V. IMPT.: EXTEND TIME LIMITS TO PROSECUTE BUSH/CHENEY

[snot]

Just got the following from The Pen.

"One of the most important recommendations by John Conyers in his 487
page recent report "Reining In The Imperial Presidency" was to extend
the statute of limitations on the crimes of Bush and Cheney, to allow
a fair opportunity for them to be actually investigated by a real
prosecutor. Of course the Justice Department was entirely derelict in
enforcing the law as to them while they were still in office. To
fully preserve and protect the rule of law, the statute of
limitations must be extended now.

"And sure enough, just the other day Cheney was out there gloating
about how the statute of limitations was expiring on some of their
most egregious offenses. For example, the midnight putsch to
institute a regime of illegal wiretapping occurred in early March of
2004, not quite 5 years ago."

The problem is that if you don't commence prosecution of wrongs within certain times prescribed by law, you can lose the power to do so FOREVER -- the wrongdoers are "home free."

Unfortunately, critical links on The Pen's "Action Page" -- to Conyers' rec. and Cheney's gloat -- seem to have been taken down. Nonetheless, I've seen other info about this before, and I think it's critical. Please DO take action at the page link below; and if anyone can supply alternative sources for the dead-end links, pls do!

Extend Statute of Limitations Action Page:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum933.php

[EFerrari]

1. Does the torture convention time out?

[Aviation Pro]

2. Nope. Ask Slobodan Milosevic.

.....

[EFerrari]

3. Then, that's where we have to go. And where the Justice Department

must go or be in violation. It's not a choice they have, it's the law.

[snot]

4. Not sure -- if you are, pls enlighten us -- BUT OTHER LAWS DO --

or rather, they don't time out; rather, the possibility of prosecution evaporates forever, if you don't do it within the prescribed time.

E.g., this was why the bill Obama signed recently about equal pay for women mattered. The S. Ct. held that because she had not sued within a certain time following the company's first discriminatory pay act, even though she didn't know at that time that men were being paid more than she was, her claimes were barred forever.

Yes, we need time first to investigate Bush admin crimes, and then if any are determined to warrant prosecution, commence that. And that ain't going to happen in a few months, and the statute of limitations periods are already starting to run out on many of their actions.

So best to stop abetting the Repub stalling actions and call your reps.

[EFerrari]

8. Bush and Cheney have both admitted / bragged about torture and on camera.

That should be a very short investigation.

[bobthedrummer]

5. September 29, 2008 U.S. Cong. Tammy Baldwin (D. WI) introduces The Executive Branch Accountability

Act of 2008 (below is davidswanson's post about this at AfterDowningStreet.org)-this is one legal road to follow bringing these BUSH/CHENEY CRIMINALS AND TRAITORS to Justice.

The Executive Branch Accountability Act of 2008 (AfterDowningStreet.org)
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/baldwinbill

[marmar]

6. Ked and Red !!

:kick:

[snot]

7. Pls feel free to re-post if this sinks --

we can always decide not to use extra leverage later if we decide we don't need it; but we can't get it back once it's gone.

[struggle4progress]

9. kick

:dem:

[snot]

10. The Pen's links fixed:

Conyer's report: http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/643-conyers-proposes-extending-statute-of-limitations-on-torture.html

Cheney gloating: "Not content to wait for a historical verdict, Cheney said he is set to plunge into his own memoirs, feeling liberated to describe behind-the-scenes roles over several decades in government now that the “statute of limitations has expired” on many of the most sensitive episodes." at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18390.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. K and R

[ihavenobias]

12. K & R

[kpete]

13. k&r

[MrSlayer]

14. They are not going to prosecute either of them, ever.

I don't know why anyone holds on to this pipe dream.

[mvd]

15. K&R

Very important!

[nebenaube]

16. but

Doesn't the Statute of Limitations clock start ticking when the crime is discovered rather then when the crime occurs?

[snot]

17. NO, not necessarily.

That was the big deal about the law Obama just signed re- equal pay for women.

She didn't find out 'til many years later that she'd been cheated. Under existing law, the S. Ct. held, too bad for her. Fortunately, Congress+Obama just changed that, re- THAT particular type of wrong.

We need something similar re- the wrongs wrought by the B*sh admin.

(i.m.h.o., we are WAY past the point where any of can afford to assume the best about anything . . . . WACHET AUF.)

[leveymg]

18. There is no statute of limitations on murder, terrorism, or torture.

Book 'em Danno.