Kucinich to launch Cheney impeachment push on April 25

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the former mayor of Cleveland who is seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination for president for the second time, has selected a date to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mary Ann Akers reported at her blog, "The Sleuth," on Monday that the Congressman had sent a 'dear colleague' letter to fellow Members of Congress informing them of his plan to introduce the articles of impeachment against the Vice President. However, he had postponed the plan to move forward in the wake of the killing of 32 students, faculty, and staff at Virginia Tech on Monday.

Vice President Cheney's office would not comment on the reports to the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the charges because they had not yet seen the articles.

All Roads Lead to Dick Cheney

Most people know that Vice President Dick Cheney is former CEO of Halliburton, which makes billions of dollars a year from oil and primarily defense-related construction contracts (and that war and chaos increase Halliburton's profits, which in turn increase the value of Cheney's stock options). Most people also know that Cheney was secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush.

Many people know that Cheney was a congressman from Wyoming. Some even know that he was one of the founders of the Project for a New American Century .

Well-read people know that the Project for a New American Century, in turn, called for a new American empire well before 9/11, and lamented that, without a "catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor", transformation of America into an empire would be very slow.

But even well-informed people probably don't know that -- in the 70's -- Cheney was instrumental in generating fake intelligence exaggerating the Soviet threat in order to undermine coexistence between the U.S. and Soviet Union, which conveniently justified huge amounts of cold war spending. This scheme foreshadowed Mr. Cheney's role in generating fake intelligence about Iraq by 30 years.

And did you know that Cheney has been perhaps the leading advocate for strengthening the powers of the White House to the point of monarchy for at least 20 years ?

According to to the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who uncovered the Iraq prison torture scandal and the massacre against Vietnamese civilians, Cheney is the main guy helping to fund groups which the U.S. claims are terrorists.

To recap, Cheney's past includes:

• Oil

• Defense

• Faking intelligence and using scare tactics about enemies to justify a pre-planned military agenda

• Lobbying to give the president the powers of the king

• Calling for an American empire and lamenting the lack of a "new Pearl Harbor"

• Police state type wiretapping

• Selling war

• Funding Al-Qaeda

Did all of these aspects of Mr. Cheney's background converge in the Iraq debacle? Well, a top official at the State Department stated there was a secret "cabal" involving Cheney, and that Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the country's foreign policy.

Did they converge on 9/11?

This last question is not merely academic: vice President Cheney was apparently in charge of ALL 5 of the war games which occurred on 9/11 and coordinated the government's "response" to the attacks.

And Cheney is the one who monitored flight 77 for many miles as it approached the Pentagon and -- when a military man asked "do the orders still stand?" -- Cheney responded affirmatively:

"The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to, "The plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the vice president, "Do the orders still stand?" And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"

hmmmmmmmmmmm

FULL TEXT: Articles of Impeachment of Dick Cheney

By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor and National Correspondent, Atlanta Progressive News (April 23, 2007)

(APN) ATLANTA -- Today, US Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced Articles of Impeachment against Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney. Kucinich did not limit the Articles to the issue of Iran; they also include defrauding the public and Congress over the need to invade Iraq. Prisoner torture, outing CIA agents, and illegal domestic warrartless wiretapping were not included as reasons.

The main sections of the FULL TEXT of the bill as obtained by Atlanta Progressive News are reprinted below. We redacted the individual exhibits supporting various claims, as well as the "line numbers" for flow. However, the files are available here as well: http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/int3.pdf

Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Resolved, That Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and mis demeanors.

Article I

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit:

(1) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction...

(2) Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq the Vice President was fully informed that no legitimate evidence existed of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Vice President pressured the intelligence community to change their findings to enable the deception of the citizens and Congress of the United States.

(3) The Vice President’s actions corrupted or attempted to corrupt the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, an intelligence document issued on October 1, 2002 and carefully considered by Congress prior to the October 10, 2002 vote to authorize the use of force. The Vice President’s actions prevented the necessary reconciliation of facts for the National Intelligence Estimate which resulted in a high number of dissenting opinions from technical experts in two Federal agencies.

The Vice President subverted the national security interests of the United States by setting the stage for the loss of more than 3300 United States service members; the loss of 650,000 Iraqi citizens since the United States invasion; the loss of approximately $500 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal debt; the loss of military readiness within the United States Armed Services due to overextension, lack of training and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credibility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback created by the invasion of Iraq. In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury of the people of the United States.Wherefore, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.

Article II

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit:

(1) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive the citizens and the Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda...

(2) Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq the Vice President was fully informed that no credible evidence existed of a working relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, a fact articulated in several official documents, including...

Article III

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States, and done so with the United States proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining the national security of the United States, to wit:

(1) Despite no evidence that Iran has the intention or the capability of attacking the United States and despite the turmoil created by United States invasion of Iraq, the Vice President has openly threatened aggression against Iran as evidenced by the following:

(2) The Vice President, who repeatedly and falsely claimed to have had specific, detailed knowledge of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction capabilities, is no doubt fully aware of evidence that demonstrates Iran poses no real threat to the United States as evidenced by the following:

(3) The Vice President is fully aware of the actions taken by the United States towards Iran that are further destabilizing the world as evidenced by the following...

(4) In the last three years the Vice President has repeatedly threatened Iran. However, the Vice President is legally bound by the U.S Constitution’s adherence to international law that prohibits threats of use of force...

Wherefore Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.

About the author:
Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor and National Correspondent for Atlanta Progressive News and may be reached at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

This article may be reprinted in full at no cost where Atlanta Progressive News is credited.

I just sent a personal message to all my representatives in Congress, I hope you will join me!

http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73

Tell Congress to Impeach Cheney First

I urge you to co-sponsor Rep. Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment, H.Res. 333, which read: In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has 1. purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests 2. purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests 3. openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States, and done so with the United States proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining the national security of the United States Wherefore Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.

http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73

Thank you
Joseph

Dave Lindorff: Co-Sponsors for Cheney Impeachment Bill: They Think They Can, They Think They Can

by Dave Lindorff

The impeachment train is starting to roll.

Last week, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), started things off by filing a three-article bill of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. Initially largely ignored by the mainstream media, and even ridiculed by some leading Democrats in Congress, that bill, HR 333, Wednesday garnered two co-sponsors, Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), the latter a chief deputy whip and senior member of the House congressional leadership.

The two co-sponsors signing on to the bill give it a much stronger chance of being taken seriously in the House Judiciary Committee headed by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), and follows a week of intense impeachment activities across the country.

A week ago, dozens of impeachment activists gathered on the steps of the main entrance to the Cannon House Office Building in a group press conference calling on Congress to back Kucinich's impeachment bill, and to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

That same week, delegates to the annual convention of the California Democratic Party, the largest state chapter of the Democratic Party, overwhelmingly passed a detailed resolution calling for the impeachment of the president and vice president. The resolution received the highest vote total of all the resolutions offered at that convention, and was a powerful message to California's top Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents a district in San Francisco, that her own party wants action on impeachment, not a political dodge.

A few days later, on Saturday, April 28, impeachment groups across the nation held demonstrations, many of which featured protesters assembling to form giant letters spelling out the word "Impeach." While the mainstream media largely ignored those protests, the message was not lost on House Democrats. The following day, Rep. John Murtha, a leader of the Democrats campaign to end the Iraq War, speaking on the CBS News program "Face the Nation," declared that impeachment was one of the tools Congress has to influence the president. Lest his statement be misconstrued as a slip of the tongue, Murtha, who is known to be a close political ally of Pelosi, repeated the statement on NPR the following day, this time saying pointedly that impeachment was "on the table" in Congress.

His choice of words was particularly significant, since Pelosi has been insisting for almost a year that under a Democratic Congress, impeachment of the president would be "off the table."

It remains to be seen whether more members of the House will sign on to Kucinich's bill, or whether other representatives will add new bills of impeachment of their own against the vice president. Kucinich's bill is narrow in scope, only citing three impeachable offenses: lying about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, lying about an alleged link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, and illegally threatening war against Iran, a country that poses no imminent threat to the U.S. Certainly there are plenty of other grounds for impeaching Cheney, ranging from conspiracy to commit kidnapping and illegal torture of prisoner of war detainees and war profiteering to lying to Congress and orchestrating the theft of national elections.

Thirty-nine members of the House in the last Congress were co-sponsors of a bill submitted in late 2005 by Rep. Conyers that called for an investigation into impeachable crimes by the president and vice president, and impeachment activists are now lobbying those members -- nearly all of whom were returned to office last November -- to join as co-sponsors of HR 333. Both Reps. Clay and Shakowsky had been co-sponsors of the earlier Conyers bill, signing on in January 2006.

With frustration with President Bush's insistence on endless war in Iraq, and with grassroots pressure for impeachment building, it is going to be harder and harder for the mainstream media to keep ignoring the impeachment story. It is also going to be harder and harder for Democratic Party leaders to deter their more progressive members in the House from filing impeachment bills.

To contact members of Congress and make your views on impeachment known, dial 202/225-3121 and ask for the member you want to reach. Speaker Pelosi's number is 202/225-0100.

DAVE LINDORFF is co-author, with Barbara Olshansky, of The Case for
Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin's Press, 2006). A paperback edition of the book is due out in late May. His work is available at thiscantbehappening.net.

In this video researcher Peter Dale Scott presents a host of contradicting accounts describing the actions of Vice President Cheney on the morning of 9/11, and how the 9/11 Commission cherry-picked its way through this minefield of contradictions, including contradictions by the Vice President himself!

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmu5daHO7ZQ

Scott points out timeline gaps where simultaneously, Cheney & Rumsfeld can't be accounted for, and suggests that is no coincidence that these old Cold Warriors were nowhere to be seen at a critical jucture on that morning. Scott calls for the questioning of Cheney under oath regarding his actions on the morning of 9/11, and suggests that this could lead to his impeachment.

Dear Friends and Activists,

In this alert we will propose a plan of action, which if we execute it
faithfully, WILL result in the impeachment of Vice President Cheney by the end
of the summer.  So please read on, we think this is VERY important strategic
stuff.

But first we want to let you know that thanks to your kind donations, and
following your suggestions, we were able to run blog ad action buttons for the
National Cheney Impeachment Poll (with now more than 55,000 submissions) in 8
more progressive blogs this week, TalkingPointsMemo, FireDogLake, BartCop,
TheSmirkingChimp, CliffSchecter, onegoodmove, Pandagon and
TheCarpetbaggerReport.  We want to add CrooksAndLiars among others to the
movement this coming week, and DailyKos (which also got many mentions from you)
the week after that if you will keep the donations coming, and we know you will.

DONATIONS PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/donations.php

And especially if you have other ideas, please email to us as we are making the
ad buying decisions based on your input.

Memorial Day is the traditional kickoff to the summer season, and we are
planning a kickoff of the biggest impeachment initiative ever.  More and more
people have begun to realize that the core problem with Congress is getting them
to actually CONFRONT the Cheney administration.

That's right, we said the Cheney administration.  Whether even he knows it or
not, Bush has made no actual decisions since he was first installed.  And if it
weren't for the talking points they give him to rehearse, he would not be able
to complete a logical sentence in English in public.  He can barely do that as
it is.

At the same time we recognize, and as demonstrated by the vote on the Iraq
supplemental capitulation, that about half the Democratic members of Congress
and most of the Republicans are basically throwaways in terms of actually
standing up for we the people.  And we are even now hearing widespread talk of
primary challenges on the basis of this one vote alone.

Indeed, if we can get them to understand that the people will no longer buy
their shuck and jive then any policy change is possible.  So primary challenges
will be the first and fastest way to let them know that their failure to act
represents real political career jeopardy for them.

Our experience in the last election cycle teaches us that nothing is more
important in winning an election campaign, whether in a primary or a general
election, than having organized boots on the ground.  With enough warm bodies in
place whatever money is needed will come.  Regardless of what else we do we need
to spend the next 6 months building a cadre of seasoned canvassers, the core of
a volunteer activist campaign oriented base.  And we have an incredible
opportunity to use the National Cheney Impeachment Poll as a vehicle to do just
that.

IMPEACHMENT POLL SIGN UP SHEET: http://www.usalone.com/votesheet.pdf

If each one of the people who has ALREADY submitted a vote in the National
Cheney Impeachment Poll were to print out just one of the vote sheets above, and
collect just 20 votes from their friends and neighbors, we'd be over a million
votes, bam, just like that.  And at the same time, those who do the best job
organizing this canvassing would naturally emerge as the actual candidates we
need to turn the tide.

In short, on top of everything else, we are proposing using this vote collection
drive as a way to TEST DRIVE your potential as a candidate or volunteer in a
REAL election, and to use that opportunity to get invaluable "on street"
training.  Just print out some of the vote sheets above, grab a clip board and
some pens, and you're ready to rock.

We had one volunteer in Hollywood, CA this afternoon at one of the larger health
food markets, and in just about an hour they filled up one of these vote sheets
with 20 votes.  This is going to be EASY.  All you have to do is say to people,
"Hello . . . will you vote in the Cheney impeachment poll?", and hold up your
clip board so they can see the sign up sheet.  If the name Cheney catches 10% of
their ears you will quickly be able to engage and mobilize the people in your
community who will speak out, and before we know it, the base of the future will
be built.

No matter where you go to collect votes, you are just NOT going to find a lot of
people who don't think Cheney should be impeached.  Based on his current
approval rating (if not his impeachable crimes) there is zero chance he will
ever break 10% in this poll (we're currently running 99.36% YES in favor of
impeachment).  You can tell people we are not asking if he WILL be impeached, we
are asking if he should be impeached.  The most important thing to remember if
you are going to participate in this is

ENTHUSIASTICALLY ACCEPT ALL VOTES WHETHER YES OR NO

The other side knows they can only win by skewing the vote.  All we have to do
to win is ensure the vote is not skewed.

IMPEACHMENT POLL SIGN UP SHEET: http://www.usalone.com/votesheet.pdf

Wherever you decide to do this, if it is a place of business FIRST seek out the
premises manager and ask their permission to collect signatures for the poll.
Emphasize that this is a poll, and people can freely vote either way, and you
can also suggest you will only be doing it for an hour or so.  Then introduce
yourself to the security where you will be standing and tell them the name of
the manager who gave you permission.

We don't have to sell people on impeachment.  Anybody who is remotely paying
attention should jump at the opportunity to speak out on this.  For those who
rush by, trying to keep their heads down, just let them go, and trust that we
will get them also, as they hear more and more about the National Cheney
Impeachment Poll.  We don't have to chase any votes around the block.

You will meet people who are very gung ho.  Of the 20 people who signed with our
volunteer this afternoon, two were into it enough that they were given blank
sign up sheets to make their own copies of and collect signatures on their own.
So carry extra sign up sheets for this purpose.  This thing can spread like
wildfire if we just get out there.

You are probably already thinking of your own creative places to collect votes,
people in your apartment building, your school, office, church, lines at movie
theaters, swap meets, anywhere that people gather.  You should be welcome
everywhere as long as you keep it straight, and act as the impartial pollster.
If people ask your own personal position, feel free to tell them, but emphasize
that all votes are accepted and duly entered.

There are instructions on the vote gathering sheet to tell you what to do with
the entries you collect, of which the email address is critical.  We will be
using this to confirm their vote by email.  Therefore, one more thing cannot be
overemphasized

BE SURE TO READ BACK THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS TO THEM TO CONFIRM THE SPELLING

We don't want to lose any votes to scribbled or ambiguously written email
addresses.  Is it a "two" or is it the letter "Z", is it a "one" or is it the
letter "L", is it a "zero" or is it the letter "O", etc.  Make sure you yourself
can read all entries so that you can accurately enter them on the  web input
form we are providing.  If necessary, make additional small notes on the sheets
to remind yourself of the correct spellings.

And when you finish go back and thank the premises manager for their gracious
hospitality, so that our next volunteer will also be welcome.

Once we get a million votes things will start to snowball, and we can put
serious pressure on our members of Congress, and let them know that fulfilling
the duty of impeachment is the only way for them to keep their jobs.  With that
many key mobilized activists we can have impact on every election in the next
cycle, and we will find many ways of letting them know what they are in for long
before that.

Nothing in this alert should be construed as advocating for or against a
particular candidate in any particular race.  Until we actually mobilize we will
not know who will step up to the plate and who will not.  But we need to
mobilize just as hard EVERYWHERE regardless, for none can be counted on unless
we do.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2007, Patent pending, All rights reserved

Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!

From: The Pen
To: joseph_nechvatal@hotmail.com
Subject: Update: PROGRESS On Cheney Impeachment Initiative
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 14:15:44 -0800

Dear friends and activists,

As the submissions in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll approach 60,000, more members of Congress are sounding like they are considering signing on as a sponsor of H.R. 333. We heard Maxine Waters on the radio the other day and she had very strong words to say about her personal feelings on Cheney impeachment. We are getting reports that others are responding to your messages with receptivity to the idea, as will they ALL if only we get more people to speak out.

Thanks to your continued support we are now running blog ads with the Cheney impeachment action button, for example Crooks and Liars among others this week. The next move we want to make is to run an ad on Daily Kos to help support them. For that we need to put together $1,800 in one lump, as it is the most expensive buy of the progressive blogs due to their very large traffic. So if you Kossacks and Daily Kos lovers think this is a good idea, please consider making a donation to make this happen. We will know from your response if we are ready to go for it this week.

DONATIONS PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/donations.php

The faster we can build up the vote numbers, already running 99.36 percent FOR impeachment, the faster we can get Congress to initiate proceedings. The situation could not be more urgent. The New York Times and CBS News are confirming a story we had already heard that Cheney is determined to suck the U.S. into a shooting war with Iran, provoked through back channels with Israel, if he can't force that policy on Bush any other way. We are in greater danger of the strategic debacle in the Middle East spinning wildly out of control every day that Congress does not confront the monstrous malignancy in the office of the Vice president in particular.

We have set up an automated function so that if you add one of the action buttons for the National Cheney Impeachment Poll to your own web site or blog you will get an automatic link back listing on the action page. You can get the code for the buttons here.

BUTTONS CODE: http://www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment2.php

We are also starting to receive in voting sheets from the person to person canvassing that some of you are already doing. We need to get a lot more of this going, for this is how we will break out of the circle of the usual internet activists and tap into the broad discontent in the general public about how radically wrong our foreign policy has gone, driven by the dark schemes of Dick Cheney.

VOTE SHEETS: http://www.usalone.com/cheney_votesheet.php

We are asking all of our participants to dedicate just one hour of your lives this summer to collect votes from whoever you run into in your normal daily travels. It could save all of our lives. It could save YOUR live, all of it. Help turn the National Cheney Impeachment Poll into a national phenomenon. That's where we are going with this. We can do it with your help. All we have to do is get enough people to say he SHOULD be impeached, and he will be impeached.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2007, Patent pending, All rights reserved

Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!

Thanks to grassroots organizing by local activists, freshman Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) became the 4th co-sponsor for Rep. Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment for Dick Cheney (H. Res. 333). She joins Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), and Albert Wynn (D-MD).

Clarke writes, "When the American people voted on November 7th, they asked for a change in direction by electing the Democratic party in the House and Senate. I have heard the loud cries of my constituents, and they want accountability. My support of HRes 333 reflects the voices of the residents of central Brooklyn."
http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0169.html

On Tuesday, Cheney's former chief of staff Scooter Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and a $250,000 fine for perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation of the criminal outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. Libby refused to tell investigators the truth for one reason: to protect his boss Dick Cheney, who appears to have instructed Libby to out Plame to punish her husband Joe Wilson for exposing Bush's pre-war lies.

Urge your Representative to hold Cheney accountable by co-sponsoring H. Res. 333:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73

We just finished setting up a national cell phone voting system where someone
has to do is text "IMPEACH" to 30644 to vote Yes in the National Cheney
Impeachment Poll and it is LIVE now.  You have ALREADY voted in the poll
yourself (don't vote twice), but please text message all your friends and let
them know they can cast their vote to impeach Cheney just as easy as kicking
someone off American Political Idol.

Not only that but Lynn Woolsey just became the 6th house member to sign on as a
co-sponsor of H.R. 333, for articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney.  And
all the other 429 are waiting for is for us to inspire our friends and neighbors
to actually speak out.  So let's DO it.

Even as we speak, yet more crimes of the greatest offender of them all, Dick
Cheney, were exposed this week.  As reported by the Washington Post on Thursday,
Cheney was the primary bully in pushing for the illegal wiretaps, even going so
far as to block the promotion of a senior Justice Department attorney who had
the integrity to raise concerns about them.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be
ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Congressman Dennis Kucinich has just announced that he will begin holding new hearings into 9/11 beginning in September because "the Commission Final Report... never resolved certain conflicts." The acclaimed film "9/11 Press For Truth" (viewable at http://video.google.com) details those conflicts like no other movie has, featuring five members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee (the small group of victim's relatives who forced the creation of the 9/11 Commission), who revealed for the first time in the movie that "70% of our questions" were not answered by the Final Report.

In response to Kucinich's announcement, the makers of 9/11 Press For Truth are launching of a new campaign to bring about real answers for the September 11th families -- and a brand new web site at www.911PressForTruth.com

From August 3rd - 12th, Democrats.com will join a coalition of organizations to help host "Answers For 9/11 Families" week.  Hundreds of Americans will come together at house parties across the country to screen the acclaimed film featuring the September 11th families, 9/11 Press For Truth.

This stunning movie exposes the government's and the media's failure to answer the many important questions of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of twelve victim's relatives who tenaciously fought the White House to force the creation of the 9/11 Commission.  Six of them tell their story first-hand in the movie, revealing for the first time that "70% of our questions" were not answered by the Final Report.  The movie stitches together rare overlooked news clips, buried stories, and government press conferences to clearly detail a pattern of deception by U.S. officials.

Now, Congressman Dennis Kucinich has announced plans for a new 9/11 investigation beginning in September because "the 9/11 Commission... never resolved some conflicting facts."  Please join the effort to encourage Congress to support investigating until all remaining Family Steering Committee questions are answered.  Send a "Press For Truth Pack" to your Congressman
http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=74
and sign up today to host or attend a 9/11 Press For Truth house party in your community.
http://pressfortruth.bravenewtheaters.com/

(NOTE: Simple instructions on how to make your house party film screening a success will be emailed to everyone who signs up to host a party. Please order your DVD immediately after signing up in order to ensure it arrives in time for your house party.)

"We thought the country was at risk from terrorists and from incompetence," says Jersey widow Lorie Van Auken in the movie, "and maybe worse."  Fellow 'Jersey Girl' Patty Casazza puts it more succinctly: "They lied. They all lied."  With an election year looming, it is more important than ever that we demand Congressional hearings that will finally provide the answers these families have devoted over five years of their lives toward.

Help make it happen. Send a "Press For Truth Pack" to your Congressman today.
http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=74

And we hope you'll join us in August. Open your house to family, friends and neighbors - or join them at a house party nearby -- to watch this movie and support the Kucinich subcommittee investigation until all remaining Family Steering Committee questions are answered.
http://pressfortruth.bravenewtheaters.com/

Cheney Defiant on Classified Material
Executive Order Ignored Since 2003

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; A01

Vice President Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released by a congressional committee yesterday.

Since 2003, the vice president's staff has not cooperated with an office at the National Archives and Records Administration charged with making sure the executive branch protects classified information. Cheney aides have not filed reports on their possession of classified data and at one point blocked an inspection of their office. After the Archives office pressed the matter, the documents say, Cheney's staff this year proposed eliminating it.

The dispute centers on a relatively obscure process but underscores a wider struggle waged in the past 6 1/2 years over Cheney's penchant for secrecy. Since becoming vice president, he has fought attempts to peer into the inner workings of his office, shielding an array of information such as the industry executives who advised his energy task force, details about his privately funded travel and Secret Service logs showing who visits his official residence.

The aggressive efforts to protect the operations of his staff have usually pitted Cheney against lawmakers, interest groups or media organizations, sometimes going all the way to the Supreme Court. But the fight about classified information regulation indicates that the vice president has resisted oversight even by other parts of the Bush administration. Cheney's office argued that it is exempt from the rules in this case because it is not strictly an executive agency.

"He's saying he's above the law," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which released a series of correspondence yesterday outlining the situation. "It just seems to me this is arrogant and shows bad judgment."

Cheney's office declined to discuss what it called internal matters. "We are confident that we are conducting the office properly under the law," said spokeswoman Megan McGinn.

The Justice Department confirmed yesterday that it is looking into the issue. "This matter is currently under review in the department," said spokesman Erik Ablin, who declined to elaborate.

The standoff stems from an executive order establishing a uniform, government-wide system for safeguarding classified information. The order was first signed by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and was updated and reissued by President Bush in 2003. Under the order, an "entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information" must report annually how much it is keeping secret.

Cheney's office filed annual reports in 2001 and 2002 describing its classification activities but stopped filing in 2003, according to internal administration letters released yesterday. Cheney's office made the case that it is not covered because the vice president under the Constitution also serves as president of the Senate and therefore has both legislative and executive duties.

In 2004, the Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, a 25-member agency responsible for securing classified information, decided to conduct an on-site inspection of Cheney's office to see how sensitive material was handled. The vice president's staff, according to a letter Waxman sent Cheney, blocked the inspection.

After the Chicago Tribune reported last year that Cheney failed to report classification data, the Federation of American Scientists filed a complaint. J. William Leonard, director of the Archives' oversight office, sent two letters to Cheney's chief of staff, David S. Addington, requesting compliance with the executive order but received no replies. Leonard then wrote Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in January asking him to render a legal ruling on whether the vice president is violating the order. Gonzales has not replied.

In an interview yesterday, Steven Aftergood, who directs the federation's Project on Governmental Secrecy, said the dispute concerns "a very narrow bit of information" but indicated a broader disregard for following the same rules as the rest of the executive branch. "By refusing to comply with these trivial instructions, the vice president undermines the integrity of the executive order," he said. "If it can be violated with impunity on a trivial point, then it can also be violated on more important matters."

Leonard, in his letters to Addington and Gonzales, argued that the interpretation that the Office of the Vice President is not an executive entity "could impede access to classified information by OVP staff, in that such access would be considered a disclosure outside the executive branch."

But Leonard may have angered Cheney's office with his persistence. The administration is conducting a review of the executive order, and Leonard told Waxman's staff that Cheney aides proposed amending the order to abolish the Archives oversight office and explicitly exempt the vice president from its requirements. The elimination of the office has been rejected, Waxman said.

Leonard did not return phone messages yesterday. Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the National Archives, said: "In carrying out the responsibilities of the National Archives Information Security Oversight Office, we will continue to be responsive to the concerns of all governmental parties." Cheney's press office refused to comment on the changes proposed to the executive order.

Source URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR200706...

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Cheney's secret pass
No answer on why VP breaks rules on classified documents

BY RICHARD SISK rsisk@nydailynews.com
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, June 23rd 2007, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The White House struggled to explain yesterday why President Bush complies with rules and oversight on secret documents but Vice President Cheney doesn't.

There were also no answers about why Cheney followed the rules in 2001 and 2002 but began stonewalling on documents in 2003 as the CIA leak case was breaking and weapons of mass destruction were not to be found in Iraq.

"I will check into it," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "I don't know when - I don't know why the change, and I'll see if there was any different interpretation."

But Perino denied that Cheney tried to abolish the government office charged with safeguarding documents, which was hounding him for access.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, disclosed Thursday that Cheney was refusing what had been routine requests from the Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives about his handling of classified data.

Bush's order requires executive agencies to report the number of times they classify material and the number of pages they declassify.

Perino said Bush fully meets the requirements of his own executive order on disclosure to the Archives, but she suggested that Bush had given Cheney an exemption.

"The President gets to decide whether or not he [Cheney] should be treated separately, and he's decided that he should," Perino said.

Cheney has often cited executive privilege stemming from his office in the Bush administration to reject requests from Congress.

But the vice president's office has also claimed that because Cheney is president of the Senate in the legislative branch, he is exempt from a request by an agency in the executive branch.

Perino said Cheney is "not exempt from following the laws of the U.S. He's exempt just from this reporting requirement in this particular executive order."

The Archives has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to order Cheney to comply, but the Justice Department has yet to rule.

end

now look at this for some fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zSfZ9juF3M

Right now, the Vice President of the United States is breaking the law.

Since 2003, Vice President Cheney has refused to comply with Executive Order 12958, which "prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information."

The Vice President claims he's exempt from presidential executive orders because, as President of the Senate, he is "attached" to the legislative branch. But the Senate has even more stringent regulations on the handling of classified material -- even more rules that the Vice President hasn't followed. In typical fashion, the White House will only say that this is an "interesting constitutional question that people can debate."

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution clearly states:

The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected ...

It's time to remind the Vice President that he can't ignore our nation's laws. We're putting together a special copy of the U.S. Constitution just for him -- one that has the 39 original signatures along with all of ours. Add your name today and send a message to Dick Cheney:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/cheney

The Bush Administration refuses to hold itself accountable for the protection of our national security, and Vice President Cheney is a key part of the problem. It was his office that leaked the identity of a CIA agent to the media. He's part of an Administration under investigation for using email accounts of the Republican National Committee to conduct official government business. According to the Washington Post:

Across the board, the vice president's office goes to unusual lengths to avoid transparency. Cheney declines to disclose the names or even the size of his staff, generally releases no public calendar and ordered the Secret Service to destroy his visitor logs.

...In the usual business of interagency consultation, proposals and information flow into the vice president's office from around the government, but high-ranking White House officials said in interviews that almost nothing flows out. Close aides to Cheney describe a similar one-way valve inside the office, with information flowing up to the vice president but little or no reaction flowing down.

Executive Order 12958 states that information must be properly maintained "to protect our citizens, our democratic institutions, and our participation within the community of nations." President Bush amended and endorsed this order, and Vice President Cheney's office complied with it until 2003. Effective oversight and transparency of our country's most important documents are essential to accountability and respect for the rule of law.

Under Dick Cheney's watch, some of our country's most disgraceful moments have happened -- from Guantanamo Bay to Abu Ghraib. Because of him, the Bush administration started in secrecy, marched to war in secrecy and will end in secrecy, all with great damage to our Constitution, to our government and to the American people.

Tell Vice President Cheney he's not above the Constitution. He can't rewrite the Constitution to suit himself.

http://www.democraticmajority.com/cheney

Sincerely
Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Check out this new video from Robert Greenwald to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney... and sign the petition!

http://impeachcheney.org

They have already bumped the first run of "IMPEACH CHENEY?" caps from 2,500 to 3,500, and this coming Tuesday they will tell the manufacturer how many MORE they need to make sure that every one of you who wants one gets one. So if you have not yet requested your very own custom embroidered cap, to get more people to ASK themselves "Should Vice President Cheney be Impeached?", remember they will send you one for no charge. If you can ALSO make a donation to help finance the enormous cost of getting all these caps sewn and shipped, please consider chipping in for that too. Either way just submit this request form:

LAST CHANCE FIRST RUN IMPEACHMENT CAP REQUESTS:
http://www.usalone.com/impeach_cheney_cap.php

+

New video: Impeach Dick Cheney from Robert Greenwald

That's right, we said the "I" word. And you should be saying it too
-- to your family, your friends, your neighbors, your pets and the
hearty 26% of Americans who somehow still believe the Bush/Cheney
team more worthy of sitting in the Oval Office than an undisclosed
location stripped of all authority to further damage the country we
love.

You'll want to say it even more after watching our video with the
evidence for impeachment right there: http://impeachcheney.org/

Dick Cheney has been a malevolent force on the checks and balances of
American government for over six years. He has subverted government
processes to lead us into this tragedy in Iraq, and is now seeking to
do the same with Iran. Two countries, mind you, he did business with
while CEO of Halliburton.

We are at an important moment in American history. For if we don't
take action in light of the High Crimes and Misdemeanors committed by
one Richard Cheney, we might as well throw the word away. Because
there will never be a time when it is more justified.

Sign the petition: http://impeachcheney.org/petition.php

14 representatives already support H. Res 333, the articles of
Impeachment against Dick Cheney. Your signatures will be used to get
other House members to to sign on. We are working with a substantial
and growing coalition led by Democrats.com and
AfterDowningStreet.org.

Let's make this travesty a turning point in our history. Please join
us in restoring democratic principles to our government by IMPEACHING
DICK CHENEY.

Sincerely, Robert, Cliff, Paris, Jim G and the entire Brave New Films
team

-----

Brave New Films is located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA
90232 and info.org. To no longer receive our videos, click here:
http://bravenewfilms.org/unsubscribe

-- End Greenwald Video Text --,

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed
to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

From: http://www.projectcensored.org/

Impeachment Is Not Off the Table
By Peter Phillips

Nancy Pelosi declared on national television “impeachment is off the table.” Impeachment, it seems, is too divisive for a 2008-oriented Democratic Party leadership and will interfere with the business of Congress over the next two years.

The Democrats seem to be giving a pardon to Bush and Cheney without even having a trial. Impeachment is the people’s option to end corrupt government. According to the Lancet Medical Journal 650,000 civilians have died in Iraq since the start of the US invasion. US aerial bombing in civilian neighborhoods have caused over a third of these deaths including whole families—children, grandparents, moms and dads.

We now know that Bush and Cheney lied about the weapons of mass destruction. According to the Downing Street Memos from July 2002, “Military action was [in order to justify the invasion of Iraq] seen as inevitable…justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD…the intelligence facts were…fixed around the policy.” Bush and Cheney misled the American people, frauded Congress, violated their constitutional oaths of office. Impeachment has never been more warranted. Yet the Democrats say it is off the table, and can only muster a mild non-binding rebuke in the House as the surge goes on. How many more thousands of people must die before Americans say “enough”?

We have seen the gross profit engorgement of oil companies and private military contractors as of result of the 9/11 wars. Pro-war interests exert significant influence on members of Congress with money and lobbying, while the public relations machines of private industry and government work full time through the corporate media to keep us fearful of terrorists.

Yet, the values and moral core of the American people are based in love, hard work, family and justice. With all our faults, we are basically a good people being led astray by a neo-conservative cabal seeking nothing less than total military domination of the world. We recognize the awfulness of war, decry torture, and understand the connection between of military spending and infrastructure depletion including: housing, education, health care, and employment.

The American people voted against the war in November. Opinion polls show two-thirds oppose the war, and over half support impeachment. We have the individual choice of being “Good Germans” and hiding our heads in the sand, or taking united action to dethrone the imperial powers through the people’s option of impeachment.

New avenues of resistance are emerging to challenge the illegal occupants in the White House. On February 17-18 some twenty-five organizations met in New York for an emergency impeachment conference. The result of the weekend planning was the formation of a new coalition of activists to pursue the impeachment of Bush and Cheney through an increase in public pressure, lobbying, media activism, advertising, creative actions and civil disobedience over the next few months. (www.worldcantwait.org)

Plans to push impeachment include massive marches in major cities on March 17-18, a national Hip-Hop Not War Tour, a global US corporate and chain store shopping boycott April 15(tax day) to April 22 (Earth Day) (www.wearenotbuyingit.org), and the declaration of National Impeachment Day April 28 (www.a28.org).

To allow this administration to ride out the next two years without impeachment is to sanction a lying treasonous presidency and set precedence for future presidents to ignore Congress and the will of the people. A democracy cannot tolerate an imperial power centered in the Whitehouse. If we choose to defend our Constitution we must pressure Congress to go beyond political partisanship and serve the best interests of America.

----------

Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and co-editor with Dennis Loo of Impeach the President: the Case Against Bush and Cheney.

see: http://www.projectcensored.org/

In Washington, D.C. on July 23 , Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Ann Wright, Debra Sweet, Dave Lindorff, David Swanson, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, Kevin Zeese, Tina Richards, and others will march from Arlington National Cemetery to the office of Congressman John Conyers. They will sit in Conyers' office reciting the U.S. Constitution until they are either arrested or he agrees to start impeachment. You can also come and choose not to risk arrest. Meet at 10 a.m. outside the Arlington National Cemetery Metro stop: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/sit

Similiar actions will take place the same day in the offices of Rep. Howard Berman in California and Rep. Pete Visclosky in Indiana, and at Rep. Conyers' district offices in Detroit. If you are willing to go to jail for justice, you are encouraged to come to Washington to participate in the civil disobedience, or to stage a sit-in at your congress member's district office, either on the 23rd or another day. You can pledge to take part only if 20 others do the same: http://www.democrats.com/sit

Last Friday, PBS aired a one-hour special on impeachment featuring Bruce Fein, Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and well-known Republican, and John Nichols, author of "The Genius of Impeachment" and well-known Democrat, both arguing for impeachment.

Watch it here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html

How to create an Angry American

see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfzqulvhlQ

You can watch some video of the authors (David Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky) present legal grounds for impeachment of Bush here:
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/impeach_pres.htm

They wrote The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office

check out
Impeach Bush and Cheney Now!
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

Editorials and Information on
How to Impeach Bush
http://www.impeachbush.tv/news/hres635.html

The Impeachment Procedure
http://www.hematite.com/impeachment/

See KUCINICH Take the House Floor and Moves for Cheney Impeachment
http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=w2jonva2nz

In a stunning development, a bipartisan majority of Congress rejected the attempt to kill the privileged resolution brought by Dennis Kucinich to impeach Vice President Cheney, for his unprecedented constitutional high crimes. Instead the bill was sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which is exactly where Kucinich wants it to build momentum. Now all we have to do is pressure them to follow through, and impeachment will be a reality.

There is a special action page which not only sends your personal message to your individual House members, but also sends a
copy to BOTH Nancy Pelosi and the House Judiciary Committee itself.

This is now a whole new ballgame. Please submit this page now to reiterate your support for impeachment of Cheney first, H.Res 333.

H.Res 333 Action Page: http://www.usalone.com/hres333.php

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