Activists Look for Arrest of Bush, Cheney
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. - When then Vice President George H. W. Bush visited Brattleboro 23 years ago, he was greeted by protesters who booed and heckled him.
But if his son ever comes to town, some residents hope to present the sitting president with an even less friendly reception: a pair of handcuffs and a jail cell.
“We’re planning to arrest, detain and extradite him,” said Kurt Daims of Brattleboro, an activist who has sought to impeach President George W. Bush and is now trying to up the ante. “There’s a fundamental question here. If Congress doesn’t do this, shouldn’t it be done anyway?”
Daims hopes to gather the 440 signatures necessary to place an article on the Town Meeting warning that would call for the Brattleboro Police Department to arrest Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and cart them off to unspecified foreign entities.
“Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?” Daims’ proposed article reads.
“And shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictment, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro and extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them.”
Daims joined a group of eight like-minded activists Friday afternoon for their weekly impeachment march through town. Beating homemade drums and waving signs calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney, the protesters walked from the Brattleboro Food Co-op to the Municipal Building and dropped off a copy of the proposed article at the Town Clerk’s office.
Daims recognizes the myriad legal barriers between his goal and its coming to fruition, but pointing to the Declaration of Independence as his inspiration, he contends that sometimes the laws of the land take second seat to “a higher jurisdiction.”
“There was no legal standing to the document that was written in 1776. It was just people saying ‘we’ve got to get rid of this guy,’” Daims said. “We can’t let him get away just because we don’t have the proper forms and paperwork.”
Vermont remains the only state President Bush has neglected to visit during his seven years in office, and Daims’ proposed article is not likely to hasten a presidential trip to the Green Mountain state.
“I don’t know if Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney are scheduled to visit Brattleboro any time in the near future,” said acting Police Chief Eugene Wrinn, whose force would presumably be charged with making an arrest. “We will wait and see if it passes and then we will check with the town of Brattleboro’s legal counsel to check out what our legal obligations would be.”
According to Town Attorney Bob Fisher, the town could place such an article on its town meeting warning for an up or down vote, but doing so would be “a waste of ink.”
“My response is if you can get me appointed to the U.S. Senate, I would be very grateful and then I would actually have standing to do something about this,” Fisher said.
“It is an absolutely unenforceable type of question. The people in Brattleboro do not have authority to impeach. I don’t have the authority to indict the president, nor do the police have the ability to arrest him based on such a vote.”
Even if Daims manages to collect the requisite signatures of 5 percent of the electorate, the Selectboard could decline to place the article on the town meeting warning.
“A Selectboard can say this is not the business of the town. We’re not going to waste our time with it,” Fisher said.
Selectboard chairwoman Audrey Garfield said she did not have enough information about the proposed article to comment on it and would speak with her fellow board members before making a decision.
According to Newfane Selectboard member Dan DeWalt, who made headlines when his town called for Bush’s impeachment in March of 2006, even if Daims is unsuccessful in throwing Bush in the clinker, his message could resonate throughout the country.
“Kurt saying ‘I’m going to arrest the president’ has no meaning. The town of Brattleboro voting to say they’re going to arrest the president does have meaning,” DeWalt said.
As to just where Brattleboro would send Bush if he was arrested, DeWalt said, “I know there are people preparing war crimes charges against him. I don’t know if they’ve officially been filed anywhere, but once they are filed that would give us a place to extradite him to next time he comes to town.”
Daims hopes other towns will be inspired by his quest and pursue similar courses of action — particularly Kennebunkport, Maine, where the Bush family spends its summers.
“We should do something Mr. Bush can feel. Maine is a very liberal state and I think this could pass in Maine, so then he couldn’t get to his million dollar family vacation resort,” Daims said. “They could arrest him there.”
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group
I almost feel like moving there so I can sign the petition myself.
george,it is amazing that after all this time,you and your legions and your scary dark king of the world,think you are going to put one over on the creator.you will lose.many of the nasty tricks you have played on some of your old buddies,had the result of redeeming them to creation and that is a good thing.beni and ronnie,send their regards.the pillars of creation you are working to destroy have already been built in a new location.you should be more careful when sticking your noses into those black holes,i can assure you,they will bite.the creator has considered your bid for immortality and is leaning toward making that consession,because it seems to fit in perfectly with the plan of your creator.your other requests have been denied.you will never have the utopian new world order you desire.it will be new world disorder and you will be in the thick of it.from up here,all your scrambling around under the ground and above it,looks as futile as the folk scrambling about on the face of the earth.no matter how deeply you dig or how well you fortify,because of the promise,you will be ripped asunder,it is written.thanks for the seeds. yours truly,archangel
There are plans afoot by many citizens around the country to step up their efforts to get the criminals out of office and into jail. Everything counts, so lets all join in!
nice thought. and keep your day job.
brattleboro sounds like a community I could fit into
“then i awoke from the absolute coolest dream i ever had, how i wish it had been real”.
For a moment I tho9ught I would be reading opne of Johann Hari’s tab;oid pieces from the Gurardian–but no, this was a straight news story from Vermont.
What I like best about this is not the arrest part–becasue really, Common Dreamers, we all know that ain’t gonna happen at all to either the Pres. or his VP. No, the best part is the signal it sends to all the administration PR and security hacks in DC.
The message quite simply is: you are not welcome here, but if you insist on coming you had better bring a whole bunch of Secret Service, US Marshalls, or Blackwater goons because we are going to try our best to either put you under arrest or restrict your movements and don’t count on any law enforcement help for your logistical arrangements.
If enough towns, cities, villages, or even states did this it just might get a message through to this clueless adminstration that they are neither welcome nor tolerated wherever they might chose to go.
I hope the town council reconsiders. For while this may be an unenforcable resolution, it’s an irresisitable story line that even the MSM would jump all over. This could add to the growing public awareness of the impeachment resolutions against Cheney now sitting in the House judiciary Committee awaiting a hearing.
Go Brattleboro!
If Congress refuses to impeach then we the people need to set up a tribunal to do the necessary work. Bush and Cheney have committed numerous impeachable offences over the past seven years. To let them leave office without accountability would just be one further step towards authoritarianism and fascism in this country.
That is funny shit. But here is my attempt to contribute to a climate change of words:
Rebubbleicons
©2007 It’s Just Karma
Because that’s what they are doing. They are constantly reborn into this strange bubble
from which they look in dismay and sheer disbelief to the ‘outside’ world and they are cons.
Hence ‘Rebubbleicons’.
Now I have to read the article…
i think they should re-name the town: battleboro
and why are there so many bloody towns around the u.s of a. called for this impeachment and yet not one has succeded? don’t you have ‘citizens’ arrest there?
When Ronnie Raygun was prez, a group of about 15 all former vets wanted to de-nut him or impeach or whatever to him. He had cut the services to the Vets, but still had a big ass military active bunch of nuts. Anyway this group tried to get other vet groups and local gov levels to go after him but he proved to be so friggin popular. Last month three of the 15 met and talked about this issue of impeach bush and cheney we all have signs in our front yards, bumper stickers even answer the phone ” IMPEACH BUSH TODAY CHENEY TOMORROW”.. what is strange is that many of the so called progressive liberals here in Minnesota have backed off supporting us. I sort of feel like I was used as bait to catch a fish but was cut loose but still hooked.
Love it. But little chicken s**t George would never have the nads to go there.
coco December 29th, 2007 4:11 pm — “don’t you have ‘citizens’ arrest there?”
Yes, there are legal provisions for citizen arrest in the US. US law even supports bounty hunters when they break into homes (sometimes the wrong ones) and shoot innocent bystanders (not excluding infants).
But none of that has the slightest impact on the President of the United States whose office, unlike most constitutional monarchies in this day and age, is accorded a semi-divine status entirely above the laws that bind ordinary citizens. George III of England, against whose ‘tyranny’ an earlier breed of Americans once rebelled, could only dream of such unconstrained power as George W Bush now exercises with no day-to-day accountablility whatsoever.
The most telling and pertinent statement in the main article is the following: “It is an absolutely unenforceable type of question. The people in Brattleboro do not have authority to impeach. I don’t have the authority to indict the president, nor do the police have the ability to arrest him based on such a vote.”
In other words, the ‘divine right of kings’ lives on in the self-proclaimed ‘greatest democracy on earth’ — which wouldn’t be quite so execrable if the US weren’t so insistent on exporting the same or similar pseudo-democracy to everyone else on the planet and imposing it by force of arms. Speaking of tyranny and rebellions, …
It is good to see that Don Quixote still lives.
ARVY
thankyou for the explanation re: citizens arrest. so who does have the authority?
CTRL-Z
i had dinner with him last night………….
I think they should pardon Bush and Cheney if they cooperate with a (instead of the ususal undercover CIA-let’s-have-an alternative-activity social directors) citizen run investigation into the criminal power elite pulling their strings…
Frankly, the unseen powers always have a stooge out front to insure the lynch mob won’t be calling (or even know) their names.
Bush is a robot.
Why not address the real axis of evil? You might be surprised that Bush himself is hoping you guys will finally have the maturity to realize HE CAN”T DO ANYTHING! He’s the most controlled and watched human being on this planet (and the guys watching would bump him off without any hesitation).
Wake up guys. It is really time for reality, not another dog and pony show to convince the ‘bound and chained’ that they really do have power and recourse…
#
nodding December 29th, 2007 5:07 pm
LOL what a waist of time !
_______________________________________________________
NOT!
it has been the failure of the House and the Majority! of the U>S> citizenry to act on their convictions that has gotten us into this mess. If we don’t do it, DON’T think somebody else will.
American
You DID! Gotta find my pills. Bye COCO. It was fun while it lasted.
No, they cannot arrest him, but I love the message they send.
@coco — First of all, it’s important to understand that impeachment does not equate to conviction for an offence. The approximate equivalent under criminal law would be indictment.
The question of authority is dealt with under Section 2 of Article 1 of the US Constitution as follows:
Section 3 of Article 1 provides for trial and conviction as follows:
It should also be noted that the sole penalty upon conviction is:
In other words, a president or other person thus impeached, convicted and removed from office could then become subject to the processes of law that apply to ordinary citizens.
“Daims recognizes the myriad legal barriers between his goal and its coming to fruition, but pointing to the Declaration of Independence as his inspiration, he contends that sometimes the laws of the land take second seat to “a higher jurisdiction.””
Yup! Inspiration is what is sorely needed, people who wake up … and get *inspired* to do *something*.
Even if this measure didn’t work (I pray, -I PRAY!) then at least it serves to help wake other people from their sleep of centuries, and it enlivens consciousness,
-which is a useful antidote to the slumbering miasma MSM induces.
______________________
Speaking of media, here’s some YouTube clips that will cheer you up. I’ll see if I can fit all four links on this post :::
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FSpQLsUmVQ
then there’s,
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bK547uzTz4&NR=1
and 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq956JmU1LE&feature=related
and then try,
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoNVOH9ygNM&NR=1
Please note, these clips entail all due DIS-respect for the imbecile haunting the Gray House!
Cheers gang.
Way to go! Why does it take a town the size of Brattleboroto show us the way? Because they have GUTS!! The ego-maniacs in Washington are doing what they get paid to do by the Corporate world and Brattleboro is showing us that we need a VOICE. Where is that Voice? Where are the leaders hiding out? Why hasn’t a leader come forward to show us the way out of this DISASTER. Could our leader be in the wings? Is his name John Edwards?
Gotta love it!!! Even if it doesn’t actually have any teeth, the concept is terrific. Keeps our eyes on the bouncing ball - IMPEACHMENT. Oh, and there is an arrest warrent out for Rummy and Darth in Italy. Maybe Vermont can extradite him over there…..this is so fun to think about.
Just found this petition on the web to unseat Nancy under House rules for taking impeachment “off the table”:
http://www.petitiononline.com/everyman/petition.html
There is more than one way to skin a cat. Check it out. I read the stuff and signed the petition. This could also be fun!
ARVY
well that makes it so clear now. and thankyou for that. so, as i read it, IF, by the slightest chance that your president is impeached, (by the house of representatives) then he is subject to the processes of law that apply to ordinary citizens. (i hope i have grasped the concept so far.) so i presume he would be punished according to his crime within the statutes for ‘ordinary’ citizens. tell me, which ‘ordinary’ citizen has contributed to the death of over a million innocent people? would the courts impose a new legislation on this bizarre finding? or would he go down in history as the biggest c..ck sucker of all times?
UN-Common Dreams: Thanks for the links. I needed that…..
coco: maybe if we get impeachment hearings (the charges), we could get a trial in the Senate (a decision). Then if we get a conviction the rats can be turned over to the Hague for war crimes. Trying their as*s in the US is not enough. They all need to be tried for crimes against humanity. Let a world tribunal decide their fate.
I just want a DAMN HEARING!!! Get this ball rolling NOW!
@coco — First and most important, he’s not my president. So I can’t really answer your question from that perspective.
The US Constitution only makes provision for the application of ordinary processes of law following removal from office. It would be wrong to regard that as any kind of guarantee, even if that document isn’t entirely dismissed as quaint and obsolete.
In fact, precedent strongly suggests that the two-headed US political establishment would always find some way to grant the culprits (especially their figureheads of state) blanket immunity in the name of ‘moving on’ with the real imperial agenda.
An avalanche begins with a tiny event at the top of a hill, then gains momentum as it hurtles downwards. Let this courageous action be the start of the avalanche that sees Dubya, Cheney, et al facing justice.
munch1 is correct. Even the top U.S. political class is somewhat down the power ladder in comparison to the real billionaires at the top. This is a capitalist economy, so the ultimate power resides in private hands, not in the hands of government. Take a look at Bertram Gross’ book “Friendly Fascism” and the chart on page 57.
ARVY
and in this case what would be the ‘real imperial agenda’? might i hazard a guess? - compromising homeland security……… what else is there to blanket?
Large question. You can peek here for some geopolitical aspects. The compromising of homeland security is mere fallout — not to say unexpected or unwanted.
Repuglickans
and Demoncrats
What “should” be done in Maine will NOT be done in Maine or anywhere else for at least 12 months. You ain’t arresting Bush even in the comic books as long as you have a mixed government.
What CAN be done is election of a liberal (Democratic) government in November. President AND Congress. All other fantasies are fantasies.
USA is not a democracy. It is ruled by a chimp tzar who takes his orders from the CEOs of the large corporations. Capitalism run amok. This kind of capitalism cannot tolerate democracy.
And the rulers say they are bringing “democracy” to other countries. HA!
If these American citizens were to enforce the Constitution there’s no doubt millions of other Americans would also support this move.
I welcome this motion. Congress doesn’t seem to want to impeach the two demons (Bush & Cheney), so lets bring them to trial for a number of reasons:
1. crimes against humanity
2. lying about WMD’s and taking us to war under false pretenses
3. secret domestic surveillance
4. outing of a CIA agent
5. lying about the administration’s involvement in the Valerie Plame incident.
Aren’t any one of these offences sufficient to have them rot away in GITMO for the rest of their lives without parole?
This is merely symbolic, of course, but it’s good to see, anyway.
But maybe the good people of Kennebunkport could get together and refuse to sell Bush and family any lobster or cod or gas or whatever it is that they sell in Kennebunkport when they go there for their vacation. I mean, I know it’s illegal to refuse service to someone because of sex or race or religion, but is it illegal to refuse service to someone because they’re responsible for the deaths of more than 800,000 people and have trashed the country’s economy, not to mention the world’s environment? If it is, it shouldn’t be.
Anyway, good for Vermont.
This brings me to a question: why is Vermont, which is probably the most rural state in the nation, so progressive? Does anyone know?
notsonaive December 29th, 2007 8:08 pm — ‘And the rulers say they are bringing “democracy” to other countries. HA!’
Well, they can’t very well say “we’re bringing your country capitalism run amok and imposing it on you with DU, napalm, cluster bombs, white phosphorous and torture”, although that’s exactly what they are doing. So they are forced to use nicer words like “freedom and democracy” in order to sustain the illusion of America the Beneficent for those members of the home audience who remain sufficiently gullible to believe it. No one else does, and even maintenance of the domestic illusion diminishes in importance as their police state institutions and tactics take ever greater effect in the fatherland — er, excuse me, homeland.
I was shocked to see that today’s local small-Republican-town corporate newspaper ran this item, if even on page six. The fact they would even print the words “War Crimes” in relation to GWB in this particular rag is, to me, and I’m very familiar with the political climate around here–amazing.
Bushy has a “war czar.”
Q: What kind of country has a war czar?
A: One that loves, craves, and lusts for war.
Get these criminals out of office NOW!
Let’s see . . . how can we get Georgie to travel to Vermont?
I know! We’ll tell him that there are lots of drugs there!
Brattleboro is 1776. let’s impeach the bastards!
My wife and I came over to Vermont from the UK on a leaf-peeping holiday in 2006, and promptly fell in love with the place. This article reminds me that it’s Vermont’s people and not just its trees and mountains that are great. May the force, so to speak, be with them!
This evokes memories of a “Mayberry, RFD” character shouting his intent for making a : “Citizen’s Arr-ay-est!, Citizen’s Arr-ay-est!”…
[Who was that character…? Couldn’t have been Barney (he was in the pair having ‘real-authority’).]
Brattleboro is a sweet place. I lived there for a year, and spent many nights with my head deep in a pint at McNeill’s.
If you’d worked at the Retreat (anyone from town should know what that is) as I did, you’d understand!
Any Brat-folks: I want ALFRED to lead the arrest proceedings.
Gee, I wonder why so much of the right don’t take progressives seriously? Could it be because of silliness like this? Possibly.
Ticondaroga wonders:
This brings me to a question: why is Vermont, which is probably the most rural state in the nation, so progressive? Does anyone know?
******************
Having never lived there but having admired it from afar my guesses are:
1. The town meeting still exists as an institution with real power to represent a community.
2. It is about the least urbanized state in the entire country and hence people are not so cramed together that they build walls of isolation from others hence there is more sense of community.
3. Corporatized, mechanized, monoculture agriculture does not work with either the climate or geography of the state and hence there are no opportunities for getting super-rich by nursing at the federal tit of crop subsidies.
4. Not being a “mass market” in any sense of the word has kept it under the radar of corrupting corporate money.
Vermont’s politics weren’t always so liberal. But having been through that state a number of times, including this summer, I submit the following three possibilities:
1) Vermont’s natural beauty attracts literary and artistic people.
2) Vermont, unlike here in Minnesota, has quite a bit of vertical/rugged real estate not very conducive to the Big Box takeover which occured here in the midwest.
3) They actually have distinct villages, whereas here in Minnesota we’re riddled with community-less sprawl. Sprawl lacks a center, a community hearth of sorts.
Yes! Finally some extraordinary rendition we can all support!
Now watch out for an “accident” at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in nearby Vernon. It’s a disastrous plant already, and an accident there would obliterate Brattleboro…and we know the Bushies are good at staging accidents and attacks.
Actually Paul Bramscher, as a Vermonter I can say that Vermont does have a long tradition of progressive politics, from being the first state to outlaw slavery to being the first state to legalize civil unions.
baruch:
I take pride in living in the ONLY state in the union which never voted for Reagan, King George I, or King George II. But it’s not saying much in itself. I’ve seen enough of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to seriously consider moving there. I believe that Minnesota, for several reasons, on the decline.
I agree with Poet, the outdoors really helps free the mind, and outdoorsy people flock there! I want to know how they kept the nearby masses from bulldozing their mountains up till now.
Once the nearby capitalists see investment potential they buy up huge tracts of land and develop it for maximum income potential.
Out west they are starting to chop and bulldoze everything private. Mountaintops are prime locations for a McMansion.
Once the land is ruined, we will have nothing left to fight for; then we can hope they give us an inner tube so we can float down river in comfort.
I live the next town over from Kennebunkport,ME and have to deal with the disruption whenever the Idiot in Chief flies into Sanford airport. The Bushies have that town firmly in check so nothing will ever happen here. It has to happen in Washington. I doubt if it will. My concern is that don’t they realize that all this executive power will transfer to the next Democrat President. Unless they have a plan to stop the election.
Guizar: What makes you think they are going to hand over executive power? I’m not totally convinced that there is even going to be an election. So much can happen between now and next November. The Idiot in Chief may be a lame duck, but he still has all the tools firmly in hand to create a lot of chaos with his remaining time. And I do believe they (probably Cheney) has a plan in place to stop the election if Hillary is NOT nominated by the Dimms. I believe that they will only allow the passing of all that executive power to the reigning families of Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, etc, etc, etc……
Paul: DC never voted for Bush, Clinton, Regan or any of em either. We’ve got a great track record. Of course we could never vote to begin with.
At least one state in the union has its act together way to go Vermont!
Let’s take this a step further… don’t be too surprised when a “state of emergency is declared prior to November 2008… some candidate will be caught up in some sort of “terror” attack brought to you buy Nabisco and Mattel… Martial law will be declared because “they hate us for our freedoms” and federal elections will be postponed indefinately. People in Brattleboro and anyone else who poses a threat to the “elected” government of Dickless Cheney and Curious George will be ronded up and dispatched to GITMO as enemy combatants. The government already has the legal authority to arrest search detain or otherwise silence any dissent right now. Keep waving flags and pretending that will help. Denial is a very nice river in Egypt…
PEACE CZAR
loved the ‘warho’. marilyn must be turning in her grave…. but shouldn’t it have been ‘warwhore’?
OPINIONATED
and you are doing what exactly??
dcbeltway,
I’d never seen a D.C. license plate until this summer. I detect more-than-a-little frustration in your plate’s motto. I’ve never actually been to D.C., but from what I hear it’s not a “normal” world capitol. I’ve been to Ottawa, though, and liked that place quite a bit.
D.C. seems a bit alien by comparison.
SCIENTIFIC BETRAYAL:
Never before have Americans experienced such dangerous manipulation of essential scientific data, as used by this administration to derail vital environmental reforms, conservation, family planning– and the list goes on. The resulting long term environmental and social damage are beyond measure, and can only worsen if not curtailed.
Despite their clandestine cloak, or environmental friendly disguise, these sellouts have been evident since Bush first was handed the presidency. They have been exposed by defectors from the EPA, health & human services, etc; and have been documented and chronicled by numerous dedicated environmental organizations including The Union of Concerned Scientists.
THE GRAVITY OF THESE UNPRECEDENTED BETRAYALS ECLIPSES THE MONICA LEWENSKI SCANDEL WHICH LED TO AN IMPEACHMENT, & POSES GREATER DANGERS THAN WATERGATE WHICH TERMINATED A PRESIDENCY.
NONETHELESS, Blame for these dreadful consequences falls mainly on the five supreme court justices who placed politics ahead of the law and put him in office against the voters choice; our legislators for allowing such reckless and dangerous behavior from this unlearned president guided by his financial and radical supporters; and especially the apathetic populace for tolerating these unprecedented outrages.
The people of DC and the city itself Paul are great. Its the politicans that suck.
With apologies to the death penalty opponents: If by some miracle that Bush and Cheney would be tried for their crimes against humanity; if convicted and given the death penalty, I would gladly volunteer to pull the switch.
The president has way too much power these days. I’m not sure how to fix it, but I just don’t remember any president having so much power as he has today. Everything hinges on this man. I feel like I live in George Bush’s kingdom.
Reverence for life is non-negotiable,
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
Do you really think the Brattleboro police force is any match for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Secret Service, and Blackwater? Approximately how many femto-seconds would elapse between the arrest of Bush and his rescue? Get real. That being said, Brattleboro is my kinda town.
The next step is to call a nationwide stay home, and halt consumer purchasing strike until impeachment is duly undertaken by the congress. We will buy a full page ad as soon as the necessary funds are raised naming the start day. On monday i am opening an account at a local bank, into which everyone can contribute towards the ad, and this is how we will speak !
WE live in Vermont because we are reminded of clarity of mind by our surroundings.