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Bush's Royal Edict: Don't Cooperate With Congress
President Bush has treated Congress with contempt for more than six years.But the most regal executive to reign over the United States since King George III was deposed has never displayed that contempt so aggressively as he did Wednesday.
On the eve of former White House counsel Harriet Miers' scheduled testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, she was ordered by the president to defy the subpoena she had been issued by the committee.
The president's lawyers claimed that Miers has "absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony" in regard to the investigation of the administration's politicization of federal investigations and prosecutions.
According to current White House counsel Fred Fielding, Miers does not need to cooperate with congressional inquiries into "matters occurring while she was a senior adviser to the president."
That was enough for the former counsel's lawyer, George T. Manning, to notify Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers, D-Mich., that Miers would refuse to appear at Thursday's session to answer questions about the role played by the White House in forcing the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys.
Unlike former White House political director Sara Taylor, who answered a subpoena to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday but refused to answer most questions, Miers will not offer even a bare minimum of respect for the system of checks and balances that gives Congress the authority to investigate wrongdoing in the White House.
"As a former public official and officer of the court, Ms. Miers should be especially aware of the need to respect legal process," complained Conyers.
The committee chair said he was, "extremely disappointed in the White House's direction to Ms. Miers that she not even show up to assert the privilege before the committee."
That disappointment is understandable.
But disappointment is not enough.
The administration's casual disregard for subpoenas issued by Congress demands a response.
Conyers has spoken of seeking Contempt of Congress citations against current and former administration aides who refuse cooperate with his committee.
It's time, not merely to defend the authority of the Congress but to reassert respect for the role of the Constitution in defining proper relations between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.
John Nichols' new book is The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism. Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson hails it as a "nervy, acerbic, passionately argued history-cum-polemic [that] combines a rich examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the 'heroic medicine' that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to 'reclaim and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for the defense of our most basic liberties.'"
Copyright © 2007 The Nation
27 Comments so far
Show AllAbuse of Power
From Nixon, Reagan to Lil Bush we have seen a reoccurring theme of Republican lawlessness and systematic abuse of power. Isn't it about time we asked, "Are all republicans sociopaths?"
Republicans have turned our government into a dictatorship in all but name only. Once independent federal agencies have been corrupted and subverted into Republican fiefdoms answerable to no one but the president. Bush's never seen a covert plan to increase his power by lying, violating laws and the Constitution, he didn't adore. This power mad monkey has no respect for our troops, our people, our country, or the rule of law. He is a sociopath.
Bush's ascension to the throne began with a crime committed by the Republican dominated Supreme Court's decision to appoint him president. And it's been followed by an unprecedented Republican Crime Spree ever since. Nothing apparently bothers republican voters but illegal aliens, abortion, gays and sex scandals. They are oblivious to a multitude of crimes too numerous to list, committed by Bush and Republican Congressmen. Not war profiteering, war crimes or stolen elections. For republicans there is no law but the Law of the Jungle.
Cheney/Bush lied us into an unwinnable, illegal and insane war with less planning than a White House Easter Egg hunt. One would think we might have learned a lesson in Viet Nam, where we didn't win with a half million troops surrounded by millions of Vietnamese guerillas. If Republicans had had their way, we'd still be fighting in Viet Nam, and still losing. The same applies to Iraq. We can bomb them into the stone age, but we can't dominate their people.
Why has no national news agency (or the Monopoly Media) called for Bush's impeachment?
Why has no national leader called for Bush's impeachment?
The answer is simple, they justifiably fear him and the Almighty Republican Establishment.
But how did things get to the point that the American people fear elected and non elected (Bush & Rupert Murdoch for instance) criminals and tyrants?
Are we not "the land of the brave and the free?"
Its not just Republicans. One of the precedents being cited is Attorney General Reno's ruling that Bill Clinton's administration didn't need to turn over to Congress documents related to his presidential pardons.
The more latitude the Bush administration is allowed by Congress, the further the Bushies will go. Bush is giving Congress Impeachment as the only option. Bush's boss, Insane Evil Dick (the most powerful IED killing the soldiers), will stop at nothing and bow to no person, no law, and no constitution, and the longer Congress delays in Impeachment, the further IED will go.
Burn the WITCH
The Bush administration acts the way it does because it has nothing to fear, not even impeachment. Impeachment can be spun away as Democratic revenge. What can't be spun away is a jail cell. Is there any way these 2 can be turned over to an international court for war crimes?
Not an international court because the US is not a signatory but Germany does have a law that allows them to arrest anyone on their soil guilty of or presumed guilty of war crimes and to try them. Remember when Rumsfeld almost canceled a trip to Germany for that reason but then the German govt. said they wouldn't arrest him.
I think Belgium had a similar law but, if I'm not mistken, they voted it out.
Hold the bitch in contempt of Congress and put her ugly ass in jail! Then do the same for every other son of a bitch who is in contemp of Congress.
"Not an international court because the US is not a signatory but Germany does have a law"
Simple answer - rendition to Germany, then haul
their asses to The Hague.
It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again. Throw her ass in jail and hold the Justice Dept. and the White House in contempt. Then rendition then the gallows. Oops! Just kidding NSA ;)
The king of America hath spake again.
Perhaps Conyers is BENEATH CONTEMPT!
We've done nothing wrong, we have broken no laws, we do not torture people, and to prove it, we refuse to allow any oversight whatsoever, because we have nothing to hide anyway.
So there.
what is the penalty for Contempt of Congress citation?
"Its everyone's fault for the immoral system and immoral leadership that pollutes the nation's capitol every day in the halls of Congress and inside the walls of the White House...Killing innocent people and torturing innocent civilians from afar is actually standard procedure by the foreign policy apparatus in the United States."
CrackerJack69 has several excellent points, but let us just consider two that I find very pointed: 1) nation-wide culpability for the wrongdoing of our elected officials and the rottenness of the U.S. political system; and 2) the killing and torturing of people as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy.
The question is not just when will We the People take responsibility for our government, but How do We get to a point where it is natural to want such responsibility? Saying it is everyone's fault is great. What is the next step? How do you get a Kingdom of Fear to admit that it is a tool of Torture and Corruption?
Terrorism as the primary method of U.S. foreign policy is a dark stain on this country and has been from the beginning, starting with the genocide required to claim U.S. territories from Native Americans. Once again, there is no argument with that point from anyone who is paying the slightest bit of attention. How do we move forward? It is time to not only own up to our Ugly American legacy, but also to figure out some way to get beyond the jingoism, corporate welfare, and war profiteering that has dominated U.S. foreign policy throughout most of its history.
I wish Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, and Pelosi would resign. Since this is most likely a fantasy. . .
As I wrote in response to another article on 5/31:
1.) If impeachment proceedings are not underway by July 4, 2007, we set a date in early August to gather at state capitols across the country and encourage our state governments to do what the U.S. House of Representatives lacks the courage to do.
2.) If impeachment proceedings are not underway by early September, we travel to Washington and peacefully surround the White House and U.S. Capitol. We do not leave until articles of impeachment are introduced, or Bush and Cheney both submit resignation statements.
3.) I have ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, and, like them, we have to be WILLING to die. Brought up to fear the likes of Hitler and Stalin, I have thought in recent years, "Who wants to live in a totalitarian America, anyway?"
Liberty. . .or death (many things have changed in America, but some things NEVER change).
LONG LIVE THE MEMORY OF PATRICK HENRY.
LONG LIVE THE REAL AMERICA.
* * *
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure."
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
"There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."
--Helen Keller
rabblerowzer:
Dwight Eisenhower and other Republicans of his era could teach not just Republicans but today's Dems and Greens something about working for the common good and for peace. Republicans used to interpret "conservatism" as being careful not to change good things too quickly lest something get lost. Now, it seems that anything goes if it maintains power and twists the world to benefit corporations: lies, phony wars, the militarization of trade and space, false imprisonment, torture, illegal snooping.
The people who should rise up and demand impeachment are the Republicans who have watched these fascists take over the party that used to include a president who could say AND MEAN: "We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsbilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come together in a peace guaranteed by the healing force of mutual respect and love." Dwight Eisenhower, in the same speech in which he warned of the military-industrial complex.
Kofe Annan and this Republican would have hit it off.
War criminal... should be hanged... Along with the majority of Congress (every single idiot who voted for the Iraq War Resolution) and ALL of the Supreme Court.
Dwight Eisenhower had no issue with the MIC while he was President for 8 years... WHAT COURAGE!!! Oh and gee, how did he know about it anyway? While BOTH Parties take money from the MIC you idiots squabble as if there is some kind of difference? WAKE UP!!!! The same Generals who waited until they were retired to speak out against Bush the Killer, exhibited the same type of false courage rife in DC today. They all learned it from IKE. when the shit is hitting the fan no one has any balls, but AFTER they cash in they find some courage. Nice. Go Team America.
If any of them are ever put in jail for contempt of congress, Bush will just pardon them. This is a no win situation for congress and for us. Bush might be a moron, but Cheney and Rove aren't. They've lined up their ducks and it's going to take some real smart people to figure out a way to nail their asses to the wall.
I am beside myself as to why we are not in the streets in overwhelming #'s to remove these parasites from office......WTF OVER???
Enjoy the following:
Invoking a privilege is one thing, but telling a person not to show up in response to a subpoena -- if only to actually invoke the privilege -- is quite another. It's not just worse, it's a felony under federal criminal law. See for yourself.
18 U.S.C. Sec. 1505 : ... Whoever corruptly ... influences, obstructs, or impedes ... the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress ... [s]hall be fined under this title, [or] imprisoned not more than 5 years ... or both.
18 U.S.C. Sec. 1515(b): As used in section 1505, the term "corruptly" means acting with an improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including ... withholding, [or] concealing ... information.
Bushit is AGAIN a FELON!!!
"After Bush is pardoned by his successor our long national nightmare will be over."
Thus:'Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.' RFK
Let us all send Brown's blog to our congressmen. Today. Maybe they are totally unaware. I believe you have something very important there Brown. Thank you.
What is good for the goose...
If the White House refuses to cooperate with Congress, Congress should refuse to do a single thing for the White House.
It's not like the White House has been a fount of good ideas in the past six years anyway!
The Bush family has lots of experience in using pardons. Daddy Bush saved his butt by pardoning Casper Weinberger. Think about it. Out of all the things that need to be done, why did he make that pardon one of his first official acts. Similarly, out of all the things that Lil Bush could have done at the start of his first term, why did he lengthen the amount of time before presidential papers get released. He did this to save his Daddy's hide.
All they care about is themselves and their "Ruling Class". That's how they were brought up. They are sure they are better than all of us. They're privileged and the masses aren't. Well why don't the masses surround the Capitol building and White House in Sept. like mentioned above. Show them all who is in charge. The real patriots would be those of us who show up to defend our constitution and hopefully set them trend to change things.
Ever heard of "inherent contempt"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress
This is a little-known power of Congress which permits a person to be cited for contempt by simple majority vote, whereupon the Sergeant-at-Arms arrests the contemnor, takes her ass to Congress, and if she does not testify, she is ordered jailed for up to the remaining term of the Congress (up to 2 years in the House, 6 in the Senate). Its purpose is to coerce scalawags like Sarah Moore and Harriet Miers to testify. What is really nice about it is that there's no necessity to go through the (presently corrupt) "Justice" Department.
So a simple majority of House members can do something directly, without being able to hide behind excuses that the big bad RepubliKKKans will fuss and say nasty things about them. So all the Dem's need is the guts and will, and we can get to the heart of the matter immediately.
Oh. Yeah. Guts and will. "Aye, THERE's the rub…"