From the December 2007 Idaho Observer:

Florida rep wants to impeach VP Cheney

As The IO reported last month, Rep Dennis Kucinich’s Impeachment Bill, HR 333, filed April 24, 2007, had been ignored for almost eight months. On Nov. 7, a bipartisan majority of 218 members of the House voted to send HR 333 from the floor of the House back to the Judiciary Committee for action.

Following the release of his online op-ed, "A Case For Hearings," advocating for Cheney impeachment hearings (posted at www.wexlerwantshearings.com), Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) launched an ambitious online effort to mobilize support for immediate impeachment hearings for vice- President Dick Cheney. A senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Wexler is mobilizing grass roots and netroots support from across the nation in order to increase pressure on Congress to hold hearings. In a YouTube video, Wexler issues a strongly-worded statement in favor of hearings:

"Our Constitution mandates that the House of Representatives hold presidents and vice-presidents accountable when they commit high crimes... Accountability and the rule of law are not partisan; they are American. They supersede politics and strategy. We must hold all of our leaders accountable. No exceptions."

Dave Lindorff, author of A Case for Impeachment, on Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 06:56:04 AM PST, reported: "50,000 people responded in one day to Rep. Wexler’s call for support for his demand that the House Judiciary Committee immediately start hearings on Rep. Kucinich’s bill to impeach Cheney. Let’s keep the ball rolling and give him 500,000 names.

By Sunday evening, 54,000 people had signed the petition at www.WexlerWantsHearings.com calling for action now. At this time, names are being added at a rate of one every few seconds. Wexler has said he wanted at least 50,000 signatures. But why stop there? If people get behind this, and if the impeachment movement spreads the word, he could easily get closer to 500,000 signatures over the next few days" [Note: as of noon Monday, Dec. 17, PST, the number had increased to 79,737].

If each of us were to send out a call to sign to ten of our friends, then we’d have half a million signatures, which would be hard for Conyers and the Democratic leadership ,Speaker Nancy Pelosi included, to ignore.

To move the ball forward, The IO sent the link to several dozen email addresses urging people to "sign" the petition calling for the impeachment of vice-President Cheney. This is the first time The IO has ever requested its nationwide network of activists to sign an online petition. "Considering the gravity of the crimes Cheney has committed as vice-president and that there is a national movement growing to have his crimes publicly aired, we decided this was a critical cause to promote," said IO editor Don Harkins.

The articles of impeachment include charges that vice-President Cheney lied to justify going to war against Iraq, leaked the identity of a covert intelligence source coming forward with evidence that he lied and authorized the illegal wiretapping of American civilians.

Note: As of 12/19/07, 105,324 (and counting) have signed the petition.