Showing posts with label impeachment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label impeachment. Show all posts

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Enough of the "impeach Obama" talk already!

I am definitely no fan of Barack Obama. I don't like a socialist in office as my chief executive. Then again, George W. Bush has not exactly been a small government type, either and was a huge disappointment in many ways. In other ways, he did the right thing. They both deserves praise where warranted and criticism where warranted.

Obama has already made some huge mistakes, in my opinion, and has been in office less than a week. The decisions to allow embryonic stem cell research, fund abortion in foreign nations, close Gitmo, and nominate a huge tax cheat as head of the Treasury Department (including IRS) are the ones that readily come to mind.

However, I have a huge problem with the movement to impeach the sorry excuse for a decision taker. Just because a President takes decisions that I do not like, that I find repulsive, or are unethical does not make him a candidate for impeachment. It makes him a candidate for unelection.

The Constitution has specific states in Article II, Section 4, "The President, Vice President, and all other 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." Bad decision taking as described in the last paragraph do not qualify as treason, bribery, high crimes, or misdemeanors.

There are other things such as a disputed qualification for the presidency, also outlined in that same article, such as being a natural born citizen. If that qualification can be proven to be truly unmet, then I am all for removing Obama from office. Until then, I do not much care for the constant call by hypocritical conservatives for Obama's impeachment. I have gotten a bunch of emails, invitations, and solicitations to join internet groups, message boards, social networking groups, and messages from those who are calling for impeachment or are already planning for it. This makes us no better than the whack job liberals who constantly called for George Bush's impeachment and now for his arrest and prosecution.

Impeachment is akin to the indictment for a crime. Impeachment itself is NOT removal from office. A conviction after impeachment will result in removal from office. I am not into removing someone from office with whom I happen to disagree strongly and certainly not for unconstitutional reasons.

Rest assured, however, if Barack Obama commits acts consistent with a constitutional reason for removal from office, as did Bill Clinton, then I will be all for the clarion call and will be sounding it myself.

If you want to impeach someone, start with Hillary Clinton, who was not eligible to become Secretary of State under Article I section 6 of the US Constitution.
"No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time."
Hillary voted for a pay increase for the Secretary of State. Therefore, she is not eligible to receive the benefit of its salary. This is not just a political stance as some boneheads have alleged. It is the intent of the writers of the Constitution to prohibit the very thing that is happening. A legislator assented to raise the pay for a job that she herself was going to end up taking. The clause does not say that if the salary is lessened that she is then eligible. Law is law.

Monday, January 28, 2008

It is sad to see that people in Vermont have gotten so liberal

I have no problem with impeaching a President if he actually committed crimes worthy of impeachment. However, the calls for impeachment that I have heard over the past seven years have been purely politically motivated and coming from bitter liberals. Many want revenge for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, who actually deserved impeachment. I find it amusing the people in Brattleboro, Vermont want to arrest George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for federal crimes, which are not even their jurisdiction. What a bunch of whiny, bitter liberals. From the online article:
Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont.

The Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to put the controversial item on the Town Meeting Day warning...

The article asked the town attorney to "draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities."

The article goes on to say the indictments would be the "law of the town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro police ... arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro, if they are not duly impeached ..."