Presidents, senators, judges all impeached for lesser crimes than...Bush

[ProSense]

MAY 10, 2006

It's time to bring out the 100-ton gun

Presidents, senators, judges all impeached for lesser crimes than George W. Bush.
BY DANIEL H. POLLITT

James Bryce, in his landmark commentary The American Commonwealth, wrote that impeachment "is like a one-hundred ton gun which needs complex machinery to bring it into position, an enormous charge of powder to fire it; and a large mark to aim at."

Like a 100-ton gun, impeachment is seldom used but remains a bedrock of our democracy; necessary, as was said at the Constitutional Convention, "to guard against perfidity of the Chief Magistrate" (James Madison of Virginia), or when "great crimes were committed" (William Davis of North Carolina). James Iredell elaborated during the North Carolina ratification debates that impeachment was intended to guard against "tyranny and oppression as when the President gives false information to the Senate to induce them into measures injurious to their country."

Impeachment has roots deep in our history. The colonies had suffered the wrath of imperial royal governors. This experience burned into their consciousness the political axiom that unchecked executive power leads to tyranny. With independence in 1776, they wrote impeachment clauses into their constitutions to prevent grave abuse by official authority. North Carolina, for example, authorized the removal of high officials "for offending against the state by violating any part of this constitution"; Virginia, for "offending against the state by which the safety of the state may be endangered."

This theme continued when our founding fathers met in Philadelphia in 1787. Early on during the convention, Roger Sherman of Connecticut suggested that the national legislature have the authority to remove the president "at its pleasure," the practice in seven states. George Mason of Virginia was "shocked at the proposal to make the Executive the mere creature of the Legislature." John Dickinson of Delaware proposed that the executive be removable "on the request of a majority of the legislatures of the individual states." Alexander Hamilton of New York objected to this "rudderless method of ousting a President" and counter-suggested he be removed for "corrupt conduct" and trial by a court composed "of the Chief Judge of each State."

William Blount (1797-99)...
William W. Belknap (1876)...
Judges John Pickering (1803-04)...
and Samuel Chase (1804-05)...
James H. Peck (1830-31)...
West H. Humphreys (1862)...
Charles Swayne (1903-05)...
Robert W. Archbald (1912-13)...
George W. English (1926)...
Harold Louderback (1933)...
Halsted L. Ritter (1936)...
Harry E. Claiborne (1986)...
Alcee L. Hastings (1988)...
Walter L. Nixon Jr. (1988)...
Andrew Johnson (1868)...
Richard M. Nixon (1974)...
Bill Clinton (1998-99)...

Snip...

This takes us to George W. Bush.

Snip...

These may or may not be "high Crimes and Misdemeanors," but they provide the "enormous charge of power" required to bring the 100-ton impeachment gun into position.

But "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" abound:


We have a law against wire-tapping--George W. Bush broke it.


We have laws against kidnapping--George W. Bush broke them.


We have laws against torture--George W. Bush broke them.

In fact, Bush has claimed in "signing statements" that he can ignore provisions of more than 750 laws he has signed.

It is time to take Lord Chancellor Somers' "Goliath sword" from the Temple.

But is this not just academic blather? A majority of the House must vote to impeach; two-thirds of the Senate to convict. And if Bush is somehow removed from office, the 25th Amendment provides that the "Vice President shall become President"; Vice President Dick Cheney would then nominate a vice president (Condoleeza Rice?) who would take office "upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress."

Prospects are bleak. But are we not obligated to speak out? The greatest danger to democracy lies in an inert populace. One person throwing pebbles can make ripples. But if a second and third person join in, the pond is full of waves, maybe breakers. That is the theory and hope of democracy.

Rosa Parks had no idea what would follow when she refused to move to the back of the bus. Good things can happen--it's worth a try.


http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:31468

[ProSense]

1. NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
Thu May 11, 7:21 AM ET

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: The NSA record collection program

Snip...

The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.

The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.

Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060511/ts_usatoday/nsahasmassivedatabaseofamericansphonecalls