Document text
http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Hottest Galleries: October 25, 2007 Local rally to push for impeachment By Chris Rizo Ashland Daily Tidings A group of Ashlanders, concerned the White House is trampling Americans' civil liberties, is holding a rally Saturday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The event, which coincides with the National Mobilization to End the War in Iraq, will begin at 11 a.m. outside the Ashland Public Library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd., where participants are asked to assemble before marching to the Plaza. Priscilla High, one of the rally's organizers, said she was inspired to do something locally to draw attention to what she called the Bush administration's failed policies after she and a group of her friends gathered about a month ago to watch "Bill Moyers Journal: Tough Talk on Impeachment." Meeting in her Ashland home, the group decided to call collectively for a rally and High christened the loose-knit group the Ashland Defenders of the Constitution. "We are not here to bash anyone or to be divisive," High said, explaining in an interview Wednesday that impeachment is the only way to reverse the breadth of power the president has assumed and to restore the balance of power outlined in the U.S. Constitution. "The Constitution is the glory of America and the genius of the Constitution is the separation of powers, written by people who lived under a monarchy where the king was law," High said. "In America, the law is king and nobody is above the law — not even the president." Cheney, she said, is the architect of many of the Bush administration's faulty policies, and since his days as an intern in the Nixon administration and later as chief of staff to President Ford, he has wanted to protect presidents from being held accountable to Congress. "It's been his goal for decades, long before 9/11, to make sure that another president was not forced from power," she said. High's indictment against Bush and Cheney is lengthy and includes the White House's post-Sept. 11warrantless wiretapping program, its clandestine terrorist detention centers in Eastern Europe and the Bush administration's "manipulation of intelligence to deceive the Congress to justify invading Iraq." The president, additionally, has shirked his responsibility to enforce the laws of the land, she said, by choosing not to enforce more than 1,200 laws by opting to interpret them, traditionally a function of the courts. "These are all adequate causes for impeachment that should be undertaken by the House Judiciary Committee," High said. So far, however, calls for the U.S. House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings have gained little traction in the Democrat-led Congress, but High said that is no reason not to continue to press lawmakers on the contentious issue. "This is a democracy," she said. "When some people shout other people respond." John Fisher-Smith of Asland, who watched the Bill Moyers special with High, said there is no question in his mind that Bush and Cheney have "trampled all over the Constitution, doing whatever they want to do." Fisher-Smith, who became a U.S. citizen while serving in the U.S. military during World War II, said the U.S. government is doing things he says are simply "un-American," including "torturing" terror suspects and flouting provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is the legal framework for monitoring suspected terrorists and spies. "I was proud to become an American when I was 18," he said. "I knew then about the separation of powers and the Constitution. "Frankly, I am deeply troubled when this country makes excuses for torture. I am very disturbed that this country has disappeared people the way the Argentine dictatorship used to do and I am deeply concerned about the false cause for the invasion of Iraq," he said. Asked why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have said that launching impeachment proceedings against the White House is off the table, Fisher-Smith said it is part of Democrats' political calculus. He said the mass media being "so pro-administration, pro-Republican and corporate-owned," have Democrats "afraid" of losing elections and worried they could be treated poorly in the media like President Clinton was while he was in office. "The trouble is: instead of losing an election they're losing our country and the principles of this country," Fisher-Smith said. Chris Rizo covers politics for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at [email protected]. Current Comments: Kudos for courage, Dot, but please, let it go. Your anger over the past election oozes of petty anger. Try dealing with our local incompetence; you want to throw someone out? Start with our local folks. This is simply a waste of news print. Leftofright - Ashland, Oregon - October 25th, 1:49 PM Ya', really courage to STAND UP in global Ashland to call for the ouster of elected officials. You don't even understand the word courage. Preaching to the choir does not fit the definition. Courage is the unlikely doing the unthinkable for someone else's benefit. Our troops in the Middle East are courageous, not rallying in the safety of Asland. Shalom, Daniel Windheim john - eugene - October 25th, 2:03 PM While I applaud seemingly grassroots democracy in action, I agree it is a waste of time and appears to be a call for individual attention. You'll get lots of honks and smiles, but nothing will actually come of it. It's debatable if W broke any laws, most legal experts seem to think not, and the Dem leaders have dismissed the idea of impeachment as folly. Why not get behind a leader and look toward the next election? Or change your local politics, something you can actually do? Mike - Talent - October 25th, 2:10 PM 'Leftoright'...Bush is King Midas in reverse: everything he touches turns to shit. Iraq is a total blunder. Privatizing the Army with Blackwater & Halliburton= millions of $ lost or given away. Re-defining torture as enhanced interviewing is sick.. Privatizing social security a total loss. Price of oil in '03= $15 a barrel vs. price now =$90 a barrel. Where do you get off telling people how to invest their political energy? Anyone supporting this guy is a Republi-thug. Lazlo - ashland - October 25th, 2:23 PM The trouble in America is the whinning, sniveling, malcontents that didn't have enough support to win the last election. I endured 8 years of Clinton. Crawl in a hole and wait it out. Rightbyme - Ashland, Oregon - October 25th, 2:31 PM To start an impeachment effort at this late stage of the game is a complete waste of time. Promoting your next choice of presidential hopeful would much better serve your cause. too little too late - Ashland - October 25th, 2:48 PM This is not a democracy, rather a republic. None-the-less, both forms of government protect people from being prosecuted from radical and thoughtless accusations from dope smoking, liberal, nut jobs who get their news from Bill Moyer. It is laughable that the ADT is still able to take tabloid print and make any wacko liberal belive it is real journalism. I beg that whatever university is conducting this social experiment,please stop! Going Insane - Ashland - October 25th, 2:51 PM WHAT A JOKE!!!!! WHY DON'T YOU WORRY ABOUT IMPEACHING YOUR OWN CITY COUNCIL..ASHLAND IS AN EMBARASSMENT...YOU CAN'T EVEN HANDLE POLITICS AT THE CITY LEVEL....NOW YOUR GOING NATIONAL.....WHY DON'T YOU JUST WORRY ABOUT ASHLAND FOR NOW!!!! CINDY - MEDFORD - October 25th, 3:08 PM Regressives say nothing. No history-no facts. You're a bunch of blowhards. Fact: Reagan and Bush 1 supported Saddam and sold him WMD's including weapons grade anthrax, helicopters and mustard gas (national security archives). There was no connection between Iraq and 9-11 or Bin Laden. The day after 9-11 the only flight allowed out of US carried members of Bin Landen family back to Saudi Arabia. This is just for starters. If you support Bush you're weak in the head-al area. Take a pill with Rush. Lazlo - ashland - October 25th, 9:47 PM Those who say this is too little, too late miss an important point. This Administration is setting precedent for every future President: diminish the power of the courts and of Congress and take it all into the administrative branch. This is the danger we must face, and it is the issue upon which we must take a stand. Join us on Saturday. Call your elected officials. Demand that their oath to the Constitution be upheld. Daniel - Talent, OR - October 25th, 11:48 PM Amazing it is indeed that there even exist people ignorant enough to defend lie after lie from a coward like Bushama been Bombin. Who the hell cares if something will succeed -- if it's the right thing to do, you FREAKING DO IT and be true to yourself, and to the right thing to do. IMPEACH CHENEY, THEN PUT MISSION ACCOMPLICE ON TRIAL, OR FAIL TRYING. But good gawd, don't waste the world's time defending this SCOTUS-selected pissant baby killing idiot Bush. Hal B. Anthony - Hugo, OR - October 26th, 1:12 AM hey all you ashland people please go back to san francisco,and build another home depot what do you people smoke all day, and please get some better lookin card board signs ed bell - g pass - October 26th, 1:24 AM In the People's Republic of Ashland, dissent against the Great Stalin/Marxist Awakening is not welcome. Some "Primal Scream Therapy" would cure all of us lefty bashers, wouldn't it? Sparrows345 - Ashland, OR - October 26th, 1:51 AM Oh, great idea, let's tie up our ineffective moribound Congress even more! If they can't override Bush's overrides, how are they going to IMPEACH!? Give it up. Look to the future. Get people elected who can make a difference. Scott C - Ashland, OR - October 26th, 12:00 PM I thought I'd graduated from the likes of this, but I can't resist... Hey Ed Bell: Y dont u cum over hear and visyit one 'o hour liberries that jest gotten open agiyn? Myte help you in yore futoor endeevores to given the lykes of us heare in Ashyland a bad tyme! Whaddayerthink we's a smokin'?!?? Sam thinger as u proballee! Yet, I digress... Mike, Talent, my friend, I need to agree with you yet again: the time for this type of activity is behind us. CHANGE LOCAL NOW:not national!! EC - A - October 26th, 12:41 PM "If they can't override Bush's overrides, how are they going to IMPEACH!?" A successful bill of impeachment requires only a majority vote of the House, and the Dems have that clear majority. Dwight Spencer - Portland, OR - October 26th, 1:04 PM I agree with Cindy. Maybe you should try and get the town's council under control first. I am pretty embarassed to say I grew up in Ashland...Seriously a city that has no money is going to spend it on counseling?!!!! Maybe the the idea of a rally should be re-visited. Glad to not Live in Oregon Anymore - Arkansas - October 26th, 1:14 PM To the mob, If you think impeachment will bring world peace, fine. Get in front of a camera. March and scream. Bang a drum. Hold your breath and turn blue. Do you think the bad guys really care? Or they'll just go away if we elect a democrat? (Did 8 yrs of Clinton bring world peace? Really?) This is really all about you, isn't it? Your march, your struggle, your courage. Your narcissism, your publicity, your headlines. Save us from academics with nothing to do, and nothing to offer. Joe Camel - Ashland - October 26th, 7:27 PM Cheney actually condoned torture on Fargo talk radio. This was after having Richard Armitage and Scooter Libby "out" Valerie Plame as CIA operative. She was "covert" much of the time....but even if she was a typist.....Cheney proved that he is a traitor and Plame could have been murdered. All this because Joe Wilson tried to prevent Cheney's phony "yellowcake uranium" story--and prevent NEEDLESS DEATHS OF 3800 AMERICANS. Mike - Burns, Oregon - October 26th, 7:36 PM Check the comments-the Republi-thugs have nothing to say. No ideas-no facts-no history. Just throwing mud and occasional slinking away to Arkansas. These folks never read a book or have an orginal idea. Bush followers must live in a state of ignorance. If they started thinking more about our country and less about Nascar, maybe we'd have a chance. PS. waterboarding is not surfing- And- Bush daddy sent a billion of your tax $ to support Bin Laden and the Mujahadin in the 80's. Read and learn. Lazlo - Ashram - October 26th, 9:05 PM Those who don't show up at the library this morning are lacky bourgouise pigs whos only goal in life is to NOT upset the tourists and shoppers those who see war as a mere occupational hazard of ineffectual capitalism those who see their democratic heretige as being only to NOT appear to be a TIN-FOIL hat person, those who see their resposibilities as only to NOT do anything when mortgage bankers turn into loan sharks and soldiers into mercenaries,those who see democracy as to tedious . Bob - Ashland,Or - October 27th, 7:02 AM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us