The last time I felt this sick to my stomach was in December 2005 when the Bush administration responded to revelations that they were breaking the FISA law by insisting they had every right to do so…and then framed the 2006 elections around the wisdom of them doing so. The people spoke in the 2006 election and they threw out virtually every Republican they could find. But it wasn’t enough.
The administration is now claiming that every US Attorney is merely an extension of Bush’s will, with no independence. This is what Thomas Jefferson said about George III in our Declaration of Independence.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
Jefferson went on to chide the King ‘For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury’ and ‘For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences’. Sound familiar?
Bush is behaving in an intolerable manner. A refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas and an assertion that the courts have no right to question the legality of his actions is totally unacceptable. Listen to Jefferson:
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
The time has now arrived. Bush must be made to comply with the law or he must be removed from office.
The people that signed the Declaration of Independence knew that they would be hanged if captured. What are you willing to do to secure the blessings of freedom?
A good question to ask is: What you you proposing Boo?
Right now I would strongly suggest you avoid any references to violent revolt or civil armed conflict. I don’t know if a huge demonstration would bend their will, but it is something you can legitimately promote.
IMO: The next step should be mass national work stoppages.
are you joking?
we couldn’t even pull off not one dime day
we couldn’t even persuade people to refrain from buying gas for one day
we need to test the waters with something less drastic than a national strike.
And here I was thinking we needn’t a response a little less drastic than violence.
(I won’t promote violence, period)
Nowhere has booman promoted vilence. Period!
What are you willing to do? Maybe stop paying taxes foe example. There are other optins other than violence.
I think Jefferson would say: “I told you we gave you a Republic if you could keep it. Looks like you couldn’t or wouldn’t hold on.”
I think Franklin said that.
As for me, I have options: my son’s a canadian, and I can leave this clusterfuck anytime I want.
If there is a lesson in all of this it is that our Constitution is neither a self-actuating nor a self-correcting document. It requires the constant attention and devotion of all citizens. There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: “A republic, if you can keep it.” The brevity of that response should not cause us to under-value its essential meaning: democratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people, they are also absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health.
The last sentence above is where current America is failing badly!
Old-line Republican warns ‘something’s in the works’ to trigger a police state
Muriel Kane
Thursday July 19, 2007
“Thom Hartmann began his program on Thursday by reading from a new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies.
He then introduced old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts — a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War — by quoting the “strong words” which open Roberts’ latest column: “Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney,
a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.”
“I don’t actually think they’re very strong,” said Roberts of his words. “I get a lot of flak that they’re understated and the situation is worse than I say. … When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] … there’s no check to it. It doesn’t have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. … The American people don’t really understand the danger that they face.”
Roberts said that because of Bush’s unpopularity, the Republicans face a total wipeout in 2008, and this may be why “the Democrats have not brought a halt to Bush’s follies or the war, because they expect his unpopular policies to provide them with a landslide victory in next year’s election.”
However, Roberts emphasized, “the problem with this reasoning is that it assumes that Cheney and Rove and the Republicans are ignorant of these facts, or it assumes that they are content for the Republican Party to be destroyed after Bush has his fling.” Roberts believes instead that Cheney and Rove intend to use a renewal of the War on Terror to rally the American people around the Republican Party.
“Something’s in the works,” he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.
“The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists … are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events,” Roberts continued.
“Chertoff has predicted them. … The National Intelligence Estimate is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. … You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda’s not going to do it, it’s going to be orchestrated. … The Republicans are praying for another 9/11.”
Hartmann asked what we as the people can do if impeachment isn’t about to happen.
“If enough people were suspicious and alert, it would be harder for the administration to get away with it,” Roberts replied.
However, he added, “I don’t think these wake-up calls are likely to be effective,” pointing out the dominance of the mainstream media.
“Americans think their danger is terrorists,” said Roberts. “They don’t understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution. … The terrorists are not anything like the threat that we face to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism. Americans just aren’t able to perceive that.”
Roberts pointed out that it’s old-line Republicans like himself, former Reagan associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein, and Pat Buchanan who are the diehards in warning of the danger.
“It’s so obvious to people like us who have long been associated in the corridors of power,” he said. “There’s no belief in the people or anything like that.
They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. … Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. … A person like that would do anything.”
Roberts final suggestion was that, in the absence of a massive popular outcry, “the only constraints on what’s going to happen will come from the federal bureaucracy and perhaps the military. They may have had enough. They may not go along with it.”
http://tinyurl.com/3x9ztv
from counterpunch: Impeach Now, Or Face the End of Constitutional Democracy
godwin alert
lTMF’sA
.
May 9, 2007 – “Enduring Constitutional Government,” or “ECG,” means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency …
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
King George III served as monarch of Britain from 1760 until his death in 1820. He was plagued by mental afflictions throughout his tumultuous reign. After gaining a victory in the Seven Years War, his empire lost ground to the Americans in the Revolutionary War. His speech adapted to Emperor George Bush:
“The rebellious war now levied is become more general, and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent Mesopotamia. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of the success of such a plan. The object is too important, the spirit of the Anglo/American nations too high, the resources with which God hath blessed her too numerous, to give up so many resources which she has planted with great corporations, nursed with great military might, encouraged with many commercial advantages, and protected and defended at much expence of blood and treasure.”
Repeat of the revolt in the Americas?
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."the video of bill moyers on Impeachment from last week is now available here.
highly recommended
lTMF’sA
Stop worrying about violent action. No one is claiming that!
Get you head out of your ass. What is being called for is IMPEACHMENT!!!!! That is what is needed. That is what must happen right now. Stop the worrying about the possible actions of the liar. The dems in the house have no longer any choice. The must call for impeachment. Called the bastards bluff. Tie up this admin in knots.
If nothing happens now, this country is a dead issue.
the ingredients for a violent revolution do not exist in the united states, just do not exist since the majority is way way too comfortable. and i am not by any means an advocate of violence, so don’t get me wrong. mass violence occurs when there is mass outrage by a populace that has endured extreme suffering, and that just ain’t happenin’ here. americans as a nation are way too comfortable and it only those of us with functional consciences who are suffering at the moment. and a functional conscience does not resort to violence except as a super-extreme last resort.
i am very nearly physically ill…
there can be no more delay… we’ve put off the inevitable for far too long… every day that passes, the danger to our constitutional republic increases dramatically… what troubles me even more is that in-your-face confrontation is only going to increase the danger, a reason perhaps why it hasn’t been yet undertaken, but, seriously, what other choices do we have…? we need to use all of our resources to sound the alarm…? there’s not a moment to lose…