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November 13, 2007 at 12:21:37
by Rainbow Law Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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The issue of impeaching Bush and/or Cheney was famously taken "off the table" by Nancy Pelosi over a year ago. She made this announcement prior to the 2006 mid-term elections hoping the statement would appease "centrists" and help Democrats win a majority in Congress. Coincidentally, a 2006 win for Democrats also meant Pelosi was destined to be named the first woman Speaker of the House. So, we are guessing she may have had a bit of self-interest when she made such an untenable promise NOT to carry out her sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Pelosi may also be reluctant to initiate impeachment for fear she will be accused of doing so because she is third in line to be President. And right-wing critics are ready to pounce on Pelosi for that very reason. If so, rather than stand in the way of impeachment, she should recuse herself from the decision-making process. Today “there’s rumors on the Internets” -- here, here and here (and lost of other places) -- that Pelosi will reconsider her no-impeachment stance – IF – she receives 10,000 HAND WRITTEN letters supporting the impeachment of Dick Cheney.
So, if you really want to see Congress – especially the Democrats – start acting like the co-equal branch of Government that they were intended to be – PLEASE write to Pelosi today.
For those of you unaccustomed to the snail mail process, here are 5 easy steps:
- Find a pen and a piece of paper;
- Write your letter;
- Find an envelope and write Pelosi's address on it;
- Put the letter in the envelop and attach a stamp to it;
- Put it in a mailbox.
And to make it even easier – if you do not know WHAT to write, copy this letter that another Impeachment supporter already sent:
“Impeaching a high federal official for high crimes and misdemeanors - and other conduct and misuse of power incongruent with the office held - is not only a power of the legislature, but a constitutional duty. It is not a distraction to the work of Congress; it is the work of Congress. Impeachment by the House is not just an indictment, but the only way to break through the stone wall erected around the White House and enable real investigation of malfeasance and effective oversight to be performed. If the "discovery phase" of hard evidence gathering prior to a Senate trial verifies the alleged wrongdoing, the accused will be convicted. Otherwise the accused will be acquitted. Either way, justice is done and the rule of law is upheld. The founding fathers felt so strongly about protecting our democratic republic from would-be kings usurping Executive powers, they included the provision for impeachment in the Constitution six times. It was not by accident. Please, for the sake of our democracy, impeach Dick Cheney.”
This is a timely issue and needs to be acted upon NOW. There is ample public support FOR impeachment and currently, a resolution for impeaching Cheney (HB333, introduced by Dennis Kucinich) is languishing and under consideration in the Judiciary Committee.
Make sure you WRITE your letter – do not TYPE it. Include your name, address and telephone number so its authenticity can be verified. Write it in BLUE INK so it will not be mistaken for a photocopy.
Send your letter to:
Nancy Pelosi
450 Golden Gate Avenue, 14th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
Cindy Sheehan is concerned that Pelosi may not accurately count the letters and therefore she is asking that you send them to her instead. We share Cindy’s skepticism but also, as pragmatists, are aware that Pelosi may disregard letters sent to Cindy since she is calling for those letters to be sent to her. Why not write TWO letters and send one of them directly to Pelosi and the other to Sheehan?
Letters to Pelosi via Sheehan should be sent to:
Cindy for CongressTaking the time to do this one little task may be the most important thing you have ever done. And we've given you everything you need except the 5 minutes of time it will take to write and mail the letter, a pen, a piece of paper, an envelope and a stamp.
RE: Impeach Dick Cheney
1260 Mission Blvd
San Francisco, Ca 94103
http://www.rainbowlaw.com
Rainbow Law is Elisia and Carrie Ross-Stone, lesbian civil rights activists, life partners and grandmothers. We own and operate Rainbow Law, an online service offering legal information and free and affordable legal documents for gay and lesbian (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
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All Americans Should
(Those that can afford to pay some more money down for the preservation of democracy.) Go out and knock on doors all over their neighborhood with stamps and envelopes and also go up to people in their college, in their workplace, in their church, etc. with stamps and envelopes in hand asking them to send a handwritten letter to Nancy Pelosi and Cindy Sheehan calling for the impeachment of Cheney and Bush. In the name of democracy, our Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence and even more importantly, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, we should not sit back and just blog our thoughts when given such a simple patriotic task as this. by Kevin Gosztola (302 articles, 146 quicklinks, 81 diaries, 1082 comments [77 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 5:48:14 PM  (0+)
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Reply: No Excuses
Kevin - We love your enthusiasm and your idea to go door to door with stamps and envelopes! Regarding Charlie, there is always one cynic in the crowd whose negativity threatens to (and often does) stifle positive action. Sure, it may be true that no matter how many letters are sent, NP will stick to her no impeachment agenda... but that does not mean we shouldn't TRY. Writing and mailing a letter is hardly a sacrifice of time or money and is therefore DOABLE! Little does the cycnic realize that his solution -- to gripe about an action while taking none himself -- often results in a self-fufilling prophecy that nothing good will come of it. We'll pass on your ideas tomorrow! Carrie & Elisia by Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 7:21:44 PM (0+)
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Reply: I'll add
Tomorrow is the last day of DFA's Sicko Movie Q&A Action and Americans could find a House Party in their area to visit with stamps and envelopes for those there to send letters to Pelosi. That is what I will be doing. It just so happens that those same people I am visiting are the heart and soul of the Dennis Kucinich for President campaign here in Chicago (which I am a part of too). We will be talking about our campaign and so with that in mind, I say, take the time to form connections and bonds with the people you run into at actions like these. Make sure if you go to a SICKO screening this is not the last time you talk to the people you meet at the House Party. Our campaign for Dennis believes this campaign is about more than Dennis winning the presidency. It's about America winning and also it's about people who want real reform in America winning. In that respect, one of our main goals is the impeachment of Cheney then Bush before Dennis takes office. Send your letters to Barack and Hillary and John Edwards too. If they got a bushel of handwritten letters, while it may feel like Christmas at first, they would quickly realize how inadequate they have been as candidates so far and perhaps wise up and speak out for more Americans. Wishful thinking but thinking I am willing to engage in. Peace by Kevin Gosztola (302 articles, 146 quicklinks, 81 diaries, 1082 comments [77 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 7:47:25 PM (0+)
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Pelosi is just wasting our time and money
Make no mistake about this... Nanci Pelosi doesn't give a damn if she gets 10,000 hand-written letters, 100,000, or 1,000,000. Nancy Pelosi has made up her mind how she plans to approach the crimes of the Cheney/Bush Rethuglican administration, and it doesn't have anything to do with holding them accountable for their actions through the process created by the founders and embedded in the Constitution of the United States of America that Nancy took an oath to perserve and protect. The Democrats are a bunch of sell outs, panderers, and weak-willed centrists. The Rethuglicans are liars, thieves, and immoral jackals. by Charlie L (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 747 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 5:59:24 PM (0+)
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Reply: SO
Okay I don't normally do this to people but Charlie... ...Your comment has no value. by Kevin Gosztola (302 articles, 146 quicklinks, 81 diaries, 1082 comments [77 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 6:44:19 PM (0+)
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Reply: So.....?
If Pelosi ignores our letters, well, that just weakens her that much more when Cindy Sheehan runs against her for Congress. Pelosi will just be alienating herself more from her base. This is a good thing. She is too much a phony machine politician. by Mac McKinney (53 articles, 114 quicklinks, 240 diaries, 1414 comments [31 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 at 9:34:04 AM (0+)
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Mail to Pelosi
I personally have sent at least two letters via snail mail to Speaker Pelosi, the first politely encouraging her to put impeachment back on the table where it belongs, the second, rather more stridently demanding it. I composed them via word processor and printed them before mailing with committee chairs and other interested parties copied. This may disqualify these letters from the hand written rule I suppose. There is an additional step that applies at least to mail sent to her Washington office, and perhaps her district office, as well. That is to wait for about three months for delivery of a huge volume of mail while it undergoes the requisite inspection for anthrax contamination, and for all I know, gets transcribed into the NSA's data base. It seems to me that any politician, no less the Speaker of the House of Representatives, should be able to get a clear message without regard to how it is formatted and delivered. If they cannot, that is a clear message to me that they shouldn't be holding the People's trust. That said, I encourage everyone to show our dear Speaker the light in whatever format they choose, and in the numbers and frequency that they feel will best make their point. by John Sanchez Jr. (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 25 diaries, 1791 comments [148 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 8:04:37 PM (0+)
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Another idea is scan your letter and post it to the internet
Then one day if you are ever in a foreign country with an American accent or passport you can rebut the presumption that you were one of those that did nothing whilst treaties were broken in your name. by Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 23 diaries, 1308 comments) on Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 9:53:34 PM (0+)
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In support of Charlie
I fail to see why Charlie's post has no value, more than likely it is unvarnished truth. The scum that runs this country seem to have no regard for much except where their pile of money is coming from. Impeachment on the table if she gets x number of handwritten letters? Hah, it's funny but I ain't laughin' by Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 465 comments [22 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 at 10:39:56 AM (0+)
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Pelosi Schmelosi
This morning we called Pelosi’s DC office and spoke to Matt who confirmed that the 10,000 letters story is, sadly, an “Internet fabrication.” As far as Pelosi is concerned, he assured us, impeachment is now, has always been and will thus remain “off the table.” Period. End of discussion. So, no matter Pelosi’s sworn duty to uphold and protect the Constitution… no matter her position as a Representative of the people – a majority of whom want to see Bush and Cheney held accountable for committing high crimes and misdemeanors – no matter that she is supposed to be a leader of the (supposedly) opposition Party – Nancy refuses to budge. Although we understand the likely futility of the letter writing campaign, we stand by our decision to TRY to appeal to Pelosi. We will go ahead and send our letters, and we will heed the advice of the creative folks who commented on this article and give envelopes and stamps to our family, friends and neighbors and ask them to write their own letter; and we'll publish them on www.Letters2Nancy.org (domain name we purchased today -- website will be up later this evening). Please send a copy of your letter to info@rainbowlaw.com or to our fax at 800-891-8189. In the meantime, let’s put our energy into defeating Pelosi and all of the spineless DNC-style Dems in 2008. Volunteer to help Cindy Sheehan who is running against Peosi in 2008! by Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 at 12:34:24 PM (0+)
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Some valid thoughts but
Some valid thoughts but your claim that she isn't doing her sworn duty is nonsense. Show me where in the oath it says to impeach Chenney and Bush...it doesn't. Prove to me that she has FACTUALLY done anything that breaces her oath if she has then why haven't you started impeachment against her? In truth she simply hasn't done what you want. To abuse someone so trenchently is over the top, unrhelpful and hypocritical. Ask yourselves would you think it unfair etc if someone criticised you simply because you didn't do what they expected/wanted? By the way the US is a democratic Republic not a Representative Democracy. US politicians aren't oblidged to follow the will of their voters they are there to make decision on their behalf. It is the Representative democracy whose politicians are nominally oblidged to follow the expressed wishes of the voters. Both systems have horrendous flaws 'but they're better than any other system tried' Winston Churchill. It's all about judgent call. Criticise her actions say that in your view they're wrong but to impune her oath to the country...is simply the mirror image of the extreme right. Please let's have debate not name calling by Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 at 5:51:00 PM (0+)
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Reply: Congressional Oversight
Congress has a duty to oversee the executive branch. The constitution is not explicit in this duty but it is implied and has been upheld by the Supreme Court. That Congress -- now led by Pelosi and Reid -- does NOTHING to stop BushCo's assault on liberty and freedom -- to investigate illegal wiretapping, illegal war making, illegal torturing and so much more -- IS a dereliction of THEIR duty. Impeachment proceedings woyuld bring all of this to light. AND, those proceedings would restore the balance and order that was designed by the founders. Not just America, but the entire world will benefit from a house cleaning such as this. You really should learn more about the constitution and our system of checks and balances before making unfounded accusations about our motives for trying to get our elected officials to do their jobs! by Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 at 6:07:42 PM (0+)
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Reply: I agree...just
I'm not disputing that the world wouldn't be better off without the Bush/ Cheney cabal. As I said you have the right to express your point of view but with every right(yin) comes the responsibility(yang) not to abuse that right. My point was simply that you have no grounds to make the claim about Pelosi breaching her oath...a crime. I can accept your disappointment at the lack of action to the type you want but don't confuse wants with either authority or right to demand your perspective. Ask or campaign by all mean but demand? or defame the woman because you don't agree to her judgement call is wrong in my book. Attack her actions but not her personally. I don't even accept abuse directed a GWB personally. True he's the worst Pesident in my memory but that is what GW has done(actions) As for the oversight issue she does that through her committees. It's a slow process but apart from that there needs to be cooperation from the White house . She appears to have decided not to inflame issues that would have a net negative effect amongst the ALL the voters. Regards Andris by Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 at 11:00:43 PM (0+)
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Reply: Imagine that
It seems a tragic oversight that the founding fathers didn't at least amend the Constitution so that it would say, "The Speaker of the House of Representatives must impeach Cheney and Bush." In fact, I feel a sense of renewed confidence, because I'm pretty sure that there is no provision in law that mandates the arrest of anyone with my name for robbing a bank, although I could be mistaken. The Constitution mandates impeachment for "high crimes and misdemeanors" or "treason", which is defined as conducting war against the United States. I believe a compelling argument can be made for high crimes misdemeanors and treason in the cases of Mssrs. Cheney and Bush. The Speaker's oath of office requires her to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, the aforementioned executives have been conducting a systematic assault on it. Where is the source of confusion? Where does it say that the oath of office is an optional exercise? The failure of the Speaker to carry out her duty, or the majority leader, as well, should be grounds for legal action against them, as it makes them complicit in the criminals crimes. by John Sanchez Jr. (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 25 diaries, 1791 comments [148 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Thursday, Nov 15, 2007 at 8:35:45 AM (0+)
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Madam Speaker
Madam Speaker is usurping power not afforded her by the U.S. Constitution. While, I suppose we now must play along with the ruse in order to get impeachment "Back on the Table," Ms. Pelosi never had the power to take impeachment "off" the table in the first place. In fact, no man, woman, or government entity [including the Speaker or even the president] may exclude, change or add any part of/to the Constitution -- at any time -- except by properly legislated amendment. She may hold some power over if/how/when any such impeachment resolution comes to the House floor, she canNOT arbitrarily forbid the impeachment process from proceeding. Madam Speaker's power to do any such thing is a myth. by markthshark (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments) on Thursday, Nov 15, 2007 at 2:24:00 AM (0+)
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