Wednesday, July 30, 2008
president has monarchal powers!?!
One of the more important things to happen while I was away were the hearings on Bush abuse of powers (impeachment hearing; which is going nowhere fast). The person who perked up my ears in dismay the most was smart-alacky talk-down -to-you Jeremy Rabkin. He was requested by the Republicans to be there.
He argued that during a time of war the president has monarchal powers. In other words during this time of endless war against a nameless faceless foe called terrorists the president has all the powers of a dictator. That's not consistent with the America I know and love. While the clip I could find doesn't have Rabkin saying that it is a good representation of the disrespectful contempt the fascist lovers hold all the rest of us.
Hearing on Limits of Executive Power: Lamar Smith
Bruce Fein was his typical articulate self...
Bruce Fein opening statement
more from Fein...
Vincent Bugliosi (the prosecutor who sent Manson and his family away) was exceedingly passionate.
more from Bugliosi on wmd's...
the architects of the day...
Rep. Robert Wexler
Rep. Denis Kuncinch
Bush/Cheney impeached then tried for war crimes; NOW ALL READY!!!
preemptive attack on thought !?!
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nation of laws; not men
police state
When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History
by Thom Hartmann
video...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1251628960376247583
read...
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
myth of the surge
A lot has happened while I've been gone. The myth of the surge has grown in popularity once again.
The surge should never have been necessary because we should never have invaded Iraq for dubious reasons. The surge never worked because it never met it's goals. The violence has lessened because of paying the Sunnis, Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr had his army stand down, ethnic cleansing and refugees, both external and internal.
Here are several links explaining this...
Saudis reportedly funding Iraqi Sunni insurgents
Updated 12/8/2006 7:29 AM ETCAIRO (AP)
— Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.
More…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-08-saudis-sunnis_x.htm
THE REDIRECTION
Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
A STRATEGIC SHIFTIn the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
More…
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070305fa_fact_hersh
Hersh: U.S. Funds Being Secretly Funneled To Violent Al Qaeda-Linked Groups
New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.
More…
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/25/hersh-qaeda
contradicting administration propaganda on Iraq
Bush speech on continuing surge with observations
Red Cross finds Bush administration guilty of war crimes
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Red_Cross_finds_Bush_admininstration_guilty_0712.html
U.S. Military Says Soldiers Fired on Civilians
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html?_r=3&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Iraq Bombings Kill Scores, Wound Hundreds in Baghdad, Kirkuk
The BBC Iraq page...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topics/iraq
.
.
.
The surge should never have been necessary because we should never have invaded Iraq for dubious reasons. The surge never worked because it never met it's goals. The violence has lessened because of paying the Sunnis, Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr had his army stand down, ethnic cleansing and refugees, both external and internal.
Here are several links explaining this...
Saudis reportedly funding Iraqi Sunni insurgents
Updated 12/8/2006 7:29 AM ETCAIRO (AP)
— Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.
More…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-08-saudis-sunnis_x.htm
THE REDIRECTION
Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
A STRATEGIC SHIFTIn the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
More…
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070305fa_fact_hersh
Hersh: U.S. Funds Being Secretly Funneled To Violent Al Qaeda-Linked Groups
New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.
More…
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/25/hersh-qaeda
contradicting administration propaganda on Iraq
Bush speech on continuing surge with observations
Red Cross finds Bush administration guilty of war crimes
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Red_Cross_finds_Bush_admininstration_guilty_0712.html
U.S. Military Says Soldiers Fired on Civilians
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html?_r=3&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Iraq Bombings Kill Scores, Wound Hundreds in Baghdad, Kirkuk
The BBC Iraq page...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topics/iraq
.
.
.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Our Middle East problems and the Obama plans
Iraq demands troop withdrawal timetable in U.S. defence pact talks
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/iraq_insists_on_withdrawal_tim.php
.
Administration Rebuffs Maliki’s Timetable As ‘Artificial,’ Questions Whether Media Made Transcription Error»
.
Iraq war, Bush admits the truth
.
My Plan for Iraq
By BARACK OBAMA
Published: July 14, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html
They screwed the Afghanistan people and our troops who were fighting the terrorists who really did attack our country by running away from the ‘war on terror’ hijacking it for neoconservative desires. The Taliban is regaining strength in Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden is still free. So now along the Afghanistan and Pakistan border, where we should have had a strong presence for several years, the training camps are back in business. It was just such a training camp from the same region the 9-11 attacks were planned and launched from.
General Pervez Musharraf is a military dictator who acquired power by way of a coup. He’s just the latest example of ‘our dictator in the pocket’, at least until it all falls apart. Human Rights in Pakistan are horrendous, they have weapons of ‘mass destruction’, those who would attack us are educated, harbored and trained within their borders, and bin Laden is protected there.
We commit, allow and turn our backs away from many atrocities because of some short term political goal. Our government puts the best spin on these episodes whenever they see the light of day and claim it’s all in an effort to fight terrorism. But are we truly any better when we endorse the same human rights abuses as our foes? (the evil act of torture)
The fight against terrorism is more often a fight for economic influence disguised as a fight for freedom. When we support a country whose government mutilates human rights we hand an ideological victory and propaganda tools for those we call our enemies to use against us. Where they suppress speech we should encourage it. Where they use violence we should react with restraint, kindness, food and medical care. We should never provide military assistance or have close diplomatic ties with any country that violates the civil liberties of its citizens.
Amnesty International
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/pakistan/index.do
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=pakist
The ball got rolling, on the horror which is modern Iraq, the moment the first bombs of ‘shock and awe’ were dropped. It was a failure from the beginning. All the millions who were against this war knew these events would happen and they were ignored and called un-American traitors. They continue to be right while the administration and their neoconservative cohorts continue to be disastrously wrong.
Our military does not deserve to be run into a pit because this administration refuses to admit they were wrong. This occupation is making us weaker. I believe they know it, too. It seems that they would prefer to do our military great harm and our nation as a result in order to protect their sad mistaken choices. The Bush administration is saturated with lies that are harming all Americans and the Middle East. They have been the best friends of those who attacked us by making the United States weaker and reviled in the world while boosting Al Qaeda recruiting and prestige. They hijacked the criminal pursuit of Al Qaeda in favor of their own misguided desires and against the interests of the American people and those of the Middle East and they continue to do so. Their lying tongues like the 9-11 terrorists are drenched in the blood of the innocent. They truly belong on trial for the crimes they’ve committed against the citizens of the United States and Iraq and whatever else is uncovered.
I could see the can of worms we were opening in Iraq. I’m not special in what I saw before this war. Many legitimately knowledgeable people at home and around the world knew the disaster that would occur with an invasion of Iraq and it was known since 1991. If all these people knew it right down to some little guy like me, why didn’t Bush see it?
It’s amazing why our leaders didn’t see it. I believe they let their ideology get in the way so they ignored, wouldn’t even allow themselves even to openly question, all that would go wrong. However, I think lust for oil and the PNAC documents (Project for a New American Century summary http://www.ecapc.org/pnac.asp ) are far closer to the truth that explains this war.
There’s a long list of problems that were caused when President Bush and his administration blatantly lied us into this Iraqi quagmire. They led America into believing that we were under an imminent threat of attack from Iraq. That mushroom clouds would appear on our shores if we did not move quick enough. Of course this was all lies.And now, they want us to believe and trust them, again and do the next 'shock and awe' or we'll all die war on Iran.
All of Obama's plans will be muddled if the Bushies are allowed to do this.
also remember this…
The Downing Street Memo
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/memos.html
More at…
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/A_devastating_condemnation_of_OSP_and_0208.html
.
Barack Obama on Iraq and Foreign Policy
.
Bush and McCain are just alike on Iraq.
.
Conservatives explain the John McCain platform
.
The authentic McCain
.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/iraq_insists_on_withdrawal_tim.php
.
Administration Rebuffs Maliki’s Timetable As ‘Artificial,’ Questions Whether Media Made Transcription Error»
.
Iraq war, Bush admits the truth
.
My Plan for Iraq
By BARACK OBAMA
Published: July 14, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html
They screwed the Afghanistan people and our troops who were fighting the terrorists who really did attack our country by running away from the ‘war on terror’ hijacking it for neoconservative desires. The Taliban is regaining strength in Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden is still free. So now along the Afghanistan and Pakistan border, where we should have had a strong presence for several years, the training camps are back in business. It was just such a training camp from the same region the 9-11 attacks were planned and launched from.
General Pervez Musharraf is a military dictator who acquired power by way of a coup. He’s just the latest example of ‘our dictator in the pocket’, at least until it all falls apart. Human Rights in Pakistan are horrendous, they have weapons of ‘mass destruction’, those who would attack us are educated, harbored and trained within their borders, and bin Laden is protected there.
We commit, allow and turn our backs away from many atrocities because of some short term political goal. Our government puts the best spin on these episodes whenever they see the light of day and claim it’s all in an effort to fight terrorism. But are we truly any better when we endorse the same human rights abuses as our foes? (the evil act of torture)
The fight against terrorism is more often a fight for economic influence disguised as a fight for freedom. When we support a country whose government mutilates human rights we hand an ideological victory and propaganda tools for those we call our enemies to use against us. Where they suppress speech we should encourage it. Where they use violence we should react with restraint, kindness, food and medical care. We should never provide military assistance or have close diplomatic ties with any country that violates the civil liberties of its citizens.
Amnesty International
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/pakistan/index.do
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=pakist
The ball got rolling, on the horror which is modern Iraq, the moment the first bombs of ‘shock and awe’ were dropped. It was a failure from the beginning. All the millions who were against this war knew these events would happen and they were ignored and called un-American traitors. They continue to be right while the administration and their neoconservative cohorts continue to be disastrously wrong.
Our military does not deserve to be run into a pit because this administration refuses to admit they were wrong. This occupation is making us weaker. I believe they know it, too. It seems that they would prefer to do our military great harm and our nation as a result in order to protect their sad mistaken choices. The Bush administration is saturated with lies that are harming all Americans and the Middle East. They have been the best friends of those who attacked us by making the United States weaker and reviled in the world while boosting Al Qaeda recruiting and prestige. They hijacked the criminal pursuit of Al Qaeda in favor of their own misguided desires and against the interests of the American people and those of the Middle East and they continue to do so. Their lying tongues like the 9-11 terrorists are drenched in the blood of the innocent. They truly belong on trial for the crimes they’ve committed against the citizens of the United States and Iraq and whatever else is uncovered.
I could see the can of worms we were opening in Iraq. I’m not special in what I saw before this war. Many legitimately knowledgeable people at home and around the world knew the disaster that would occur with an invasion of Iraq and it was known since 1991. If all these people knew it right down to some little guy like me, why didn’t Bush see it?
It’s amazing why our leaders didn’t see it. I believe they let their ideology get in the way so they ignored, wouldn’t even allow themselves even to openly question, all that would go wrong. However, I think lust for oil and the PNAC documents (Project for a New American Century summary http://www.ecapc.org/pnac.asp ) are far closer to the truth that explains this war.
There’s a long list of problems that were caused when President Bush and his administration blatantly lied us into this Iraqi quagmire. They led America into believing that we were under an imminent threat of attack from Iraq. That mushroom clouds would appear on our shores if we did not move quick enough. Of course this was all lies.And now, they want us to believe and trust them, again and do the next 'shock and awe' or we'll all die war on Iran.
All of Obama's plans will be muddled if the Bushies are allowed to do this.
also remember this…
The Downing Street Memo
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/memos.html
More at…
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/A_devastating_condemnation_of_OSP_and_0208.html
.
Barack Obama on Iraq and Foreign Policy
.
Bush and McCain are just alike on Iraq.
.
Conservatives explain the John McCain platform
.
The authentic McCain
.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Is Obama your top issue of importance?
What are your issues of importance?
For me, despite mine and my families health and financial needs, it is; no Iran war, return to constitutional order(kill fascism), an end to the occupation in Iraq, end torture and mistreatment of prisoners, no more extra ordinary renditions(disappearances), to renew our commitments to Afghanistan, bring 9-11 perpetrators to a proper justice and to reclaim our respect and dignity in the world. Energy, economics, health, education and environmental concerns follow closely.
I know it's quite a list which most Progressives share, maybe in a little different order of importance, but simular. These are all things which have been decimated during the Bush regime and will only continue to worsen if McCain were allowed to become president. We can't let that happen!
That is why for all of us who call ourselves liberals, progressives, democrats, independents, or fed-up Republicans the single most important issue, on the top of everyones agenda must be getting Barack Obama elected president, with a Democratic Congress.
There will be plenty of time for fighting on the issues after the inauguration, especially with the conservative-district Blue Dogs compromising with the far right, so often. We're passionate Democrats who do love nuance and are willing to go through the struggles to have all these issues work best for the American people.
Also,I would like to add praise for Representatives Kucinich and Wexler along with Senators Fiengold and Dodd for doing the important work of keeping the unlawful nature of the Bush administration before the American people. Since he has aligned himself so closely to the Neocons, McCain will be more of the same.
The anti-Iran war community(special kudos to Code Pink) must keep this issue constantly before our beat-up and capitulating Congressional leadership as often and as loud as possible. If Bush is foolish enough to attack Iran before November, all bets are off on how the squishy middle will react.
Iran isn't helping itself by meeting bravado with bravado and word bombs with word bombs. I fear all they're doing is playing into lusting Neoconservative hands.
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran
Bush Iran War Deja Vu All Over Again
FOX ATTACKS: Iran
Is it any wonder why they act this way?
Iran's Conflicting Signals to the West
Some Observers Suggest That Missile Tests Show a Readiness to Bargain
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071000024.html?hpid=sec-world
Again some common sense from our next president...
Barack Obama on Iran
.
GOP - Bad for the Military
Bush/McCain Insane on Iran
.
Monday, July 07, 2008
It's about human rights and mass MURDER!!!
When talking about Bush attending the Olympics in China on CSPAN, this morning, people continuously brought up the mistaken point that 'it's not about politics'. It's about human rights and mass MURDER. I can't help but think he and his Neocons would like to have some of the same controls China has; for us.
Here is a previous post on this subject...
.
If you care about human rights it's very plain that the Olympics in China must be boycotted at the very least the opening ceremonies. Also, the money you save buying China imports is money that's being used to fund the Chinese army and police who are the arm of injustice in China. There's a direct link between US trade policy, the American consumer and human rights violations in China, Tibet and Myanmar (Burma). The money you spend on Chinese products highlights an indifference to the plight of our fellow human beings who are also loved children of God.
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Legacy of the Beijing Olympics: Take Action!
http://www.amnestyusa.org/By-Country/China/page.do?id=1011134&n1=3&n2=30&n3=884
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June 4, 1989, Tienanmen Square Massacre
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Human Rights in China
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Global Pulse- Darfur and China- Oil vs. Genocide
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Myanmar (Burma)
http://www.amnestyusa.org/By-Country/Myanmar-Burma/page.do?id=1011205&n1=3&n2=30&n3=955
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VIOLENT CRACK DOWN ON PROTESTING MONKS IN BURMA
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Desmond Tutu about China and Burma
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UN: Rights Council Should Address Tibet Crisis
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/03/26/china18358.htm
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BBC report on chinese killing in Tibet
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April 4, 2008
Exclusive: Chinese police kill eight after opening fire on monks and Tibet protesters
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3683878.ece
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Saturday, July 05, 2008
Obey the blue dogs
I recieved this video in an email this morning from Pax Christi USA, which is also gearing up against any Iran war. http://www.paxchristiusa.org/
I posted this on Raw Story, Think Progress and it's waiting approval on the Huffington Post, which, I'm afraid, means no one will see it there, but it needs to be.
From one idiot liberal to another this is a must see from Rep. Obey!!!
Marine Mom and Rep. Obey. We Share your frustration
( the other videos and this Blog do not go together-sorry but like Pax Christi I felt it was to important not to see.)
No wonder we're never leaving Iraq with these Bush collaborators in charge.
.
H.R.2642 (obey Obey and know the bill)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02642:@@@L&summ2=m&
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Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Fund Iraq War Until Mid-2009
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/062708Leopold.shtml
The Iraq Supplemental: A Three-Ring Circus
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/84833/
.
Barack Obama and his stance on Iraq
.
Obama's first priority: End the war
http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/05/news/local/news03.txt
.
I posted this on Raw Story, Think Progress and it's waiting approval on the Huffington Post, which, I'm afraid, means no one will see it there, but it needs to be.
From one idiot liberal to another this is a must see from Rep. Obey!!!
Marine Mom and Rep. Obey. We Share your frustration
( the other videos and this Blog do not go together-sorry but like Pax Christi I felt it was to important not to see.)
No wonder we're never leaving Iraq with these Bush collaborators in charge.
.
H.R.2642 (obey Obey and know the bill)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02642:@@@L&summ2=m&
.
Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Fund Iraq War Until Mid-2009
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/062708Leopold.shtml
The Iraq Supplemental: A Three-Ring Circus
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/84833/
.
Barack Obama and his stance on Iraq
.
Obama's first priority: End the war
http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/05/news/local/news03.txt
.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Self-Evident Truths
Fireworks Fourth of July 2007, The Arch, St Louis, MO
July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
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.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Barack Obama: Speech on Patriotism
The whole world and history are looking at us now. If we are strong, if the faith we have in our nation is strong, if what we have always told ourselves what we believed about the endurance of our constitution is strong; we should move forward with guts.
What image do we want to leave the world and our children’s, children’s, children’s children? That of weak complacency in the slow unraveling of 200 years of liberty or steadfast support for what our founding fathers created and our ancestors as well as ourselves swore allegiance to.
The eyes of history are upon us and the weight of our own consciences. Will we fail at this moment of history and allow ourselves to slip ever so much more closely into an authoritarian-like existence. One we all once talked so bravely about never allowing on our shores. Or will we have the courage equal to the challenge that this moment of history has thrown upon us?
Howard Zinn on Patriotism
.
I am veteran of the Air Force and I fully understand that the military is essential in guarding the borders of a country and in rare circumstances its overseas commitments and interests but it is not the sole reason for freedom and democracy. One of the many misguided beliefs of the conservative right is that whenever there is a protest against any military adventurism it is only by virtue of a strong military that allows it to exist.
I suppose an example would be during the time of Noriega and Panama many people would bring up the ‘Hitler comparison’ and that if we didn’t stop him now he would come up here and take all our freedom away. So, you shouldn’t be so ungrateful as to protest against war because their saving you from being taken over from this horrible man who will take your freedom of speech from you. This represents a far too often used circle of fear based ignorance that’s difficult to break through. It’s been used many times since with the current holder being Ahmadinejad, the relatively low powered president of Iran whose greatest gift and liability are the word bombs he throws out so profusely. Like the previous holder of this dubious honor before him he fails to realize his boisterous attempts to draw support from his base plays into the hands of those who would wish to destroy his nation.
Our Bill of Rights was placed on a pinnacle of honor by our fore fathers and continues by the choice of all the following generations who have equally cherished it to keep it there. Freedom flows from the hearts of the people and is dependent on the amount of love of freedom dwelling there and their courage to keep it or obtain it. If love for freedom is only for ones own close-knit cultural identity or financial security then freedom is less. If on the other hand love for freedom is extended to other cultures freedom is more expansive. If fear, hate and greed enter the picture then freedom is subjugated to that adoration.
Many countries have had strong militaries either relevant to the world or their own citizens and have no freedom of speech or assembly. Any challenge to established power is a tortuous prison sentence or worse, possibly much worse.I often hear neoconservatives speak of reviving anti sedition laws. It seems they don’t just want to discourage criticism of the Iraq occupation or other military campaigns but to link all public disapproval of the President or his administration to giving aid and comfort to the enemy. This would be a great restriction on freedom. Remember when the old Soviet Union had a powerful army but no freedom. When a love for freedom became manifest among the population it came into being despite the strength of the military loving politicians trying to hold it back.Dissent is a stalwart guardian of freedom and in every country where it is allowed to flourish, while government may be a bit more chaotic, freedom is great.
Freedom does not exist without Dissent.
.
Here is an area where love of country requires dissent...
.
Truth, Torture and the American Way
.
The Nexus of Politics and Terror
.
CNN poll: Most say Founding Fathers wouldn't be impressed
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/04/us.poll/index.html
.
July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
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.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Barack Obama: Speech on Patriotism
The whole world and history are looking at us now. If we are strong, if the faith we have in our nation is strong, if what we have always told ourselves what we believed about the endurance of our constitution is strong; we should move forward with guts.
What image do we want to leave the world and our children’s, children’s, children’s children? That of weak complacency in the slow unraveling of 200 years of liberty or steadfast support for what our founding fathers created and our ancestors as well as ourselves swore allegiance to.
The eyes of history are upon us and the weight of our own consciences. Will we fail at this moment of history and allow ourselves to slip ever so much more closely into an authoritarian-like existence. One we all once talked so bravely about never allowing on our shores. Or will we have the courage equal to the challenge that this moment of history has thrown upon us?
Howard Zinn on Patriotism
.
I am veteran of the Air Force and I fully understand that the military is essential in guarding the borders of a country and in rare circumstances its overseas commitments and interests but it is not the sole reason for freedom and democracy. One of the many misguided beliefs of the conservative right is that whenever there is a protest against any military adventurism it is only by virtue of a strong military that allows it to exist.
I suppose an example would be during the time of Noriega and Panama many people would bring up the ‘Hitler comparison’ and that if we didn’t stop him now he would come up here and take all our freedom away. So, you shouldn’t be so ungrateful as to protest against war because their saving you from being taken over from this horrible man who will take your freedom of speech from you. This represents a far too often used circle of fear based ignorance that’s difficult to break through. It’s been used many times since with the current holder being Ahmadinejad, the relatively low powered president of Iran whose greatest gift and liability are the word bombs he throws out so profusely. Like the previous holder of this dubious honor before him he fails to realize his boisterous attempts to draw support from his base plays into the hands of those who would wish to destroy his nation.
Our Bill of Rights was placed on a pinnacle of honor by our fore fathers and continues by the choice of all the following generations who have equally cherished it to keep it there. Freedom flows from the hearts of the people and is dependent on the amount of love of freedom dwelling there and their courage to keep it or obtain it. If love for freedom is only for ones own close-knit cultural identity or financial security then freedom is less. If on the other hand love for freedom is extended to other cultures freedom is more expansive. If fear, hate and greed enter the picture then freedom is subjugated to that adoration.
Many countries have had strong militaries either relevant to the world or their own citizens and have no freedom of speech or assembly. Any challenge to established power is a tortuous prison sentence or worse, possibly much worse.I often hear neoconservatives speak of reviving anti sedition laws. It seems they don’t just want to discourage criticism of the Iraq occupation or other military campaigns but to link all public disapproval of the President or his administration to giving aid and comfort to the enemy. This would be a great restriction on freedom. Remember when the old Soviet Union had a powerful army but no freedom. When a love for freedom became manifest among the population it came into being despite the strength of the military loving politicians trying to hold it back.Dissent is a stalwart guardian of freedom and in every country where it is allowed to flourish, while government may be a bit more chaotic, freedom is great.
Freedom does not exist without Dissent.
.
Here is an area where love of country requires dissent...
.
Truth, Torture and the American Way
.
The Nexus of Politics and Terror
.
CNN poll: Most say Founding Fathers wouldn't be impressed
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/04/us.poll/index.html
.
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