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Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with  Chris Cook - CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.

The site is a sister to Atlantic Free Press.

The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.

 

Madam Speaker Print E-mail
Written by Paul J. Balles   
Tuesday, 09 January 2007
by Paul Balles

"It’s an historic moment for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited for over 200 years."
- NANCY PELOSI, on becoming speaker of the House.

Two hundred years ago, you were busy raising children, teaching them things they don't learn today. You were also looking after your husbands — those men who made America great. Because you looked after them well, we had leaders that make today's politicos look like cretins.

I'm not belittling your achievement, Nancy Pelosi, but statements like the one you made elicit cheers that ignore the price paid for your emancipation.

Perhaps you won't need your men's support the way men relied on yours. Perhaps you'll only need those kisses on the cheek that men have waited for 200 years to give as you enter the halls of Congress.

If you do nothing else, Nancy Pelosi, now is the time to allow impeachment proceedings to begin against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Both are equally guilty of the high crimes and misdemeanors for which American tyrants become impeachable under the Constitution.


Of course, you know the outcome, Congresswoman and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You would automatically become our next president. That presents a dilemma. As Speaker of the House, you cannot be seen as encouraging proceedings that might succeed in making you president. You also cannot simply ignore the impeachable offenses of the current administration.

If what you've really waited for 200 years to achieve is a chance to prove greatness in women which is as deserving of celebration as the great male leaders of two centuries ago, you now have the opportunity to prove that the long struggle was worth it.

Don't wait until 2008, however, leaving it up to Hillary Clinton to assume the role that women have waited for 200 years to play. If you do, you'll be an enormous disappointment to both men and women. Between now and 2008, the current White House can get up to more mischief than the world can bear.

How much can you do as Speaker of the House to stop Bush and Cheney from adding to their mass murders of Iraqis and sacrificing young Americans for a lie? Both Bush and Cheney will continue to alienate the rest of the world with their arrogance. Can we afford to embitter more of the international community?

Bush and Cheney will certainly carry their arrogant warmongering powers into Iran, or provide the means and support for Israel to do it, with further violations of the Constitution. However Iran simply isn't going to stand for it. What will you do about Iran’s resistance? Will you sanction a repeat of Hiroshima over Tehran?

There are several things you can do as Speaker of the House while impeachment proceedings are underway:

  • In addition to requiring accountability as you promised concerning Iraq, you must insist on the same accountability regarding Iran.
  • Demand undeniable proof that Iran’s nuclear development is more than energy related. Don’t let the White House get away with the hat trick they pulled with Iraq when they insisted Iraq prove they didn’t have WMD’s.
  • Require the administration to explain why the US previously encouraged Iran to develop nuclear energy in order to preserve oil resources.
  • Make it clear to the Congress that action against Iran intended to protect Israel will ultimately result in public retaliation against the Jewish community in America and more resistance to and hatred of America in the international community.
On her way out of Congress on December 27, 2006, Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney entered 12 grounds for impeachment in 3 different categories into the Congressional Record: six failures to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, two abuses of office, and four failures to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

Complete coverage of Ms. McKinney's charges has been published by David Swanson in the Atlantic Free Press and can be viewed here.

If you can accomplish what really needs to be done in the only course of events that will save us from further devastation, both men and women will cheer and toast the woman for whom we have waited for 200 years.
 
Comments (2)Add Comment
No Impeachment
written by John D. Sens, January 09, 2007
I voted for Democrats to end the war in Iraq and take care of necessary legislation to fight what I believe are social problems. I don't want to see millions of dollars and precious time wasted on impeachment proceedings that cannot ultimately succeed. I still remember the wasteful Clinton impeachment proceedings and I don't want to see the like again.

You can dream all you want about Pelosi becoming president, but the likelihood is remote. What if Cheney quits and Bush selects his successor ala Nixon?

I think it is time for cooler heads to prevail. Let's get past the thirst for vengeance and move on important matters.

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Dangerous precedent
written by Jean S. Cote, January 10, 2007
In response to john D. Sens:

I did not vote for democrats because, being Canadian, I cannot vote in US Elections. Yet, I follow US politics closely because it is the closest government with real policy making powers, and also, in my opinion, the best concept of Democratic government ever created (the practice is another matter though).

First, I believe that is not correct to compare the Clinton impeachment with the Bush/Cheney Impeachment. The Clinton impeachment was originally grounded in the Whitewater affair, a minor financial scandal which occurred before Clinton became President, and later degenerated into the Monica Lewinsky debacle which had most of the world, especially the French, laughing till they wet their pants. Of course what Clinton did was not very presidential, but many Americans and most of the world could make the distinction between a personal sexual misconduct and the ability to lead a country.

What the Bush/Cheney administration did on the other hand is of another scale altogether. Using the position of Commander in Chief and the weight of the administration to blatantly lie to the world community in order to trigger armed conflicts that benefit Unocal, Halliburton and KBR for billions and billions of dollars in contracts is simply immoral and against the very principle of checks and balances that the constitution upholds and what the impeachment process is all about.

Not going for the impeachment of this band of glorified corporate thugs moreover creates a dangerous precedent that the elected officials of the US Executive branch are basically free to do ANYTHING they please and is as dangerous to constitutional law as the precedent of pre-emptive strikes they set is to International law.

Not going for impeachment with full force and vigor would be nothing less than criminal negligence. It has nothing to do with vengeance but with simple justice and the validation that what the US constitution stands for is not an empty vow or a worthless piece of scrap paper any dubiously elected tyrant can wipe his ass with if it suits him and his corporate buddies.

The founding fathers would be rolling in their graves (with the exception of Madison perhaps)!

Now the constitution has a clear line of succession, which goes from President, to Vice-President, to Speaker of the House. If in the Course of the impeachment investigation Cheney is involved to the point at which (and it would be likely) he has to resign the Vice-Presidency (or if he becomes president then there would have to be another impeachment process), then so be it, and Palosi becomes president, which honestly can't be worse than what is there right now.

When Nixon appointed Ford as his replacement, he was simply following the line of succession after his resignation, nothing more. In the present case, it is both the President AND vice-President that need to be impeached, and so they should, immediately and with full force. If that results in Palosi becoming president, it is a small price to pay to get rid of these pirates and it would be a sad way for a first women to become President.
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