Do-It-Yourself, At-Home Impeachment Kit....

[marmar]

Hundreds of Citizens Petition Congressman Conyers to Impeach Bush and Cheney
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2006-06-30 15:37. Impeachment
From Democracy for America in Portland, Oregon

Five hundred individual citizens’ petitions to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney went priority mail June 30, sent by a Portland, OR, impeachment team to U. S. Rep. John Conyers. Petitions were the June quota of a four-month campaign by eight members of one of Portland’s six DemocracyforAmerica groups.

The package will be held by Conyers until Jan. 3 when Democrats are expected to control the next session of the House of Representatives and he becomes chair of its Judiciary committee. After the group’s heavy effort in gathering petitions under the impeachment section (53:603) of (Thomas) Jefferson’s 1801 Manual of Rules for the House, they were not about to have the current Republican-controlled (23-17) committee shelve or misplace them.

The group could have submitted the traditional petition listing 500 names under the First Amendment’s right to petition for redress of grievances. But they decided on individual petitions under Jefferson’s rules because they specify six ways to impeach public officials.

A single petition from a citizen can initiate immediate House action to impeach—first to the Judiciary committee for a vote to send it to the House; if successful, it goes to the House floor for debate and vote. If they pass Articles of Impeachment, the Senate then votes whether to convict and oust the official(s). To date, one president (Nixon) resigned when impeachment looked likely, and three others have been impeached, but not ousted.

“It takes longer for people to sign this kind of petition, but they’re thrilled to learn that Jefferson had the foresight to give them the power to oust a dictator if Congress and the courts were too cowardly or too chummy with a Hitler or Stalin,” said Barbara Ellis, the project’s coordinator. “For the first time in American history, Jefferson’s brilliant, people-powered safeguard against a dictatorship is being used.”

Previous impeachments—Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton—have been sought by Congress or party bosses on charges the public considered too trivial to protest. Ironically, the situation is now reversed, and the charges of violating the Constitution and international treaties are scarcely trivial.

The rest is at: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/12613

[marmar]

1. Here's a link to a page with links to impeachment resources:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resourcecenter

[marmar]

2. And of course there are the upcoming impeachment teach-ins:

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), America’s leading group of constitutional scholarship and activism, has developed a legal case for the impeachment of George W. Bush. Now, in collaboration with Melville House Books and progressives across the U.S., they are sponsoring a “National Teach-In” to share their case, what’s at stake, and what impeachment means for every American.

On this site, you can find a teach-in in your neighborhood, town, or city. Or you can sign-up to host a teach-in and bring this important and non-partisan discussion of impeachment to your home, school, church, or community center.

http://www.articlesofimpeachment.net/

[corbett]

3. Indeed! An Awesome Effort! (n/t)

[tbyg52]

4. "When Democrats are expected to control"

Only if they keep a close eye on the election process.