Wexler, Waters, Schiff, Wasserman Agree To Meet On Impeachment

There’s still hope to have Cheney impeached and more in Congress are listening.

• It’s time — ImpeachForPeace.org is heading to Washington DC to meet with Representatives! On Thursday, July 26th, we’ll be presenting reps with thousands of petitions formally initiating the impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney.

• ImpeachForPeace.org members along with David Swanson of After Downing Street will meet with Rep. Maxine Waters and the offices of Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Robert Wexler, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and other representatives as they are available. These House Reps are part of the Judiciary Committee, which currently has a resolution (House Resolution 333) to impeach Vice President Cheney. We’ll be presenting the petitions and urging these representatives to support impeachment on behalf of the majority of Americans who have indicated that they support the impeachment of Vice President Cheney.

• “Do-It-Yourself” Impeachment Petitions are described under the House Rules, Jefferson’s Manual Section LIII. They constitute a legal means of initiating the impeachment process, and were successfully used in 1830 to impeach Federal Judge James Peck. This method is the only means by which an individual citizen can legally initiate the impeachment of a federal official. While only one such citizen’s petition is necessary to begin the process, thousands of these are to be delivered on Friday.

John Edwards Challenges Bush On Poverty

Boy here’s a letter to president incompent that will surley fall on blind eyes and deaf ears.

• Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Senator John Edwards today sent a letter to President Bush challenging the president to join him on a tour of places in America that are too often ignored and to talk to Americans who are working hard, but still living in poverty. Yesterday, Edwards concluded a three-day, eight-state “Road to One America” tour to shine a bright spotlight on the issue of poverty in America.

July 19, 2007 President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20400

Dear Mr. President:

Earlier this week, I went on a journey that started in New Orleans, went through the Mississippi Delta, Memphis, Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Virginia and ended in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. At every stop, I met with incredible people who are working hard every day and still living in poverty. I did it to try to help the rest of the country hear the voices of people who are often forgotten — people living in poverty and on the losing end of economic unfairness. I did it to show that we can solve these problems and there is hope.

Mr. President, that what’s true leaders do, they lead with big, bold ideas that actually solve problems. They do not wait to be told about problems that stare them in the face, they never follow, and they should never have to wait for a convenient time to address the incredible challenges that face so many hard-working families in this nation.

As you approach your final days in office, you have a chance to finally stand up and lead on this important issue. However, unless you choose to lead and start helping solve poverty in America, the next 550 days of your presidency will all but ensure that the 37 million Americans who wake up in poverty today will only grow. If you choose to do nothing on poverty, the next 550 days of your presidency will only ensure that the more than 5 million Americans who have fallen into poverty during your presidency will only grow.

Bush; CIA To Comply With Geneva Convention

Now this is stunning.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire over the treatment of terrorism suspects, has issued new rules to ensure that detention and interrogation by the CIA comply with the Geneva Conventions’ ban on torture.

An executive order from Bush set out how to deal with detainees and gives interrogators from the U.S. spy agency new legal protections against allegations of cruel and inhumane treatment, forbidden by Common Article 3 of the conventions, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Friday.

The Bush administration has faced pressure at home and abroad over interrogation techniques used on suspected militants at CIA prisons and other locations, including the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“The order provides specific requirements that ensure a CIA-run terrorist detention and interrogation program would be in full compliance with U.S. obligations under Common Article 3,” Hayden said in a statement.

“The president’s action … gives us the legal clarity we have sought.”

The new order comes 10 months after the Bush administration was forced to suspend its secret prison system because of a Supreme Court ruling that cast doubt on its legality.

Fewer than 100 detainees, including suspected senior al Qaeda members, were held in CIA secret prisons over a period of five years.

A smaller number were subjected to what CIA officials describe as “enhanced interrogation measures.”

Critics said CIA methods included techniques such as simulated drowning that amounted to torture. The agency also had been buffeted by media reports that CIA officials refused to carry out interrogations for fear of legal liability.

Cheney to become president…briefly

You know what scares me about this; in the time it takes for Bush to have a colonoscopy Cheney will declare war on Iran.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday, and will transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney during the procedure, expected to take about two and a half hours, the chief White House spokesman said.

Tony Snow said Friday that the procedure, during which a doctor looks for any signs of cancer, will be carried out at Camp David, Maryland, and the president will be placed under anesthesia.

Bush’s last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said.

Bush; DoJ Will Not Pursue Contempt Charges

I am sick and tires of this administrations constant stonewalling and lying. If you have nothing to hide and if you did nothing wrong, one would cooperate. Isn’t that what honest descent people believe. But then we are speaking of Bush.

• Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

What an intersting statement coming from an administration. That statement alone proves that the White House is running the DoJ, which has been the claim of Congress from the beginning.

• The position presents serious legal and political obstacles for congressional Democrats, who have begun laying the groundwork for contempt proceedings against current and former White House officials in order to pry loose information about the dismissals.

• Under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.”

• But administration officials argued yesterday that Congress has no power to force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in cases, such as the prosecutor firings, in which the president has declared that testimony or documents are protected from release by executive privilege. Officials pointed to a Justice Department legal opinion during the Reagan administration, which made the same argument in a case that was never resolved by the courts.

• “A U.S. attorney would not be permitted to bring contempt charges or convene a grand jury in an executive privilege case,” said a senior official, who said his remarks reflect a consensus within the administration. “And a U.S. attorney wouldn’t be permitted to argue against the reasoned legal opinion that the Justice Department provided. No one should expect that to happen.”

Not only is the administration telling the justice department how to do their job, they’re also saying that that DoJ can not argue the reasons the administration has put forth. We have now officially arrived at dictatorship level.

• Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration’s stance “astonishing.”

• “That’s a breathtakingly broad view of the president’s role in this system of separation of powers,” Rozell said. “What this statement is saying is the president’s claim of executive privilege trumps all.”

King George giving himself more power. I think he’s planning a coupe against America.

John Edwards’ Plan To Fight Poverty

During John Edwards poverty tour, he has put out his plan to fight poverty. While there maybe some aspects of his plan that some will complain about, Edwards is at least addressing the issue.

Many said they find it hypocritical that Edwards, a wealthy man, is peaking out for the poor. For those critics all I have to say is, you don’t know your history. The Roosevelt’s, Teddy, Franklin and Eleanor all helped the poor. The Kennedy’s continually help the poor. The wealth and privilege of these two families can not be disputed and are far beyond John Edwards’s wealth. To me criticizing any candidate or public servant who chooses to help the poor is criticizing the poor as not being worthy of help.

The cons in some of his plan would cost the tax payers; however, we are paying for a war that in one month would eradicate poverty. It’s time we get our priorities straight.

Edwards’ proposals to fight poverty:

John Edwards calls for a national effort to cut poverty by a third, lifting 12 million Americans out of poverty by 2016, and to end poverty by 2036, rescuing 37 million people. Here are some of his proposals:

1. Create a million public “stepping-stone jobs” for workers who can’t find work after looking for six months. The idea is to help people learn workplace discipline and prepare them for the job market. The minimum-wage jobs would last 12 months. Workers would have to stay off drugs, not commit any crimes and pay child support.

Pro: Could help move unemployed people into the permanent job market.

Con: These would be make-work jobs. If the jobs were valuable, they would already exist.

2. Raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $9.50 per hour by 2012.

Pro: Would help 15 million low-wage workers earn more income.

Con: Some businesses may hire fewer workers if they must pay workers more.

3. Cut taxes for low-income workers by tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit to $1,236 per year for single adults.

Pro: The proposal would give 4 million low-income workers an average tax cut of $750 per year, helping lift them out of poverty.

Con: Cost to taxpayers.

4. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow workers to form a union by signing cards saying they favor a union, rather than by a formal election.

Pro: The Edwards campaign points to studies showing that union workers earn

28 percent more than non-union workers. Unions claim that companies often use intimidation tactics to fight union votes.

Con: Many businesses don’t like unions and say the proposal is less democratic than current law. Companies say the change would make it easier for unions to intimidate workers into signing cards.

5. Help low-income workers save with “work bonds” that provide a tax credit. The credit would match wages up to $500 per year and be directly deposited in individual savings accounts.

Pro: Would help low-income workers save money.

Con: Cost to taxpayers.

6. Pass a federal predatory lending law to prevent deceptive terms and abusive interest rates, capping them at 36 percent.

Pro: Helps protect homeowners from losing their houses through questionable practices.

Con: These loans exist because there’s a market for them.

7. Pay the first year of college for low-income students when students agree to work part-time and keep their grades up.

Pro: Helps boost college attendance among people from less-educated families.

Con: Cost to taxpayers.