Impeachment from another angle?

[disclosure: I've not been or am I now on the bandwagon for impeaching george bush.  That isn't to say I'm not anxious to see him go but agree with the Pelosi political strategy to keep him on board all through the 2008 election cycle.]

I stumbled across something interesting tonight that I thought worth throwing out there, a little bit of red meat for those in the impeachment camp.

Stock market analyst Karl Denninger writes in his blog,

Articles of Impeachment? Bear Stearns Buyout Illegal?
 

- "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."

(1) Bribery 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.

I have spent a solid week both reading The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and thinking about the circumstances of this transaction trying to find a means under which "backstopping" Bear Stearns debt via The Federal Reserve is legally permissible.

I've not read the Federal Reserve Act and I'm not about to because I wouldn't understand it anyways.  I'm not a lawyer so I can't say one way or another if his argument holds water but it might be worth chewing on, if you're so inclined.

He continues on with some other points about the Reserve Act but I'll skip to the heart of the matter.

It is widely reported that both Hank Paulson and George Bush personally "signed off on" The Bear Stearns "bailout" last Sunday. As such their direct and indirect actions, in my view, constitute a "High Crime and Misdemeanor" within the meaning of the United States Constitution and therefore subject George W. Bush to impeachment proceedings as proposed in the above sample article for same.

You can read the entire blog entry here.   If you do stop by over there I would encourage you to read his petition to help put an end to the fraud & corruption on Wallstreet that only exacerbates the crisis that's crippling the financial markets.

Oops.. he has a new petition up and it's calling for the impeachment of George Bush.  

I'll end the diary with the last paragraph of his blog :-)  

PS: I'm a lifelong registered Republican, voted for George W. Bush twice, and have one of Gingrich's "Speaker's Gavels" on the credenza behind my desk.....