July 25, 2008
What's in a name? Today's Judiciary Committee hearing in
Congress may have have been called Constitutional Limits of
Executive Power but it was clearly a hearing on impeachment if you
listened to the witnesses. After years of public pressure, after
the filing of Articles of Impeachment against George W.
Bush and Dick Cheney and after a serious challenge to Nancy Pelosi's
Congressional seat, John Conyers appeared to regain enough of a
certain part of his anatomy to remember his oath of office and do the
job he was elected to do, following the will of the people by holding
the hearing Americans most wanted. The alleged crimes of George W. Bush
are listed in
H Res
1258.
The person most responsible for today's hearing was Ohio Congressman
Dennis Kucinich, who
refused to be silenced and who refused to back down from his duty to
the American people. In his quest, he also had the vocal support
of Congressman Robert Wexler (who is a member of the Judicary
Committee) and of Americans from all political parties.
More and more Americans are asking why mass murder, torture, treason
and spying on Ameriocans are not illegal and why members of
Congress are forcing forcing Americans follow the dictates of
individuals viewed as mass murderers, tortures and traitors. The
question Amerians are asking is why are people locked up for murder
when, given the resources, they could be chosen President and
maintained in office by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi, who has supported most of the Bush agenda, had
tried to stop impeachment hearings and silence opposition to Bush, but
the people overwhelmingly stood behind Congressman Kucinich in his call
for the impeachment of Bush. Americans signed petitions, called
Congressional offices, protested and worked hard to get Conyers to
follow through with his Constitutional duty to follow up on the major
felonies which clearly appear to have been comitted by the Bush
Maladministration.
Pelosi may have looked at the likelihood of the loss of her seat to
Gold Star Mother for Peace Cindy Sheehan in deciding to allow Conyers
to follow his oath of office by bringing the proceedings.
The observers overwhelmingly backed impeachment. When renowned
prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi spoke of the crimes of Bush and Cheney, the
audience broke into applause. A Republican leader, Lamar
Smith, tried to close
down the hearings because of the applause for impeachment. Though
refusing to close the hearings over the popularity of impeachment,
Conyers warned the crowd against further applauses.
Members of the Judiciary Committee who supported Bush frequently used
excuse
after excuse to try to close down the hearing. Conyers,
knowing the hearing had the backing of the American people,
continued and did not allow the Bush supporters to deter him from
continuing the job for which he had bee elected.
Among the strongest statements were those made by Kucinich, Congressman
Maurice Hinchey, Congressman Robert
Wexler, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Congressman Walter
Jones, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holzman, Ross Anderson, and
former prosecutors Bruce Fein and Vincent Bugliosi.
Unlike many current prosecutors, Vincent Bugliosi has a long history of
successful prosecutions and he knows what it takes to get a
conviction. He has written a book documenting Bush's
crimes. Americans have wondered why someone who has engaged
in
and admitted to crimes could be allowed to lead a nation for years
without any
repercussions. There have been calls for the prosecution of
members of Congress for their failure to impeach.
One Bush supporter on the committee (James Steve King) repeatedly
tried to
silence Bugliosi and prevent him from showing and discussing
documented proof of Bush's fabrication of grounds for war. In
answer to a question in response to a question from the Judiciary
Committee, Bugliosi held up a report that had been altered to
trick members of Congress into believing Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction and King tried to stop the information from
making it
before the audience. King even tried to claim
government secrets on all government documents. The audience
broke into a boo. King repeatedly spoke over Bugliosi's answer
to try to prevent listeners from hearing the answer. Conyers
ponted out that Bugliosi was answering a question put to him.
In contrast, Northwestern's Stephen Presser's comments regarding
impeachable offenses was strongly reminiscent of Chuck Grodin's "I
think you would have to define 'destroy'" remark in
Heaven Can Wait. It makes
one wonder about the teaching requirements at Northwestern School of
Law. May we recommend some of the members of the Creative Youth
News Team (all in their teens or younger) for his replacement if
Northwestern wants to increase the standards of its teaching
staff? Despite Presser's strong support of a President's right to
do anything, Congressman Keith Ellison even got him to admit that the
facts justified an impeachment inquiry,
Dennis Kucinich is expected to go down in history books as the
brightest light in American government during this period. His
name has become synonymous with integrity and courage to the
majority of Americans.
Many experts expect voters to punish any failure to impeach.
Cynthia McKinney, the first member of Congress to file Articles of
Impeachment against George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice in
2006, has already made the history books as the first
African-American female Presidential candidate. McKinney's
running mate Rosa Clemente is a popular Latina African-American leader
who has also showed the kind of courage that Americans expected out of
the Democratic Party.
Can Nancy Pelosi succeed in protecting George W. Bush? Will
she lose her seat to Cindy Sheehan? Will Americans convince the
Democratic members of Congress to select Dennis Kucinich as the next
Speaker of the House? Will McKinney pull off a surprise victory
in the Presidential race? All this remains to be seen.
Copyright ©2008 by the Creative
Youth
News Team. All rights reserved.
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