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Photograph by Stephen Laufer 'Subliminabable' Messages: The anti-Bust shrine at Chocolat says it all. Nüz Peachy With the drive to impeach George "Dubya MD" Bush getting some actual buzz for once, Nüz wonders what U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton thinks of the effort, given she's probably the world's leading expert on the process. As Living History (Hillary's must-read summer tome) reveals, Hillary studied the "politically motivated" impeachment of Prez Andrew Johnson as a young law graduate on the team that was trying to peachify Richard Nixon--only to see Bill with impeachment pie on his face 24 years later. "A colossal miscarriage of the Constitution," is how Hillary describes that latter occasion, which makes it doubly delicious that she could find herself as senator for New York voting to remove Bush from office, in the admittedly unlikely but oh-so-tantalizing event that the House 'peaches Bush for trampling on the Constitution. Apparently, it would take two-thirds of the Senate voting to convict Dubya to remove him from office. And that would only happen if the House were to impeach him first--a move most believe won't happen, given the Republican hold on the House and the Dems' fear of retribution and negative fallout. All of which isn't stopping local activists from pointing out that the risk of not taking action outweighs the risk of increasing sympathy for, and hence the strength of, the Republicans. Insisting that trying to vote out the administration is not a substitute for justice, and that this justice is not merely a disguise for revenge, the Santa Cruz Action Network, the Green Party of Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Code Pink of Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz County Peace and Freedom Party and the Santa Cruz Peacemakers have adopted an impeachment resolution they hope local elected officials will adopt--and they're starting with the Santa Cruz City Council on July 22. They're also asking U.S. Rep. Sam Farr to introduce articles of impeachment in the House, while petitioning Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to lend Farr their full support, as well as asking Assemblymember John Laird and Sen. Bruce McPherson to do the same at the state level. The pro-impeachment coalition has drawn up a list of charges against Bush, though it seems to range from the impressively impeachment-ready "authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, murder, kidnappings, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners" to the probably-not-gonna-fly "threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently proclaiming his personal intention to change its government by force." Says activist Sherry Conable, "As responsible citizens of the U.S., we feel we need to do this. It's a matter of global security. The whole world is waiting and expecting Americans to do this." And local Green Party spokesperson Louis LaFortune believes impeachment will become possible--if enough people know about the process, and why it's justified. "This drive is a means to amplify the discussion about all the things the Bush administration has done, but what Bush has done is violate his oath to uphold the Constitution," Lafortune said. With the exception of the Green Party, these orgs are also calling for the impeachment of Vice Prez Richard Cheney and the removal of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Attorney General John Ashcroft and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice. Visit www.VoteToImpeach.org for details of the crimes of which Bush is accused. Savagely Stupid As an update to our coverage (Nüz, June 25) of the domain name dispute filed by Talk Radio Networks Inc. of Oregon against SavageStupidity.com, a website devoted to documenting and critiquing the public statements of popular conservative radio and TV talk show host Michael Savage, TRN's request to assume possession of said domain name has been denied, reportedly because the SavageStupidity.com domain name is "not confusingly similar," due to both the inclusion of "stupidity" in the domain name and the generic nature of the terms "savage" and "stupidity." "This was clearly a meritless filing, intended only to harass and intimidate Savage's critics," says SavageStupdity.com co-founder Thomas Leavitt. "Savage's attempt to squelch his critics has backfired in a major way, leading to a tenfold surge in traffic to SavageStupidity.com, and vastly increased awareness of the retrograde nature of Savage's commentary among the general public." Calming Presence Looks like poor ol' Delta Omega Chi still has someone on its side. Following our coverage of the frat boy fish fry at UCSC (Nüz, June 11 and 25), we received an email from someone named "Calm," who takes extreme umbrage with the protesters who gathered June 7 outside the Delta Omega Chi frat house. "Are the wackos going to protest fishermen at the Wharf and Yacht Harbor and all restaurants that serve fish next?" wrote Calm, who feels "peace-loving animal groups" should be thrown out of UCSC, "for the same reasons the stupid frat boys were thrown out." Calm alleges to have driven by the protesters, chanting, "The fishing boats are over there!" while pointing across the street at two places that sell and prepare fresh fish and various other marine life. "Would there be a protest if the Frat House Boys walked across the street and bought a freshly caught salmon from a returning fisherman?" asks Calm. Um, miss the point much? And the Winners are ... The ballots have been tabulated, the chads are no longer hanging, the audience has voted! The 2003 Santa Cruz Film Festival award winners are: Best Feature: Prey for Rock-N-Roll ; Best Documentary: Surfing for Life; Best Short Narrative:Live From Shiva's Dance Floor; Best Short Documentary: Strange Fruit; Best Animation: How to Cope With Death; Best Avant-Garde/Experimental: Modern Daydreams; Best Student: Pacific Sea Turtles; Best Youth: Talent; Best Digital: The Perpetual Life of Jim Albers. Check out www.santacruzfilmfestival.com for complete details. Nüz just loves juicy tips: Drop a line to 115 Cooper St, Santa Cruz, 95060, email us at , or call our hotline at 457.9000, ext 214. [ Santa Cruz | Metroactive Central | Archives ]