What to do for impeachment

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Joseph Cannon:

Pelosi's political instincts tell her that the best way to do impeachment is for her not to say impeachment, at least not until events force her to utter the I-word. Such a triggering event might come in the form of a startling revelation divulged during one of the upcoming congressional hearings. You can bet on revelations aplenty. Of course, after six years of neocon atrocities, one wonders whether anything can still startle the citizenry.Another trigger might be a groundswell of public opinion. Impeachment from below, as it were.That's where we come in. It's not enough for us to cite online polls indicating that the American people favor impeachment if, if, if. No, we have to do something.And here's what we're gonna do:


December 10 is Human Rights Day, and this year we're making it Human Rights and Impeachment Day. Slogan: "Putting Impeachment on the Table."We encourage you to organize a town hall forum or rally on this day for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.You should also visit the Democrats.com Impeachment for Change site. There's a petition to sign. A million signatures will do nicely, thank you very much.Do you have some drab telephone poles in your neighborhood which could use a spot of decoration? Try printing out the Ten Reasons the Impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney, which you can find here. Consider printing it out on a neon-colored paper.AfterDowningStreet and Democrats.com have started a movement. Join it.You may also want to take a glance at the novel strategy advocated by a group called ImpeachforPeace. In short and in sum, these folks have discovered an oddity in the congressional rules:


Before the House Judiciary Committee can put together the Articles of Impeachment, someone must initiate the impeachment procedure. Most often, this occurs when members of the House pass a resolution. Another method outlined in the manual, however, is for individual citizens to submit a memorial for impeachment.After learning this information, Minnesotan and Impeach for Peace member (Jodin Morey) found precedent in an 1826 memorial by Luke Edward Lawless which had been successful in initiating the impeachment of Federal Judge James H. Peck. Impeach for Peace then used this as a template for their "Do-It-Yourself Impeachment." Now any citizen can download the DIY Impeachment Memorial and submit it, making it possible for Americans to do what our representatives have been unwilling to do. The idea is for so many people to submit the Memorial that it cannot be ignored. These folks envision a mass mailing on January 15, when the new Congress convenes. A million pieces of mail should have a rock-em sock-em effect.So those are your big dates: December 10 and January 15. And even then, we will have just begun to do political battle.Do you want to wallow in cynicism, or do you want to do every damn thing you can to force Congress to solve the problem? Take action. Join the fight. If you do, then when your grandkids ask you "What did you do during the great war for impeachment?" you won't have to tell them: "Well, I was shoveling shit at Nancy Pelosi."(Cannon has more)

posted by lukery at 11/28/2006 03:43:00 AM

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