(Go to our Main Page:ImpeachForPeace.org)

By JAMES MIXON, They are not stopping traffic or waving picket signs: a group of concerned peaceniks from the Brunswick area have found another means of change. According to the rules of the US House of Representatives, any state legislature can present a resolution to impeach the president.

Deborah Gordan and Stan Lofalia of MaineImpeach.org hope Maine will be the first state to do so, though similar efforts are under way in several other states.

The group of artists and activists has collected 3600 signatures on a petition to US representatives Michael Michaud and Tom Allen, as well as to state lawmakers, hoping to push any or all of them toward seeking impeachment. Organizers say they want to collect 10,000 signatures before formally submitting them to Michaud, Allen, and others.

The MaineImpeach.org Web site lists ten reasons for impeachment: launching a war without a cause; authorizing the use of torture; detaining Americans and non-Americans without due process or cause; violating the Geneva Conventions; using illegal wiretaps against American citizens; the use of “signing statements” to defy Congress; obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006; using disinformation and paid propaganda to deceive the public; abusing presidential powers; and negligence in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

(Continue Reading)

[IFP endorses no candidates for federal political office. We support any call for accountability of all public office holders]
Feb 26, 2008 – Laurie Dobson (candidate for US Senate in Maine) delivers an indictment at Kennebunkport Town Hall against George Bush and Dick Cheney.

[IFP endorses no candidates for federal political office. We support any call for accountability of all public office holders]
(Kennebunkport) Independent US Senate candidate Laurie Dobson has announced plans to file a formal Writ of Indictment against President Bush and Vice President Cheney next Tuesday, Feb. 26, at Kennebunkport Town Hall. If passed by the town’s Board of Selectmen, it could result in the arrest of Bush and/or Cheney if they visit Kennebunkport.

“Our nation has reached a point where it is imperative for us to take action to hold this administration accountable,” Dobson said. “The Constitution gives citizens the right to pursue these war criminals and bring them to justice. The federal government has been reluctant to do it. As a candidate for the US Senate, I feel I have a duty to pursue and present this indictment for the citizens of my town, the state of Maine, the entire country and the world my children live in.”

Dobson plans to file the Writ at Kennebunkport town offices on Elm St. next Tuesday “at high noon.” A brief news conference will immediately follow, at which time copies of the Writ and supporting legal opinions will be made available.

At 12:30 pm, a photo opportunity will be held with a backdrop of the Bush Estate at Walker’s Point, followed by interviews and a Q&A at 78 Old Cape Rd., Kennebunkport.

The Writ reads, in part:

“Shall the Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities, and shall it be the law of the Town of Kennebunkport that the Kennebunkport Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George W. Bush and Richard Cheney in Kennebunkport if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them.”

If passed, Dobson’s initiative will be the second one of its kind. A similar indictment was recently passed by the Board of Selectmen in Brattleboro VT, and will be voted on in a townwide referendum on March 4.

[IFP endorses no candidates for political office. We support any call for accountability of public office holders and impeachment of Cheney and Bush]

WE NEED THE IMPEACHMENT OF BUSH-CHENEY, NOT OBAMAS VAGUE RHETORIC OF BIPARTISANSHIP

by Laurie Dobson
US Senate Candidate – Maine

As I have stated consistently since I began my campaign last fall, I believe that the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their removal from office are imperative for the defense of our democracy. Without impeachment, every precedent, every signing statement, every entrenched corrupt and illegal practice, will take on a life of its own and stay with us as long as we live, and beyond.

The only way to wipe the slate clean is to bring charges against both Bush and Cheney, and if convicted, remove them from office. The legacy of this disastrous administration should be stamped REJECTED in big red letters for all time. We must do this for our children and their children. The opportunity for impeachment expires at noon on Jan. 20, 2009, when the next president is sworn in.

Impeachment is imperative, even though it will be a messy, acrimonious, and partisan process. Senator Obama seems to believe that great evils can always be dealt with through bipartisan cooperation. That ignores the reality of the Bush-Cheney administration’s gutting of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. No matter who wins the presidency this November, it is foolish to think that an era of good feelings is at hand. Quite the contrary.

The economic crisis is worsening, and the solutions required will be very controversial, as the response to my proposed five-year moratorium on foreclosures has demonstrated.

To save our nation during the last depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt had to brave the hatred of Wall Street, and we can thank our lucky stars that he never flinched. In the ’60s, John F. Kennedy refused to negotiate with US Steel, and forced it to yield to the national interest. Appeasement has never served us well, and there is no reason to think it ever will.

If supporting Senator Obama means buying in to his novel theory that political struggle is bad in itself, I cannot follow that path. (Before you go to caucus this Sunday (Feb. 10), I urge Maine Democrats to look at the advisers guiding each respective candidate. Back in 2000, if we had paid less attention BushÂ’s words and more attention to the gaggle of aggressive neocon ideologues advising him, the country might be better off today.

When I look at Senator Obama, I see first of all his consigliere, Zbigniew Brzezinski, whose service under President Carter was a tragic failure. Brzezinski seems to want to crown his career with a final confrontation – not in the Middle East, but with Russia. I believe this is incalculable folly, and if I am elected to the US Senate this November, I intend to oppose it.

Senator ObamaÂ’s lead economics advisor is Austan Goolsbee, a free market enthusiast from the University of Chicago who, like Bush, is apparently a member of YaleÂ’s Skull and Bones Society. Under Obama, Goolsbee is in line to become Secretary of the Treasury. After two Bushes, perhaps the country has had enough of Skull and Bones for a while.

Another Obama advisor is Harvard Professor Jeffrey Liebman, who favors the partial privatization of Social Security. I totally opposed that idea when it came from Bush, and I will totally oppose it again if Obama suggests it.

In short, even a cursory look at ObamaÂ’s advisers is discouraging. Underneath his soaring rhetoric are some stale and discredited policy proposals.

Maine voters would be well advised to take another look at Senator Clinton, who is certainly more progressive in her health care plan and her approach to foreclosures than Senator Obama. At the very least, she offers the stability of a known quantity. Unlike much of the mainstream media, I am not especially alarmed at the prospect of Bill Clinton returning to the White House. But I am deeply alarmed by the possibility of a comeback by Zbigniew Brzezinski, thanks to Senator ObamaÂ’s inexperience in foreign affairs.

(Original Article)

Editorials
Cheney Impeachment
By BDN Staff
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 – Bangor Daily News

Over the past 18 months, a core group of Democrats and others from the left has steadfastly maintained that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be impeached. Mainstream Democrats in Congress are sympathetic to their arguments, but most have bowed to the political reality that impeachment proceedings would gridlock the federal government in the last year of the Bush administration, distract lawmakers from resolving problems that affect the daily lives of Americans, and possibly trigger an endless cycle of reprisal impeachment attempts for future administrations.

There is another angle on this difficult question, raised by Rep. Michael Michaud in a Dec. 21 letter to Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “There is no doubt that at the very least this Administration has dangerously expanded the scope of executive authority and flaunted the constitutionally defined separation of powers,” Rep. Michaud wrote.

The letter urges Rep. Conyers to schedule impeachment hearings on Mr. Cheney, though not on the president’s conduct. Those supporting impeachment argue Cheney in his role in the administration has repeatedly violated the Constitution on matters such as warrantless telephone eavesdropping, deliberately misled Congress and the American people about the threat posed by Iraq and Iran, revealed the name of a CIA agent, and ordered the abuse of prisoners in violation of international treaties.

The specific alleged abuses of power will, for the most part, fade away when the Bush-Cheney administration leaves Washington. But the “dangerously expanded” powers of the executive branch cited by Rep. Michaud could remain in place. Those powers will be inherited regardless of which party takes the White House, and while Democrats may relish the opportunities that come with an expanded presidency, ultimately, such an imbalance in the government is unhealthy and will increase the chance of future abuses.

Mr. Bush’s interpretation of executive powers has led critics to dub his tenure the “imperial presidency.” Rep. Michaud correctly notes in his call for hearings on impeachment of Mr. Cheney that: “Expansions and potential abuses of power by this administration become precedents for future ones, which lead to further erosions of our constitutional rights.”

Rep. Michaud had given the impeachment matter long and careful thought, his press secretary Monica Castellanos reported, before calling for the hearings. The congressman has not prejudged the outcome of the hearings and possible investigation, she said, but he strongly believes those steps are essential in restoring Americans’ trust in their government.

It is a big step for Congress to take, especially in a politically charged presidential election year. But if it is possible, a dispassionate examination of the manner in which Mr. Cheney and this administration have stretched the executive branch to the point of distorting its constitutional definition would be enlightening, and could help rebalance the powers of the federal government.