Impeachment Proceedings

The people have spoken twice, once when they elected Al Dyer, and once again when they did not. Haven't we spent enough money, time and trouble on all of this impeachment business? And let no one be mistaken that someone is making a point. Mr. Dyer is the ultimate "happy warrior. " Continuing the process suits him just fine. It is the rest of us who are stuck with watching and paying for this now moot fight among people who can't stand each other. Time to stop carrying on in public and at public expense.

I was always led to believe that Maryland's elected officials, prior to assuming their duties, were required to take an oath, swearing and affirming to uphold all of the laws in effect at the time they take office. By whose authority do they get to pick and choose which laws they will enforce and which laws they will blatantly ignore? If there are laws currently on the books whose purpose it is to prevent or discourage illegal immigration, then these laws need to be strictly enforced, as written, unless and until the time these laws are changed through due process.

WASHINGTON -- With the House of Representatives set to vote tomorrow on whether to convene the third presidential impeachment inquiry in history, Republican leaders have decided to block Democrats from proposing an alternative to the GOP plan for open-ended impeachment proceedings.That decision will likely inflame the partisan rancor that has smoldered since independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr sent his impeachment report to Congress a month ago. It came as Democrats -- squeezed between party loyalty and anxiety over the election next month -- agonized over how to vote tomorrow.

The harm and damage that President Barack Obama has imposed on the U.S. calls for impeachment proceedings. Our deficit is now reaching levels from which it will be difficult if not impossible to recover because of failed policies and an incompetent administration. Mr. Obama has made our country a lot less safe with the START treaty. His failed Mideast policy has now put Israel on the line. His muddled policies in Afghanistan and Iraq will eventually cause us to fail there as well.

A headline in yesterday's national news section incorrectly attributed to a former aide of Rep. Robert L. Livingston a statement that Livingston would prefer an impeachment vote while Newt Gingrich is speaker of the House. In fact, it was Livingston's advisers -- including the former aide -- who expressed that preference.The Sun regrets the error.WASHINGTON -- Even as House Republicans are increasingly consumed with their leadership struggles, presidential impeachment proceedings are advancing with remarkable speed.

IN DECIDING TO step down as Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich spared his party a period of agony from which it could only have emerged weaker.The Georgia Republican's announcement Friday came only three days after the GOP lost five House seats in midterm elections that became a referendum on his leadership and Republican conduct of the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.The embarrassing losses in the U.S. House contrasted with significant statehouse wins by moderate gubernatorial candidates who appealed to nontraditional GOP voters: George E. Pataki in New York, Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin, George W. Bush in Texas, and his brother Jeb Bush in Florida.

The harm and damage that President Barack Obama has imposed on the U.S. calls for impeachment proceedings. Our deficit is now reaching levels from which it will be difficult if not impossible to recover because of failed policies and an incompetent administration. Mr. Obama has made our country a lot less safe with the START treaty. His failed Mideast policy has now put Israel on the line. His muddled policies in Afghanistan and Iraq will eventually cause us to fail there as well.

WASHINGTON -- A White House lawyer's potentially crucial testimony in the Monica Lewinsky matter could get bogged down in a constitutional fight developing over the threat of impeachment of President Clinton, judges on a federal appeals court indicated yesterday.The development, emerging during a 92-minute hearing here, left the impression that the Whitewater special prosecutor, Kenneth W. Starr, could be frustrated further in his demand that Bruce R. Lindsey, a White House deputy counsel and longtime Clinton confidant, testify before a criminal grand jury.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Nevada Controller Kathy Augustine - the first state official to be impeached - goes on trial before the Senate here Monday, accused of using state employees to run her political campaign. Nevada's 42 Assembly members voted unanimously Nov. 11 to impeach Augustine on ethics violations, based on a yearlong investigation by the attorney general that found she had forced staff members to do the work on public time and had stored campaign information on government computers.

An excerpt from a Friday Chicago Tribune editorial.IF anything ought to have come by now of the so-called Clinton White House scandals, it should have been a large measure of intellectual humility among all who observe and comment on it. In this episode, one day's gospel truth becomes the next day's discredited rumor.Never has that been more the case than last week, which began with Kathleen Willey's "60 Minutes" appearance, which left the president looking like political road kill, and ended with Ms. Willey looking like a clumsy hustler who tried to parlay 10 minutes with Mr. Clinton into a lottery jackpot.

The people have spoken twice, once when they elected Al Dyer, and once again when they did not. Haven't we spent enough money, time and trouble on all of this impeachment business? And let no one be mistaken that someone is making a point. Mr. Dyer is the ultimate "happy warrior. " Continuing the process suits him just fine. It is the rest of us who are stuck with watching and paying for this now moot fight among people who can't stand each other. Time to stop carrying on in public and at public expense.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Nevada Controller Kathy Augustine - the first state official to be impeached - goes on trial before the Senate here Monday, accused of using state employees to run her political campaign. Nevada's 42 Assembly members voted unanimously Nov. 11 to impeach Augustine on ethics violations, based on a yearlong investigation by the attorney general that found she had forced staff members to do the work on public time and had stored campaign information on government computers.

SEOUL, South Korea - The turbulent, year-old presidency of South Korea's Roh Moo Hyun was hit with its most serious political challenge to date yesterday when the two main opposition parties initiated impeachment proceedings in Parliament. The motion to impeach the president, unprecedented in South Korea, follows a series of corruption scandals and Roh's messy divorce from his political party. In the incident that prompted the impeachment proceedings, opponents complained that the plainspoken labor lawyer was trying to manipulate parliamentary elections scheduled for next month.

WASHINGTON - Conservative Republicans, who spent the past eight years cheering and at times fomenting the many investigations of Bill Clinton's White House, have barely had time to catch their breath. With nearly the same depth of animus that turned the anti-Clinton sentiment into a virtual cottage industry - and mustering much of the fury and indignation that accompanied Clinton's impeachment proceedings - conservatives are rallying their forces to do battle with Vice President Al Gore.

Lots of Americans woke up today like somebody who has just had an aching tooth pulled: They felt a whole lot better, but there was a great big hole left.The 13-month presidential scandal ended yesterday with the two small bangs of acquittal, a whole lot of whimpering from wounded politicians and an almost audible sigh of relief from across the country.Up in Bangor, Maine, Dan Namowitz, a graduate business student and flight instructor, literally breathed a long sigh: "I guess I'm just wondering what the Clinton scandal will be next week."

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's impeachment trial is the 14th Senate trial in history, but only the second of a president. Like the others, his will help shape the outcome of future trials. Lyle Denniston of The Sun's national staff explores the constitutional arguments by House prosecutors laying out the precedents they want established.What does it mean to "set precedents" on impeachment?The Constitution says little on impeachment, and there have been few impeachment cases in U.S. history.

SEOUL, South Korea - The turbulent, year-old presidency of South Korea's Roh Moo Hyun was hit with its most serious political challenge to date yesterday when the two main opposition parties initiated impeachment proceedings in Parliament. The motion to impeach the president, unprecedented in South Korea, follows a series of corruption scandals and Roh's messy divorce from his political party. In the incident that prompted the impeachment proceedings, opponents complained that the plainspoken labor lawyer was trying to manipulate parliamentary elections scheduled for next month.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson called yesterday for the public to rally in Washington to show its opposition to impeaching President Clinton.During a news conference with Rep. Elijah E. Cummings at a Baltimore union hall, the civil rights leader and former presidential candidate said impeachment proceedings are an "obsession" of a "get-Clinton mania" that would "jeopardize national interests.""We have a lame-duck Congress where a substantial number are letting their swan song be impeaching the president," Jackson said to the shouts and applause of about 80 union workers at the Service Employees International Union Hall on North Eutaw Street.

Well, it happened. We knew it was going to happen.But we've got shopping to do and football games to watch.Such was the sentiment expressed yesterday in area shopping malls, athletic centers and restaurants as the House of Representatives impeached President Clinton.At the Austin Grill in Canton, two televisions mounted 20 feet apart over the bar broadcast the impeachment proceedings and the Buffalo Bills-New York Jets football game. Having a midafternoon drink, Andy Himes and his two sons were decidedly focused on athletics.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson called yesterday for the public to rally in Washington to show its opposition to impeaching President Clinton.During a news conference with Rep. Elijah E. Cummings at a Baltimore union hall, the civil rights leader and former presidential candidate said impeachment proceedings are an "obsession" of a "get-Clinton mania" that would "jeopardize national interests.""We have a lame-duck Congress where a substantial number are letting their swan song be impeaching the president," Jackson said to the shouts and applause of about 80 union workers at the Service Employees International Union Hall on North Eutaw Street.