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Title: Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst
Source:
insightmag.com
URL Source: http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/impeachment.htm
Published: Jan 23, 2006
Author: insightmag.com
Post Date: 2006-01-23 23:56:53 by robin
Keywords: Impeachment, hearings:, prepares
Views: 143
Comments: 22
Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst President Bush waved to the press on Jan. 22 after returning to the White House from Camp David. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press) The Bush administration is bracing for impeachment hearings in Congress. "A coalition in Congress is being formed to support impeachment," an administration source said. Sources said a prelude to the impeachment process could begin with hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February. They said the hearings would focus on the secret electronic surveillance program and whether Mr. Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Administration sources said the charges are expected to include false reports to Congress as well as Mr. Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance inside the United States without a court warrant. This included the monitoring of overseas telephone calls and e-mail traffic to and from people living in the United States without requisite permission from a secret court. Sources said the probe to determine whether the president violated the law will include Republicans, but that they may not be aware they could be helping to lay the groundwork for a Democratic impeachment campaign against Mr. Bush. "Our arithmetic shows that a majority of the committee could vote against the president," the source said. "If we work hard, there could be a tie." The law limits the government surveillance to no more than 72 hours without a court warrant. The president, citing his constitutional war powers, has pledged to continue wiretaps without a warrant. The hearings would be accompanied by several lawsuits against the administration connected to the surveillance program. At the same time, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that demands information about the NSA spying. Sen. Arlen Specter, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and Pennsylvania Republican, has acknowledged that the hearings could conclude with a vote of whether Mr. Bush violated the law. Mr. Specter, a critic of the administration’s surveillance program, stressed that, although he would not seek it, impeachment is a possible outcome. "Impeachment is a remedy," Mr. Specter said on Jan. 15. "After impeachment, you could have a criminal prosecution. But the principal remedy under our society is to pay a political price." Mr. Specter and other senior members of the committee have been told by legal constitutional experts that Mr. Bush did not have the authority to authorize unlimited secret electronic surveillance. Another leading Republican who has rejected the administration's argument is Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas. On Jan. 16, former Vice President Al Gore set the tone for impeachment hearings against Mr. Bush by accusing the president of lying to the American people. Mr. Gore, who lost the 2000 election to Mr. Bush, accused the president of "indifference" to the Constitution and urged a serious congressional investigation. He said the administration decided to break the law after Congress refused to change the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," Mr. Gore said. "I call upon members of Congress in both parties to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution,” he said. “Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of American government that you are supposed to be under the constitution of our country." Impeachment proponents in Congress have been bolstered by a memorandum by the Congressional Research Service on Jan. 6. CRS, which is the research arm of Congress, asserted in a report by national security specialist Alfred Cumming that the amended 1947 law requires the president to keep all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees "fully and currently informed" of a domestic surveillance effort. It was the second CRS report in less than a month that questioned the administration's domestic surveillance program. The latest CRS report said Mr. Bush should have briefed the intelligence committees in the House and Senate. The report said covert programs must be reported to House and Senate leaders as well as the chairs of the intelligence panels, termed the "Gang of Eight." Administration sources said Mr. Bush would wage a vigorous defense of electronic surveillance and other controversial measures enacted after 9/11. They said the president would begin with pressure on Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Bush would then point to security measures taken by the former administration of President Bill Clinton. "The argument is that the American people will never forgive any public official who knowingly hurts national security," an administration source said. "We will tell the American people that while we have done everything we can to protect them, our policies are being endangered by a hypocritical Congress."
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#11. To: robin, SKYDRIFTER, ALL (#0)
Scheduled to start Monday, the day after the SUPER BOWL. "Super Bowl 'Steve'" predicts, on the Power Hour, this past Tues, a Suitcase nuke will be used in the second half of the game. He says that the Security company used for the last 30 years has been replaced by Federal, State, and local government people. The securit force will be replaced in the second half with those who have been assed to believe like tos4ers.
"Super Bowl 'Steve'" predicts, on the Power Hour, this past Tues, a Suitcase nuke will be used in the second half of the game. He says that the Security company used for the last 30 years has been replaced by Federal, State, and local government people. The security force will be replaced in the second half with those who have been assed to believe like tos4ers. ping!
I've already stated that I believe there is a very good chance that Detroit will be nuked during the super bowl. However, I'm more inclined to think that it will be a more conventional device located on top of one of the tall abandoned buildings filling the downtown area. My guess would be something on the order of a 1 to 2 megaton uranium device, which will result in the near total destruction of Detroit and the annihilation of everyone attending the super bowl. Furthermore, the device itself will be technologically advanced and exceptionally "clean", but the media will immediately go on a rampage about what a "crude and dirty" device it was. This will be a massive psy-op designed to frighten people away from the area by convincing them that it will be containimated for years if not decades. Then the corporatist pigs will move in and start re-building within six months, after having bought up all of the land rights for nearly nothing. There are so many reasons why they would do this that thinking about it becomes staggering. They'll get to nuke Iran, they'll reinstate the draft, impose martial law, any and all prosecutions concerning scandals in Washington will be stopped dead in their tracks, you name it they'll do it, all the while screaming "remember Detroit and the super bowl". That's when World War Three will begin in earnest. Enjoy the show, kiddies.
Right, I remember your comments, add to the laundry list, that impeachment hearings are Scheduled to start Monday, the day after the SUPER BOWL.
Not to mention that within days of such an attack both Ford and GM will receive MASSIVE government subsidies, ostensibly to help them "rebuild" (yeah, in China), and a large portion of their retiree load will go poof, saving them billions of dollars. The retirees who don't get poofed will still get screwed, due to "emergency legislation" that will absolve GM and Ford of their obligations. And it just goes on and on, once again if you think about all of the angles and possiblities for frauds and swindles your head starts to swim. I'd suggest anyone watching the game on TV be wearing sunglasses, things just might get a bit bright for a second or two.
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#12. To: Itisa1mosttoolate, Elliott Jackalope, Jethro Tull, christine, tom007, Eoghan, wbales, mehitable, ++Super Bowl++ (#11)
Scheduled to start Monday, the day after the SUPER BOWL.
#18. To: robin (#12)
"Super Bowl 'Steve'" predicts, on the Power Hour, this past Tues, a Suitcase nuke will be used in the second half of the game.
#19. To: Elliott Jackalope (#18)
There are so many reasons why they would do this that thinking about it becomes staggering. They'll get to nuke Iran, they'll reinstate the draft, impose martial law, any and all prosecutions concerning scandals in Washington will be stopped dead in their tracks
#20. To: robin (#19)
Replies to Comment # 20.