(Scroll down for this week's Poem of the Week.)
Earlier this week, Dennis Kucinich offered Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. This has gotten more coverage than his Articles of Impeachment against Dick Cheney, but not much.
Whether or not Congress has the integrity to act, I'm so grateful that there are people like Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Wexler (D-Florida), who care enough about this nation and about justice and who have the courage to take action. Where is our national outrage? These charges aren't about somebody being stupid in his private life - they are about actions which have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, have virtually bankrupted the nation, have violated our Constitution and our fundamental ethics....
WHY DON'T WE CARE???? Why in the face of the outrages committed by the Bush administration, is Dennis Kucinich like a voice crying in the wilderness? I'm sad for my country. And I"m angry with her too. While I appreciate Obama's talk of change - and I like him - where is his voice or Mrs. Clinton's on this subject? I don't know that we can rebuild this nation until we take responsibility for what we have done - or allowed GWB to do in our name. That means publicly trying him and his hench persons and holding them (and therefore ourselves) legally responsible for their crimes against this country and the world. It's a mixed metaphor, but I can't think of anything better, so sweeping the Bush administration's crimes under the rug will not clean our systems of the poisons they have injected into it. While I believe deeply in the power of positive thinking, I think happy thoughts alone will not suffice. (I'm adding this late in the evening. Should have added it earlier. Here is a link to the actual articles of impeachment so you can read them if you wish to do so.)
I hope you will listen to at least this first speech. It will only take 7 minutes of your time to do so.
Earlier this week, Dennis Kucinich offered Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. This has gotten more coverage than his Articles of Impeachment against Dick Cheney, but not much.
Whether or not Congress has the integrity to act, I'm so grateful that there are people like Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Wexler (D-Florida), who care enough about this nation and about justice and who have the courage to take action. Where is our national outrage? These charges aren't about somebody being stupid in his private life - they are about actions which have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, have virtually bankrupted the nation, have violated our Constitution and our fundamental ethics....
WHY DON'T WE CARE???? Why in the face of the outrages committed by the Bush administration, is Dennis Kucinich like a voice crying in the wilderness? I'm sad for my country. And I"m angry with her too. While I appreciate Obama's talk of change - and I like him - where is his voice or Mrs. Clinton's on this subject? I don't know that we can rebuild this nation until we take responsibility for what we have done - or allowed GWB to do in our name. That means publicly trying him and his hench persons and holding them (and therefore ourselves) legally responsible for their crimes against this country and the world. It's a mixed metaphor, but I can't think of anything better, so sweeping the Bush administration's crimes under the rug will not clean our systems of the poisons they have injected into it. While I believe deeply in the power of positive thinking, I think happy thoughts alone will not suffice. (I'm adding this late in the evening. Should have added it earlier. Here is a link to the actual articles of impeachment so you can read them if you wish to do so.)
I hope you will listen to at least this first speech. It will only take 7 minutes of your time to do so.
This one dates back to when he offered articles of impeachment against Cheney last year. Tucker Carlson is (in my opinion) a jerk. Kucinich is a national treasure.
On a lighter note, I stole this from Jay Simser's blog (Baily's Buddy). It's called WHY I'M VOTING REPUBLICAN...
16 comments:
Matt shared the bottom video with me this morning... thanks for posting these. I don't know, Congress will spend millions of dollars investigating a president who "had relations" with a boofy-haired woman but we won't go so far as to wag our finger at the neo-conserves for what they have done to this country and world. And, put millions of dollars into their own bank accounts doing it. Moral outrage, I guess.
I don't think it's really a matter of people not caring, it more about practical political concerns.
Having a democratically controlled congress attempt to impeach the President in the final 200 days of his second term, during the middle of an election just doesn't make any sense. It really can't be done.
But, Obama has already promised, more than once, that HIS Justice Dept. WILL review all actions by the Bush Admin, including Bush and Cheney themselves and would recommend legal action where appropriate. I know it doesn't seem like enough, but the truth is attempting to impeach Bush now would be a political disaster.
Besides, the Constitution actually allows or the impeachment of both the Pres and VP AFTER they have left office. Even so, I still prefer the idea of them being tried in Federal Court for crimes committed against the US Constitution AND in an international War Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity.
quietpaths - it continues to baffle and frustrate and piss me off.
jay - you speak with great wisdom... and guess I have been a bit unfair to Obama here. I have just been so pissed off for so long. I'm glad they can be impeached after they leave office. They deserve jail terms. Aghhhh... I just want to rant. You are being a wiser voice than I am. I've just been furious for so long. And I love Dennis K. He and Bill Moyers are two of my heroes.
P.S. I think it's important for these articles to be out there - for the information to be made public in this kind of detail - even if we don't go forward with the actual trial.
I learned something from Jay too! I fear I have been a bit too lax about impeachment lately although I did make the call and I always go to Conyers site and I get his newsletter.
I've been a bit pre-occupied with suriving which is what this administration counts on! I could smack myself for falling into the trap I rail against.
They (Bush and Co.) have created such an impossible to live in world and then basically told us all to go F ourselves.
I agree with Jay - now that I have more info - that right now the campaign is the major focus. As much as I'd love to see a police wagon pulled up to the While House I'd rather see Obama in there first.
And it would be delicious to see Bush, Cheney, Condi, Runsfield, and on and on all doing a Federal perp walk.
dianne - I agree that one of the things the Bush administration has done is to keep everyone distracted by fear of terrorists and now fear of homelessness and starvation. I too appreciate the information from Jay.
As for that information - like the information in the impeachment videos - I am baffled and angry that they have not gotten any press coverage to speak of... regardless of whether this Congress will actually act to impeach. Were are the discussions of these charges? Where are the questions about is this true, how did we fail to report on it and so on. Why did it take my Congressman - who is a very good one - over a year and a half to write a meaningful response to my question about impeachment? Why, why why? I agree. I'd love to see the whole lot of them serve time... long, hard time. A year for every body that lies at their feet.... and then some.
I won't use your comment space on your blog to argue politics. But what I will say, regarding why this has not happened sooner, is because it has little validity. Numerous (I think 16) independent, not Republican, investigations were conducted. NONE concluded that the President "lied" us into a war. All I would say it that I encourage you to investigate it from all sides. Notice those bringing the charges are all politically on the opposing side. There is an agenda there. You don't have to like or agree with his policies. But articles of impeachment? There is a world of difference between disagreeing or even hating what has happened. But to call them "crimes against this country and the world" is, in my opinion, inaccurate. I fail to see, and am willing to see if someone would explain it to me, specifically what crimes have been committed. Which laws have been violated? And I'm not sticking by his side, right or wrong. If he's wrong, or guilty in this case, then he deserves justice. So this is not a case of blind support. Ok, enough ranting. I hope I came across respectful and non argumentative. I always enjoy coming here and would hate to wear out my welcome.
Using our military for monetary gain, control and forced democracy is a crime and should be punished.
I still believe, if our policies had been different, we would never have been attacked in the first place. In more covert ways, we hit first. We need to take care of America now, and leave most of the rest of the world to do the same.
I've been here before, but long ago. You are in my favorites :)
I just stumbled on this after I commented.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/still-one-of-most-beautiful-and.html
Very creepy...considering the state we're in now.
Hi Robert - You are a most mild-mannered ranter and you have been completely respectful. You will never wear out your welcome no matter how much I disagree with you on this subject.
I do believe that there is enough evidence to impeach them 8 or 10 times over. For me, even if you give them (Bush & Co) the benefit of the doubt about our entry into the war (which I don't), there are those pesky little violations of the Constitution, there is the idea of torture, there is the election fraud in Ohio (where Kucinich is from) which mounts daily. If there is politics operating here it isn't what's pushing this forward. Politics is why it hasn't happened and I find that deeply disturbing - not just that Republicans won't cross the aisle, but that Democrats are more worried about how it looks than whether it's write and wrong.
Anyway, Robert. I am very very very liberal. You and I are probably not going to agree on politics, but since we still live in a free country, that's fine by me. I appreciate it that you have enough respect for me to offer an opinion that disagrees and invite you always to do so if the spirit moves you.
Hi Debbie - I'm afraid that I agree with you. Nothing justifies 9/11, but the country and the world would have been better served if we had gone with the initial world-wide impulse - "which is how can we fix what's broken," and not "let's kill all the suckers."
I don't understand the concept of terrorism. I think it is the manipulation of disenfrancised people for both political gain and some kind of sadistic impulse. But I think the world would be better served if we tried to heal the root causes from which it springs rather than trying to beat it to death. Violence in my experience only breeds more violence.
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.
Debbie - I had never heard that song before. It really is both beautiful and disturbing. Trying to figure out what movie that is.
I often ask myself that very same question- why are we letting all this happen. I know people care, and I know people are frustrated, disgusted, outraged, name your adjective. But historically when there is this much disagreement with the government in power, there's more overt protest. I think when historians stdy the Bush administration, they'll also study the factors that led to such apparent complacency among the public (I say 'apparent' because no one know actually feels complacent. It just looks that way from the outside. Thanks for the video links.
shrijnana - I agree. I do think people care. I know I sound paranoid, but I think the situation with our media is very dangerous. Not only doesn't the media do it's job investigating and reporting - but what is reported is pap or propaganda and a distortion of what the public is actually thinking and feeling.
I'm deeply troubled by the way Congress has behaved during these 8 years. I swear, I sometimes think that their wives and children are being held hostage somewhere or that they are all being blackmailed. Nothing else justifies to me the lock-step and almost verbatim obedience of the Republican side of the aisle or the inept cowardice of the Democrats.
What has happened to caring more about the country than about the party or about being elected? One of the reasons I love Kucinich so much is because he is so ardently honest and true to his beliefs.
Agh. I hope that we Mr. Obama wins the next election and that he truly brings change with him... and that Jay is right that even if Bush and Co were not impeached while in office, that they will be tried afterwards. Better late justice than none.
You know, Raven, Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld out to be impeached! But the havoc that would reign over the country while the Congress was in the long, long process I don't think would be worth it. Bush and Cheney should leave office and go somewhere where they will never ever have an impact on anything the U.S. does again!
Hi Mary,
Part of me agrees with you, but ultimately, I think it says something about us as a nation if we don't take responsibility for sanctioning these people whose actions have not just caused disaster here but were the source of the ravaging of another country and the death of hundreds of thousands of people. It might be inconvenient, but sometimes right and wrong are more important.
As far as I'm concerned they have committed treason and have violated international law. If we let them get away unchallenged and unpunished, we give permission to the next guy to do the same thing.
We suffered impeachment over a lie about infidelity. I think we should be able to be inconvenienced for crimes against the nation and humanity.
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