The Impeachment Clock

With the removal of the criminal George W. Bush from office, this site is officially closed.

Thank you (members of the last three Congresses not included) for watching.

Graphic talent, *AND* brains! OK, She's one of my best friends. I'm not impartial.

In an effort to resist the discouragement caused by Day 935 when the Legislative branch of the Federal government gave away my civil rights to the Executive branch, I'm starting this list of things we newly emasculated Americans can do to defend our Constitution.

1. Network
   Find kindred spirits on the Internet.
   For example, here's a post from a guy named Tim Ferriss who isn't even political, but he knows the importance of "preventing dangerous laws — the rules of your environment — from coming into existence."
   
   
2. Organize
   Join with those kindred spirits to keep the flame of liberty alive.
   I've agreed with Senator Russ Feingold for years because he has been right about FISA forever! Now we need his Progressive Patriots more than ever before.
   
   
3. Sue the Bastards
   When all else fails, invoke the power of the Judicial branch.
   I am not now (this very minute, that is) nor have I ever (before) been a card carrying member of the ACLU, but our give all the criminals immunity from prosecution/impeachment Congress has pushed me over the edge!
   

Please send me your ideas for new items and resources to add to my list. If we don't protect our rights, no one will do it for us.

Today, by a vote of 69 to 28, the United States Senate gave the President and his fellow criminals the keys to the jail, forever undermining the rule of law in America. The only comfort I can draw from the cowardice of Congress is that my two Senators voted against the Get-Out-of-Jail-Free "FISA Amendments Act of 2008" and my Representative who voted for it won't be returning next term.

Next Tuesday, the US Senate will take up the final piece of legislation that will give President Bush and all of his criminal co-conspirators a Get Out of Jail Free card. This is the last stop for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 (HR 6304) already passed by the House of Representatives, the Congressional body that should have used Bush's violations of FISA to impeach him, not reward him.

The shameless nature of this end run on the Constitution is so obvious that even the right wing Washington Times describes it as "legislation to legalize President Bush's undocumented wiretapping program." Hey folks, if you have to legalize something, it must have been an illegal (impeachable offense) to begin with!

But, we have one last chance in the person of Senator Russ Feingold. Russ sent me an email today outlining his plans, and I wanted to share it with you.

Alan,

All week I've read your emails, seen your comments online, and heard your phone calls. You don't want the flawed FISA bill to become law. I hear you and I wanted to let you know that I'm going to do everything in my power to stop this bill.

Much as I would like to I can't respond to each one of you individually so I've decided to respond online via video. I'd appreciate if you would take a moment to watch and pass it along to your friends and family or anyone you know that cares about preserving our right to privacy.



Thank you all for standing with me and speaking out about stopping the FISA bill. It's going to be an uphill battle but your words of support are a constant reminder of why this particular battle is worth waging.

Sincerely,
Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Since I consider you all to be my friends and family, I wanted you to know what a true American patriot is doing to protect our Constitution from the enemies of freedom, both Republican and Democrat.

Give 'em hell, Russ!

---

**UPDATE**
Thursday, July 3, 2008

Today I was invited by Senator Feingold to sign the following petition

SENATE PETITION TO STOP TELECOM IMMUNITY
I stand united with Senator Feingold and opposed to the so-called FISA "compromise" bill. Any bill that ultimately grants retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that helped President Bush spy on Americans must not pass. Vote No. Support a filibuster. I am depending on you to stop this bill.

As I signed, I added the following comment of my own:

Two and one-half years ago, the President admitted he had violated FISA. Today, 929 days later, is not the time to reward the President and his co-conspirators for their crimes. Stop the whitewash and start saving the Constitution. It is your solemn duty.

Go to this site and sign the petition RIGHT NOW!

On 11 June 2008 articles of impeachment were finally considered by the House of Representatives (see Article 24 for the impeachable offense: Violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and sent to the Judiciary Committee. The vote was 251-166. For those of you who are interested in the names of the 166 members of Congress who continue to fail their Constitutional oath of office, they are:

Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Bachmann
Bachus
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boozman
Boustany
Broun (GA)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Chabot
Coble
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Crenshaw
Cubin
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Davis, Tom
Deal (GA)
Dent
Doolittle
Drake
Duncan
Ehlers
Emerson
English (PA)
Everett
Fallin
Feeney
Ferguson
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Granger
Graves
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hunter
Inglis (SC)
Issa
Johnson, Sam
Jordan
Keller
Kingston
Kirk
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lamborn
Latta
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Marchant
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McHenry
McHugh
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Moran (KS)
Musgrave
Myrick
Nunes
Pearce
Pence
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Porter
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Regula
Rehberg
Renzi
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Sali
Saxton
Scalise
Schmidt
Sensenbrenner
Shadegg
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Souder
Stearns
Sullivan
Terry
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Upton
Walberg
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Wamp
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Westmoreland
Whitfield (KY)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman (VA)
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

If any of them represent you and are running for re-election in November, please do all in your power to defeat them.

Two years of inaction have now come to pass. The Impeachment Clock has been running for two years under both Republican and Democratic Congresses, and there is no move toward impeachment. If anything, the only movement we see is toward greater protection against impeachment.

This is truly a sad time for democracy in America.