More and more, we're agreed - this country is going to hell in a hand basket. Since we aren't there yet, I feel the good fight is still worth fighting.
I was encouraged Monday night when, while channel hopping, I found Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on C-Span, reading his formidable Articles of Impeachment (...all thirty-five of them!..) against George W. Bush. I settled in and watched his workmanlike delivery of painstakingly gathered facts more intently than football fans watch the Super-Bowl, and I was genuinely uplifted to know there is at least one American hero left on the hill. For his hard work, indomitable spirit and unquestionable courage, we greatly owe Dennis Kucinich. At every opportunity, I hope you'll join me in sharing with him your sincere gratitude and stalwart support.
Now, no matter how much we sound off in our local newspapers, or how much we lean on our own representatives to join Kucinich, (and we should already have been doing both by now), I'm afraid the priceless seeds Dennis planted might quietly wither because we haven't yet gotten rid of certain congressional poisons.
Nancy Pelosi for instance, is an outrageous congressional poison. Whether she's criminally collusive or just unfathomably ignorant, her disregards for democracy, the American people and the U.S. Constitution were laid bare the moment she took impeachment "off the table." She's obstructed justice long enough, and should not only be removed, but also indicted, tried and very possibly jailed alongside the Bush administration!
A few days ago, I learned of and signed Scott Creighton's online petition demanding the removal of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to replace her with someone who WILL pursue the constitutionally required impeachment and lawful removal of the Bush / Cheney administration. What's more, I'm enthusiastically urging you to do the same.
Please sign this "petition - and then urge your friends to do so. If some aren't sure why they should, you might want to offer some of the following.No matter what happens now, our invasion and occupation of Iraq will forever remain one of the United States' most disastrous, burdensome and shameful international crimes. Those who argue we should remain there until we have achieved victory have not only failed to seriously consider the financial and humanitarian costs of doing so; they have failed to rightly consider whether we deserve victory. The sad truth? We don't deserve victory over Iraq any more than Japan deserved victory over us.
Tragically now, just as they did over Iraq, the Bush / Cheney administration is increasingly clamoring for another attack on another sovereign nation which does not materially threaten us. Apparently conspiring with Israel, and through a complacent and/or complicit corporate media, they are lying to us again: presenting only the evidence or intelligence they've chosen or otherwise manipulated to forward their secret agenda. As before, their misrepresentation (which can rightly be called lying propaganda) is creating in many Americans a frightening and false sense of vulnerability, suggesting a U.S. attack upon and war against another nation at peace - this time Iran - is necessary for our own security. IT IS NOT.
The only way to certainly prevent a repetition of the American-Iraqi disaster in Iran is to properly hold our government accountable for the disasters it's already wrought, in Iraq and at home, and to do it NOW. The Bush/Cheney administration must be impeached, removed from office and arrested without further delay.
At risk of re-stating what should be obvious, the Bush/Cheney administration is more impeachable than any in U.S. history, for failing to heed the many warnings of the attacks of September 11, 2001, for repeatedly lying to congress and the world, for waging a murderous war of aggression, for spying on U.S. Citizens without cause or warrant, for arresting and endlessly detaining anyone they wish (including U.S. Citizens) without charges, for rendering any of these prisoners offshore to deny them due legal protection, for brutally torturing anyone they see fit, for brazenly violating numerous international laws, treaties and accords, for ignoring and censoring scientific facts impacting our environment and public health, for subverting and circumventing the United States Legislature and Constitution with a heretofore unprecedented use of signing statements and dictatorial presidential directives, and for treasonously seeking and securing previously unimaginable legislation from complicit and foolish congressmen and women: laws already passed which hand the president absolute and potentially endless totalitarian power (over all our domestic governments, enterprises and properties, public AND private) should he decide it's time to take it.
This isn't politics as usual, and it's certainly not partisan politics. (After all, Pelosi calls herself a Democrat.) Moreover, it isn't right to wait for the next election ...or the next lie, the next disaster, or the next war. This is about timely law enforcement - the road to justice and healing. It's about safeguarding the civil liberties we've come to take for granted. It's about demanding the restoration of lost checks and balances in our government. Indeed, it's about saving our decreasingly free and democratic republic before there's nothing left of it to save. The Bush / Cheney administration - and every other profiteering crook in our traitorous oligarchy - must be fully exposed and punished!
Last year against Cheney, and again last night against Bush, Dennis Kucinich rightly delivered the goods - dutifully and clearly presenting the overwhelming cases for impeaching both. Today the corporate media silently yawned and most of the nation remains ignorant, largely because Nancy Pelosi remains as an entrenched and crippling obstacle, reliably protecting the status quo. To pursue impeachment, she has to go.
