The Garlic: Imperial Presidency

Showing posts with label Imperial Presidency. Show all posts

Friday, September 14, 2007

I Second The Motion! ..."More Than Ever, Impeachment Is the Cure"

Just caught a great post by Scarecrow, over on Firedoglake;

Scarecrow: More Than Ever, Impeachment Is the Cure

Yes! ... I second the motion!

Following The Commander Guy's delusional rambling last night, the iron is as hot as ever for the Democrats to strike ... And, Lord, knows, there's ample violations that can be charged against the Bush Grindhouse (wading through those may be the bigger part of the problem).

What's to lose?

Quite likely, a majority of the country will rally behind you.

The consequences of not removing this rogue administration is that, should a Dem win the 2008 Presidential Election, they will be inheriting all the bullshit that has been built up ... Over 100,000 troop still in Iraq ... The diminished standing and integrity of United States of America around the world (I'd place a bet that many of our international friends would stand and cheer at Impeachment hearings being called)

The Garlic has had an open invitation out there since July, absent of any Congressional action - A Citizen's Arrest.

And for you, Ms. Speaker of the House, pulling up my best Ronald Reagan imitation - "Sit Down At That Table!"

Bonus Impeachment Links

Digby: Impeachment

Wil S. Hylton: THE PEOPLE V. RICHARD CHENEY

The Raw Story: Kucinich announces impeachment charges against Vice President Cheney

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Defending Martin Lewis ... It's Satire, Stupid!

Quite the red-tinged firestorm going on out in the right-side blogosphere, over a post by humorist, commentator, producer, radio host, and, self-described "The World’s LEAST-Reserved Englishman", Martin Lewis.

Lewis's post, over on Huffington Post - "General Pace, You Can Save the US - by Arresting Bush for "Conduct Unbecoming" - has been garnering such bon mots as "HuffPo Calls For Military Coup In USA", "Your Saturday Dose Of Dumbass…", "BE WARNED, STUPIDITY CAN BE A CONTAGIOUS CONDITION!", "Huffington Post Publishes Call for American Coup", and the like (you can visit Memorandum for the links; If they are no longer posted, as Memorandum refreshes constantly, you can use the Search Archives and plug in August 26, 2007, 7:50 AM to pull them up).

First things first, Lewis states in the post, and assuming you have good vision, and can read, have the proper attention span, etc, that he is not advocating for a coup, or anything like it;

"To be crystal clear - I am NOT advocating or inciting you to undertake any illegal act, insurrection, mutiny, putsch or military coup. You are an honorable patriotic man.

I am NOT advocating or inciting you to interfere with any of the civilian duties of the President. That would not be a legal action by you."

It's right there. It's not hidden, and, as you can plainly see, it not cryptic, or otherwise written in some kind of code.

And Martin reiterates that, repeatedly, in the Comment Section

The practicality of removing The Commander Guy as the Commander-In-Chief, I will leave up to military legal experts, and the Congress. There certainly are issues to be dealt with, succession, et all (after all, we can't remove The Decider, only to elevate Darth Vader to the Oval Office - the expense of converting his Secret Bunker, from a Vice President's, to a President's would be a nightmare on the budget)

Here's what I think ...

Too many readers took the piece as a serious suggestion ... I read it, between tears of laughter, as brilliant, deftly-written satire.

Perhaps, Lewis is speaking to the deadweight, table-less Congress, for not taking up the well-justified, and Constitutionally-mandated, issue of Impeachment ... Or, he's slapping at General Pace, for his comments going out the door, and his years of being a cheerleader for the Bush-Cheney Invasion-and-Occupation of Iraq policy ...

Or, as happens with some frequency, an idea for a post pops into your head, and practically writes itself ... You take a seemingly normal news story or situation, and write it straight, logical, but with an absurd twist that hugs tightly to that line of "is it real or is it fake".

And let me state, for the record, I am not speaking for Martin Lewis. I have never spoken to Martin Lewis. Martin Lewis did not ask, or suggest, to me (or anyone else that I can see) to defend him - he's more-than-capable of doing that himself. Martin Lewis (or Huffington Post) is not paying me, or providing any compensation whatsoever, to defend the post. I am not a defender of Martin Lewis, nor do I play one on TV.

The Garlic, has, from time-to-time, tagged (linked) posts that Lewis has written, including a hysterical Bush Meets Monty Python! back in January.

And The Garlic did comment on Martin's HuffPo Pace piece, offering Mr. Lewis that The Garlic had its' own suggestion for another avenue towards this same goal;

Garlictorial: Happy 4th of July ... Okay, It May Be Down To This .... Citizen's Arrest!

Whether it is General Peter Pace, or some average citizen (and, heaven-forbid, if Congress actually does something), please, someone, take that first, big, bold step ... As Lewis writes, and The Garlic certainly endorses, "please save the US".

Update/Bonus Link - Martin Lewis Responds!

"Let's Twist Again": Right-wing Bloggers Smear HuffPost

The Official Site of the U.S. Constitution

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Garlictorial: Happy 4th of July ... Okay, It May Be Down To This .... Citizen's Arrest!

The FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone. Because then, that's what they wanted. But it was all lies. Everything. They said Michael Corleone did this, Michael Corleone did that. So I said, "Yeah, sure."

Frank Pentangeli from the film 'Godfather II'

President Bush (or The Commutation Guy) looked absolutely lost yesterday, leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and offering his first comments to reporters on his commutation of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's sentence. He looked about as comfortable as Frankie Five Angels did testifying to Congress.

Maybe Cheney didn't brief him thoroughly. Or, perhaps, Cheney flew in Jeb, standing him behind the reporters, but in clear view by the President, just enough to shake him up, toe the line.

Happy 4th of July .. We're back up in Kennebunkport again this stretched out holiday ... No Flies this year - Even they find the setting too rancid ... Either that, with Putin around, they were afraid the food might be laced with polonium-210 ...

What better way to celebrate the birth of our nation then to settle into a mushrooming Constitutional Crises.

Where do you want to start?

The build-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq? ... The soon-to-follow CIA Leak Case?... Hurricane Katrina?... The Injustice Department?... The Cheney split-off to a fourth branch of government?

In case Congress wasn't paying attention, perhaps distracted by Lindsey Lohan's 21st birthday, Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence is, clearly, not a shot across the bow, but a direct, carefully-aimed targeted blast at them, telling them, "Yeah, sure ... Go ahead, investigate all you want ... No under my watch is going to do any time"

I mean, if the Bush Grindhouse (and the new Cheney branch) are so willing to fuck over a federal judge, a federal court, and an Appellate Court, what would make Congress believe that what they do would have any weight?

Let's face it, The Decider Guy has, gleefully, been altering and rewriting their work via his handy Signing Statements - undeterred and unchecked - for virtually the entire run of his stolen presidency.

So, what to do ...

Unfortunately, the historic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, early on, stated that Impeachment was "off the table" (and The Garlic, not too long ago, called for Pelosi to reconsider, pointing out the obvious - We need a bigger table).

Many since have come out, and while wishing it could be undertaken, have said Impeachment wouldn't work ... That the Bush Grindhouse would drag out time in court over Executive Privilege... That no way you could get enough Senators - and in particular, Republicans - and Congressmen to vote in favor for it.

You have to think, that if it were brought forward (Hey guys, you can see Dennis Kucinich to get up-to-speed on this), Pelosi and Reed could coral the Democrats behind Impeachment.

And for the Republicans ... See the words above - Constitutional Crises.

That doesn't limit or define itself to one party. That means the country is in peril - the Red part and the Blue part.

If you don't notice the cinder block of the Iraq Invasion and Occupation tied to your leg as you jump in the 2008 pool, this weeks' Libby fiasco is the Bush Grindhouse tying another one to the other leg.

And if the Commutation Guy morphs into The Pardon Guy, before he leaves office, and before the 2008 election, you might as well save your money, pull back and sit this one out. You'll set precedents for embarrassing, lopsided losses.

One more thing.

Your party went way, way overboard in their rush to impeach President Bill Clinton - for a blow job.

A blow job that didn't;

Endanger our National Security
Invade and occupy a country that made no such action on us
Kill or wound any U.S. Soldiers
Expose any covert CIA agents
Ignore and strand the City of New Orleans
Fire any U.S. Attorneys for partisan politics
Run its' agenda via Signing Statements
Declare it was neither part of the Executive or Legislative Branch

You owe us big time on this!

Citizen's Arrest

Now, the Declaration of Independence, thankfully, does gives us hope-filled instructions.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

So, if Congress doesn't pick up the bat on this one, we may be down to our last option.

There must be some tiny hamlet, some Main Street USA berg that would be willing to put themselves on the map, become the saviors of our nation. A Sheriff with balls, a U.S. Attorney ready to swing back for justice.

Think Truth or Consequences, New Mexico... You can change your name to Citizen's Arrest and really cash in on it.

Leave history for a moment. For starters, think of the economic boon it would be.

The MSM media camped out for weeks, eating in your diners, sleeping in your motels (if you have a hotel, even better), shopping in your stores. Same for the protesters that will show up.

We're talking millions here.

Anderson Cooper will likely become your best friend ... Morning interviews on the Today Show (and, if the timing is right, perhaps you'll make it into a "Where In The World Is Matt Lauer" segment) ... Diane Sawyer ... Larry King ... Weeks-and-weeks of MSNBC Doc-Blocks ... 24/7 baby, all the way.

Yeah, Bill O'Reilly and Fox Noise might launch a jihad against you, but we can get Keith Olbermann to handle them.

And there's other revenue streams.

Bush and Cheney in orange jumpsuits - Priceless!

Will suggest here that you bypass the MSM and go straight to eBay with the photos ... Or better yet, GoldenPalace.Com... It won't cost you much to stencil on the jumpsuits, or use Velcro, to plaster their logo to them ...

And if you have a Mayberry-style, two-cell jail, all the better.

Support ... You'll have about half the country and a loyal blogosphere behind you.

If there were blogs and cell phone cameras back when Jim Garrison was investigating the JFK Assassination, he'd be a hero instead of a joke ... We'd have Garrison civic buildings and Garrison Avenues all across the land.

And here's the best part of making the Citizen's Arrest.

You can use the Patriot Act ... Declare the dynamic duo enemy combatants - you won't even have to charge them with anything, for years, anyway ...

The closing of Gitmo has been called for, among many reasons, as a means to demonstrate to the world that we are a nation of laws, that we wish to rejoin the world community as a trusted friend.

The quickest way to do that - and it would send an even louder declaration of our good will - will be to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney. Put them before the World Court, for their crimes against humanity.

Let's make America, America again

So you small towns out there, get a glove, get in the game.

Make millions and save the country ... Not a bad end-of-the-stick you'll have there ...

And, oh so such an appropriate way to celebrate the 4th of July.

Update

A Declaration The President Ignores

Update II

Bush and Cheney walk, too; Even as the president confesses that Scooter Libby engaged in a cover-up -- after all, that was the verdict -- he completes the ultimate obstruction of justice in the Plame affair.

Update III

David Halberstam: The History Boys
In the twilight of his presidency, George W. Bush and his inner circle have been feeding the press with historical parallels: he is Harry Truman - unpopular, besieged, yet ultimately to be vindicated - while Iraq under Saddam was Europe held by Hitler. To a serious student of the past, that's preposterous. Writing just before his untimely death, David Halberstam asserts that Bush's "history," like his war, is based on wishful thinking, arrogance, and a total disdain for the facts.