We have all seen it countless times in movies and television. An evil comes and ruins a once great society. A young upstart emerges from nowhere and goes on an epic and historic quest to combat the evil in a fight there is no way that he can possibly win. Eventually our hero does win and in the last 10 minutes of the film sets right every wrong done by whatever evil had befallen his world and everyone lives happily ever after. So where is America’s hero? Where is our happy ending?
America is currently plagued with problems that seem to come straight from some sort of evil empire. We are waging wars where our young men and women die against the populace’s wishes, we are going through one of the worst recessions our country has ever seen, the poor become poorer and lose their houses, oil barons reap historic profits while Americans suffer at the pump, government agencies torture, spy on and imprison innocent people without trial or due process and we are on the brink of being led into a third world war by a president that the country does not want in office. It seems that no matter what we, as Americans, do nothing will ever change. So where is our hero?
Barack Obama has all of the characteristics of the classic hero. He is young, charismatic, and has seemingly come from nowhere. He preaches change; change from the ways of Bush, change from the ways of the evil empire, change back to what America really should be. He has even overcome a heavily favored candidate to secure a nomination that seems very, very likely to take him to the White House. So is Obama our happy ending?
Yes and no. Obama preaches change, and as far as anyone can tell right now he is intent on delivering it. He has already stated that upon being elected he would immediately review all of the laws Bush has passed and ensure that they are constitutional, and has swore to overturn those that aren’t. However, at the same time he sits in the Senate and upholds the FISA bill that allows for illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. Obama also promises he would pull us out of the war with Iraq. This simple act alone would inject $12 billion dollars a month back into the American economy, hopefully stimulating growth. Obama also believes that mortgage lenders need to be held responsible for their shady practices. He even promises a total restructuring of Bush’s “failed economic policies” and is willing to act diplomatically overseas where Bush’s ineptitude and arrogance kept him from achieving any progress.
All of these sweeping changes truly do make Obama seem like America’s hero come to end our suffering under the tyrannical government of the Bush administration. However, as every American who watches politics knows, the American political system is a dirty and corrupting thing. Obama could be our hero, and I truly hope he is, but keep an eye open for changes in his opinions on more “controversial” issues as the election moves forward. Will Obama stay strong enough to truly clean house and set this country back on track? We all had better hope so.
The “mainstream media” in the United States has failed this country once again. Fox News and CNN have decided that “Celebrity Home Foreclosures” and zippable cars are more important to America than finally getting a chance to oust a traitorous regime from the White House. I’m not sure exactly what we can do to change this as I can’t even find contact info on CNN’s website. We’ll just have to stick to where the real news is, and that, unfortunately (or fortunately?) is the net.
I’d like to take a second about a matter that should concern all Americans: NSPD-51. This directive has received surprisingly little discussion online, and (not surprisingly) in the mainstream media. This directive would give the current president the power to extend his term indefinitely in the case of a “national disaster”. Here is an excerpt from the directive:
“Enduring Constitutional Government,” or “ECG,” means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency.
Slate.com has a great article about NSPD-51 that does an excellent job summarizing the problem with the vague wording of NSPD-51:
What does comity mean in this context? Informally, it means good-natured, good-faith camaraderie. In its jurisprudential sense, the American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “the principle by which the courts of one jurisdiction may accede or give effect to the laws or decisions of another.”
In other words, in the weasel-speak of NSPD-51, it implies that one or more branches of the government will have to cede power to another. And since everything is to be “coordinated by the president,” I’m guessing that the members of the Supreme Court left alive and some congressional leaders left alive (How chosen? What party balance?) will in effect have to sit around a big conference table and do a lot of “ceding” to the executive.
And given the current state of relations between Congress and the executive, such comity will not necessarily translate into camaraderie.
If it comes down to whether to pull the nuclear trigger, who will get to vote, and how large a majority will be required to launch?
Comity—that innocent-sounding word—could well turn out to be the excuse for junking those pesky checks and balances the Founding Fathers seemed so obsessed with. For an indeterminate period of time.
If this post has piqued your interest please head over and check out the full post from Slate.com and check out the more than 36,000 sites on Google that are as concerned about this as I am.
Here’s the full Slate.com article, a great place to start.
I was very surprised, and delighted, to wake up this morning and discover that Kucinich’s recent motion to impeach George W is actually receiving a great deal of attention. The TOP 3 articles on Reddit this morning all referenced the impeachment and even the mainstream media, such as CBS, is giving Kucinich some attention. This might be the tipping point if we all get behind it. The Huffington Post said it well:
People will scream about how impeachment might backfire on the election of 2008. But that was never the issue. The president is guilty of grave crimes against the republic and should be held accountable. He does not have to be found guilty in a court of law; impeachment has a different standard. Bush has committed crimes against the nation. There are 4,100 dead Americans and 500,000 to 1 million dead Iraqis as a result of his lies and deceit. The Scott McClellan book just drives home everything the Intelligence Committee uncovered. It is time for the truth! If Bush can keep the prospect of attacking Iran “on the table,” then the Congress should keep impeachment on the table too.
Call or e-mail your congressman (use the link at right), but especially e-mail Nancy Pelosi here, as she said she will block all motions for impeachment.
As mentioned earlier Dennis Kucinich recently presented Congress with 35 Articles of Impechment. This week the full House of Representatives must vote on the articles. Use the links in the sidebar to CALL or E-MAIL your congressman right-the-fuck-now and let’s see what we can do. Bob Fertik of Democrats.com said it well:
“We’ve waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died. We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot. We congratulate him on his historic leadership, and pledge to do everything in our power to persuade Congress to adopt all 35 Articles and put George W. Bush on trial before the Senate of the United States, exactly as the Founding Fathers wanted.”
Fertik continued, “Some might question why Congressman Kucinich has done this now. My question is why 434 other Congress Members have not done it before. Despite the uncountable and unspeakable crimes this administration has committed, George Bush and Dick Cheney remain in power and immune from prosecution. Congress must impeach Bush and Cheney now – before they further abuse their power by pardoning for all of their crimes.”
Let Kucinich be a prime example of what we can do.
I’m mad, upset, frustrated. However you want to look at it I am unhappy. I see websites like digg and reddit awash with information that should stir even the most timid person to action, but nothing happens. In the last several days it was even declared by congress that the President of the United States lied to America and led us into a war with these lies. A war where 4800 Americans have died. Why are more people not in the streets and on the phone with their congressmen and senators? Why are we content to sit behind our keyboards and gripe while our country is hijacked by madmen who have done more damage to the American way of life than any terrorist group could ever hope for? Let’s turn those keyboards towards the problem and make our voices heard. With modern technology we hold the power, use the internet to talk, organize and act. Act up.
It’s my goal in this blog (and a lofty goal it is, i know) to help provide us with a way to fight back. I’ll do my best to bring all the most offensive acts of our nations leaders into the light here (with lots of help from the internet, and hopefully from you). But I want to go one step beyond just blogging about what seems like a constant decay of the constitution. With your help we need to take the fight back to Washington and win America back. I’ll do my best to provide the tools for doing that here.
On a lot of sites around the net you’ll read that it’s to late for America, the we are “to far gone”. The frightening truth is that it might soon be coming to that. But right now we still have a chance to fight. So let’s stop laying down and act up. Technology has given us a powerful tool. Let’s learn to use it.
It seems that since my very first post on this little blog some interesting things have happened. Not only has Kucinich proposed impeachment (finally) but Mr. Scott McClellan has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee backing up all the negative and “scandalous” (but already assumed) things he said in his recent book. From The Huffington Post:
McClellan will be the highest-ranking Bush administration official to be pressed by Congress on the Plame affair. Former Bush strategist Karl Rove has refused to testify, citing executive privilege.
And as such, the testimony could be extremely revealing. According to McClellan, the decision to leak Plame’s covert identity emanated from the very top of the Bush White House. The move, he wrote, was politically motivated, as officials were peeved at the critical statements about Iraq coming from Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. While McClellan said that the president was ultimately misled by his advisers on the matter, he asserted that the episode itself was a stain on the Oval Office – one that led to his disillusionment.
“It’s…clear to me that Scooter Libby was guilty of the perjury and obstruction crimes for which he was convicted,” McClellan wrote. “When the president commuted Libby’s prison sentence and thereby protected him from serving even one day behind bars, I was disappointed. This kind of special treatment undermines our system of justice.”
Go get ‘em Scotty. This White House could use a little justice.
Right now, as in RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT Congressman Dennis Kucinish is introducing 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives. This is a perfect example of what a little tenacity from the American people and the will of one good congressman can accomplish. Is anything really likely to come of this? Unfortunately no. But it is a step in the right direction.
Head over here for some great links to follow the development of this story.
