Top 10 reasons we should impeach Clinton

Top 10 reasons we should impeach Clinton

By Alicia Alonso

What follows is fit testimony on today’s political leadership,
with a focus on the seemingly lame-duck (or just plain lame)
president. Here are the top 10 reasons to impeach Bill Clinton:

1) Lack of sanctions against Russia for its sacking of Chechnya.
Several days before the fascist Russian president bombed Grozny
into oblivion, the Administration forbade Vice President Al Gore
from criticizing Russia for its activity in the Chechen
countryside. At that time, Clinton could have put forth a stern
warning to Boris Yeltsin: stop the genocide or all aid requiring
American approval will be withheld. This would have crippled
Russia’s economy, prompting foreign capital to withdraw from
Russia, giving Russian citizens and the Parliament the impetus to
protest the destructive campaign no one supports. The nonpresence
of the U.S. in challenging this sick invasion has permanently
damaged the reputation of the U.S. in the world community.

2). China’s continuing Most Favored Nation status. In light of
its continued human rights violations, China still receives "most
favored nation" trade status. This remains despite the fact that a
prominent student leader, jailed for activity promoting social
change in China, smuggled a letter to an Amnesty International
contact citing forced labor in a prison camp. This hard labor
included 14- hour, seven-day work shifts in harsh, dangerous
conditions.

Additionally, China was just blasted in a U.S. State Department
human rights report for its human rights abuses. Similar charges of
forced labor and human rights abuses were leveled against American
trade partners Burma and Indonesia. The end run-around linkage of
trade status and human rights abuses is an act of disgrace for
which we all share responsibility.

3). Mexican aid package. The Mexican economic bailout granted
without congressional support is being compared to placing a
band-aid on a traumatic wound. The bailout also fails to serve the
Mexican people, who are far removed from the corrupt Institutional
Revolutionary Party government. Instead, it is widely viewed as a
bailout for Wall Street leeches spearheading the movement of U.S.
jobs into a Mexican economy, where environmental and labor rights
laws either do not exist or are rarely enforced. Chances are that
more bailouts will be needed.

4). Lack of presence in the fight to preserve the NEA, NEH, CPG
and PBS. Clinton has made no strong statement of support for the
endowments, which are under threat of elimination or privatization.
These endowments support art groups, cultural institutions and
public broadcasting. The minuscule support helps these nonprofit
groups sustain infrastructure so that the creative process and
disbursement of information can take place. The NEA for example,
helps dance companies, who have no chance of functioning as a
profit entity, hire choreographers and pay rent for dance
studios.

5). Allowing the FDA to prevent consumer protection. The Food
and Drug Administration caved in to major lobbyist Monsanto and
released rBGH, bovine growth hormone, a genetically engineered
hormone which prompts cows to produce more milk. The problem is
that rBGH is not a perfect imitation of the natural hormone cows
produce internally. As a result, the cow tries to reject the
hormone, which results in internal infections and pus in your milk
(yummy).

The real crime here is that the FDA refuses to allow labeling so
that mothers who don’t breast feed may be giving their children
hormone and pus-ridden milk. As well, animal rights activists
aren’t aware if they are supporting factory farming when they buy
milk products.

6). Continued denial of Bosnian sovereignty. By perpetuating the
arms embargo against Bosnia, a sovereign nation, the Bosnian people
remain subject to the bombing of the Serbian military (did Hitler
really die?). Congressional Republicans have repeatedly called for
the Clinton administration to lift the arms embargo and to take
action to open up Sarajevo and protect the Bosnian people.

7). Health care reform? President Clinton’s proposal to change
health care delivery was a farce. Pushing a pro-corporate
complicated health plan, though a single payer health plan was
cheaper and available, indicates a lack of concern for America’s
working people.

8). No protection of academic freedom. With the firing of
Jocelyn Elders and the withdrawal of Lani Guinier’s nomination for
a civil rights post, Clinton demonstrated political cowardice and
disrespect for academic freedom. Guinier was engaging in a debate
on forms of empowerment and affirmative action. Elders’ call for
people to understand masturbation as an alternative to unsafe sex
is so logical in this day and age that one must wonder why Clinton
didn’t go to Vietnam.

9). Withdrawal of nomination for ambassador to Panama. A former
Carter aid with an extensive record of academic and diplomatic
activity was slated to be the next ambassador to Panama, but
imperialist Sen. Jesse Helms promised to vote against confirmation
based on the fact that the nominee had worked on a pact to give
back the Panama Canal. Rather than fight this extremist relic,
Clinton withdrew the nomination. Had he challenged Helms on this
issue, Clinton could have disgraced the racist senator and
prevented him from being an embarrassment to the American
people.

1O). Repatriation of Cuban refugees. Clinton decided to move
Cuban rafters from Panama to an occupied military base in Cuba,
rather than grant them exile in the U.S. The U.S. kisses up to
China, Burma, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, but not Cuba. If the
Cuban government is so bad, why not let the rafters into Miami?

With this tendency for poor leadership and the propensity to
waffle or side with corporate interests, there seems to be a
leadership vacuum in the Executive Branch. How unfortunate, for the
result is alienation and bitterness. The general public either
doesn’t vote, falls into racial or class politics or both. How
ironic that Bill Clinton uses JFK as a role model! Given the manner
in which he has run his presidency, you would think his role model
was more akin to Humpty Dumpty.

Alonso is a senior dance student.