So I went to the National Constitution Center on Saturday the 11th for the impeachment panel I mentioned earlier. It was about what I expected: some for, some against and some good arguments for which I very much liked.
I got there a little late and sat down in the auditorium behind BooMan, Sally and Susie. There were about 75 other people in the second floor auditorium for the two part panel. First up were various people from various organizations/movements from around the way. First up to speak was Cindy Sheehan, I missed her speak. I’m both glad and sad I missed her. I’m glad because I truly can’t stand the sound of her voice. I’m sorry. But that grating voice. Eeeeeek. I love her call to action to pieces, but I’d rather see her at the head of a march/protest or read her thoughts than hear her speak.
I got there as former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman and author of The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens was speaking. She was on the House panel which voted to impeach Nixon back in the day. She said back then, it was a bipartisan movement and it ended up bringing the nation together, not split it apart. She noted how the investigation started in the Senate and that Republican Senator Howard Baker (TN) was the one who asked “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” – the question which brought Nixon down. She stressed how we don’t need an investigation started in the House by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI-14); anyone can start an investigation leading to impeachment.
David Swanson of After Downing Street mentioned a petition drive for impeachment and a Human Rights and Impeachment Day for December 10.
Founder of Progressive Democrats of America Tim Carpenter took the podium. He mentioned that two of the three PDA supported candidates took their House seats: John Hall (NY-19) and Jerry McNerney (CA-11). He said that while Speaker of the House Pelosi (heh!) has taken impeachment off of the table, it is up to us to keep up the heat on the street. Let impeachment percolate up from the grassroots so that those in Congress must listen once it reaches their deaf ears. He called on us to contact our Congresswo/men and ask them to pursue impeachment and that they have a page with local PDA Congressional liaisons to help out.
Jodi Evans, co-founder of Code Pink Women for Peace. She wore her pink slip she was arrested in while protesting during RNC 2004 in NYC. Her group has been responsible for some pretty major actions in the past few years. They’re a pretty visible bunch always decked out in pink.
And then it was on to the bloggers! Here are Susie, Sally and Marty on the right side of the panel seated next to a gigantic Condi head.
And here are Rob Kall of Op Ed News and Susie. Rob said that he didn’t think impeachment would ever happen, but that we must push for it in order to force Bush and the rest of them out of office in shame like Nixon. He also called for President Pelosi.
At left is Dave Lindroff of This Can’t Be Happening – Lady and I saw him speak in August at Robin’s Books. His logic hit home the most for me. He basically said that we should impeach the President on principle. Even if it’s a month before the 2008 elections. Or one day before the 2008 elections. To show the rest of the world that America does not endorse what Bush and his administration have done in the past 6 years. To show the world and all future American presidents that future presidents will be held accountable for their actions and egregious offenses disregarding the Constitution. He said he came to blogging as a way to get his articles published when event the most left/progressive publications wouldn’t. And with today’s technology, he can see his popularity rise in real time. When a few of his articles make it onto the bigger sites, he can check his Amazon.com ranking rise and fall. He said that his ranking has been high recently after the election as he had a few election-related articles being passed around quite a bit lately.
Next to Dave is Chris Rabb of Afro-Netzien. He said that he was brought up in a household where he was told that life was unfair and it prepared him well for the rest of his life and that he can accept the OJs of the world who get off free as a result of being wealthy. He asked if impeachment was a means or an end. Ponder that.
And at right is Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen. She is a self professed semantics gorilla/guerrilla, big on the tech side of things. She said that there is a war going on online, a war on and about information and that is Google. She noted that 90% of her hits come straight from Google. She said that Google was the internet via the trust people give the search engine. Blogs, for one reason or another, have risen in ranking by Google to become a source in searches often times showing up well before mainstream media does and in that way reaches the eyes and minds of people searching for information on current events. She pointed to when Memory Hole published the photos of the American soldiers in caskets when there was a complete top-down media blackout. They got the images out there.
It was a good event and I’m glad I went and I’m glad there was a good crowd there as well.
After the panel, I walked down to take a look around the Arlington North event. I walked down and at the north end of the park, I walked by a family, tourists I presume. A little girl, about 8 or so I guesstimate, asked her dad after seeing the crowd and all the tombstones, “Are they praying for them?” The father turns to the girl and says, “No, they’re protesters.” I wanted to grab the girl by the hand and tell her her dad was full of shit. But I kept walking.
I ran into Mr. Paul Lang and we talked for about an hour. It was great to catch up with him after the madness of the campaign. 3.5%. Good god. That’s all he lost by. With no help from the higher ups in the Democratic establishment statewide. Fuckers. They need more Paul Langs who are ready, willing and able to put their lives on hold for public service. But they turned their backs on him and patted the back of his Republican opponent because they had deals worth millions to uphold. It was great to see Paul and catch up. I hope he’s sleeping 12 hours a day for a couple weeks, he’s earned it.