Nobody in the corporate media mentions it, but the war in
Afghanistan which President Barack Obama just ramped up by 50% this
year, with the dispatch, first of 17,000 troops last spring and now
with another 30,000 troops, to begin deployment on Christmas, is being
fought on the shaky legal basis of a hastily passed Authorization for
the Use of Military Force (AUMF) voted by Congress back in October
2001, more than three years before Obama was even elected to the Senate.
That AUMF was the handiwork of President George W. Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney, and it was rammed through House and Senate with
almost no debate in the wake of the 9-11 attacks and then used to
justify most of the subsequent assaults on the Constitution and Bill of
Rights that are still haunting America and the world today.
Q: If you were to go back and change anything from your political career, what would it be?
A: Well, of course, the biggest disappointment for me is that we are still in this war in Iraq, and, ah, I had always thought at the time that, that, ah, people knew the truth they would not vote for this war and, I don't know what else, er, not have been supportive of this, I don't know what else we could have done, ah, but this has been the most damaging to us:
The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power
held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged
farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a
grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both
testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and
of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the
enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation’s democracy
by two aspiring tyrants in the White House.
To answer the question of who will take Cindy Sheehan's place as spokesperson, first we must ask who CAN take her place. What one person can do all the work of making policy change happen in America? The short answer is that NO one person flying solo can do that. Even Cindy herself could not do that, and notwithstanding her own personal valor she never even had a chance of doing that. Because democracy can only happen when each of us speaks for OURSELVES.
Where did the people ever get the idea that they NEEDED a spokesperson? It's really the same thing with our members of Congress. We can't just depend on them to automatically represent our interests just because we voted for them, unless we are constantly telling them what we want them to do. And when they dramatically fail to represent the will of the people, as last week in the latest appropriation for the occupation without accountability or end, who is to blame if the people are not continuously pressing their petitions for grievances?
Voices for Impeachment - Powerful set of video clips from last week's Impeachment Forum held at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Sponsored by World Can't Wait.org.
Speakers include Gore Vidal, John Nichols, Cindy Sheehan, Daniel Ellsburg, Michael Ratner of the Ctr. for Constitutional Rights, David Swanson, and Sunsara Taylor. Plus video of the Impeachmentmobile in action and Cindy Sheehan at the opening of Congress... (much more below the fold!)
Sheehan arrested outside Bush's ranch
Crawford, Texas (AP) -- Peace activist Cindy Sheehan and four other protesters [including Cindy's sister Dede] were arrested Thursday for blocking a road near President Bush's ranch, authorities said, snagging Vice pResident Dick Cheney's motorcade in the backup. Sheehan and the others lay or sat in the road about 20 minutes and didn't heed requests to move...
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
--Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America
There are many important issues facing our nation and the 110th Congress. Minimum wage increases and universal health care are long past due.I certainly appreciate the stirrings about bringing our troops home from Iraq within 3 or 4 months, too! After all, six more troops were killed yesterday while our politicos are playing footsies with each other! We thought that Nov. 7th was a day to celebrate! When the last of our brave young people come limping home to their relieved families that will be a joy-filled and historic day.
On Wednesday, Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, Lennox Yearwood, and about 50 other activists for peace met up on the sidewalk in front of the White House. I brought along a box containing 6,000-some pages of names and comments: about 80,000 names with cities and states, about half of them with comments beside them. These were the names of people who have signed the petition at www.DontAttackIran.org The media gathered around, and Cindy read the petition out loud:
When Cindy Sheehan held a lengthy vigil near George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch last summer and endured oppressive heat, dehydration and right-wing hecklers, she was there to ask Bush one simple question: "For what noble cause did my son die?"
The president of Gold Star Families for Peace, Sheehan lost her son, Casey, on April 4, 2004 when he was killed in Iraq.
Bush aides made lame excuses every day last August including citing his schedule -- he clearly had a lot of brush to clear and many bike rides to take -- as a reason for denying Sheehan's request for a 15-minute meeting with the man she still blames for her son's death.
