Reuters: Vermont towns seek to impeach Bush

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN0644242420070307

BOSTON (Reuters) - More than 30 Vermont towns passed resolutions on Tuesday seeking to impeach President Bush, while at least 16 towns in the tiny New England state called on Washington to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Known for picturesque autumn foliage, colonial inns, maple sugar and old-fashion dairy farms, Vermont is in the vanguard of a grass-roots protest movement to impeach Bush over his handling of the unpopular Iraq war.

"We're putting impeachment on the table," said James Leas, a Vermont lawyer who helped to draft the resolutions and is tracking the votes. "The people in all these towns are voting to get this process started and bring the troops home now."

<snip>

"The president must be held accountable," said Zuckerman, a politician from Burlington, Vermont's largest city.

After casting votes on budgets and other routine items, citizens of 32 towns in Vermont backed a measure calling on the U.S. Congress to file articles of impeachment against Bush for misleading the nation on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and for engaging in illegal wiretapping, among other charges.

...more...

[Eurobabe]

1. I love Vermont.

:hi: Lots of friends there.

[gratefultobelib]

2. Every time I read another story of towns and cities and state governments

taking these actions, it gives me hope!

[goclark]

3. How can we all join in -town by town?

[bdamomma]

4. call your state legislatures

if that helps.

[Shallah Kali]

11. ImpeachPac.org has a How-To page

http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions

Model impeachment resolutions, suggestions for petitions, links to groups already at work, etc.

[rodeodance]

5. Vermont's congressional delegation has shown no serious interest in the idea.....

The new Democratic-controlled Congress has steered clear of the subject, and Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold's call last year to censure Bush -- a step short of an impeachment -- found scant support on Capitol Hill, even among fellow Democrats.

Vermont's congressional delegation has shown no serious interest in the idea.....

[Peace Patriot]

6. That may be because they've had their lips zipped by Pelosi/Reid.

And, anyway, it's not up to them. It's up to the state legislature, which has the power, under Jefferson's Official Rules of Congress, to submit a bill of impeachment of the Prez/V-P to the U.S. House. If and when the VT state legislature acts, VT's Congressional delegation may change its tune. But it takes only ONE Congress member to accept the bill of impeachment in the U.S. House, and I don't know if it has to be from VT. Could be some other state's Congress member could accept it. Not sure about that. And it only takes ONE state legislature to get the ball rolling in the U.S. House. WA and NM are actively working on state bills. CA, Illinois and others were also interested (had bills submitted last year).

I believe VT was the first state to suggest impeachment, in a letter to the U.S. House--before Jefferson's Rule was discovered (by state rep Karen Yarborough of IL last year). VT then began working on converting the letter to a bill of impeachment.

[dogpatch]

12. Jefferson's Rule found by my dad

As far as I know he is the original author of the Jefferson's Rule impeachment resolution, also known as the "Rutland Resolution." He's a former federal prosecutor from LA who now lives in Vermont and we are damned proud of him.

---
As a young lawyer in the Los Angeles office of the Justice Department, he prosecuted antitrust cases during the Watergate era. The corruption he witnessed firsthand within the Nixon administration (a high-ranking Justice official once told him not to pursue a case, he recalls, because the suspects were “friends of the President, and we don’t sue friends of the President. Are you dumb?”) gnaws at him still. His blood is boiling now because of what he regards as another President’s unlawful conduct -- namely, what he regards as President George W. Bush’s flagrant violations of the Constitution’s due-process guarantees
---

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11448

[L. Coyote]

7. Interested in a Daily Impeachment News thread?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x359502

[AzDar]

8. Love it! Power to the people! n/t

[DumpDavisHogg]

9. Reuters: "The idea of impeaching Bush resides firmly outside the political mainstream."

Um...what???

I live in what is supposedly one of Bush's better states, and I know people who have backed impeachment ever since the bombing of the soccer field back before 9/11. (I supported impeachment even before then because of the recount scandal.)

Get a grip, Reuters.

[L. Coyote]

10. Do we need a Daily Impeachment News thread? Too many articles!

Discuss here, plus more links to Vermont stories--it seems they have lots of independent journalists writing this up:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x359502

[Cha]

13. Not only is Vermont a beautiful

state..the people of Vermont are on the very forefront, cutting edge of Progress! :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[pat_k]

14. Kick & Rec for sanity from VT! (nt)

[Doctor_J]

15. per Buzzflash, it's now up to 36

I might look for work in Vermont.

[JoFerret]

16. Pitchforks to the fore

.