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TechnoratiBRATTLEBORO, VT -- More than 7,000 e-mails later, the verdict is in.
The majority of people who felt the need to communicate to the town their thoughts on the indictment resolution forwarded to voters for their approval support the resolution.
At a Selectboard meeting on Jan. 25, the board voted 3-2 to forward the resolution calling for the arrests of both President George Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney if they ever find themselves in Brattleboro.
Though Town Manager Barbara Sondag said town staff hadn't tallied the e-mails in favor and those opposed to the indictment, the nasty e-mails the town had received in the first few days following the board's decision have tapered off.
Nevertheless, staff was reading each and every e-mail to determine if any were threatening.
"Those we thought were questionable, we have forwarded to the police department," she said, though she wouldn't consider any of them "a substantial threat."
It has taken up a lot of staff time to review the e-mails and take phone calls, she said, with the town clerk and her staff spending nearly 60 percent of their time answering phone calls about the resolution in the first few days.
The author of the resolution, Kurt Daims, said the e-mails to him have been split pretty evenly between those who support the resolution and those who don't.
"Most of the unfavorable mail is incoherent, obscene or violent."
He feels that can be attributed to the anonymity of e-mail and the ability to send correspondence rapidly, before it's reviewed, such as with a handwritten letter.
"There's a screen between them and those who receive it," he said.
He also received two phone calls. And though both disagreed with the resolution, the conversation was respectful, he said.
"People are so desperate and afraid of what our government is doing they're excited about anything that has the slightest chance of undoing it," he said. "When a long shot is the only thing you've got, you're a fool not to take it."
Along with the town, the five board members together have received more than 1,000 e-mails.
"The first day or two I was flooded with negative e-mails," said Selectboard Chairwoman Audrey Garfield.
Since those days, the quantity of e-mails has dropped to about six a day, she said, mostly positive.
"I've read nearly every single one that has come through on my e-mail," said board member Dora Bouboulis. "Two thirds is positive."
And while many of the senders did not support the indictment resolution, they did support the democratic process that gives town residents the ability to bring such a resolution to the Selectboard and allow people to cast their votes on it.
The first e-mails that board member Rich Garant received were overwhelmingly negative, he said, but just as with the town, those over the last few days have been in support of the resolution.
"The negatives tended to be personal attacks," he said, adding that many of the e-mails he received in support of the board's decision were veterans of both the Iraq and Vietnam wars.
For board member Dick DeGray, it wasn't the e-mails he received that bothered him. It was the pair of phone calls he received, which he called "somewhat unnerving."
"The e-mails were all over the spectrum," he said, and many of them expressed concern over the impact of the resolution on town staffers.
The town should consider taking the best and the worst of the e-mails and publishing a book that could be sold, helping to raise money for the town's coffers.
"That would be taking lemons and turning it into lemonade," said Ian Kiehle, who is running for Selectboard.
Daims said the indictment resolution would pass in many other towns around the nation if they had state policies similar to Vermont that allow voters to bring such efforts before their elected officials.
"I don't think Brattleboro people are unique," said Daims. "We represent a kind of progressive reaction to Mr. Bush (that's happening) all over the country."
"My vote was not about whether I agreed or disagreed with the content of the resolution," said Garfield. It was about honoring the nearly 500 Brattleboro voters who saw fit to sign Daims' petition, she said.
© 2008 Brattleboro Reformer
94 Comments so far
Show AllResponding to TwitchytheSquirrel, who wrote "There's so much hate and delusion here that a shrink could spend his entire lifetime trying to clean it all up." :
The symbolic and practical effects of the Indictment are subtle and complex. The quarrels between supporters and detractors of Mr. Bush are regrettable but understandable. And the hatred people feel toward Mr. Bush is not subtle at all, and does not require a shrink or person of insight to ponder it.
"So much for the Constitution and the rule of law." :
It is my dearest hope that Congress should redeem itself and bring Bush to justice. I do not have faith that Congress will do it. So, realisticly I start a discussion of alternatives by proposing one controversial way of doing it. The Brattleboro measure is largely symbolic, but it would "publish said indictment for consideration by other authorities". This is unprecedented maybe, but it is not illegal or destructive of the rule of law, as TwitchytheSquirrel implies.
"The principal characteristic of supporters of the Bush administration is their complete lack of faith - lack of faith in our Constitution and system of government, lack of faith in the true principles of Christianity that so many of them claim to admire, and lack of faith in the American people."
John Mitchell February 6th, 2008 2:37 pm
But isn't this whole indictment thing about the lack of faith that 'progressives' have in those same American institutions? So much for the Constitution and the rule of law. Let's just make the law up as we go along.
There's so much hate and delusion here that a shrink could spend his entire lifetime trying to clean it all up.
Vermont sounds like a great place to love to me. The state that has a growing secessionist movement and now wants to throw the criminals Bush and Cheney in jail sounds like a paradise compared to the rest of the country that lets them get away with their crimes.
Hey Brattleboro folks,
Thanks again for your push to imprison Bush and Cheney. Do you think we could organize a larger movement to go after Erik Prince and Blackwater for advocating homicidal murder?
RE: Little Brother February 6th, 2008 3:53 pm
"RegisteredRepublican: Don't go away mad…"
...just go, and take your filthy Republican propaganda where people don't mind if you are singing out of tune & walking out of step with the majority of Americans. We're sick of a minority trying to rule, especially since they have proven themselves such failures at governing!
At least this story begins to fill the media void. If our so-called leaders betray us they no longer deserve our trust or support.
This link ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/ - Social Contract (Podcast or 'listen again')
is of interest in the context of this story.
I agree with an earlier comment that points to the probability that all the early negative emails were from trolls.
Please post items to me at gmail and I'll endeavour to post them all .. I have a global audience that is hitting my blog fast on this "item" . the more global pressure that is brought to bear, so much the better.
Here are my two action headlines for today:
http://ladybroadoak.blogspot.com/2008/02/special-prosecutor-information-...
in which anyone can find appropriate legal eduction .. don't let Cheney get away with pardons . this is a real possibility.
and second:
http://ladybroadoak.blogspot.com/2008/02/congress-moves-to-seize-control...
I hope some people will get active on the second item -
Congress Moves To Seize
Control Of All US Water
From Bathtubs To Baptismal Fonts, Congress Moves
To Give the Corps of Engineers Control Of All U.S. Waters
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
Please pass this information along as well to everyone you know as there are deadlines.
Thanks everyone who visits my site, as that cross fertilizes all the efforts against the Klusterfuck and MORE people get involved.
Environmental people, people going bankrupt or starving, human rights organizations, antiwar people .. all global people must work together now, the time has come.
There are swickis on these things on my blog - please help build them!!
Virginia
GREAT WORK< VERMONT!! The world is watching and finding out thanks to you.
Dear Common Dreams
I have a true desire to create a full page NYTIMES ad, in which we demonstrate American solidarity for congress to take up the matters of felonious behavior by the Bush administration.
I have been working with Kurt and others for the Brattleboro Resolution for the Indictment of Bush and Cheney and we would like to extend the opportunity for more people around the country to stand with Brattleboro.
Our vision for the ad is to have at the top half of the page a photo of a fancy table with platters steaming on it. Two candlesticks with lit long-tapered candles and a red rose. Behind the table are two waiters- you don't see faces, they have white gloves on, they are each holding a platter with the lid opened so you can see what's on them..
The platters on the table will have IMPEACHMENT, INDICTMENT, SUBPOENA, the ones in the hands of the waiters will have WARRANT and ARREST - Steam billows from each.
The headline of the AD will read: Americans have impeachment on the table. And More.
Below will be room for a longer message, where I want to firmly establish who are serving us in congress, and name them, and suggest that everyone else may just as well pull a seat up at this table with this administration if they can't apply the rule of law to the executive branch. and more.....
My plan is to only ask one dollar per person for this very expensive ad and describe that fact therein, making it a voice of many ad. The ad costs 167,156.- Ideally we could get it in before the March resolution is voted. I am going to collect for 3 months and make the largest ad i can with however much we generate.
We have an account at Brattleboro Savings and Loan Bank called The NYTIMES BUSH INDICTMENT FUND... Tomorrow i will get a PO box, and that will be named The Bush Indictment Box..
Think about how many people you know would give a buck to tell this to Congress publicly and tell the world as well. Check back here and find the po box number and send on what you have...Until then you can send directly to the bank itself PO Box 1010 , Brattleboro VT 05301 with a check made out to :
NYTIMES BUSH INDICTMENT FUND.
Thanks very much
we have an email address too
nytimesbushindictmentfund@gmail
thanks so much
This is the only way that the US can in any way begin the very urgent process of it's own Global Rehabilitation.
The entire cabal, including the "expert scholars" at AEI and other right wing nutfarms should be tried for treason.
can someone be persuaded to send george and dick to brattleboro for the fate they so justly deserve?
Mr. Daims: thank you for a serious response to a serious thought experiment. I did not at all mean to suggest that is not a worthwhile effort and I surely did expect that someone there had actually asked the same thing.
Many doom and gloomers moping here could imagine this scenario as an appropriate opening to a totalitarian coup. "Well, here I am; what are you gonna do about it?"
I completely understand that shame is not an expected consequence of a just action, even if it were to backfire. And we may yet realize that any greatness of our founders was contained in that moment they decided to act. Brattleboro has added their voice to many others at the bottom pleading for those at the top to exercise the remedies contained in our founding documents.
DiabloRoco,
People like you are part of the problem. If the foot soldiers refused to go then the criminals who send you to the killing fields would be powerless. But you do go and then have the audacity to brag about it.
Mr. Lawrence poses the most provocative scenario, but it is also the least likely, and not worth considering. The fear of shame has already been addressed, and that is of primary concern for very few people polled here in Brattleboro, and they ask or imply the same question, but I think it is a minor distraction, and is already dismissed by the strong majorities that favor the Indictment and have been widely reported. No need for shame, Mr. Lawrence. You have their support.
The more portentous part is the drafting and publication of an indictment. When other more powerful jurisdictions see such a document, there is cause for action. Obviously I don't need to convince y'all of the symbolic value of this measure. alities But we're shooting ouselves in the foot if we prejudge its practical potential. Mr. Lawrence, don't worry that it's not a legal document. The Declaration of Independence wasn't a legal document, either. If Bush is not impeached, the actual implementation of the indictment will depend less on technicalities and more on the will of the people, and the will of the people grows stronger against Bush every day.
(Kurt Daims)
Bushindictment@gmail.com
From and acorn a great oak tree grows, this is how a small community in Vermont can change the thinking of a whole nation.
Cheney and Bush and their supporters have done more harm to the USA than any enemy, perceived or real, could dream of.
Listening to Romney today reminded me how the neo-cons play to the stupid, how they tell the no-hopers what a great nation it is, the same people who have dragged this nation to an economic and cultural disaster area.
Indict Nancy Pelosi, too and the rest Bush's congressional supporters as the war crime enablers.
The people of Brattleboro have made a great statement, articulated by http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/06/6881/
about the crimes of Bush and Cheney.
Bush and Cheney while in office are quite invulnerable to prosecution since they control the federal judiciary and no federal prosecutor is going to seek a grand jury or warrant against them. Considering their administration has lead to the deaths of so many, Americans and Iraqis, Impeachment should have been "on the table" when the facts of the false representations about the need for war that were made to congress came to light. Indeed since Iraq had not attacked America and could not, the War according to US and international law was illegal from the start.
Bush and Cheney could not have done and could not continue their outrageous deadly conduct without the complicity of members of congress. Congress which has provided the funds, and refused to even investigate the charges of illegality brought against the president by other members of congress.
In particular, Nancy Pelosi, said impeachment was off the table. No wonder, perhaps she is too deeply involved herself. She has also acknowledged that she knew of the Bush administration's illegal wiretapping even before the 9/11 events which are used to justify the extreme measures. Again while it might seem that Rep. Pelosi is an "accessory" to the crimes of the Bush administration, she is protected by the disabled federal justice system.
In case "crimes" seems to harsh and judgmental or politically motivated, a short list the crimes referred to are the acknowledged violation of US wiretapping laws, the FISA law, the permitting and/or advocating the use of torture, violations of Geneva conventions, kidnapping AKA "extraordinary rendition."
The question for attorneys is: have Representative Nancy Pelosi and other members of congress violated state laws in any of this and could a local authority initiate a grand jury proceeding against any of the complicit members of congress? While Brattleboro certainly cannot arrest the President, a member of congress could very well be detained or issued a subpoena to appear before a grand jury. The Bush war on Iraq has taken the lives of thousands of American servicemen, some from every state, as well as killing tens of thousands of Iraq children. The commencement of the war was planned before 9/11 and was based on false pretenses and carried out in violation of US and International law. There is a web of collaborators in this enterprise involving fraud, market manipulation, profit and murder and which reaches into virtually every state in the nation. If a fraud indictment of Bush can be drafted by Elizabeth de la Vega against Bush, surely an indictment can be drafted in California against his collaborator, Nancy Pelosi. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-32.htm.
On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of innocent dead as a result of the 7 years of the Bush war, those responsible for this would should be subject to arrest in many jurisdictions, at home as well as in France, Spain, etc., just as former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was in France recently.
As TheMan wrote above, "If there are no consequences to their actions people in power (government and corporate) will forever feel the entitlement to do anything they please no matter how many people it hurts or how illegal it may be." Unless the rule of law is affirmed and the constitution is defended, it will become only a piece of paper. I am told the USSR had a constitution but no one dared defend it and it was ignored.
Citizens committees across America can help ensure that Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi, Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman, and others cannot casually vacation where ever they please without risk of arrest for war crimes, crimes against humanity or simple fraud.
Didn't read ALL the posts. Has anyone asked the obvious? Resolution in place GW decides to come to Brattleboro to see if can get himself arrested.
What happens when nothing happens and GW throws the finger at all his detractors?
Sure I'd like to see him arrested... and tried and imprisoned. We're more likely to get spittle in our faces.
It's all been said! So why are these guys still running the American government?????????
In response to pennerblu: "What I would like to know is how the Brattleboro movement actually started. I am hoping someone can post any information on its beginnings."
For the long answer, go to Kurt Daims' comment on Google news, just posted yesterday.
Here's the short answer:
Yes, we too were screaming "What does it take?!!"
Dan deWalt had marshalled local and national outcries for impeachment, by taking the small step of introducing an impeachment resolution at Town Meeting in his small town near Brattleboro. The response here and nationwide was astoundingly supportive.
Last year, dozens of other VT towns followed with passage of their own impeachment resolutions. We then turned our attention to the Vt State Legislature as the best hope to pass an bill calling for impeachment, which would trigger Jefferson's Manual rules demanding Congress to act upon it. We pleaded with them to listen to the voice of the people - the two years' of town meeting results showed overwhelming support for impeachment. We were successful in the State Senate, where, after personal calls and discussions (even at home) to the Senate President pro tem (yes, one can do that here in VT), he pulled a fast one and had the Senate pass a historic call for impeachment, the first legislative body in the nation to do so. However, the Vt Speaker of the House was still intransigent (sound familiar??), and despite hundreds of Vermont citizens converging twice on the Statehouse with eloquent pleas for action in this time of crisis, she refused to lead the House to passing it's own bill. By a hair, the trigger for Jefferson Manual fell short.
The cries of "What does it take!" leaped heavier and heavier in our hearts, as the list of scandals, cover-ups and criminal behavior to which we've been subjected over the past seven years grew painfully longer.
A few of us were inspired to meet several times to brainstorm next possible steps, looking for some way to ramp up the national dialogue, and to devise real tangible steps to bring about the necessary impeachment hearings.
Several ideas surfaced and were explored: A national Musicians for Impeachment. A weekly March to Impeach through our small downtown. Support of John Niremburg's march to Washington. Etc.
Then, the idea surfaced of the possibility of some kind of real legal action: Press charges. Warrant for arrest. Citizens arrest. Indictment. Grand Jury. Any or all of the above. Who really knew what could fly.
Personally, I thought this was the best possibility, and strongly advocated for it over a couple of meetings. If anything, it maybe had the best chance of attracting national press attention, and if we were successful in finding a template, it could be modelled in other places. Someone was assigned to contact lawyers, etc.
Next thing i knew, Kurt was running with it. Since we were getting closer to the deadline for submitting Town Meeting petitions, he drafted an indictment resolution, revised it, drafted a longer statement explaining the legal and Constitutional foundations for the resolution, ran it by a lawyer or two, and then started standing outside, day after day on Main Street, mostly alone, gathering signatures. The public support for such a farfetched groundbreaking step was astounding. When a small technical glitch in the wording forced us to scrap the original draft after 350 signatures, and start all over with only 5 days til deadline, we blitzed the streets and telehones and email, and the signatures simply flew right back onto the petition sheets.
And then, more than we ever expected, it took a life of its own, with the national and international media covering it widely, and with thousands of emails and comments streaming into Brattleboro, praising our town and its citizens in the loftiest of terms for the courageous step of bringing this Resolution forward, and with increasing reports of other localities modeling our effort here.
We are humbly pleased with those results. We did not feel brave or bold or courageous in doing we what we did. We simply proceeded with what seemed to be the next logical steps in this time of crisis.
We do not know the course of history as it unfolds. Maybe this will go away in a blip, or maybe it will continue to galvanize the nation to do the right thing.
We will work hard to produce a positive result at Town Meeting when the whole town will vote on it by ballot, and we will continue to encourage any and every legal avenue to end the current nightmare regime, and to bring the necessary accountability back onto the table.
Let us hope that we all, collectively, can succeed in this as well.
Thanks for listening.
While others have addressed this point more thoroughly and better, I wish to add a comment to this early partisan reflex:
"Indicting Bush and Cheney and arresting them for something or other is a FINE idea, AFTER they have been replaced at The White House by Democrats. Meanwhile, you have a more important election to be working on."
This notion that addressing criminality is subordinate to election strategy is imbecilic. It also suffers from internal inconsistency. That is: the great meaning that this election might have derives exactly from the Bush administration's impeachable, arrestable awfulness.
Therefore, the argument is bad on its merits and badly reasoned. It will probably carry the day.
To appreciate the urgency of this and similar initiatives, search for NSPD51 in Google & Wikipedia.
But first, put on a sweater: the implications are chilling.
1777 to 1796 Vermont was an independent country - sad that they joined this mad house!
Ya gotta love Vermont. Occasionally they vote, out of exasperation, to secede from the Union.
"Most of the unfavorable mail is incoherent, obscene or violent."
Mindless Brown Shirts, all of them. This is the demographic Hitler needed to get his ball rolling. They're always around.
BushCo and the Neocons know it.
Why are Republicans generally so hateful, so uncharitable, so unloving? particularly since they profess to believe in the number one socialist mentioned in the Holy Bible . . . you know . . . that 'do goodie' liberal pinko . . . oh, what's his name? it's on the tip of me tongue.
auntEm, regarding your remark "I would bet that a good many of the supportive messages received by the Brattleboro town government office were coming from moderate Republicans...", I did "get out the vote" calling at the last congressional vote and several Republicans told me they were voting Democrat for the first time because they were so sick of the mess we were in. I wonder what they're thinking now that things have all just carried on business as usual?
Pennerblu said he'd like to hear more about how this all started in Brattleboro. I would too. Maybe Bob Audette could write another article?
Thomas O. Anderson 6:21 pm
Thanks for the link to your video at YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHTyE_soY8w
It's excellent! AND it fits right in to this discussion. (judging from a few comments there and here).
**Fascism cannot succeed without Propaganda**.
**History Repeats**
Propaganda can be subtle and take many shapes. Every day we see people who are convinced that anyone who is not a Democrat has to be either a Republican neo-con or WAY out on the tinfoil hat fringe. Beyond that, they cannot see (or refuse to look).
I would bet that a good many of the supportive messages received by the Brattleboro town government office were coming from moderate Republicans and Libertarians, both of whom have to classify themselves in the same party with the neo-cons in order to have a successful run for public office almost anywhere or even to be able to vote in a state Primary.
As for me, I've been a registered Dem for over 50 years and have held office as a Dem and my preference for President was Kucinich until he was forced to drop out in order to defend his Congressional seat which was suddenly under unexpected powerful attack. (We ALL need him there in Congress).
Now my preference is Nader (if he runs), then Paul, McKinney or even Gravel -- all of which are feared and censored/ignored by the DNC & RNC -- so I have no idea what I can call myself. It is certain that *Democrat* no longer fits.
Anyway, I hope the message from Brattleboro reverberates across the land and gets repeated far and wide. And I hope everyone realizes this is NOT a Dem vs GOP issue.
As a `Nam combat vet it's thrilling that Iraq and `Nam vets were among those who support the BushCheney impeachment! Get some! ROTFLMAO
Brattleboro's citizens have demonstrated that they have integrity and true guts unlike Crawford Tx.
In York Pennsylvania, about two years ago, the city council there held a similar vote to impeach the two paranoid schizophrenics Bush and Cheney.
The council had voted overwhelmingly to impeach, but unlike the Brattleboro citizens and their council, York's city and county citizens (who held Bushdumb and Cheneydumber in awe), were aghast at the decision and inundated the council's phone lines and emial boxes with vituperative death theats or demands for impeaching every council member who voted for that symbolic vote.
Go Brattleboro!
re: Beach Impeach
Wouldn't it be more effective to have a thousand people on Pelosi's doorstep? Why go to the beach where she can't see you?
How about in front of a tv station, demanding fair coverage of everything from Iraq Lies, the Spying and 9/11 too.
Cointelpro is leading these beach marches- we need counter-cointelpro to re-divert the movement towards something real.
If we can't impeach these psycho criminals then perhaps we should just impale their sicko heads on the end of spears ... (not ala britney)
down with Peelousy obstruction! give Cindy that slot!
we need more real people in gov't leadership, not rat sellouts ...
Render the criminals powerless and take back our power and country!
SAVE your humanity : save all of humanity!
60% of americans don't want to impeach Bush acording to polls. Has that changed? I love the beach gatherings and hope people will hear about them since the press won't cover them. It would be quite impressive if the people actually managed to make a difference. A glimmer of hope in the darkness.
Impeach Bush & Cheney. Impeach Pelosi too. What a sorry excuse for "Speaker". She does not speak for me or for the country. She should read the Constitution. It is up to the House to bring charges of impeachment, and up to the Senate to then try the case. By taking impeachment "off the table", she abrogated her responsibility and duty under the Constitution and effectively gave these criminals a pass for all actions past and future in their administration.
Any member of the House who has not signed on and supported a bill for impeachment should also be impeached. They are co-conspirators in this criminal enterprise called our government. Since they don't have the decency, morals, sense, or cojones to do what the Constitution requires, then they have failed to uphold their oaths to defend the Constitution, and the nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
So, it is our duty to cast them off. That means nothing short of a revolution is called for. Lock & load.
"WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States may use waterboarding to question terrorism suspects in the future, the White House said Wednesday, rejecting the widely held belief that the harsh practice amounts to torture."
It's like being a little bit pregnant.
Thumb screws, hot irons, eye gouging, the rack and iron maidens - it's all just a matter of degree. Perhaps, for public entertainment, floggings, hangings, beheadings and burnings at the stake. If either political party objected to these things they would have done something about it years ago.
Will the American people allow themselves and their children to be herded into this dark night?
So it seems.
I don't think the overwhelming support for Brattleboro should not be a surprise to anyone. Bush BARELY got voted in in 2005. That was including the fraud voting that supposedly squeaked him in. Even the 'Sorry Everybody' website kept track of of photos that stated that almost half of this country was against Bush staying in office. None of this is news.
The mystery is why are Bush and Cheney still in office even after electing democrats who were voted in part to dismantle the Bush administration. We have screamed "What does it take?" so many times. What I would like to know is how the Brattleboro movement actually started. I am hoping someone can post any information on its beginnings.
We need 10% of the U.S. to act--about 30 million people
You can thank Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats for selling us out.
cindy sheehan for congress
cindyforcongress.org
Or perhaps rendition?
Can Brattleboro add something asking for extradition from other localities?
ps For those who have looked at the link above in my first post, those events were the efforts of one person's vision.
COME ON, PEOPLE, LIGHT YOUR FIRE !! COME ON, PEOPLE, LIGHT YOUR FIRE !! COME ON, PEOPLE, LIGHT YOUR FIRE !! COME ON, PEOPLE, LIGHT YOUR FIRE !!
The petition that Seekingpeace recommends is modeled on the one I wrote to put the "article" on the town ballot in Brattleboro and it is appropriate for many towns in Vermont and New England. Check local laws to see how citizen legislation is enacted. Maybe your community has a different process. PLEASE KEEP US POSTED PLEASE KEEP US POSTED PLEASE KEEP US POSTED
Kurt Daims
Bushindictment@gmail.com
Gandydancer & Seekingpeace ~ Yes, Yes!!
It's all about grassroots, baby
We The People...
Impeach.
Okay, folks, Why Not Join Brattleboro in your own town? Here in Portland, Oregon, a friend and I prepared a petition and are having an easy time getting signatures. Here is the petition text:
PETITION: Indict Bush and Cheney for
Crimes Against Our U.S. Constitution
We, the undersigned voters of the City of [name of city], petition our City Council to place the following article on the City Council Meeting ballot for ___________________________, 2008:
Shall the [name of city] City Council instruct the City Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities; and shall it be the law of the City of [name of city] that the [name of city] Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George W. Bush and Richard Cheney in [name of city] if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them?
We added a great info page of reasons for the indictment, taken mostly from this helpful site: http://www.westpointgradsagainstthewar.org/laws_and_treatıes_violated_by_pr.htm
Let's get this puppy on the road across the country, shall we? Enough talk. Time for action.
Good for you, Brattleboro! Thanks for this effort, and I hope it is successful! They should both be arrested for war crimes.
Way to go good people of Brattleboro!
This action was mentioned at Huff Post a few days ago and this site was mentioned in the followup:
http://ladybroadoak.blogspot.com/2008/01/arrest-warrants-being-issued-by...
Good people of Brattleboro, you may never know how many people reading this may be thinking, "I wonder if this would work in...", in my case Alna, Maine.
Hmmm, I wonder what would happen if I dug out my Iraq antiwar costume of Underdog fighting the evil Simon Bar Sinister (and his equally cowardly assistant Cad) who are working to take over the world....and stood on that corner by the post office and collected signatures...hmmm...
Here on the "Left Coast" in the San Francisco Bay Area there is a large movement toward impeachment. The people have been 'taking it to the streets' Or I should say "To the Beach" http://www.beachimpeach.org/photos.html
I have taken part in four of these Beach Impeach events involving thousands of people. It's a most awesome experience. Sadly though, MSM ignores these mass turnouts. Only one of our local media stations gave us any coverage at all; and it was very brief.
Still, I'm a strong believer in grassroots movements and will continue to push forward toward impeachment. If we the people let Bu$hco walk, you can kiss our democracy goodbye. These looters must be held accountable.
Peace
RegisteredRepublican February 6th, 2008 3:25 pm
go back to cnn or fox where you belong
Investigate - Impeach - Indict - Imprison
My 2 minute YouTube supporting Brattleboro and ALL those awakening from the seductive trance of a corrupted media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHTyE_soY8w
Whether or not this means "the beginning of the end for Bush and Co.," it is critical that we all give it a try. We need for this to spread to other towns and cities, so it grows beyond just one small courageous Vermont town. I understand that Portland, Oregon has it going. There are other places as well. Tell us what you are doing and where. For example, there is an earlier comment from rebelnow:
"It's the small seemingly insignificant gestures like this that can ignite a major shift in consciousness that may spread throughout. A similar petition has started in my community. It might look silly and fruitless to some, but it could ignite a movement."
Tell us where?
So far, every indication is that some 60% of the general public feels its the right thing to do. Check out the Brattleboro email count. Check out the USAToday Quick Poll, before it was taken down. Etc. So, it just needs a little nudge to get it going almost wherever you are, especially in the more receptive areas. Just try. It'll take a life of its own, as it has in/from Bratt
The exact language is not important...use that of Brattleboro, or get an indictment of your own. As more and more towns come on board, the experts, the lawyers, the courts, the constitutional scholars will find the language and the precise legal mechanism to fit the current critical situation.
Man, am I proud of my hometown or what? No matter how small of a move we make as Americans, it's better than doing nothing. Most of this country is more interested in Britney Spears' rehab than they are with the fact that we are RAPIDLY losing our liberties and right as Americans. We must take action, no matter how small.
If we don't, our country is lost. I'm so sick of conservatives telling me that "united we stand" crap, because they don't unite. They blindly follow their president because they feel it's their patriotic duty. They are completely wrong. So much so, that I wonder if they realize their "patriotism" is nothing more than masked fascism and totalitarianism. IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AND DUTY AS AMERICANS TO REPLACE OUR GOVERNMENT WHEN IT NO LONGER WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE, DECEIVES ITS PEOPLE, THROWS THE MIDDLE FINGER AT THE CONSTITUTION, AND PUTS OUR COUNTRY'S SAFETY AT RISK, which is exactly what this administration has done. Bush, Cheney et. al. are criminals. Period. They belong in PRISON. My worry is, if we wait until after the election to hold them accountable, it will never be done. No one can convince me that the next president will take care of this. In fact, I would not be at all surprised if the Bush/Cheney crimes are swept under the carpet completely - memories of Ford pardoning Nixon come to mind.
Lastly to REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: notice that Common Dreams DID put your comments on the site, however wrong they may be. LIBERAL MEDIA???? ARE YOU CRAZY? The media sold the war to the sheep and they followed. The media doesn't report on anything of real concern (American Idol??? Please.), rather, they have distracted everyone from the important issues. Other than Keith Olbermann, we have no journalist or pundit with enough balls to confront Bush head-on. We need the media to repeat over and over and over what Bush has said and done over the past 8 years, just as they repeated over and over and over again that Clinton got a blow job in the White House and lied under oath. While I was not much of a Clinton fan either, try weighing the difference between impeaching a president for lying to a Grand Jury about a private, illicit affair, and NOT impeaching a president who deliberately manipulated information that let up to our current illegal occupation of Iraq, all the while making references to 9/11. Completely despicable. Our "war" in Iraq has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11!!!!!!! 9/11 was a convenience for this administration, so they could use the country's fury to justify revenge against a country that had nothing to do with it (and don't get me started about the fact that I believe our government was, at the very least, deliberately complicit in allowing 9/11 to happen, in order to justify war). Bush has done NOTHING to protect us - instead he's created more terrorists than ever Bush has done NOTHING to help our economy, instead created the largest deficit in history. Bush has done NOTHING to help the returning soldiers from the severe trauma they faced while being brainwashed into murdering tens of thousands of civilians - many of them CHILDREN. We are only beginning to see the affects this war will have on these men and women. Research the high suicide rate among the soldiers. Research the amount who have snapped and killed others because they cannot handle assimilation back to civilian life.
Ok, my rant's done. Thanks for all of the positive comments about our town. The negative feedback our Selectboard received can be disregarded as ignorant rants from Bush's sheep. They hang on to the notion that their president can do no wrong, and stick with their party no matter what the consequences. They are not Americans. In fact, they are the shame of our country.
Thank you, Kurt Daims, for having the guts to do SOMETHING. I'm glad you're a citizen of our town (and I'm even your neighbor)! If this country took more action as you did, Bush & Cheney would already have been removed from office. They are CRIMINALS. They must be punished.
C'mon and visit Brattleboro, people. We'd be glad to have you. It's a charming slice of Americana with a unique, artistic flavor that you'd enjoy. And who knows? You may just fall in love with the place and want to relocate - and we'd be happy to have you.
Accountability + impeachment + criminal convictions + completely new government = PEACE and prosperity.
Be well, everyone.
Daniel David: when are you going to STOP ruining the asthetics of this site, being it's a progressive site, and NOT a DEMOCRAT site, with ur diatribe against anything or anybody who isn't a democrat??? This isn't "democraticdreams.org".
when will you finally admit to your responsiblity of having cast a vote that essentially helped to elect the WORST president in history by NOT voting for Nader???
could you at least post your comments further down the line so i can at least hear a few COHERENT thoughts before i hear your inane ramblings???
thanks you very much..
and Bush and Cheney and the rest of the Enablers are not only criminals and should be treated as such, but they are also terrorists. look up the definition some time. and the last i saw and witnessed, the Democrats were coplicit and just as guilty as Bush and Cheney.
Until a united front of peaceful and organized American people forcibly remove the cancer that is killing this republic, America will always be a refuge for terrorists.
Just for the record, I wrote the "indictment" to TAKE LEGAL EFFECT after B&C are out of office, but the intention is as Mr. Corbeil exhorts, to effect the removal of B&C ASAP.
" Daniel David February 6th, 2008 11:52 am
Indicting Bush and Cheney and arresting them for something or other is a FINE idea, AFTER they have been replaced at The White House by Democrats. Meanwhile, you have a more important election to be working on."
FALSE.
Those matters can be worked on at the same time; but then we don't have valid candidates anyway, that is, except for McKinney, Nader (if he runs), Gravel (if he's still running), Paul; or Kucinich, if or when voters choose to write his name on their ballots. And most voters aren't going to vote on valid candidates, so ....
Non-elite and therefore non-privileged citizens would be criminalised for matters not even half as bad as what many politicians represent; yet electorate mysteriously thinks that privileging some citizens, as well as non-citizens, and while criminalising other people for lesser crimes, sometimes not even real crimes (e.g., marijuana ...), is okay.
A minimally double-standards country it is, and voters pretend that voting for the lesser of two evils in the USA is not voting for evil; very nearly. Many admit it, and they thereby admit being complicit in the crimes of the U.S. in terms of more war of aggression and other crimes against Humanity.
Obama clearly stated his position in terms of the criminal threats against Iran and the U.S.-Israel hell reined in upon Palestinian and Lebanese populations, as well as threats against Syria; and he, Obama, was strongly in favour of all of this hellbent criminality against Humanity's innocent and too or very defenceless populations.
He hasn't retracted those statements, and neither has Billary, for she's definitely no better.
And no sane, honest, and informed politician or group representative can get away with such criminality; not even all incompetence of non-criminal nature is acceptable for group representation. And if Obama was and is incompetent enough to not be able to realise that both of his above stands are very criminal, then he's also proven himself to be unfit in terms of only judging competence level. But I don't think he was and is as hellishly ignorant as this; there's awareness on his part, surely.
Either way, he's proven himself to be unfit for as long as he does not correctly retract those criminal stands.
"THE (WHOLE) WORLD IS A STAGE".
Now, where do you think politics is in that "picture"?
Try 'front'. Politics, (sort of) like idiots believing they're voting in a democracy of authentic kind, in which votes from the general masses would really count, it's all a put-on. It's a bs stage act, which is, but should not be reflective of real society. The opposite being what we have for the greater reatlity is definitely unwelcome.
Lemmings are innocently dumb; but humans? I think 'mostly not'; much, anyway.
People can work on disneyland Nov. 2008 elections, while also working on indicting Bush and Cheney NOW!
We here in Brattleboro aren't experts, but we'd love to help. I'll be on the radio tonight around 9:05 at WBCR 97.7 FM just around GB, Massachusetts, and on www.berkshireradio.org streaming internet.
If Brattleboro does it, then it's a great gesture, and mostly symbolic, but other places catch on, it's really the beginning of the end for Bush. The media have concentrated on the more sensational part of the indictment, which is the putative arrest of B&C. The more portentous part is the drafting and publication of an indictment. When other more powerful jurisdictions see such a document, there is cause for action. Obviously I don't need to convince y'all of the symbolic value of this measure. But we're shooting ouselves in the foot if we prejudge its practical potential. Don't worry that it's not a legal document. The Declaration of Independence wasn't a legal document, either. If the day comes, don't you think a patriotic or progressive lawyer will bend or overlook or reinterpret the technicalities for the sake of national security, which is threatened more by Bush and Cheney than by anything outside our borders? Matters of law are decided not just by statutes, but also by politics, common law and ethics, and such cases are not all abstruse. (For example no one should expect to be convicted for stealing bandages to help the victim of an auto accident.) Hang on for a surprise. If Bush is not impeached, the actual implementation of the indictment will depend less on technicalities and more on the will of the people, and the will of the people grows stronger against Bush every day. Please think about it.
(Kurt Daims)
Bushindictment@gmail.com
Bruce Fein, who helped draft articles of impeachment for both Nixon and Clinton, spoke in Ashland, Oregon last night. He spent the day talking with students at Southern Oregon University about our history, and about the Constitution, and about how it has been compromised by the Bush administration. He asked for no remuneration for his visit. I won't go into details because you all know the details of the devastation wrought by Bush & Co., but he said, in essence, that if we don't move to impeach Bush and Cheney, we risk permanent loss of our democracy. Those who are running for the Presidency today make no mention of returning power to the people. There is no talk of eliminating torture and closing Guantanemo, restoring the writ of habeas corpus, stopping illegal wiretapping. Presidence will have been set, and going forward, the executive branch of our government will have absolute power. There are many issues, the importance of which progressives argue with each other about. Bruce said none of them are as critical as insisting the Bush administration be made to account for their complete disregard for the Constitution. They have committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and Nancy Pelosi does not have the right to take impeachment off the table. The only way to move the legislative branch of our government is to make ourselves visible. Individual letters to your Congressional and Senate representatives (not mass emails) that say that you will not vote for them if they don't act, will make a difference, according to Bruce Fein. Picket Nancy Pelosi's offices. Take out ads in the paper. Write letters to the editors of all your local papers. Send petitions to your representatives. Insistance on impeachment will send a message to Washington that the People are taking back their government. If we don't act now, we may lose all that we hold dear.
Me too! I want to order something from Brattleboro. Must be some sort of town product
Too bad the UN couldn't issue an international warrant for their arrest and force Bush and Cheney to stay in the USA in utter shame (or in some other rogue nation).
Registered Republican: who refused to post your comments? We all read them.
I was once run off of a conservative site for proving their illogic.
Is anyone running you off of this site? If you can stand the heat, you are welcome to stay.
You must be confused. "nazi-socialist-liberal" thoughts...
First of all, the nazis were conservative corporate pirates like the Bush admin...they hated socialism as much as Bush hates the idea of free health care for all children.
Secondly, what is wrong with a good social perspective in government? Socialim in moderation makes perfect sense. When you equate socialism with evil you become the fanatic.
Thirdly, the word liberal means liberty, as in the individual liberties your president GW Bush has been wantonly eroding since he took office!
Unplug FOX News, dust off your thesaurus, and get with the program pal!
John Freeman 3:26pm
There IS a test to detect sociopaths. If anyone can listen to Rush Limbaugh for more than five minutes and NOT have an adverse reaction - they are a sociopath.
RegisteredRepublican: Don't go away mad...
Someday, if we survive all this and want to avoid it in the future....there HAS to be some kind of test that detects sociopaths.
Im done with your website
Why won't you post my comments? I thought this was a free country that encouraged freedom of expression however I see that only applies to liberals that agree with the liberal media!!!
Signed,
anonymous
As an American Citizen I am disgusted by you nazi liberal socialist thoughts. If you people think this way, must want to move to a country where you are all alike. Maybe something like North Korea, Iran perhaps.
Here's a thought: CITIZEN'S ARREST!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen%27s_arrest
Why won't you post my comments? I thought this was a free country that encouraged freedom of expression however I see that only applies to liberals that agree with the liberal media!!!
You are a model.
Can we set up the guillotine on the DC mall?
Sarah Ruth
[L]outravieso is the reason for the saying, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
dear sweet loutrevieso,
actually, given all the citations to administer to the poor in the Gospels, it's actually those who you follow who are going to Hell, not us. but not to worry, Hell is just a construct designed to enslave obviously overtaxed brains such as yours. when was the last time you had a vacation? i hear the heathens over in Europe are faring much better than our delud- erm, god-fearing country is with that. toodles.
loutravieso sez:
Before any of you speak, do you have someone in this liberal group is an expert in constutional law>????
The most obvious thing I note is that loutravieso him/herself hasn't managed to make it all the way through either the Constitution or the Declaration. For that matter, he obviously didn't understand the portion of the Declaration quoted in the article.
He advocates arrest and imprisonment based on Ideas. Not to mention that little side trip to HELL. His attitude is in clear violation of the Constitution he challenges US to understand and he espouses the exact sort of behaviour which prompted the founding fathers to commission Jefferson to write the declaration in the first place.
loutravieso, please do not blow a valve! I was thinking about that "Go to Hell" thing. Maybe since yourside has such a grip on heaven maybe I would rather go to Hell.
"Most of the unfavorable mail is incoherent, obscene or violent.". Incoherent, obscene, and violent - an accurate description of the Bush administration and its supporters.
loutravieso's response provides a good example, illustrating the viciousness that fear can arouse.
The principal characteristic of supporters of the Bush administration is their complete lack of faith - lack of faith in our Constitution and system of government, lack of faith in the true principles of Christianity that so many of them claim to admire, and lack of faith in the American people.
I think publishing a book of the emails is a great idea! A lot of people are not aware of how many "incoherent, obscene or violent" people there are out there who actually even know what email is.
Next will be a city, then a state, then the country. Hopefully then, justice will be served.
Any way to get the Bush Crime Family and the Giants and Yankees on the same plane?....
Thanks Battleboro for not crumbling before the typical intimidation. The thing is some of our tax money is probably being used to do it. Oh yes, we pay for all kinds of stuff we would never support. Here and abroad. It's one of the downsides of having so many secret and covert agencies in your government, that are run by shady people who have no oversight.
In her entertainingly instructive "The United States of America vs. George W. Bush, et al"
Elizabeth de la Vega sets a hypothetical grand jury scene with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Powell named as defendants charged with conspiracy to defraud the American people.
Good, fast-moving read.
excerpt from the Declaration of Independence
"...all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
... is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries (Blackwater anyone?) to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
GO Brattleboro, VT!!!
Brattleboro's Chamber of Commerce should now send Bush and Cheney an invitation to speak to the good citizens of Brattleboro to talk about the importance of being earnest.
What a courageous show of defiance against rogue authority. If the VP goes to Brattleboro to snarl "go f**k yourself" he'll be thrown in the slammer where he belongs. Remember - confrontation is the only language he understands. Anything else he interprets as your submission to his rule. He's seen plenty of evidence that Americans are willing to let him run roughshod all over them. This signals the kind of behavior that will work for him in the future.
It's the small seemingly insignificant gestures like this that can ignite a major shift in consciousness that may spread throughout. A similar petition has started in my community. It might look silly and fruitless to some, but it could ignite a movement.
Brattleboro was the home of one of the first cooperatively owned restaurants, opening in 1968(?), called Common Ground. It was a great place for simple food, good music, conversation, and just hanging out. I think it may have recently closed, yet Brattleboro may end up being an inspiration and a symbol of our Common Ground.
Just think, if there was an arrest warrant out for the Bush Gang in every state and every country, they wouldn't dare leave DC. Then we get the Mayor of DC....
I hear that a young boy named David slew a giant named Goliath with a small stone and a slingshot, while the mighty warriors on both sides jeered at his naivete. Three cheers for Vermont. If each of us did what little we could, following our consciences, who knows what we could accomplish?
Of course the negative emails were "violent or incoherent" We're talking the knuckle draggers here . . . Rush Limbaugh's butt boys. If you are Republican, you simply aren't human.
Indicting Bush and Cheney and arresting them for something or other is a FINE idea, AFTER they have been replaced at The White House by Democrats. Meanwhile, you have a more important election to be working on.
Yassuh, head robot boss suh. I'll make sure to only challenge authority when my obvious betters tell me to do so. /snorts in derisive laughter
I'm not surprised that your first mail responses were negative. I'm guessing that they were from people who follow their leader blindly and do not question his motives. They also could be from the apathetic Americans who really don't know our Constitution, and as long as they can come home to their beer and tv every night, let the government run the country as it pleases.
I wouldn't be surprised if the government had people regularly searching the for protest and dissent like yours, just so they could send immediate negative messages with violence threatened. After all, we have seen plenty of evidence that our wonderful president would like to root out and/or discourage dissent any way rhey can. Why else would he have started a secret spy campaign against the entire American public?
The Constitution is so clear on the division of powers and limited government that a sixth grader could understand it, and could see how Bush/Cheney have blatantly violated it over and over.
Why the Congress has been afraid to respond to this is beyond me. 90% of them, Democrats and Republicans both are a bunch of wimps who won't stand up for the Constitution either. If enough people were like this in 1776 we would still be part of the British Commonwealth.
You are the real patriots, with Bush,Cheney and "friends" the traitors.