I am a Political Junkie who wants to be involved in protecting the Democracy as it has always been; not what George Bush defines as democracy.
Furthermore, you're trying to raise money in one of the most liberal bastions in the country (San Francisco)while your voting record looks like the second coming of Newt Gingrich, even though you're a registered Democrat.
Third, the political heads of San Francisco are backing off your proposed fundraiser, because you voted in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, as well as voting in favor to retain the PATRIOT act; but you believe San Franciscians are supposed to line your campaign coiffers with cash while you have voted consistently to trash policies they support.
Find out who the most ignorant politico is at http://getridofthedlc.blogspot.com. By the time you read this, you probably know who the politico is...
"Amendment XXV (the Twenty-fifth Amendment) of the United States Constitution clarifies an ambiguous provision of the Constitution regarding succession to the Presidency, and established procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President as well as responding to Presidential disabilities."
I know many of us want to see this guy, and other players in his Administration impeached, tried, convicted and made to do the perp walk. Given that both houses of Congress, and the Executive Branch are under Republican majority (read: RULE), I'm trying to think of the most expedient means under the law to get this guy gone.
I know, I know, you're probably thinking "It Can't Be Done." But if you read Sinclair Lewis, "It Can't Happen Here" there is a part in the story where the guy who became America's dictator was undermined by the guy who put him in office. The fissures that are appearing within the GOP rank and file (Walter Jones and an elected official in his home State who also is complaining)suggest that someone probably can be persuaded to cross the aisle and draft up something that would be an effort to save democracy in America.
My friend, Autoegocrat, has the goods on the lady running for the North Carolina Supreme Court, and how she's quit the GOP: http://www.rivercitymud.blogspot.com/
Something for all of us to think about...and create a dual movement, perhaps? As in demand impeachment, but have a backup plan which involves citing the 25th Amendment?
Oh yeah, if Cheney has to take the job, it won't be long. He's so odious, his very presence should result in voter disgust with the GOP and net gains of seats in the House and Senate to make real inroads in restoring the country, embracing and encouraging dissent, and repairing democracy at home and globally.
I can't think of everything...that's why I depend on fellow Kossacks and readers at MyDD!
Consider that Sinclair Lewis wrote "It Can't Happen Here" in 1935. Seventy years ago, Lewis warns America, through satire, about how precious democracy is, and how to not take it for granted that we would always have it. How valuable democracy is, to the point that we should always be ready to fight for and defend it. For those of you who didn't get this book as assigned reading in high school, it's an absolute necessity now (you can purchase it as a premium on Buzz Flash). It is the story of how a candidate for President of the United States, seemingly a "man of the people" was elected to the highest office in the land on the basis of slickly packaged snake oil that hoodwinked the masses, while appealing to the basest instincts of personal needs and avarice. Once elected, he proceeds to reverse every law under the Constitution, kill or imprison any dissidents and remove those who had jobs, homes and businesses and place them into mass slavery, while further facilitating mass poverty when the people didn't get the money they were promised (think "a chicken in every pot" here). There were no more states, but regional territories with Commissioners and Militia Troops; private institutions were eliminated and state schools became institutions for the dictatorship propaganda. Media was government controlled; any signs of dissent and the media outlet was shut down, and publishers either swore a loyalty oath or got thrown in jail after trial in a Kangaroo Court.
Could Sinclair Lewis really have known just how fragile democracy is? Was "It Can't Happen Here" a warning for all of us in this country to be alert and vigilant to such insidious coup d'tat?
It is easy to take for granted something or someone you always believe and trust will be around. But what happens when that person, place or thing is gone? If the person dies? If the place is decimated? If the thing is destroyed? You begin thinking "If I get it back, I will never act so foolishly or rashly ever again." If we get a second chance, some of us are wise to be ever cognizant of what was nearly lost; we remember how foolish we were and are too scared to be that foolish again. The rest of us, well, sometimes, we don't make good use of second chances and then what we value, or say we value, is completely and irrevocably taken from us, and we are totally devastated. Espically when the opportunities for another chance are dried up.
We have taken democracy for granted; that the concept and practice will always be here. But with a government that stifles dissent; ignores any event or news report that paints them in an unfavorable light; creates additional hardships for those who can't take any more; promised to keep us safe while continually exposing us to the danger of terrorists - willfully dismisses what is the truth while dressing up lies and telling us that the lie is the truth - we, as Americans, have taken democracy for granted, and it totters on the brink of mass destruction. It has taken five years of the Bush Administration to wake up the rest of America to the fact that our democracy crawls on spider's legs and can be eliminated with one legislative act.
Throughout history, it has been reported how devastating facist governments and dictatorships were to entire populations and their effects on a global scale. As we read about them in history books; Russia, China, Italy, Germany, South Africa - the rise of charismatic leaders like Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini; their atrocities recorded in the eviceration of entire races of people, or dissidents being imprisoned or executed - those of us in America felt like we had bragging rights as we claimed to be the heralds of democracy and gleeful in our desire to spread what we had in America to countries abroad. We looked in facinated horror at the atrocities commited in the name of leadership by the leaders of foreign lands. We shook our heads, while thinking, always thinking, "It Can't Happen Here".
Fast forward to 2005 - where we have an Administration that essentially forced a national publication to retract a factual report because it painted the Administration in an unfavorable light regarding the abuse of Iraqi and Afghani war prisoners. We don't get to find out what has really happened in the prisons in Gitmo or Abu Ghraib, because the sources are always discredited. We can't tell the President how we really feel about the attempts to privatize Social Security, or wrecking Medicare, because the Secret Service has orders to throw protesters in jail and deny them due process of the law. The news that anyone receives is information that is running through the spin and rinse cycles of Fox News, Hannity & Colmes, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. How dare you say you don't support the war in Iraq - why, "that's being un-American and unpatriotic", you are told! This, from despots who belong in what Kos refers to as the "101st Fighting Keyboardists" - and used any and all excuses to avoid going to fight in Vietnam. This, from the same group of infidels that slimed Sen. John Kerry, a man who could have used the same excuses to defer serving in Vietnam, but went and fought for his country. Thank you, Swift Boat Liars, for the trashing of Kerry's war record - talk about the truth being turned into a lie for a good sound bite and the purpose of confusing people when election time came.
Just when you think our democracy's safe, along comes Bill Frist with his "nuclear option" to eliminate the last constitutional option to facilitate debate and engage in lawful dissent, and he has the President, James Dobson and Pat Robertson as cheerleaders; egging him on to blow up the last element that keeps our fragile democracy in place...the filibuster. While the band of 14 Senators who brokered a deal to sustain the filibuster (for now) recognized that this faction of democracy needed to be protected, just how well does their brokered agreement does that? Three of the worst jurists ever, will still get consideration; one (Priscilla Owen) has actually been confirmed. The attempt to turn the Federal Courts into Kangaroo Courts didn't just happen; it's been in the making since 1984. It is being manifested 20 years later. Send the Gipper a "thank You" card, why don't you?
While all of these attacks to eliminate democracy are going on, some poor soul, working at Wal-Mart on a minimum wage job while applying for welfare to ensure his family's survival and supplement that check, is still believing that the elimination of democracy can't happen in America. Corruption, in today's Congress, is the norm and not the exception - so much so that the House of Representatives passed a rule to stack the ethics committee with supporters of the Bug Man to give him a free pass. It also allowed for retaliatory investigations of House Members who have issues with the Bug Man, or punish those in the GOP who discovered they have a spine and a conscious when they vote against the shill he's pushing.
We really want to believe that the horror that is America, as described by Sinclair Lewis in 1935, couldn't possibly happen here. It is really to frightening to contemplate, and it makes my head hurt, not to mention my heart. We can't continue to think that "It Can't Happen Here" when the reality is, it's already "Happening" Here as I write this.
Our democracy is valuable, and we must fight to preserve it with everything within us. Otherwise, what Sinclair Lewis perceived satirically; It Will Happen Here.
(1) tanking economy;
(2) foreign lands truly hating America
(3) a war that cannnot be won
(4) starting another war that cannot be won
(5) the corruption of Tom DeLay and Bill Frist in their personal quest for political power
(6) a trip to Debtor's Prison, cause you can't file bankruptcy anymore, even after Harvard proved that many of you don't want to file but have no other choice after devastating medical or economical catastrophes
(7) telling people if they don't support elected officials who want to retain what vestiges of democracy that remain, that they aren't a Christian.
Could it be that after five years of drinking and being drunk on GeeDubya's brew, the nasty aftertaste that Americans are tasting in their mouths is not what they expected? That their lives are no better than they were four years ago?
It's hard to face sobering reality, isn't it? The reality that you were given smoke and mirrors, instead of shock and awe. The reality that you were told that voting to re-elect Bush would make you and the country safer, when the truth is, we're in even worse shape than before September 11th. The reality that your fear was used against you to facilitate the furtherance of a perceived superpower and march towards global domination.
Bet you didn't know that a vote for Bush meant you were signing off on that implementation of the Project for A New American Century, did you? Naw, you wanted to be considered a "good Christian" and a "good Patriot", so you supported the most egregious examples of demagoguery and unpatriotic acts that have ever been witnessed by man since Thomas Jefferson suggested that maybe, just maybe, it was a good idea to keep church and state separate in an effort to prevent a religious hijacking of our government.
If Jefferson knew 200+ years ago that absolute power corrupts absolutely, why have we failed to grasp those lessons in the 21st Century?
I don't really know, except to say it couldn't have been done without help from spineless jellyfish, known as democrats, and more specifically, DLC members. Let's look at one major example: The Bankruptcy Reform Bill that just passed. A study done at Harvard University that reviewed the rates of bankruptcy filings and the reasons for their filings indicated that a large number of bankruptcies filed in the past year were due to hardships like illness, job loss, death in the family - catastrophes no one could have foreseen or expected.
Yet 73 democrats are crying "foul" because Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called them on their dereliction of duty in representing their constituents. Another website posted the states with the highest numbers of BK filings: Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Maryland, Florida, to name a few. Notice how all of these states, with the exception of Maryland, are considered Southern "Red" States. Also notice how these states, with the exception of Arkansas and Mississippi, have representatives who are also members of the Congressional Black Caucus that were part of the 73 democrats that crossed the aisle and voted for this mess.
As I write this, I'm preparing a talking points memorandum that will be distributed before the Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Weekend. I'm not going to call names, or denigrate them - I'm going to ask them to explain their vote. While I may not be in their constituency, my relatives are, and they deserve to know why their representative sold them out. Additionally, while I might not be in their district, my taxes contributes to paying that six-figure salary the Government pays them. Ever notice how they never vote against giving themselves a raise, but will cast votes like this one in a heartbeat? They will have four months to prepare their response. They need to give an account or else, I will do my best to encourage people, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity that you deserve better representation in Congress.
In California, some of my collegues got a face to face meeting with the new DNC Chair, (and DLC's worst nightmare) Howard Dean. We love Dean in California, but we also realize he doesn't have much time for a learning curve. Pelosi already has fired her shot - don't think for a minute that it won't translate into her directing Rahm Emmanuel as to where to dole the DCCC money (for Reps. Jefferson and Wynn, your positions within the DCCC will not insulate you from your sell out votes.)
They thought their vote, not to mention their feeding at the corporate trough would go unnoticed by their districts. My cousin sent me a e-mail copy of the Memphis Flyer, where their editor has already taken to task the Gentleman from Tennessee, and politely asks him to switch party affiliation because he consistenly votes like a card carrying GOPer.
Ouch.
But this is also indication that these votes are NOT flying under the radar. In fact, Pelosi pulled off the covers and we woke up to the fact that the Congressional members (the 73 that voted for this bill) have no clothes and it's a sorry sight. It really looks like the rest of America is waking up from their kool-aid induced haze, and all it took was gas rising to almost $3 dollars a gallon, interefering with a person's right to life/death, Bill Frist going "nuclear" on true Christians that disagree with him, Dobson and Colson, as well as voting for this BK bill to get it done, or at least, started.
As I said in a previous blog, when you sober up from the Kool-Aid, those of us who weren't drinking the brew (and you really clowned us) are not going to allow you to wallow in your own vomit. We stand ready and waiting to provide you political rehab and restoration to being a productive member of the true democracy, because, after all is said and done, you're going to need it. As the Rent-A-Preachers are already finding out...ask Rev. DeForrest "Buster" Soaries...http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050423/NEWS/504230388/1001.
For more on the other stories, check out the following:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0421/p03s01-uspo.htm
http://www.prospect.org/web
http://www.bcalliance.com/bankruptcy_statestats~ns4.html
You can't make this stuff up...it's beyond Orwell's train of original thought.
From Americablog http://www.americablog.org/
Sounds like she's running scared. Well, I would be too, if Congress is virtually sanctioning violence, and contract hits on judges (espically in light of the fact that Florida judge George Greer was kicked out of his church and threatened for his ruling in Terri Schiavo's case, and an Illinois judge's husband and mother were killed by wingnut jobs whose leader's case she presided over) for not ruling they way THEY want.
Excuse me, but as I recall (with help from Vincent Bugliosi, "The Betrayal of America") the Supreme Court decided that George W. Bush was the winner of the 2000 election. And, as I recall, O'Connor was the swing vote. Wasn't she rumored to have been overheard at a party during the election, when it couldn't be determined: "Oh, no, if Gore gets in...I have to stick around..." or something to that effect?
You sought a reason to give George Bush the White House, despite having no legal precedent in doing so, not to mention usurping Congress' responsibility in determining who would become President in the event of a dispute. Well, you got what you wanted. Your ruling guaranteed that a theocratic despot got the highest office in the land, with your blessing. Your ruling guaranteed that the minute you displeased GeeDubya and Congress, you would have to answer for it.
Well, guess what? Satan called. He wants his money for that favor he did for you (calling the 2000 election). If you had rejected the court case, Congress would have settled the matter; we would have a democracy that you're now howling about, and still have the respect of our foreign bretheren.
And what you wanted has resulted in reaping what you've sown. Now live with it, since you consigned the entire country to do so. Even if that means you have to walk around with armed bodyguards and bullet-proof vests. If you ever wondered if Congress has any respect for you as the judiciary, you now have your answer.
Meanwhile, Bill Frist is salivating over how soon he can complete the consummation of his marriage to the religious whackjobs who want to replace you and anyone else on the bench that refused to hear that Schiavo case. At last count, James Dobson of Focus on the Family (I wish he'd Focus on his own Family and leave mine's alone) wants to impeach you and five of your bretheren along with you.
So much for democracy. You can yakk all you want, but the bottom line is, well, the Supreme Court doesn't have a bottom line anymore...as a matter of fact, it was killed on December 13, 2000 - the day democracy DIED.
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