Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Impeach Obama Immediately If Not Sooner






Constitution of the United States

Article I.    Section 2.   Clause 5.
The House of Representatives shall chuse [choose] their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 
Article. II.   Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors.

In the United States, the articles of impeachment are drafted by the House of Representatives for cases involving federal officials. Once drafted, a supermajority of the United States Senate is required to convict based on the articles. -Wikipedia



ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT EXHIBITED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE NAME OF ITSELF AND OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT OF ITS IMPEACHMENT AGAINST HIM FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS IN USURPING THE EXCLUSIVE PREROGATIVE OF CONGRESS TO COMENCE WAR UNDER ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8, CLAUSE 11 OF THE CONSTITUTION.

In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has usurped the exclusive power of Congress to initiate war under Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution by unilaterally commencing war against the Republic of Libya on March 19, 2011, declaring that Congress is powerless to constrain his conduct of the war, and claiming authority in the future to commence war unilaterally to advance whatever he ordains is in the national interest. By so doing and declaring, Barack Hussein Obama has mocked the rule of law, endangered the very existence of the Republic and the liberties of the people, and perpetrated an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor as hereinafter elaborated.

-Impeach Obama Campaign


   You know there are a lot of things I don’t like.
   For instance I don’t care for the ongoing bickering between CBS and Time Warner (currently Time Warner Cable has blacked out CBS stations due to a dispute concerning retransmission fees) which forces me to miss watching “Under the Dome,” the only thing that CBS is good for. For that matter I don’t like it that the Stephen King novel of which the television show is based is 1074 freaking pages long, and that King spends so much freaking time on characterization and back story that by the time we get to find out what’s behind the freaking dome we’re ready for the old folks home.
   Hey King... read a Koontz novel, any of them, and learn how it works. Life is short enough.
   My girlfriend is pissed with this dispute as well because she’s missing “Dexter.”
   She’s into serial killer killers, which should be a little alarming to me I guess. I’ll have to be extra diligent while sleeping from here on end.
   Don’t want to wake up wrapped in cellophane, that’s for sure.
   I don’t like it that cotton candy is pink.
   Oh, I know you can sometimes get designer cotton candy in other colors, most notably blue, but it usually comes in pink.
   I don’t like peanuts that are still in the shell.
   I don’t care for the “Sleeping Yogi” pose in yoga. It makes my butt itch.
   I don’t like it that it’s going to cost me $27.00 to get a California I.D. before my current one expires on my birthday this year. $27.00! How do you spell “RIP OFF!" For $27.00 it better make my bed and do the dishes for me. Jesus!
   And government I.D.s are so affordable and easy to get the Republicans say.
   I don’t like it that unlike other scientific units, which can theoretically be measured anywhere in the world based on natural properties, the kilogram is still based on a physical object: a cylinder of platinum and iridium that dates back to 1889. That just plain out sucks, as I’m sure you agree.
   I don’t like it that I have to wait a whole week to see the next episode of “Breaking Bad.” I want to know what’s going to happen NOW! Hey Vince Gilligan, take a look at “House of Cards,” will ya?
   I don’t like it that the Republican control the House of Representatives. In that I’m not alone. According to a NBC / Wall Street Journal poll taken last month, 83 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing in Washington, an all-time high in the poll. Just 12 percent approve of Congress' job, while 57 percent said they would replace every member of Congress if they could. Everyone!
   I don’t mind the Democrats so much, but the Republicans really piss me off.
   I don’t like it that Congress has been out of session since August 5th and will not return until the 9th of September when there is so much work for them to do (and then the House is scheduled for only 9 days of work in September). I’m seriously considering running for Congress myself... I could use the rest.
   I don’t like global warming, unequal distribution of wealth and resources, world hunger, human trafficking, over fishing, deforestation,  corporate welfare, Citizens United, the Supreme Court for that matter, sequestration,  Dancing with the Stars, on and on...
   And the Dutch of course.
   On and on...
   When I don’t like something I tend to write about it. It makes me feel better I suppose. If other people read it and agree, that’s great. If they read about and disagree that’s alright too. No one gets hurt or is punished in any way by my writing. It’s all rather harmless.
   Currently there’s a craze, I guess that’s what you’d call it, by some Republicans in Congress, and their political base, or rather those people who elected them to Congress, their constituents, to impeach President Obama.
   What is impeachment Rick? Do you throw peaches at the President, or something? Isn’t that illegal?
   No, no, no. No actual peaches are involved. According to Wikipedia “Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment.”
   So those calling for Obama’s impeachment are actually calling for his removal from office.
   So, what is an impeachable offense Rick, and who does the impeaching?
   Glad you asked. As shown above the Constitution states in Article I, Section 2, Clause 5, that the House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment. As for an impeachable offense, Article II, Section 4, the only impeachable offenses are treason, bribery, “or other High crimes and Misdemeanors.”
   What the hell does high crimes and misdemeanors mean Rick? Is there such a thing as a low crime?
   Why yes, there is. Jaywalking for instance would most likely be considered a low crime. As far as a concrete definition of high crimes and misdemeanors, there is none, and this is somewhat of a point of contention. House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford defined high crimes and misdemeanors in 1970 saying "An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
   Well, well, well, that’s pretty convenient if your party happens to be in charge of the House and you don’t like the President, like the situation we find ourselves in now, with the Republicans in charge of the House, and a Democrat as President.
   Yet that’s all the instructions, or all of the foundation the founding fathers provided, so we have to deal with it unless it is clarified in the future by the Supreme Court.
   But don’t hold your breath.
   Who else can be impeached Rick?
   By golly, the Vice President can too, as well all civil officers of the United States, whatever that means.
   What does it mean Rick?
   Well lots of people think it means members of Congress, since they’re the only other elected officials. The President’s staff and Cabinet would probably go with the President if he were forced out of office, so there would be no need to impeach them. Who else could it mean?
   Members of Congress disagree sometimes, and maintain that they are not civil officers of the United States, and are therefore immune to impeachment, which is pretty self serving if you ask me.
   So the House of Representatives can remove the President from office by impeaching him with a simple majority vote, Rick?
   Nope. It’s not that easy. If it was they would have done it a long time ago.
   First, the President has to be impeached by the House, and you’re right, that’s done with a simple majority vote. Once that’s been done the President has been “impeached.” Next, the whole shebang moves over to the Senate, so they can have some fun to. They get to try the President for whatever offense he (or she) has been impeached. A two thirds majority vote is required to convict the President. That process is presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States, who is also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. John Roberts holds that position now.
   Once convicted by the Senate the President is removed from office. If he (or she) refuses to leave, we send in the marines to throw their ass out.
   Depending on the offense, the President can still face criminal and civil charges in a regular court. Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon resigned from office before he could be impeached, but still could have faced criminal charges for interfering with the Watergate investigation while he was President, until Gerald Ford, now President, pardoned him of all future criminal charges.    
   Has there ever been a President who has been impeached Rick?
   Why yes, there has. Two of them.
   President Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 for trying to remove Secretary of War, one Edwin Stanton, from office without the consent of the Senate, which was then a violation of the Tenure of Office Act, a law later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But while it was in effect, the House impeached Johnson, who evaded conviction in the Senate, and removal from office by just one vote.
   Who else was impeached Rick?
   President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House on  December 19, 1998, on two counts of getting a blow job in the Oval Office by Monica Lewinsky, and then lying about it.
   Okay, okay... so how does this all fit in with President Obama? How many blow jobs has he gotten in the Oval Office, Rick?
   No, no, no! President Obama hasn’t gotten any blow jobs in the Oval Office at all as far as we know. No. The Republicans in the House, some of the Republicans, want to impeach him for... well I don’t know what they want to impeach him for. They don’t say what it is they want to impeach him for, but they sure do want to do it, I’ll tell you that.
   Impeaching the President “...would be a dream come true,” said Michigan Representative Kerry Bentivolio. I’m sure it would, for him and his Tea Party constituents.
   “A question I get a lot, ‘If everybody is so unhappy with the president, why don’t you impeach him?’” Texas Representative Blake Farenthold said at a town hall meeting recently. “I’ll give you a real frank answer about that, if we were to impeach the president tomorrow, we would probably get the votes in the House of Representatives to do it.”
   Probably? Well the Republicans do control the House, and all they require is a simple majority vote to impeach the President. But first they would need a specific impeachable offense, and then, knowing this action would be followed up by a trial in the Democratically controlled Senate, who would be very unlikely to convict the President for anything, what would be the point really?
   There wouldn’t be one.
   Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, the President’s close friend according to Coburn, has told his own constituents that Obama is “perilously close” to meeting the constitutional standards required for an impeachment trial.
   Really? For what exactly? Remember dear readers that little pesky requirement needed in order to impeach a President... an impeachable offense. Has the President committed treason? Well according to some he has. But we’ve discussed this at length and have decided in the real world if he’s committed a treasonous act worthy of impeachment, then every president since FDR (and a lot before him) has as well, because Obama hasn’t done anything any other president hasn't done in the past.
   Is the President guilty of bribery? Other than the “legal bribery” that every politician is guilty of in the form of campaign contributions, no. No one’s accused him of that to my knowledge, so we can move on.
   Okay, here we get to that hard to define “high crimes and misdemeanors” part.
    "I think there’s some intended violation of the law in this administration,” Coburn said at a town hall meeting, “but I also think there’s a ton of incompetence of people who are making decisions."
   We’ve discussed incompetence as an impeachable offense, and have decided it wasn’t. Again, this is an offense every president has been guilty of, especially Obama’s predecessor.
   Perhaps President Obama’s decision to intervene militarily in Libya was an impeachable offense, as those at “Impeach Obama Campaign” propose above. They even wrote their own Articles of Impeachment, which should save the House some time if they ever take it up. Democrat Dennis Kucinich even called for the president’s impeachment.
   But military action in Libya was UN backed and carried out by NATO, and no U.S. ground forces were involved, and therefore he was not impeached at the time.
   Perhaps he will be for attacking Syria without a mandate from the UN. We shall see.
   No it looks like certain Republicans in the Congress want to impeach the President simply because they don’t like Obama, or anything he’s done, or stands for. Perhaps they want to impeach him because their political base, their constituents, want him impeached simply because they don’t like him, or anything he’s done, or stands for.
    But he is the lawfully elected President. This is something Republicans find difficult to accept, so they don’t, and look for any excuse to remove him from office. The “Birther Movement,” is a prime example of this. Even though the President has provided ample proof that he was born in America and was eligible to run and win the presidency, some people refuse to accept that, because it doesn’t fit in their world view I guess. How could a black man, a man with the middle name of Hussein be our President? Didn’t we go to war to remove a guy with that very name, Saddam Hussein, from power. Maybe they're brothers. On and on.
   So these people cry and moan, much as I did when George W. Bush was President.
   So if Obama is not a legitimate president, but he holds the White House, any thing he does should be suspect, like his signature piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act, sometimes known as Obamacare. So Obamacare must be bad. Right wing propaganda outlets reinforce this belief, so conservatives are against the implementation of Obamacare and encourage their members of Congress to do whatever it takes to stop it’s implementation, like holding the federal government hostage by threatening to shut it down at the beginning of October when authorization for government spending expires if Obama doesn’t repeal or defund Obamacare, or give them everything else they want (like making the sequester cuts permanent). Or the same when the debt ceiling needs to be raised.
   Yet Obamacare is already the law of the land, upheld by the Supreme Court, which is something that outrages the Republican base. Even if Republicans in the House did shut down the government in October Obamacare would still be implemented, because that implementation has already been paid for, which some Republicans just can’t accept.
   So of course there’s only one thing for them to do... throw a tantrum, like little children, like little babies, who don’t get their way. Rather than respect the rule of law in this country, they’d rather tear it economically apart in a fit of childish rage, no matter what the consequences may be, or who gets hurt, even themselves (what will happen to these Republicans 401K’s if the government defaults on it’s obligations? They’ll probably lose as much as 20% of their value).
   Maybe it’s time for the Republicans, the base and those who represent them, to grow up and return to some form of rationality.
   Come on, try it. Just for a little while at least.
   I guarantee you won’t like it, but it is best for the country.
   Children usually want to take on adulthood as quickly as possible, I know I did.
   It’s time for Republicans and conservatives to want that too.

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