California Trying to Impeach The president and vice president

[pezdespencer]

I e-mailed all 3 local news stations about California trying to impeach the president this is what i emailed them all.

I have a problem with the president of the USA and I would like to see a
story ran on the impeachment bill that has passed in california and the
other 5 states pushing similar action Vermont, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and
North Carolina."

SACRAMENTO - In a 4 to 3 Assembly Rules Committee vote, legislation
calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President
Richard Cheney was referred to the Committee for further consideration ..
The resolution had been initially proposed on April 21, when Assemblyman
Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) submitted language to amend AJR 39 ..

"The key reasons cited for impeachment include: 'the Bush Administration
intentionally misleading the Congress and the American people regarding
the threat from Iraq; exceeding constitutional authority to wage war by
invading Iraq; exceeding constitutional authority by Federalizing the
National Guard; conspiring to torture prisoners in violation of the
“Federal Torture Act” and indicating intent to continue such actions;
spying on American citizens in violation of the 1978 Foreign Agency
Surveillance Act; leaking and covering up the leak of the identity of
Valerie Plame Wilson, and holding American citizens without charge or
trial.'"

Also I would like an e-mail back as to when this story will run and why
this republican majority state is so quite about the issue.

These are the 2 responses I received

Thomas,
I don't think we're quiet about much of anything.
It seems republicans think we're too liberal and democrats think we're involved in some conservative conspiracy.
As a part of the Oklahoma media for 18+ years now... I can tell you, we're neither. We report the news... period.
Ours is not to take sides... sway public opinion... or anything of the sort.
We're to report what's going on... as objectively as possible.
(Just like any other business, we are trying to figure out the best way to do our job so we can keep our job. Breaking a story or reporting a story...
those are our first 2 objectives to beat the competition. So we're not here to keep a lid on things.
Quite the opposite... We're here to "win the story", educate our viewers and be good, solid journalists.)

I'm glad you brought up the impeachment issue. I read Time & Newsweek and watch national news networks -- I really hadn't heard much about it, to be perfectly honest. After getting your email.. I looked up more information.
On the surface, it looks like more partisan politics.. but I certainly plan to do a lot more research.

I would love to give you a time, newscast, etc... of when this might air. I have no idea. I don't decide when things air.. and local breaking news or weather could change the air date of any story. I would imagine this national story fits more of the 5pm and 10pm newscasts. I will certainly bring it up in our morning story meetings... but I cannot tell you when it will air. That's not really the way the newsroom works. If it's an urgent story.. it will most certainly run today... but we have 4 newscasts - 4/5/6/10. It could air in any one or all of them. I have no idea at 10am in the morning. I know that's frustrating... BELIEVE ME!! But we are constantly shaping our newscasts throughout the day.

I did want to mention something about the idea of a conspiracy to keep something quiet. Probably there hasn't been much talk about it-- as a
whole-- because it has happened in other states... and hasn't made a big splash in the national arena yet. Believe me, the national media folks will eat this stuff up... conflict with the President?.. they'll be all over that. But as far as Oklahomans? Yes, because we are listed as a "red state", folks here probably aren't going to pass something like that.. and aren't likely to be as interested unless it becomes a national issue or a true possibility. Just my thoughts..

But yes, as you see this explode.. believe me, it'll be like Clinton and Monica... the cable news networks will probably beat it too death. We only have 30 minutes (except our morning show) to report the news... so as it becomes bigger, we too will definitely have stories. They may not be as in-depth as cable news.. but I think we do a pretty good job of keeping folks informed in the time we're given.

If I find out when a story might air.. I'll let you know.
I'm usually out on investigations all day.. and come in right before the 5pm to anchor.. but if I get the heads up, I'll certainly let you know.
Other than that, my advice? Keep watching.. as this becomes more and more relevant to our lives and our president... you'll DEFINITELY see more on it.
Cindy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the feedback, Thomas. As a local news organization our coverage is focused primarily on eastern Oklahoma. Our sister station in Oklahoma City focuses on that side of the state. The story you reference is something one of the national news organizations might cover. In fact, they may have done a story on this movement. I could have missed it since I'm not always able to monitor all the network newscasts. You might go to cbs.com and submit your story idea to their national assignment desk. Thanks again for your comments and thanks for watching The News On 6.

Ron Harig
News Director
KOTV, The News On 6
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

[rinsd]

1. Uhhhh nothing passed in CA

Its a resolution that got voted on in committee, to have further consideration in committee.

To my knowledge no impeachment resoultions has been voted on the floor of any state legislature.

[pezdespencer]

2. We have to start somewhere

[rinsd]

5. No, I agree. I was just being a nitpicker.

[Gregorian]

3. There was an impeachment resolution going through one of the states.

Damn, I forgot about that. Now I have to see if I can find it. And it was a majority Dem state. This was a month or so ago.


edit- I must have been dreaming! I looked at the impeach bush website, and nothing...

[peacetheonlyway]

4. vermont and illinois

are the 2 states passing impeachment resoultions (or trying to)..

[Gregorian]

6. Thanks. I thought it was Illinois.

They must still be sitting on it, because it's not mentioned on the Impeachbush website. The four counties in Vermont are. But it's the state we need.

[Peace Patriot]

8. I think the confusion may stem from the Vermont LETTER that was sent

to the US House some time ago, calling for impeachment. I believe it was mandated by the Vermont legislature. Then, after the letter was sent, the Illinois legislator, Karen (?) Yarlborough, found the rule in Jefferson's Manual that permits ONE state legislature (or several, or many) to submit a privileged bill in the US House that will INITIATE impeachment proceedings. It doesn't need a House sponsor. And the House must stop all business and consider it. So Vermont went back to the drawing board, to redraft their letter as a bill to be submitted. Meanwhile other states--Calif, Illinois, and 2 or 3 others--have had such bills of impeachment submitted to committee for consideration (or they are being drafted). Calif has a 3 to 2 Dem majority in both state houses, and, as Randi Rhodes asked, "Why WOULDN'T they impeach Bush-Cheney?" (Good question--worth repeatedly asking them!)

A grand jury can also submit such a bill to the US House. Naysayers always jump in and say, "Well, it'll never pass," but they don't seem to realize the magnitude of such an act by a state. It will be like the "shot heard round the world"! It will be unprecedented. It will be a protest and a rebellion of a state or states against the president--and also a protest of Congressional inaction in the face of a clearly out-of-control president.

If we always predict defeat for the good, then defeat will more than likely happen, won't it? Better to think big, think positively, and think historically. How does change happen? How do movements get started? Do they always start big, and change everything at once? Seldom!

There can be years, decades, even centuries of thought and agitation before a particular idea reaches its peak moment--the idea "whose time had come"--and those moments can also come out of "nowhere," with a sudden convergence of events, after a lengthy but relatively quiet buildup. We've had almost three decades of ever-increasing corporate rule, capped Bush's corporate fascism. What Bush is doing is very extreme; the powers that he is claiming, with a 28% approval rating, are extraordinary. A state bill of impeachment could be the spark that sets off a large revolt, and precipitate great reform.

Cindy Sheehan was trying to create such a spark in Crawford. Often it takes many such efforts--that seem on the surface to be failed efforts--before big change occurs. They are not really failed efforts, not at all. They are the first waves to hit the shore. That kind of commitment--Cindy's commitment--does not come out of nowhere, and it cannot be manufactured. She represented millions of unheard voices, millions of disempowered and disenfranchised people, who have been appalled by Bush's pre-emptive war from the beginning (56% of the American people, Feb. '03, after Colin Powell's speech, which convinced no one).

The final crashing wave--the tsunami--may be state impeachment bills.

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About the email replies from these news organizations. I like the first one a lot, because it's so detailed and responsive, even if frustrating. He should be thanked for taking the time to explain what he does and how he views this story currently, in such detail.

And it seems clear from his description that the corporate news monopoly controls the news by emphasis and timing, not just by content. The decision of what to run and when--and also how to frame it--is made by editors, who are much closer to corporate management. And it sounds like the reporters are not treated very well--not like journalists, professionals, writers. They are treated like soundbite creators, and their stories can be clipped, re-framed and black-holed at the will of those above them. The editors can also play with "weather" developments and all sorts of distracting news that can be patched in, at any time, to kill or marginalize anything that doesn't serve the corporate agenda. And, finally, they give short shrift to the "news." It's all just soundbites crammed into a weeny time slot, that makes "the news" EASILY manipulable, through editing, emphasis and timing.

This corporate newsstream is what has been so cunningly played by Karl Rove and other fascist propagandists, who don't want people to think too much or at all, and who understand how to feed pre-written scripts into this newsstream--when to drop in a "terrorist" alert or the latest OBL tape, for instance, to grab the "news cycle" from, say, Russ Feingold, or Howard Dean; or how to trump any bad news that may be about to come out, with a "goodnews" line from Bush about Iraq or whatever.

And now we know they're spying on EVERYBODY. No break-in's at the Watergate needed, to figure out what the Democrats are going to do. They can listen right in to phone calls, review emails, "data mine" the internet, and have instant satellite photos of vehicle movements, and close personal surveillance, whenever they like. So they've said. (It is unfriggingbelievable!) With this kind of power, they always know when they need to manufacture something to trump the opposition in "the news." They know what news organizations are investigating (them that do), and what's about to get "play." And even if they're surprised on occasion--as with some whistleblowing events (like the torture photos)--they can always stir things up in Iraq, with all the unofficial military contractors they have running around there, to quickly get the newsstream back in control (as they did with the Falluja uprising).

The bigger news organizations pose more of a threat--the ones who have more investigative power, and more venues of publication--and the Bushites had to take dire measures against CBS, for instance, which was getting positively uppity. The Rovians easily manipulate the bulk of the newsstream--because it is made to order for the buzz and non-thought that they promulgate--and they save the dirty "hits," the bullying and sabotaging, for any who get out of line.

They also concentrate on dominating any "talk" venues with an almost laughable stream of "talking points" straight from Karl Rove's desk. In depth political discussions or documentaries are few and far between. The "talk" is totally dominated by an insider Beltway perspective that never, ever questions the basic premises of power or money. And that chatter has nothing to do with sovereigns of the land--we, the people--and what we want done and what our opinions are on how OUR representatives should conduct themselves.

This reporter was honest about some of the constraints he is under. He also discloses that--typical of corporate news monopolies--they "take the political temperature" of the area they are in, and play to it, rather than trying to educate, inform, act as watchdogs, create political dialogue and thought, stir up, encourage activism, and perform all the essential traditional roles of journalism in a democracy. They ALSO seem to think that state legislators contemplating impeachment is not a local story. What planet do they live on? Do they have no local soldiers in Iraq? Do they have no privacy advocates? Do they have no one in their population who is hurting badly because of Bush's $10 TRILLION deficit? Do they have no one who cares about the safety of CIA agents, or rampant lawlessness in the White House, or lawless oil giants?

This artificial division between local and national is also a corporate manipulation--an enforcement of the lack power, and loss of sovereignty, of the American people. These SHOULD BE, and more than likely ARE, vital issues to local people. WHAT people are NOT local in this country? The denizens of the Beltway? Corporate rulers thus treat their "local' viewers like children--who are only interested in ball games, or sensational accidents on the freeway. The distance between power and "the people grows" ever greater. The government is something that is happening way far away, in realms of power that ordinary people have no access to. The government--and our democracy--are not you and me. Local people.

Honestly, I think people back in Abraham Lincoln's day had more of a feeling of PARTICIPATION in democracy than people do now. No TV. No radio. No telephones. No cell phones. No computers. Only the most primitive of early communication mechanisms. But, by God, they knew what the president and the congress were doing, and whether they approved or not. People were active and vocal and well-organized around national issues. They read long articles about them and listened to long speeches. And everybody participated in political events and elections.

Now we have this drone of "the news" consisting of the actions of distant billionaires who don't care a crap for what "local" people think. It's all about THEM--the owners of power and vast sums of money. It's not about US--except in a very distant, consumer polling sort of way. Is Bush "selling well" lately?

And that's the "serious" news. Then there's the "local" news--the accidents, the murders, the robberies, the weather and the ball games. And thirty seconds on local government. No wonder we're being robbed blind by this scabrous crew in DC!

[pezdespencer]

9. Thanks for the responce

This is what im getting at and it was put so well.

[rinsd]

7. I think MA & RI have something in the works too.