[Sosfbay-discuss] SVIC meeting tonight - some topics for consideration

[John Anderson]

Agenda

1. feb 14 events- delivery of demand for impeachment to politicians-  
drew and merriam
2. planning for peter phillips talk feb 16
3. whether to join larger impeachment group - merriam
4. next event
5.. the vigil - now to be "Outreach"


Hi everyone:
	I don't want to take up a lot of time given that there is already a  
lot to discuss, but I'd like to introduce some ideas and suggestions,  
pass then around for quick comment, and maybe take them up next meeting.

1. Articles of impeachment:
	If impeachment happens, the House Judiciary Committee will draft  
articles of impeachment. So why are we having this debate about  
putting together our own articles of impeachment? Well, it helps  
concentrate the mind; it provides a focus for our campaign; it  
provides the message for us to be on so that we can speak coherently  
and more or less in concert with each other. This is so strategically  
useful that a set of model articles, remember, the real thing will be  
the purview of the House Judiciary Committee, that a set of well  
drafted articles is a very good idea.
	When it comes to articles of impeachment, there is really only one  
game in town. These are the articles drafted by the Center for  
Constitutional Rights: www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp. I have the book  
and will bring it in. One look at the book and you can see it  
immediately: CCR are the grown ups. The rest of us are kids. When  
they speak we need to keep quiet and listen up. Then disagree if you  
must, but listen first.
	There are only four articles, the biggies, no Katrina, no global  
warming, no failure to prevent 9/11. Not that these aren't bad  
things, even crimes, but strategically, CCR understands that you go  
for the low hanging fruit. Go for the articles on which you can win  
most easily: 1. Illegal spying; 2. Lying us into war; 3. Illegal  
detention, torture, expansion of executive authority over both the  
other branches of government. 4. Repudiation of constitutional  
constraints on executive authority as specifically laid out in  
signing statements which declare his right to continue illegal spying  
and illegal detentions and torture.
	I'll bring in copies for distribution and suggest that we discuss  
this further next meeting.

2. How to get impeachment on the table:
	 Nancy Pelosi says that impeachment is off the table. Cynthia  
McKinney put it back on the table before she left but it didn't stay  
there. We can summarize our task as the Pelosi Problem: how do we get  
her to put it on the table?
	Vigils aren't going to do it, not by themselves. Vigils take place  
on the corner of Castro and El Camino. That's a long way from  
Washington. It's not even that close to her California office. And  
even if we were to occupy her office indefinitely, it wouldn't do  
much to pressure or persuade her.
	We solve the Pelosi Problem by lateral thinking. We solve it by  
going elsewhere. We go to the state legislature and demand that it  
submit articles of impeachment directly to the House as it is  
entitled to do so under the Jefferson rules. New Mexico is showing  
the way. There has been a lot of excited comment about this. We  
should be trying to do the same thing in California. In the end, it's  
the only realistic way to solve the Pelosi Problem: go round her. It  
will take only one of the 50 states to do it and impeachment is under  
way! We should see getting California to be that state as the  
vineyard in which we labor.
	As a means to that end, we should be trying to persuade Mountain  
View and other municipalities to request of the Califonia legislature  
that it draft and submit article of impeachment - here the model  
articles from CCR might well have further use. There will be  
resistance with claims that it's not within a city council's proper  
sphere to be engaged in such activities; all these arguments can be  
rebutted.
	And why start locally? As Tip O'Neill famously said: "All politics  
is local". The smaller the scale of Govt., the more responsive to the  
people. We go to the council because they are here and can't escape  
us. The campaign will attract attention, and publicity, and generate  
debate. Win or lose, we win on those grounds at least. So let's start  
thinking globally and acting locally. It will work!

		- John Anderson.
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