high crimes with no misdemeanors

the constitution of the united states-

article 2 section 4:

‘The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’

article 3 section 3:

‘Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attained.’

there was an interesting conversation recently on a blog and i can’t remember which one right now- about treason.  perhaps it was cenk uygur- nope that was on telecom immunity.  different post.  and that got me to thinking- why?  with all of the proof out there- why hasn’t anyone from the bush/cheney administration been held accountable?  they are the ones who insisted- no forced- the wars in afghanistan and iraq- and i always knew it was about profit and greed for them but why has the democratic party continued to abdicate power and go along with them?  there are all sorts of excuses- but what are the real reasons?  and bit by bit- the truth has dribbled out of the wound that is this country.  and now i know.

jeremy scahill:

“No one who has political aspirations is going to give the perception that they are anti-business, and war is very, very big business in this country. I’ve also learned that congresspeople are just flat-out lazy. A lot of them have a pack of kids in their early 20s, in the case of the House, who are only looking at job listings for jobs on committees and to hop over to the Senate, and they couldn’t care less …”

voters for peace:

“While Democrats are more likely to advocate for ending the Iraq war sooner than Republicans, as a group they have more of their own money invested in America’s military efforts. In 2006 Democrats had at least $3.7 million invested in the defense sector alone, compared to Republicans’ $577,500. More Republicans, however, held stock in defense companies in 2006—28 of them, compared to 19 Democrats.”

i guess that i no longer wonder why the politicians from the party who billed itself as the savior of the american democracy in 2006- has continued to capitulate to the party who shredded the constitution.  and it comes as no surprise that there is no outrage from the left on the abuses of justice going on in america right now- from detaining people in detention camps indefinitely; to separating families; to denying basic human rights; to killing people and mistreating people; to setting up military checkpoints in america- and then defending them by saying that ‘we are trying to do the right things.’

we are a nation who no longer believes in individuality or basic human rights.  as long as we can safely do what it is that we want to do in our comfy suburban lives- and as long as our standard of living doesn’t drop- we are happy enough to have ‘those people’ rounded up and put away where they won’t bother us and we don’t have to look at them.  it is unfortunate that we are also short sighted.  it is a small hop from rounding up ‘terror suspects’ and becoming them.