Impeachment rally in Ashland
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Oct. 27 is the scheduled day for the National Mobilization to End the War in Iraq. We the undersigned would like to unite with others on that day for a mobilization for impeachment.
We believe that the Republican Administration is "royalist." It is working to dismantle our democracy by centering power in the Executive branch. Impeachment is the tool the Constitution gave Americans to defend its system of checks and balances against royalist aspirations of an executive. In his oath of office the president vowed to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." In his zeal to implement his own agenda, he has manifestly violated his oath.
At 11 a.m. on Oct. 27 everyone who shares the fear that a reckless and ruthless administration has done vast harm to American democracy can assemble at the Ashland Public Library and walk to the Plaza. We will stand there, line the sidewalks displaying our posters, give away "IMPEACH " buttons, sign petitions to send to legislators urging Congress to undertake impeachment proceedings against the president and/or the vice president.
Here are a few of the impeachable offenses that should be investigated by the House Judiciary Committee.
The President and the Vice President:
Manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and the congress to justify the use of the United States armed forces to invade Iraq;
Created military commissions which combine the functions of judge, jury and prosecutor in the trial of war crimes;
Initiated kidnappings, secret detentions and torture in Eastern European prisons of suspected international terrorists;
Invoked a presidential power to torture in contravention of federal statutes and treaties;
Employed signing statements that defy provisions of bills he has signed into law that he proclaims are unconstitutional;
Instituted the National Security Agency's Warrantless Domestic Surveillance program in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and obstructed efforts by Congress and the courts to review and restrict presidential actions.
Nothing is more urgent than calling the president and vice president into account. Were the powers enumerated above passed on to another presidential administration, the protections of our liberties, constructed carefully by the Founding Fathers, could be lost forever.
Impeachment is not, and cannot be, "off the table." Please join us on Oct. 27.
Priscilla High
Jack Seybold
Tom Harrington
Jamie Hutchinson
John Fisher-Smith
Ashland
