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Mike Hersh: Take A Stand
Remarks at the White House 1-10-06
My name is Mike Hersh. I'm here representing Progressive Democrats of America, Convict Bush Cheney dot Org, and After Downing Street dot Org. I've been working to impeach Bush and Cheney since 2000, even before they took the oath of office, on the theory that if fibbing about a blow job is sufficient reason for impeachment, then cheating in the elections, losing, and having your friends on the Supreme Court throw out the votes to put you into office is grounds for impeachment and removal from office.
Apparently this attracted notice, because I was visited by Secret Service agents in early January 2001. They were investigating the "threat" I posed to the incoming Bush Administration because of a protest website a friend and I set up in late 2000: bushoccupation.com which is still up today. So this domestic spying issue is very personal to me. I believe this visit was intended to intimidate me. It didn't.
Immediately after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a Mrs. Powel asked Benjamin Franklin: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" He replied, "A republic" but added, "If you can keep it." Today more than ever before that question challenges us: Can we keep it? Can we keep our republic? That was 1787.
That landmark convention enshrined the primacy of the people over their government. It crowned the work begun in 1776 when brave Patriots rose up opposing a crazy King George. The more things change.... We're here today speaking out against another crazy George who thinks he's a king.
I'm telling you today, we don't need Congress to extend the Patriot Act. We need members of Congress to act like patriots.
In his chilling cautionary tale It Can't Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis warned: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Sound familiar? That was in 1935.
Today, in that building over there, sit men and women who not only believe they're above the law, they openly arrogate to themselves powers and prerogatives which would make a monarch blush. When Mr. Bush spoke to America about the outrage of illegal spying it was not to condemn the lawbreakers, it was to rage against the truth-tellers who exposed his administration's reckless lawlessness.
We are here today to tell the denizens of that building that the White House they work in doesn't belong to them. It belongs to us. We are here to tell them that the White House is the house of the people, not the castle of a king. The powers they have, they have on loan.
Ironically the Republican Party and its supporters, so quick to call us "soft on crime" seek to defend wholesale criminality on high. They were so quick to impeach a President over fibbing about sex, now suddenly they're forgotten their rhetoric about the "rule of law" and accountability. We're here to remind them of their principles and to insist they follow them - not just impose them on their opponents.
Rep. Conyers said, "This administration must be held accountable for its misdeeds. I am taking steps against the Bush Administration's handling of the Iraq War and its collection of intelligence. I am going to need you to stand with me in fighting for accountability. Join me to demand censure for Bush and Cheney in addition to the creation of a Special Committee to investigate impeaching the Bush Administration for its widespread abuses of power." We're here to answer his call.
Senator Robert Byrd said, "Americans have been stunned at the recent news of the abuses of power by an overzealous President. It has become apparent that this Administration has engaged in a consistent and unrelenting pattern of abuse against our Country's law-abiding citizens, and against our Constitution." Bush and Cheney promised to defend the Constitution against all enemies, but they lied under the oath of office. We're here to defend our rights and our Constitution.
Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said this about the out-of-control Bush Administration: "They talk about constitutional authority," but he added, "There are limits as to what the president can do. Specter called the domestic spying "inexcusable... clearly and categorically wrong," and he promised his committee will "look at what they did, whose conversations they listened to, what they did with the material, and what purported justification there was for it." Let's insist they do all of that and more.
Senator Russ Feingold says of Bush, "He is the president, not a king." He adds, "The president has, I think, made up a law that we never passed." Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said "The president can't pass the buck on this one. This is his program." Reid added "He's commander in chief. But commander in chief does not trump the Bill of Rights." There are consequences for trying to trample the Constitution.
Attorney Jon Bonifaz, Constitutional Law expert and author of Warrior King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush says, "Now is the time to return to the rule of law and to hold those who have defied the Constitution accountable for their actions." How shall we hold these people accountable?
We the People have no choice. We must demand our rights. We must insist the officials who work for us will respect our freedom. We must investigate, impeach, indict and convict the lawbreakers who put their narrow personal and partisan interests far above the Constitution and the national need and betrayed their solemn oath to defend it.
PDA director Tim Carpenter promises to help "mobilize and organize a broad based coalition that will demand action from Congress to investigate the lies of the Bush administration and their conduct related to the war in Iraq."
Rep. Conyers' resolutions would direct Congress use to all of its powers to hold the president and vice president accountable even including the power to impeach them and remove them from office.
H.Res.635 would establish a select committee to investigate whether members of the administration took actions to "invade Iraq before receiving congressional authorization, manipulated pre-war intelligence, encouraged the use of torture in Iraq and elsewhere, and used their positions to retaliate against critics of the war. The select committee would be asked to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment of Bush and Cheney."
H.Res.636 would impose Congressional censure of the president "'for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that he and others in his Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, co untenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of his Administration, for failing to adequately account for specific misstatements he made regarding the war, and for failing to comply with Executive Order 12958.'
H.Res.637, would impose similar Congressional censure of Cheney.
Progressive Democrats of America, After Downing Street, Convict Bush Cheney and others are asking you to take an assertive stance against these alarming abuses of power. You will play the critical role in our efforts mobilizing in defense of our Constitution and our rights.
That was worth printing in its entirety!
Here are the New Year's resolutions from Kim Gandy of NOW:
- I pledge to do my part to oppose the nomination of Samuel Alito the Supreme Court, for all the reasons given here and here. Even if I've already called my Senators, I pledge to go call 'em again now! I know this fight could decide women's reproductive rights for the next 40 years or longer, and I am committed to doing my part to stop Alito. (And in fact, if you have some time, we'd love to have you in D.C.! Find out more about joining our campaign in D.C.)
- I resolve not to be fooled by Sam Alito's evasion, obfuscation, and wiggle words (that's a legal term, for all of you non-lawyers out there ;>) and to focus on his very serious anti-woman ideology, even if it is really funny that his excuses sound a lot like "the dog ate my homework" The excuses? In today's hearing they went something like this: the computer forgot to remind me that I promised not to rule on Vanguard cases and I really don't remember being in that misogynistic club, but if I did it must have been about the ROTC and the military (sounds of patriotic music playing in the background).
- I will do everything I can to make sure Congress doesn't take women's rights lightly, and to remind our elected officials—especially the ones who claim to be "progressive"—that women's issues matter and women's votes count!
- I'll work with my local NOW chapter on whatever campaigns I can help with in my area, knowing that all across the country I will be joined by hundreds of thousands of feminists and progressive allies working to take back our country from the far Right! (Don't know your local chapter? Click here!)
- I pledge to speak out when anti-feminists in the media, government, or other institutions hit "below the belt" and try to move us backwards! Just last month, for instance, DISH Network pulled the plug on Lifetime TV and the Lifetime Movie channel. Join us in speaking out! Just to prove we can do it, how about our victory over the Department of Labor—we've just reversed their terrible decision to stop collecting data on women workers (Boo, hiss!) Thanks for joining me in telling them it is not okay to try to sweep gender disparities under the rug!
- I promise to speak out on women's health, like the conservatives' opposition to a new vaccine that could nearly wipe out cervical cancer, and the outrageous failure of the Food and Drug administration to protect women from Mentor Corp, a breast-implant manufacturer—while they're "protecting" us from access to emergency contraception, not to mention the endless assaults on abortion rights and access.
- I will not forget the criminally inadequate and negligent governmental response to Hurricane Katrina, nor will I let the country forget the lessons Katrina taught us about how our country is still ignoring deep-seated race and income inequities. George W. Bush's actions in cutting the Army Corps of Engineers levee-shoring budget, "reorganizing" FEMA to focus less on disaster management, and appointing a completely unqualified Director resulted in a deadly and disastrous governmental failure for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
- I will remember those who have died, those who were displaced, those who were not allowed to cross the bridges to evacuate, and those who the Bush Administration tried to evict from their temporary housing right before the holidays. I pledge to raise my voice and demand that FEMA to stop delaying resources designated for the hurricane evacuees!
- I believe in our shared dream of a world free of racism, sexism, homophobia, and all the other forms of violence, oppression, and intimidation. I can see that world, can envision it, and I swear I will work towards it in 2006. The future belongs, Eleanor Roosevelt tells us, to those who believe in the power of their dreams.
- Above all, I resolve to NOT give in to apathy, to feelings of powerlessness, to a rising sense of depression over the current state of affairs. I know that the personal is political and all change is local, and I will work with my local NOW chapter and sister feminists to turn our country around.
DiAnne, please give us the relevant URL and the embedded links from that Kim Gandy manifesto so we can follow them and learn more of what she wants us to know, not just read her remarks here. Thanks!
knowledge is power,
Otter
knowledge is power...
Posted by: Otter at January 11, 2006 10:00 AM
That explains the energy crisis in this country.
Got gas?
Dianne,
Thanks for that pledge.
Karen and Mike,
Thanks for that summary of the bills. I found Mike's comments interesting. I wonder when protest became a precurser to terror. For instance, I don't recall any of the highjackers hung out protesting the Bush inaugeration. Am I missing something? I don't recall Peace activists bombing anyone, but I do recall so-called-prolifer's bombing abortion clinics and shooting the staff.
And I still wonder why the Anthrax thing that further terrified our country is still unsolved. What is the meaning in that? Sometimes there are so many questions, it makes a person want to invest in tin foil and hats.
Republicans complained that Democrats have already made up their minds about Alito.
“I do think that there are those who have already decided to vote against your nomination and are looking for some reason to do so,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday. “And I think one of the reasons that they may claim is that you’ve been nonresponsive.” Cornyn said he saw nothing to derail Alito’s confirmation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10802815/
(... let me get this straight, WHO has already made up their mind, Sen. Cornyn???)
"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances."
- Martha Washington (1731 - 1802)
Ted Kennedy - fighting for our freedom of information again. Go, Teddy!
Kennedy just asked Spector for a subpoena of the records on Alito's activities with the racist, sexist CAP organization, to which he proudly pronounced his membership in his application for a position with Reagan's administration.
Spector said this is the first time he's heard the request, and Kennedy produced a letter he had sent to Spector on Dec. 20.
Spector bristled, to say the least.
Just read this disturbing article, off of the Angry Asian Man (www.angryasianman.com) blog:
http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=504353
Apparently the W administration and its Korean-American cronies believe that crushing a child's testicle to force his parents to speak up is perfectly acceptable.
Between John Yoo (the bastard who advocates this position), Reverend Moon, and former Congressman Kim, Korean immigration has driven America into a very dangerous direction, and now we are about to celebrate it thanks to the Republican Congress declaring this Friday to be the "Korean-American Day."
The Korean-Americans do NOT stand for the mainstream values of the USA, and they don't stand for the mainstream values of the Republic of Korea either. From now on, I will work to shut down further Korean immigration before this community becomes unstoppable like the Cubans. If I have to work with the likes of FAIR to get it done, so be it.
I don't have the URL but if you go to the NOW website, it should be on there. I am not in a position to check right now. NOW sent out a mailing & there is a highlighted area to click for the resolutions. Thanks!
I liked it alot.
I'm watching Shrubya live on teevee giving a speech in Louisville, KY. He's waffling and backpedaling and trying desperately to justify his Iraq war policy and other administration mis-steps. He looks and sounds rattled, defensive, even belligerent at times.
Even the occasional applause from his prechosen audience sounds arbitrary, like it's getting turned on and off abruptly by a blinking red sign that says "applaud now". Boy George looks like he's nervous in the service, and his trademark smirk is sporting a tiny sheen of sweat on its upper lip (in between more than the usual amount of frowns and grimaces, that is).
I think his facade is really starting to crumble now. Gee. That really breaks my bleeding-heart commie-liberal pinkie-hippo heart, ya know what I'm sayin'?
hey, bubbleboy: don't let the screen door hit ya where the good lord split ya,
Otter
I think his facade is really starting to crumble now.
Posted by: Otter at January 11, 2006 01:40 PM
Has he said this yet?
"Ah, but the strawberries, that's where I had them, they laughed at me and made jokes..."
The embarrasing point in the story is when the Emperor understands he has no clothes, everyone else already knew it.
Ally, I'm really appalled at the John Yoo article, though not altogether surprised.
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In my internet wanderings, I found the following item which I really enjoyed. It's a flash animation (4-5 min in length) titled 'The Philosophy of Liberty'. It was created in part in response to a Russian activist who wanted a basic statement to preface a translation of a book on free societies and free markets which was the first book to be published without a permit in St. Petersburg after the fall of the Soviet Union.
This site shows the flash and gives background about its creation...
http://www.butterbach.net/ken/kenandkerry.htm
This site also has the flash in several different languages and a transcript for those who choose not to run flash animations (but you're missing something in this case!)
http://www.jonathangullible.com/media.htm
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And for those who are familiar with it, yes, it is libertarian oriented.
“Your critics are grasping at any straw to tarnish your record,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
"They tried to sack you and they haven't done a very good job at it," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley predicted Democrats would try "Hail Marys" in an effort to rattle him.
Your assley is grassley.
NASS (National Association of Secretaries of State) published, on 12-21-2005, the results of an informal survey of the states and how many will be able to comply with the HAVA requirements that came into effect on 1-1-2006.
http://www.nass.org/HAVA%20Implementation%20Summary.pdf
Hattip to Michael Alvarez, Co-Director of the Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project and his blog, Election Updates...
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/blog.html
(I called George Munro of NASS and verified the publication date since it was accidentally omitted from the pdf. They're adding it back in.)
I urge all here to read this week's Time magazine and specifically pg 29 and Joe Klein's editorial called How to Stay Out of Power. It is a blanket insult of Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party alleging that both are as bad as Republicans invaded the Schiavo family's privacy saying that Dems are "far from the mainstream" and appeasing al-Queda by refusing to renew the flawed Patriot Act and justifying the NSA program. Nowhere does he bother to mention that as many as 6 Republican Senators and numerous Republican Congressmen have joined the Dems in opposing both. Not one word.
Klein as much as calls us traitors in this national publication which makes me livid.
Please read this outrage and join me in flooding Time magazine with complaints and urging Klein's immediate firing.
Roll Call reads the tea leaves and asks if Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl may be the only Senator to cross party lines in the committee vote on Alito. If he supports Alito, Roll Call Notes the lack of unanimous opposition to Alito by Democrats in committee will make a Democratic filibuster more difficult.
way to go Herb.
Alito's wife walks out of husband's hearing. What a coreographed stunt. Oh poor baby let's all take out our crying towels.
If you can't stand the heat, better stay away from the kitchen.
Governor Rick Perry campaigns today in Houston with Tom Delay, unfortunately not in handcuffs, yet.
Would someone please relieve us of this lunacy, DiAnne, Otter..
Our local tv stations refuse to run commercials attacking DeLay. Nice to know they are so easily intimidated.
First, good thread header.... Nice to sknow someone is speaking out (although I'm quite sure I won't hear anything on Lamestream Media where I'd really like to hear/see such info). The info about the '01 SS visit is particularly revealing - a clue about how early the paranoia of The Cretin's administration showed up after the 2K Selection (jeez, if he can't take a bit of criticism, he shouldn't have run for office...).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posted by: chuck at January 11, 2006 12:37 AM
(on previous thread)
My American Heritage Dictionary says [definition] "(3) A trip taken by a public official or by businessperson at public or corporate expense."
I'm merely wondering who is paying for Kerry's junket. If he's going to come back in time to vote (hopefully against) Alito, that's nice. But I still want to know who's paying for the junket.
And, I want to know who has paid for the junkets of the other legislators who have made similar trips.
There have been several senators and reps who have taken junkets to Iraq and elsewhere in the world who seem to vote with The Cretin's wishes quite often (which are also American corporate wishes), and for several months now it has led me to wondering if they've been bought off by corporations who pay for these same junkets... especially when those same legislators advocate staying in Iraq for whatever lamebrained excuses they parrot from neoCon propaganda. These same Dem legislators have also not gotten Lamestream Media attention by speaking out against holding prisoners, speaking out against torture, (and the rest of the long list that we all know about that I could rant about endlessly).
Curious minds want to know....
Poll: Iraq won't be governing itself soon
Asked if it was worth going to war, smaller majority says no
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Americans overwhelmingly lack confidence that Iraq will have a stable government in place within the next year, and more than half say that the war has not been worth its cost, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday.
Fewer than one in five, or about 19 percent, of the 1,003 adults quizzed Friday through Sunday, said they believe Iraqis can assemble a sound, democratic government in the next 12 months that is able to maintain order without the assistance of U.S. troops. Seventy-five percent said they didn't believe that would happen.
Removing the deadline seemed to improve respondents' confidence, as 46 percent of those polled said the country would one day be able to produce a stable government. Another 46 percent said Iraq would never be capable of such a feat without U.S. assistance, and 7 percent said they had no opinion.
The poll also suggested that most Americans remain skeptical about the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, with 52 percent telling pollsters it wasn't worth going to war. However, this is a marked decrease from a poll taken fewer than two months ago, indicating that 60 percent of Americans didn't think the war was worth the cost.
The poll, released Wednesday, said 46 percent of Americans thought the war was worthwhile, and 3 percent had no opinion. The poll had a sampling error of plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.
The poll was taken at a time of sectarian protests and a wave of renewed violence that followed Iraq's December elections for a permanent parliament. Hundreds of Iraqis and 30 American troops have been killed in the new year.
More than 2,200 Americans and an estimated 30,000 Iraqis have died since the invasion that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Most of the U.S. casualties have come during battles against the insurgency that emerged after the April 2003 fall of the Hussein regime.
President Bush on Wednesday said victory in Iraq will come only when "the Iraqis are able to defend their democracy," and he repeated his pledge that U.S. troops will be able to "stand down" as more Iraqi police and soldiers are able to defend their country.
He further said that the U.S. stands by its decision to go to war and will not be dissuaded by the insurgency or the politicization of the war.
"Whether you agree with me or not, they're not going to shake my will," Bush said. "We're doing the right thing."
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/11/iraq.poll/index.html
Subject: Bush is a Saint
Bush's advance man made an advance visit to the Bishop, and said to him, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Methodists because of Bush's position on stem cell research and the like. We'll gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if, during your sermon, you'd say the President is a saint."
The Bishop thought it over for a few moments and finally said, "The Church is in desperate need of funds and I will agree to do it."
Bush pompously showed up on the appointed day, looking especially smug, and, as the sermon progressed, the Bishop began his homily: "George Bush is petty, a self-absorbed hypocrite and a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He has lied about his military record and had the gall to put himself in a jet plane, landing on a carrier and posing before a banner declaring "MissionAccomplished" He invaded a country for oil and money, and is using it to lie to the American people. He is the worst example of a Methodist I've ever personally known. But, compared to Dick Cheney and the rest of his Cabinet and staff, George Bush is a saint."
I would rather pay for Kerry's junket to meet with world leaders than Delay's golf excursions.
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