Bill Clinton was impeached for getting a blowjob from an intern - now it looks like another President might get impeached, this time for fucking over an entire country. In both Illinois and California, the respective state legislatures are using "a little known and never utilized rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature" (source). If successful at the state level, the motion will force the House of Representatives to "take up the issue of impeachment as a privileged bill, meaning it will take precedence over other House business." Yowza.
The reason for the impeachment? Well, first we have some illegal spying, then a little torture. Add to this holding American citizens without charge, some cooked up information that led to the debacle in Iraq, and finally, the leaking of sensitive information resulting in the outing of certain CIA agents. As many people have joked - I know, I know, it isn't a blowjob; it's just a full out frontal assault on the Constitution and American civil liberties (but it's a war on terror!!!!!). The chances of the President getting impeached by a Republican held Congress and Senate are low, but if things change enough after the upcoming mid-term elections, who knows. Plus, if Bush's approval ratings drop lower, his Republican buddies might just sacrifice him for the good of the party.
Now, I am no fan of George Bush. I think his War on Terror is a farce, especially since he decided to invade Iraq - a country with no capability to attack America, or anyone else for that matter. In my opinion, Bush has made the world less safe, not more. If anyone deserves to be impeached, it's him. Just to add to my dislike of him, today the Globe is reporting on how Bush is going to deal with high gas prices in the U.S. First off, Bush is going to stop putting oil into the national reserve. That's fine - more oil for the public to use, less reserves for when there is a shortage down the road. The second thing he is going to do is this:
Mr. Bush also announced steps to ease environmental standards governing fuel grades...easing the environment rules will allow refiners greater flexibility in providing oil supplies, since they will not have to use certain additives such as ethanol to meet clean-air standards. (source)
To be fair, Bush is also asking Congress to "take back some of the billions of dollars in tax incentives it gave energy companies, saying that with record profits, they don't need the breaks. He urged lawmakers to expand tax breaks for the purchase of fuel-efficient hybrid automobiles." But still - relaxing environmental regulations so that the gas Americans burn is dirtier and puts more carbon dioxide into the air? That's the best solution to this problem?
Efficiency. Conservation. You want to pay less at the pump - use less fucking gasoline!! Why is this so hard for lawmakers to wrap their head around?
Let the impeachment begin.
Update - In Fox News report on the President's speech, apparently he did mention conservation. The report reads:
Bush called for greater fuel efficiency, though not an increase in the corporate fuel economy standards that are set by law. As he has in the past, he called on Americans not to drive when they don't have to. (source)
Well, at least he said it. Good for him. Bush's other recommendations to keep gas prices low included the increased use of ethanol (but as I have mentioned before, ethanol isn't really a solution as it requires oil and natural gas in the form of fertilizer to grow the corn), the building of new refineries in the U.S., drilling in ANWR (really a bad idea, as ANWR would only yield a very small amount of the U.S.'s energy needs, something like 1/25th), as well as the aforementioned cutting of environmental regulations and stopping the practice of putting oil away into a national reserve. Bush also called for an investigation into price gouging by oil companies. For an oilman, you would think Bush would understand that oil prices are not going to go down, at least not that much. $70 dollar a barrel oil is here to say because we are nearing peak and the remaining oil is in inhospitable and nasty places. Why doesn't he just come out and say it? None of these measures will bring any relief to Americans, especially SUV and Hummer drivers driving two hours eadh way from their suburban paradise - he might as well level with them. It's the least he can do.Recommend this Post
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Right on dodos,
This will be interesting to watch if ti can gain some speed and actually stir things up. Bush DOES deserve to be impeached, no doubt about it.
Oil, we are screwed, or at minumu, my kids are screwed.
My guess is that the Republican-controlled House would flat-out ignore any state legislature-directed impeachment vote and let the courts decide. By the time that works its way through, the mid-term elections might have made the whole thing moot (one way or another). And even if it's upheld, it could be a Pandora's box. I mean, as long as the US govt is so utterly politicized and polarized, what's to stop, say, the Republican-led state legislature from Idaho, say, from voting to impeach the next Democratic president, thus tying up Congress? Seems like an invitation for pettiness.
Regardless of whether they succeed or not, it's nice to see that the impeachment movement is gaining steam. I am sure that the move is entirely political on the part of these States (much like the Clinton impeachment was) but for those of us who truly believe Bush has lied and done a huge disservice to the world and democracy in general, it is a step in the right direction. A President, much like a Prime Minister, is not above the law - once they are, you no longer have a democracy.
By all means impeach Bush. He's quite possibly the worst president the United States has ever had. Even his fellow neocons are frantically distancing themselves. I can't really think of a single thing he's done well, or event he's handled capably.
I can't really think of a single thing he's done well
He's made a lot of non-right wingers rather nostalgic for the Reagan years, something I never would have imagined possible. Likewise, he's made both his father and Nixon look not quite so bad. He's also sped along the decline of the American empire. Sure, none of the above were planned, but an accomplishment is an accomplishment. :D
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