[NYTr] Impeachment ON The Table, Iraq Funds OFF

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Democrats.com - Nov 10, 2007
http://www.democrats.com


Impeachment ON The Table, Iraq Funds OFF

Put Impeachment ON The Table of the House Judiciary Committee

This week Dennis Kucinich led an heroic effort to put the impeachment
of Dick Cheney ON the table by requesting a floor vote on H.Res. 333.
As expected, BushDemocrat Steny Hoyer moved to table the bill. And then
all hell broke loose as 165 Republicans voted with Kucinich and 85
brave Democrats to force a debate on impeachment over the objections of
Nancy Pelosi. To block that debate, Hoyer moved to send H.Res. 333 back
to the Judiciary Committee, and this motion passed. Watch David Swanson
explain the events to Paul Jay of The Real News.

Kucinich is urging Judiciary Chairman John Conyers to start hearings
immediately because Cheney is desperately manipulating the National
Intelligence Estimate on Iran to justify a U.S. attack, just as he did
with the pre-war NIE on Iraq. But Judiciary Democrats are deeply
divided on impeachment, with Robert Wexler (FL-19) calling for
immediate impeachment hearings, while fellow Palm Beacher Debbie
Wasserman Schultz (FL-20), who is close to Speaker Pelosi, told Ed
Schultz she adamantly opposes hearings.

So what do we do next to move impeachment forward?

1. Email all of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee:
http://www.democrats.com/topelosiandjudiciary
and call them:
http://www.democrats.com/house-judiciary-democrats

2. If you live in the district of a House Judiciary Committee member,
call their office and tell them you're a constituent and you want
immediate hearings on H.Res. 333. Then join your Congressional District
Impeachment Committee http://democrats.com/cdic-find and organize a
HonkToImpeach rally http://www.democrats.com/honktoimpeach in front of
your Representative's district office. Then keep up the pressure on
your Representative every way you can, including letters to the editor,
op-eds, calls to local talk shows, protests at local media offices, and
pointed questions at every community forum attended by your
Representative.

3. If your Congress Member is not on Judiciary, ask them to cosponsor H
Res 333: http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73

4. Ask pollsters to poll the public on impeachment, especially of
Cheney: http://www.democrats.com/impeachment-poll-petition and promote
impeachment through media activism:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/748 

5. Watch for updates and notice of a national conference call with Rep.
Dennis Kucinich at http://impeachcheney.org 

_________ 


Take Iraq Funds OFF The Table

George Bush insists Congress give him $200 billion more to continue the
disastrous occupation of Iraq into 2009, and promises to veto any bill
that requires him to bring our troops home. That means he will reject
Speaker Pelosi's new plan to provide $50 billion more with a "goal" to
bring most troops to come home in 2008.

George Bush is defying the will of the American people, who elected a
Democratic Congress in 2006 to end the occupation, not to fund it. The
latest CNN poll (11/8/07) shows an overwhelming 68%-31% majority now
opposed to the Iraq occupation.

Since Bush will veto any legislation to end the occupation, Congress
has no power except to "Just Say No" to any more funds. Speaker Pelosi
can do exactly what she did on impeachment - take Iraq funds OFF the
table and refuse to hold a vote on any additional Iraq funding.

If Democrats "Just Say No," Bush will try to blame Democrats for
leaving soldiers on the battlefield without bullets. Of course that's
absurd - even without another penny, it would be George Bush's
obligation as Commander-in-Chief to use existing funds to bring our
troops home in a safe and orderly fashion. And if he needs any
additional funds, Congress will provide them in a heartbeat.

But if Democrats "Just Say No" and Bush steals funds from other
programs to keep our troops in Iraq indefinitely, or delays their
withdrawal and leaves them exposed to unnecessary harm, it would be the
obligation of Congress to impeach him immediately.

So tell Congress: No More Funds for Iraq
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/124 

_________

Harry Reid Confirms Mukasey in "Midnight Massacre"

At midnight on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid betrayed
the Constitution and the American people by holding a quick vote to
confirm Michael Mukasey despite his refusal to admit waterboarding is
torture. And thanks to excellent reporting by Greg Sargent of Talking
Points Memo, we now know why.

The vote was 53-40, with six Democrats joining every single Republican
- Evan Bayh, Tom Carper, Dianne Feinstein, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson,
and Chuck Schumer. (Schumer ignored urgent calls and emails from
thousands of his constituents, and his staff refused to meet with
activists outside his office.) The four Senate Democrats running for
President, who were all opposed, were out campaigning - but Reid
refused to delay the vote to give them time to return. If he had, there
could have been 44 votes for a filibuster to block Mukasey's
confirmation.

Reid rushed the vote because he cut a deal with Republicans to avoid
delays on the $459 Defense Appropriations bill (not including Iraq
funds), so Bush couldn't attack Democrats during the upcoming battle
over Iraq funds. In effect, Reid sold the Constitution to the neocons
for a talking point.

There is only one way to send a message of outrage that Schumer and
Reid will hear, and that is by refusing to contribute to the Democratic
Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC), which Reid controls and Schumer
chairs.

Join the Democratic Donor Strike Against DSCC and DCCC
http://www.democrats.com/donor-strike-2007

_________

Blog Your Rep - and Get Paid!

Would you like your Congressperson to be represent his/her
constituents, rather than the corporate special interests in Washington
DC? Well now you can blog about your Congressperson and get paid for it.

The Sunlight Foundation is offering "mini-grants" of $1,000 to $5,000
to fund original ideas, tools, Web sites and bloggers. The work of any
recipient should be focused on creating a better, more democratic and
dynamic relationship between members of Congress and the citizens they
represent. We encourage applications from existing small local
nonprofits and Web sites, from offshoots of national groups, from
individuals and from informal groups of citizens.

Applications for mini-grants will be judged on how closely they fit
with Sunlight's mission of using technology to enable citizens to learn
more about Congress and its activities in order to reduce corruption
and ensure greater transparency in government. 

More here:
http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/grants/minigrantapplication

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