WHAT"S THIS ALL ABOUT?

On Saturday morning, November 11, 2006, just four days after The Election, I went down to Ocean Beach in San Francisco (the city where an Impeach-Bush-and-Cheney resolution passed with 91,000 “yes” votes), and with the heel of my boot I carved into the sand -- in 100-foot letters that stretched for more than 400 feet along the beach -- this message:

I M P E A C H !

In advance, I had alerted some of my friends, and that morning thirty of them joined me on the beach. A helicopter arrived briefly overhead, and while all of us laid down inside the outline of the message’s exclamation point, photographers recorded the scene from above. (See three photos at http://homepage.mac.com/bradnewsham/PhotoAlbum1.html)

When the helicopter chattered away, my friends said: “Imagine… Imagine how mind-blowing, how powerful this would be if all these letters were filled in with bodies!”

(View photos and imagine the potential of the Ocean Beach site at:

http://homepage.mac.com/bradnewsham/PhotoAlbum1.html


And today, November 29, the Park Service issued a permit for just that to happen -- I can invite anyone I want, and so can you.

Thanks,

Brad Newsham
(www.bradnewsham.com)

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS...


1. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

“The impeachment movement needs a visual. There are lots of words swirling around, lots of chatter, but no image to go along with them. I thought that a photo of 1,000 people on the beach, voting not just with their feet but with their whole bodies, and with the San Francisco skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the whole Bay Area spread out in the background… I thought that would make a great visual, catch some attention, and provide some focus and maybe even a physical rallying spot for the movement.”


2. IMPEACHMENT WILL BE SUCH A DISTRACTION. DO YOU REALLY WANT THE COUNTRY TO GET BOGGED DOWN IN THAT FOR THE NEXT YEAR?

“No. I want Bush to resign. First he should accept Cheney’s resignation, and then he should announce his own resignation effective January 3, the day the new Congress convenes. Speaker of the House Pelosi becomes President. Bush could make himself a worldwide hero -- a true statesman and uniter -- by using these next few weeks to do everything in his power to help smooth Pelosi’s way into the Presidency. Imagine what a masterstroke it would be – suddenly a woman is the American President, the most powerful person in the world! And if Pelosi named Barack Obama as vice-president... what a change in the face America shows to the world! Shock and awe would take on a whole new meaning. The international community would again shower America with the same empathy, support, and goodwill that were showered upon us after 9/11. If Bush decides not to put us through a gruelling impeachment battle -- which has already started -- the American populace will be absolutely relieved. Bush’s approval rating would go through the roof. Both parties would be ecstatic -- the Democrats for obvious reasons, and the Republicans because they would not have to defend Bush and his Iraq disaster every day between now and the next election. And what better personal move can Bush make? If he resigns, instead of being remembered as the worst President in history, he will be remembered as one of history’s greatest statesman. And what’s his alternative -- sit around and wait for impeachment? Because we still need to hold ourselves accountable for the things we’ve done as a nation, and we can't possibly do that without holding our leaders accountable, too, and the proper constitutional mechanism for that is impeachment. No, I don’t want to go through impeachment any more than anyone else does, but I do recognize its necessity unless Bush and Cheney leave on their own.”


3. BUT PELOSI HAS SAID IMPEACHMENT IS OFF THE TABLE.

“What else CAN she say? She can’t say, ‘Impeach these guys so I can be President!’ It’s up to the rest of us to say it.”