Petition To Impeach George W. Bush

We the undersigned agree with and call upon Congress to raise debate, vote upon, and proffer to The Senate the following Article of Impeachment:

"On or about March 16th, 2008, George W. Bush, both personally and through his Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, caused to be provided to JP Morgan/Chase a bribe(1) ultimately flowing from the United States Treasury in an amount not to exceed $30 billion dollars US, via The Federal Reserve, in order to induce JP Morgan/Chase to assume the liabilities and assets of Bear Stearns and Company at a price not determined in the free market or via public bidding, in violation of the limitations expressly set forth in The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, 12 USC Ch 6."

We believe the Federal Reserve “bailout” of Bear Stearns on March 16th constituted an unlawful act as it was in effect granting a payment of up to $30 billion US Dollars by The Federal Reserve to JP Morgan/Chase as part of the inducement to purchase Bear Stearns and Company.

The Federal Reserve proffered to the world that this was a “loan”, but we believe in fact it is no such thing. A loan that is “non-recourse”; in other words, there is no obligation upon the acquiring company (JP Morgan) to repay the loan should the posted collateral decrease in value or turn out to be worthless, is not a loan at all. It is in fact a payment conditional upon the default of the underlying collateral, and thus, we the undersigned believe, constitutes in fact and in law an act of bribery.

Such a proffering of a public “backstop” would be legitimate when authorized by an explicit prior act of Congress, however, Congress has passed no law authorizing this action. Under the plain language of The Federal Reserve Act, The Fed is authorized to make loans under “exigent” circumstances to non-bank organizations (of which Bear Stears was), however, it is not authorized to make direct payments to “prop up” a failing organization nor is it authorized to make payments to enrich one private enterprise at the expense of another, or at the expense, either potential or realized, of the United States Treasury.

We call upon Congress to force the immediate cancellation of the Bear Stearns transaction as an unlawful act, and should The Federal Reserve and the US Treasury refuse to do so, to bring the above article of impeachment.

(1) Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering , giving , receiving , or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in discharge of a public or legal duty .

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NOTE: As Congress is having the last of its hearings on this matter on 4/3/2008, this petition has been closed. You are strongly urged to visit http://www.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov, find your lawmakers and CALL THEM. Thank you.

I have read the above petition and agree with its contents. The above information is my registered voter address, or, if I am not registered, my legal address, I am qualified to vote, and will so register prior to the next election.

We have 2124 confirmed signatures on the petition at the present time.

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