Impeachment

When Hunting Tigers Don’t Beat a Drum
John S. Phillips | White Buffalo Productions.org

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the Government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.~~Thomas Jefferson

As we watched the Walls of Babylon come tumbling down last week on Wall Street, one financial analyst of the Corporately Controlled Ministry of Dis-Information was brave enough to mutter the words “Financial Terrorism”. By the end of the week one servant of the King suggested that the people would pay for the costs of this controlled demolition. A mere $700 Billion to be handed out by those that would sit in the service of the king, and who originally helped engineer the crisis.

Congressman Tom Allen recently sent this email to his constituents describing his sponsorship of legislation to curb contractor financial exploitation of the government. Rep. Allen is running for Senate against Senator Susan Collins. Rep. Allen wrote:

Last year, I sponsored a provision in the Defense Authorization bill for Fiscal Year 2008 to establish a commission to investigate waste, fraud and abuse in wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The commission, which had bipartisan support in Congress, is modeled on the Truman Commission, an investigation of defense industry profiteering during WWII.

Solution: Declare All Credit Default Swaps Null And Void
Estimates on the productivity advantage of granite countertops and CDS' were too optimistic.
by Bernhard | MoonOfAlabama.com

The Paulson plan is useless as it only tries to address the degraded value of Asset Backed Securities.

These are neither the source nor the reason for the very real threat of a total financial crash.

September 17, 2008

Dear Congressman Nadler,

We are sure this will come as no surprise, but your inexplicable refusal to uphold your oath of office or wield the power entrusted to you as a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the chair of the its Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee to bring about impeachment hearings has gravely disappointed thousands of your constituents.

You did not challenge Nancy Pelosi when she took impeachment off the table. You did not call upon John Conyers to initiate hearings, and you did not stand with your courageous colleagues who put principle before Party by calling for impeachment hearings.

Treasury Seeks Authority to Buy $700 Billion Assets (Update1)
By Alison Fitzgerald and John Brinsley | Bloomberg.com

The Bush administration asked Congress for unchecked power to buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from U.S. financial companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion into the markets.

The plan, designed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is aimed at averting a credit freeze that would bring the financial system and economic growth to a standstill. The bill would bar courts from reviewing actions taken under its authority.

``It sounds like Paulson is asking to be a financial dictator, for a limited period of time,'' said historian John Steele Gordon, author of ``Hamilton's Blessing,'' a chronicle of the national debt. ``This is a much-needed declaration of power for the Treasury secretary. We can't wait until the next administration in January.''

By David Swanson

By David Swanson

If you want Bush and Cheney prosecuted and/or impeached there are two very useful things you can do.

Charlotte Dennett is a candidate for Attorney General of Vermont who has committed to appointing Vincent Bugliosi special prosecutor to charge Bush et alia with murder. She now has a website that accepts donations. Give everything you can:
http://dennettforag.com/donate.htm

Read more about this effort and other efforts to prosecute:
http://convictbushcheney.org

Cindy Sheehan is a candidate for the Congressional seat currently held by the woman who stripped impeachment out of our Constitution, Nancy Pelosi. Give Cindy every dime you can spare:
http://cindyforcongress.org

Read more about this effort and other efforts to impeach:
http://afterdowningstreet.org

Russia, China, Germany reject US evidence of Iran's covert nuke program
DEBKAfile Special Analysis | DEBKA.com

Euphrates pipes for destroyed Syrian reactor designed to be part of Iran's military program

Russia, China and Germany refuse to countenance tougher sanctions against Iran notwithstanding the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report from Vienna that its inspections of suspect activities and covert projects were stalled by Tehran’s non-cooperation. Diplomats for the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, meeting at the State Department Friday, Sept 19, therefore failed to agree on a new round of sanctions ahead of their foreign ministers’ meeting at UN Center next week.

Chicken Little Was Right
by Stephen P. Pizzo | NewsforReal.com

Funny how history has a way of turning back on itself.

Remember when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and Republicans claimed that Ronald Reagan's aggressive policies toward the Soviet Union had won the Cold War. In particularly they claim that Reagan's fabulously expensive "Star Wars" anti-missile system had forced the Soviets to spend so much on their own military projects that it bankrupted them.

Well, there's truth in that. Between trying to compete with Reagan's military spending and their own misadventure in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union went bust. Decades of over-spending on its military, under-spending on critical domestic needs and saddled with a flawed and increasingly corrupt economic dogma all collided at once, ending in utter and complete collapse.

Vice President Dick Cheney's Incredible and Deadly Lie: By Deceiving a Congressional Leader, Cheney Sent Us to War on False Pretenses And Violated the Separation of Powers - as Well as the Criminal Law
By JOHN W. DEAN | FindLaw.com

This week, I agreed to deliver a "Constitution Day" talk on a college campus. My talk was not partisan. Yet the subject matter I selected was prompted by the most incredible - not to mention the most deadly - lie Dick Cheney has yet told, which was reported earlier this week.

DOJ REFUSED TO RELEASE CHENEY INTERVIEW RELYING IN PART ON NEW GROUND

On September 18, 2008, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") finally responded to CREW's FOIA request of July 17, 2008, for records related to the FBI interview of Vice President Cheney as part of the government's leak investigation. In response to a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee for the same documents, Attorney General Michael Mukasey asserted executive privilege, at the request of the president. In response to CREW's FOIA request, DOJ refused to produce any documents, also claiming executive privilege. In addition, for the first time DOJ also claimed that portions of the records are classified. CREW is in litigation with DOJ over this FOIA request.

Judge orders Cheney to preserve records
By Pete Yost | Associated Press

A federal judge on Saturday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act.

The Bush administration's legal position "heightens the court's concern" that some records may not be preserved, said the judge.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is suing Cheney and the Executive Office of the President in an effort to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that makes them unavailable to the public.

A Wild Frontier
By Lakki Marwat | The Economist

It will take more than American missiles to bring order to Pakistan’s north-western border region

AMERICA and Pakistan both deny it; but it appears that on September 15th they fought a short war. America started it. Local reports suggest that, under cover of darkness, two helicopter-loads of its soldiers crossed on foot from Afghanistan into the Pakistani tribal area—and terrorist haven—of South Waziristan. This followed an American policy, allegedly authorised by President George Bush in July, of launching raids into Pakistan without its government’s approval. But, on this occasion, Pakistani border troops responded as to the act of aggression that it constituted: shooting over the heads of the advancing Americans, forcing them back.

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Tomgram: Steve Fraser: The End of a Gilded Age
Tom Engelhardt | TomDispatch.com

Among the many media spectacles of the moment, the most unnerving is undoubtedly the crisis on Wall Street that has already essentially toppled Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch, and -- probably not last and certainly not least -- the gigantic insurance company AIG, which has just been given $85 billion in taxpayer moneys to liquidate itself. Before we're done, that hoary old oxymoron of the Left, "late capitalism," may gain new life.

Reviewing Danny Schechter's "Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal"
by Stephen Lendman

Danny Schechter is a media activist, critic, independent filmmaker, TV producer as well as an author of 10 books and lecturer on media issues. Some call him "The News Dissector," and that's the name of his popular blog on media issues. He's also co-founder of Media Channel.org. It covers the "political, cultural and social impacts of the media," and provides information unavailable in the mainstream.

Schechter's books include Media Wars; Embedded - weapons of Mass Deception; The Death of Media; The More You Watch The Less You Know; and his newest and subject of this review, Plunder. Subtitled: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal, Schechter examines the fallout from the current economic and financial crisis. What the mainstream media (MSM) suppresses:

• decades of wealth transfers to the rich;
• the economy in recession;
• the result of multiple imploding bubbles: housing, mortgage finance, and an alphabet soup of SDOs, SIVs, SPVs, and a whole menu of levered-up, high-risk securitized assets amounting to financial alchemy; largely outright fraud;
• the risk things may worsen;

Conference on War Crimes yields 20 recommendations, including impeachment
Recommendations For Action Now Being Considered As A Result Of Conference On War Crimes.
By Sherwood Ross | ImpeachForPeace.org

Goal Is To Give Continued Life To Nuremberg Principles Barring Aggressive War And Torture, Instead Of Allowing Bush/Cheney To Destroy Them With Impunity

Twenty recommendations made at a conference on prosecuting President George Bush for war crimes are under consideration for action, according to conference convener Lawrence Velvel, a prominent law school dean.

Psychologists Prohibited from Abusive US Detention Centers

The following is a statement from Frank Donaghue, CEO of Physicians for Human Rights, in response to the prohibition passed today by the American Psychological Association's (APA) membership on psychologist participation at detention facilities that do not adhere to international human rights standards:

"Today PHR salutes the American Psychological Association (APA) membership for restoring the APA's commitment to human rights and medical ethics. For years, the APA has failed to fully address US psychologists' involvement in torture in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay, and CIA black sites. This historic vote has moved the APA closer to joining the ranks of the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, which have repudiated health professional involvement in interrogations.

ACLU Urges Senate Judiciary to Subpoena Interrogation Documents
Torture memos have been kept in the dark for too long

The American Civil Liberties Union calls on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote to authorize a subpoena for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to produce the legal opinions that approved harsh interrogations of detainees held by the United States. The committee has repeatedly requested these documents and has seen very little cooperation from DOJ. The Justice Department has provided some heavily redacted documents, which Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) have called inadequate. If authorized, the subpoena would legally require DOJ to comply with the committee's request.

Vested Interests Drove New Pakistan Policy
by Gareth Porter | IPS

The George W. Bush administration's decision to launch commando raids and step up missiles strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda figures in the tribal areas of Pakistan followed what appears to have been the most contentious policy process over the use of force in Bush's eight-year presidency.

That decision has stirred such strong opposition from the Pakistani military and government that it is now being revisited. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Pakistan Tuesday for the second time in three weeks, and U.S. officials and sources just told Reuters that any future raids would be approved on a mission-by-mission basis by a top U.S. administration official.

As Andrew Bacevich tells us in the latest issue of the Atlantic, there's now a vigorous debate going on in the military about the nature of the "next" American wars and how to prepare for them. However, while military officers argue, that "next war" may already be creeping up on us.

Constitution in Crisis, Candidates in Denial
by John Nichols | TheNation.com

Constitution Day has arrived without major statements from Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain on the need to restore this country's commitment to the rule of law.

In contrast, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader's campaign produced a video statement detailing his commitment to constitutional renewal.

Please click here and join the phone blockade - it takes 5 minutes:
http://www.phoneblockade.org

U.S. officials sent Canadian rendition survivor Maher Arar to Syria to be tortured. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) lawyer Maria LaHood represents him in his struggle for justice. The Second Circuit Appellate Court has issued extremely rare order last month that approximately 12 judges will rehear Arar's case on December 9, 2008.

George Bush Desperate for "Trophy Strike" | StopTheWarCoalition

George Bush has signed a secret order allowing US troops to operate in Pakistan, without permission from the Pakistani government or agreement by the United Nations, contravening numerous international laws and conventions. Bush says the recent ground assault by US commandos and the big increase in the number of US missiles fired from unmanned aircraft are directed at al-Qaeda leaders, but the Pakistani government and local observers say that most of the dozens killed in these attacks have been civilians, the majority of them women and children.

Is George W. Bush the Worst President in U.S. History?
Ivan Eland | The Independent Institute

In the twilight of his eight-year term, George W. Bush is the loneliest guy in town these days. Remember him? With the economy in the tank, the Iraq War dragging on with casualties at 2004 levels (which we were all horrified about back then), Bush’s popularity is in the cellar and holding. Republican presidential candidate John McCain is running away from him faster than an Alaskan snow machine.�The media has all but forgotten him, as it covers what the two aspirants to replace him have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.

But historians will not forget him and the few journalists who are still paying attention to him are asking if he is the worst president in history.�Although hard to believe, the answer is probably no.

They knew - it was blood for oil and empire.

Pakistani tribal chiefs threaten to join Taliban
by Saeed Shah | The Guardian UK

• US warned of uprising if armed incursions continue
• New counter-terror policy backfires on Washington

A controversial new US tactic to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistan has met with fresh hostility, it emerged yesterday, as Pakistani tribesmen representing half a million people vowed to switch sides and join the Taliban if Washington does not stop cross-border attacks by its forces from Afghanistan.

Reacting to American missile attacks in north Waziristan last week, which followed an unprecedented cross-border ground assault earlier this month, tribal chiefs from the area called an emergency meeting on Saturday.

"If America doesn't stop attacks in tribal areas, we will prepare a lashkar [army] to attack US forces in Afghanistan," tribal chief Malik Nasrullah announced in Miran Shah, north Waziristan's largest city. "We will also seek support from the tribal elders in Afghanistan to fight jointly against America."

What illegal "things" was the government doing in 2001-2004?
Glenn Greenwald | Salon.com

For the second consecutive day, The Washington Post has published an excerpt from reporter Barton Gellman's new book on the Cheney Vice Presidency, and it provides still more details on the intense confrontation in March, 2004 between the Bush Justice Department and the Cheney-led White House over the DOJ's refusal to certify the legality of the NSA's domestic spying activities. As has been known ever since Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified before the Senate in May, 2007, all of the top-level DOJ officials -- including Attorney General John Ashcroft, Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller -- told President Bush they would resign immediately because Bush ordered the NSA surveillance program to continue even after his own Justice Department told him it was patently illegal. Comey drafted his resignation letter, calling Bush's spying activities "an apocalyptic situation" because he had "been asked to be a part of something that is fundamentally wrong."

38 Retired Military Leaders Call on Congress to End Secret Prisons

WASHINGTON - September 15 - Thirty-eight retired generals and admirals today appealed to the United States Senate to enact legislation ending the practice of holding "ghost detainees" by requiring that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) be notified of and given access to all prisoners in the custody of the U.S. intelligence community, including those held in secret prisons.