MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Kucinich’s Articles

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I know it is campaign season and the thinking across the land is to leave George W. Bush in place and let him run out the clock on his presidency. I apologize therefore for bothering you, dear readers, with this.

Here are the 35 articles of impeachment that the Honorable Rep. Dennis Kucinich has filed in the House of Representatives against the President of the United States calling for his removal from office.

Nancy Pelosi and her feckless Congressional crew have effectively killed the effort a couple of days after Kucinich began it but somebody must tell the people, remind them of the crimes of George W. Bush against the American people (not to talk of the people of Iraq) in his capacity as president of the United States of America.

The America people are, of course, complicit in Bush’s various criminal endeavors but we’ll leave that indictment for another day.

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With
Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of
Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of
Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat
to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other
Countries
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in
the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign
Captives
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other
Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX
Imprisoning Children
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist
Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the
Fourth Amendment
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the
Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil
Emergency
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global
Climate Change
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist
Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

August 2, 2008
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Here it Comes.

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According to Time’s Mark Halperin, Sen. McCain’s campaign has just released a statement accusing Sen. Obama of playing “the race card:”

“Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”

This is apparently a reference to Obama’s comments in Missouri Wednesday that Republicans are trying to make voters “scared” of him by noting “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills.”

Read the full statement here.

Cross-posted from Facebook.

August 2, 2008
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Why Britney and Paris?

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Today’s post from Newsday’s John Riley is a must-read. He wonders why Sen. McCain chose to use Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in his latest attack ad on Sen. Obama, and he’s got some data to support his answer.

It’s also worth remembering that the McCain campaign has hired Terry Nelson, the ad man behind the infamous bimbo ad against Harold Ford, Jr. in 2006.

Maybe the question ought not to be “Why Britney and Paris?” but “Why not Hannah Montana?” Wouldn’t she have made the point more effectively?

Cross-posted from Facebook.

August 2, 2008
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How I’m Learning to Relax

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By reading Sadly, No!, that’s how:

Upon becoming president, Hussein Obama X’s very first act — after freeing Mumia, signing a reparations bill and implementing Sharia law, of course — should be to oust every single unqualified hack that Bush hired right out of Regent University and banish them from ever working again in any job. God knows how many more of them are out there.

July 31, 2008
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Giving Credit

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I have never hesitated to beat up the mainstream media and my former colleagues in the press for their failings. What I don’t do is praise good work. Let me point to a couple of samples of good work:

The Washington Post thoroughly debunked the major thrust of Sen. John McCain’s recent outbursts and smears of Sen. Barack Obama’s recent visit to Germany.

And, on the same day, The New York Times weighs in with an editorial on McCain’s spurious and desperate lies about Obama. McCain and his campaign staff are now scurrying away from some of their serial lies.

The McCain campaign has taken an ugly turn. The mainstream media will have to be vigilant to call what McCain is doing what it is. Today, the Times and the Post, to their credit, were willing to do that.

July 30, 2008
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New York Times on McCain’s Slime

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Editorial  Low-Road Express

Well, that certainly didn’t take long. On July 3, news reports said Senator John McCain, worried that he might lose the election before it truly started, opened his doors to disciples of Karl Rove from the 2004 campaign and the Bush White House. Less than a month later, the results are on full display. The candidate who started out talking about high-minded, civil debate has wholeheartedly adopted Mr. Rove’s low-minded and uncivil playbook.

In recent weeks, Mr. McCain has been waving the flag of fear (Senator Barack Obama wants to “lose” in Iraq), and issuing attacks that are sophomoric (suggesting that Mr. Obama is a socialist) and false (the presumptive Democratic nominee turned his back on wounded soldiers).

CONTINUE . . .

July 30, 2008
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A Code Blue: Some Choice Quotes

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John Edwards calls R. Kelly from the bathroom stall for advice

A code blue: Some choice quotes.

“Ok, where are you now?”

“I’m in the bathroom stall.”

“You’ve just got to stand there and say no comment or just lie. Lie, lie, lie till you can’t lie no more.”

“This isn’t as bad as you think it is. . . . I need to get the rest of the team in on this.”

“I’m guessing there’s no window that you could sneak out of?”

“No, there’s no window.”

“You may have to take a hostage.”

“When it comes to sex scandals, we must set all petty differences aside and all band together. It’s the man code”

“I made my bone by whacking Marilyn Monroe when I was just 16. Yep, that was me.”

“Nobody is getting whacked, ok?”

“If whacking people is not an option, then what do we do?”

“John Edward’s got a code blue.”

“Thanks R. Kelly. I knew you’d come through for us.”

“Alright, John, here’s the plan . . . we’ll get our friends in the press to start covering this thing up ASAP.”

“Someday you may be asked to do a service for the Cheat Team.”

Alright, that’s enough.

July 30, 2008
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Same Old Politics

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“Same Old Politics”

Take a look at Sen. Obama’s latest response to Sen. McCain’s negative ad blaming Obama for rising gas prices. It’s brilliant.

The ad begins with a clip from McCain’s ad rolling on a TV screen. Then a pallid-looking photo of McCain’s face appears next to the TV screen and the words “The same old politics.” are superimposed over the TV and McCain’s face. The word “old” appears right next to John McCain’s seventy-two-year-old nose. The ad then cuts to a vigorous-looking Obama holding a town meeting with his sleeves rolled up. The ad closes with a quick series of color shots and a narrator summarizing Obama’s positions.

I have a feeling that we’re going to be hearing the phrase “same old politics” quite a bit over the next 99 days. It’s an easy but indirect way for the Obama campaign to highlight McCain’s age, and polls have shown that McCain’s advanced age is of major concern for swing voters.

Cross-posted from Facebook.

July 30, 2008
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Nothing Won Yet

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Amid encouraging recent poll numbers, the Washington Post points out some obstacles to an Obama victory in the general election on Nov. 4.

At the heart of the Obama campaign’s strategy is a national effort to increase registration and turnout among the millions of Democratic-inclined Americans who have not been voting, particularly younger people and African Americans. The push began during the primaries but expanded this month to a nationwide registration drive led by 3,000 volunteers dispatched around the country.

Gaining greater African American support could well put Obama over the top in states where Democrats have come close in the past two elections, and could also help him retain the big swing states of Pennsylvania and Michigan.

There is no guarantee that African Americans will register to vote or, even if registered, would turn out to vote on election day. I covered (in the margins) the bitterly racial mayoral rematch between David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani in 1993 as a reporter for the New York Daily News.

I can offer anecdotal evidence: The fear that blacks felt of a Giuliani mayoralty (which were later borne out) was palpable on election night. But many of the black Harlem residents that I interviewed that election night, despite seemingly knowing what was at stake, did not bother showing up to vote.

The Obama candidacy is an opportunity for Americans to make a choice. It is also an opportunity for black Americans to make history. Sen. Obama bet his whole candidacy on democracy from the bottom up. The challenge is not just for well-meaning whites to vote for the clearly superior candidate in this election. The challenge is also to African Americans.

Or will they prove Obama wrong?

July 28, 2008
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