ? or maybe it will help Taft and Ney from taking GOLF trips with people like Delay and Abramhoff)...Thanks for all the great Links folks and for stoking the" I "word...and the great comments- and gee my little posse is growing...
So now it turns out that a FISA Court Judge quit this afternoon, and tommorrow in the WAPO it turns out that the FISA Court did NOT know about the Bush Secret Porgram- and that is how it is even worded- Well, well holy Crap - WTF ?They didn't even KNOW???
add this the Holy Crap Column of this Whole issue, whelp it turns out that according to the article today in the Boston Globe, that ALL, yes ALL International Communication was being read, monitored, etc. Gee we are way past the oooops some Communication might have been eavesdropped on....And now we will need to ask HOW much Domestic Communication was monitored?????Intercepted ? and spied on?????
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