Impeach Bush and Cheney for Torture

On 4/11/08, George Bush told ABC News he personally approved of the approval of torture - including waterboarding - during a meeting attended by Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet.”Yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.”

In the wake of this confession, every American - and every Member of Congress - must take a stand.  Either you’re for torture or you’re against it. And if you’re against it, you must support the only Constitutional remedy: impeachment.

We don’t need a Special Prosecutor when the President has publicly admitted to approving war crimes. 

It’s no excuse to say, “we can’t impeach Bush because President Cheney would be worse.” We know that Cheney directly approved torture, so both of these criminals  must be impeached together. If convicted by the Senate or if they were to resign to avoid impeachment, Speaker Pelosi would become President, as prescribed by the Constitution.

It’s no excuse to say, “we don’t have the votes to impeach Bush and Cheney.” Democrats didn’t have the votes to impeach Nixon when they started, but when the House Judiciary Committee reluctantly adopted Articles of Impeachment, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment.

Nor is it an excuse to say, “we don’t have time to impeach Bush and Cheney.” Bush admitted both his own and Cheney’s guilt, and Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet are witnesses. There’s no need for impeachment hearings - an impeachment resolution based on Bush’s confession could go straight to the floor for a vote, just as they did on 11/6/07 when Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 799, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney.

And finally, it is utterly immoral for Democrats to say, “we shouldn’t impeach Bush and Cheney because it would hurt the chances of electing a Democrat in November.” Simply stated, politics should never come before torture.

Dr. Martin Luther King famously said, “A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.”

Bush has admitted that he approved torture.  It is now time to impeach.
http://www.democrats.com/impeach-for-torture

 There are many ways to parse the word faith.  “True” faith is not hearing disembodied voices, but consists of remembering who we are, and acting accordingly.  Personally, I do not believe in some anthropomorphic “king” of a god who resembles human beings.  But I am a man of faith.  I have faith that life is full of mysteries which are both beyond our ken and greater than us.  And while I may quibble with many bible verses…  (This magnificent text was written by notoriously fallible human beings) I take it on faith that hope and love are commensurable portions of those mysteries which we may acknowledge without full or immediate comprehension or any necessity of rational deconstruction.  Bush’s faith in a construct of God as a human, kinglike, judge, or warrior is rather primitive and dangerous.  I believe that every
human being is part of the human family.  That familial connection implies some duties and responsibilities to protect those
among us who might be young, weak, powerless, sick, poor, dispossessed, under seige, or at some other disadvantage.  This is not necessarily rational, but it is pragmatic and follows quite naturally, according to its own truth, from what we know of compassion. Such faith may move mountains, sustain families, and invest a nation or a people with hope, wisdom, and honor.  Unless I am mistaken, ”true belief” in the human capactity for “good” behavior, is meant to provide a counterpoint to the “false beliefs” of George Bush wherein disembodied voices (or delirium tremens) tell him to start wars, kill prisoners, or render people for toture, rape or murder.  ….It is not rational to ignore your senses or science, nor it this a tenant of any of the Abrahamic traditions (Judeo,
Christian, Muslim) This admonition is perhaps more typical a cult or nonsectarian brainwashing.  Those who have faith in
hope and compassion need not abandon rational thought nor scientific research.  And no “true” Muslim, Christian, or Jew 
would make such a ludicrous request.  There is no inherent contradiction between faith and reason, nor is there any necessary or fixed relationship between the the constructs.
   
Here are some interesting quotes…   
 
Thomas Jefferson:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

Albert Einstein:

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith
in the orderliness of the universe.

E. B. White:

Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.

James Luther Adams:

The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions — social, economic, and political — of the common life.

I will support any candidate from any party who offers an alternative to the Bush doctrine
of corporate hubris, executive arrogance, neo-colonialist aggression, and unending war.

While I am concerned that both Obama, Clinton, and Bush embrace versions of supply-side
economics, corporate healthcare at home, and preemptive aggression & occupation abroad…

I think that either Obama or Clinton might be preferable to the various criminals at the helm.
John Edwards is the most viable alternative for America.  His only downside, is that he marches
lockstep with Hillary, Bill, Barack, and George in supporting the execution of American citizens
and other prisoners.  No other industrialized democracy on the planet will condone such behavior.

But I would encourage widepread support  for John Edward’s campaign and exploration of his
formidable resources and useful ideas.  www.WritingResource.info/edwards.html
Edwards beat Hillary in Iowa.  He beat the most visible, well-known, and best financed candidate.
(Even though this was largely ignored by the corporate media.) If enough people find out about
his programs before February 5th, he could be elected president.  Obama could be a useful
team member due to his poltitical acumen, organizing abilities, charisma, and support.  

Hillary has too much baggage and is too willing to resort unseemly tactics and unacceptable
compromise, but she could serve a useful role in a cabinet level position on education.  And Dennis
Kucinich can provide useful guidance on a host of issues which matter to the American people. 
In spite of their variable flaws, (Kucinich is short, shrill, and not particularly presidential) we have
some good people in this horse race. 

Let us hope it does not remain a dog and pony show. 

Tim
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