[Peace-discuss] 10 States Introduce Impeachment

[C. G. Estabrook]

[This article credits Rep. Yarborough with introducing an impeachment 
resolution.  Does anyone know what her present position is? --CGE]

	April 7, 2007
	10 States Introduce Impeachment
	By David Swanson

In 10 U.S. states, either this year or last year or both, the state 
legislature has introduced and considered, though not yet passed, a bill 
to petition the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Bush and 
Cheney.  The question, of course, is what in the heck is wrong with the 
other 40 states?  We can't find a single state legislator with the 
decency to uphold the U.S. Constitution and at least introduce a 
resolution to impeach?  Where are the states that created the 
Constitution?  Where are Massachusetts and Virginia?  What's holding up 
New York?  Where in the world is Oregon?  Is this all the pressure we 
can muster in the cause of justice?

But let's give credit where it's due.  These 10 states have acted: CA, 
HI, IL, MN, MO, WA, VT, NM, WI, TX.  These 10 legislators who've taken 
the lead should be drafted to run for Congress (except for Ellison, whom 
we've already elected to Congress):  Les Ihara, Jr. HI; Lon Burnam TX; 
Gerald Ortiz y Pino NM; Eric Oemig WA; Paul Koretz CA; Daryl Pillsbury 
VT; Karen Yarbrough IL; Jamilah Nasheed MO; Frank Boyle WI; and Keith 
Ellison MN.  Special credit goes to Oemig and Ortiz y Pino who have come 
close to passing their bills.

Of course, at the local level, dozens of cities and towns have passed 
these resolutions, and dozens more are trying.  Vermont is far and away 
in the lead in the number of resolutions passed, but its Congress Member 
has not yet responded.  While the national Green Party backs 
impeachment, so do at least 16 state Democratic parties.  A list of all 
these resolutions, passed and pending, can be found at 
http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions-list

Last Congress, 39 Congress Members signed onto a redundant bill, a bill 
to conduct a preliminary investigation into grounds for impeachment.  I 
call this redundant because an impeachment hearing simply is a 
preliminary investigation.  There's no serious doubt that there are 
grounds to begin such a hearing.  The problem is that Speaker of the 
House Nancy Pelosi has ordered her party not to impeach, even though the 
Constitution says otherwise.

Well, we've got news for you, Nancy.  The public still cares about the 
rule of law, and we care less about your certainty that you can help 
elect a Democrat to take the throne in 2009 than we do about turning 
that throne back into a desk chair.  On April 28, a crowd of 2,000 
people will use their bodies to spell impeachment on the beach in San 
Francisco and then march to your house.  The same day, your state's 
Democratic Party Convention in San Diego (where you'll be, pretending 
it's election season) will be going about the nation's business by 
backing impeachment.  I plan to speak at an impeachment rally in front 
of Fanuiel [sic] Hall in Boston also on April 28th.  And as it happens, 
President Bush will be speaking at a college graduation in Miami, Fla., 
on April 28, and he can expect to hear the cry for impeachment. 
Meanwhile, in Cleveland on A28, Congressman Dennis Kucinich will speak 
out for impeachment.

In New York's Central Park on April 28th, a crowd will spell out the 
word IMPEACH on the grass.  Another thousand people will do the same at 
Coney Island, and then spell it out with pizza pies on the boardwalk. 
Both events are being organized by military mothers with sons who served 
in Iraq. A pilot will fly a banner saying "IMPEACH!" around NYC and take 
aerial photographs of the human murals. Up in Minneapolis on A28, 
citizens will be spelling out "IMPEACH!" with canoes on a lake. That 
evening they'll form the letters with bed sheets lit from below so that 
people will be able to read it from planes passing overhead.  In our 
nation's capital, 1,000 people will form a human mural to spell out 
IMPEACH! at the base of the Washington monument.  Remember Washington, 
the guy who chose NOT to be king?   In fact, events are being planned 
for April 28th all over the country and outside of it, and you can find 
one or create one at http://www.a28.org  Here are a few of the reasons 
we have no choice but to take this step:

	http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/articles
	
Authors Website: http://www.davidswanson.org

Authors Bio: DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a 
writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is 
a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the 
Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. 
He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, 
with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 
presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor 
Communications Association, and three years as Communications 
Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for 
Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the 
University of Virginia in 1997.

Original Content at 
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_070407_10_states_introduce_.htm