D
Donkey Rhubarb
Guest
When the President of the United States promises under oath to defend and uphold the constitution, he better mean it or catch a bus out of town after his impeachment trial. This is one simple premise our country was founded on. Another set of simple premises are the Bill of Rights.
The Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft have treated the Bill of Rights with contempt and have sought to roll-back the very civil rights our fathers and our father's fathers fought and died for. When people talk about fighting for the flag, this is exactly what they mean-- fighting for our liberty. This President has claimed for himself the authority to jail citizens and residents of the United States indefinitely, and execute them in secret, without any charge against them, without trial and without access to a lawyer. This is an insult to the very fabric of our Republic, and a slap in the face of our founding fathers, who sought freedom from this very same opression and tyranny.
This is not a left-wing right-wing issue. If we do not defend and uphold the rights enshrined in the US constitution, we have lost all identity as Americans, regardless of party affiliation. As an old freind of mine one told me, the Constitution is a contract with the ideals enshrined within it. If the President gets to decide whether or not these rights apply to you, the document is meaningless and dead. Isn't his job to defend and uphold the constitution? How then is he getting away with this?
This administration's actions, the USA Patriot act, the pending Patriot act II, the pending Victory acts I & II, make the threat very real that fascism can and will happen here. These four acts combined completely obliterate the bill of rights. All the while Bush talks about how our freedoms were attacked, and how we 'must defend our freedoms.' What Bush means when he talks about defending our freedoms, is defending our saftey. Benjamin Franklin said that,
"Those who would give up liberty for temporary saftey deserve neither liberty nor saftey."
That's a more eloquent way of saying,
"Give me liberty or give me death." As we've seen from the secret excecutions in Abu Gharib and Guantanomo Bay, this is hauntingly true-- without liberty you can almost be guaranteed a painful death. Or torture, or the torture of your loved ones. Should the Patriot II and Victory acts I & II pass, we can say hello to military occupation by our own armed forces, and Guantaomo and Abu Gharib will be the norm here on our own soil.
It is so important to understand that governments, all throughout history, have used crises to seize power and enslave populations. Convincing the populace to say, "oh please, herd us into the camps, please take away all our rights so that you can protect us." It happened in Rome, it happened in Nazi Germany, and it's happening here. It's not going to be all at once. It's being brought on a little at a time, like a frog in a pot. It happened after the first attack on the WTC in 93, it happend in 95 with the attack on Oklahoma City, and it's happened again after the WTC attack in 2001. And as I've said, they are far from through.
I call on every citizen to wake up and call for their town hall or city council to tell Washington that we still have a Bill of Rights, and that America is still America. I call on every citizen to call for a derecognization of the USAPATRIOT act. I call on every citizen to call for a recodification of the posse comitatus act, which bars the military from enforcing law, which separates the police from the military.
The would-be Tyrants have declared a war on the very heart and soul of America, and we must not let them win. If the President refuses to defend our God-given rights, we must defend them ourselves! I call for impeachement!
I encourage all on the BB also to write a letter to editors of various publications and news media outlets:
http://capwiz.com/votetoimpeach/dbq/media/
The Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft have treated the Bill of Rights with contempt and have sought to roll-back the very civil rights our fathers and our father's fathers fought and died for. When people talk about fighting for the flag, this is exactly what they mean-- fighting for our liberty. This President has claimed for himself the authority to jail citizens and residents of the United States indefinitely, and execute them in secret, without any charge against them, without trial and without access to a lawyer. This is an insult to the very fabric of our Republic, and a slap in the face of our founding fathers, who sought freedom from this very same opression and tyranny.
This is not a left-wing right-wing issue. If we do not defend and uphold the rights enshrined in the US constitution, we have lost all identity as Americans, regardless of party affiliation. As an old freind of mine one told me, the Constitution is a contract with the ideals enshrined within it. If the President gets to decide whether or not these rights apply to you, the document is meaningless and dead. Isn't his job to defend and uphold the constitution? How then is he getting away with this?
This administration's actions, the USA Patriot act, the pending Patriot act II, the pending Victory acts I & II, make the threat very real that fascism can and will happen here. These four acts combined completely obliterate the bill of rights. All the while Bush talks about how our freedoms were attacked, and how we 'must defend our freedoms.' What Bush means when he talks about defending our freedoms, is defending our saftey. Benjamin Franklin said that,
"Those who would give up liberty for temporary saftey deserve neither liberty nor saftey."
That's a more eloquent way of saying,
"Give me liberty or give me death." As we've seen from the secret excecutions in Abu Gharib and Guantanomo Bay, this is hauntingly true-- without liberty you can almost be guaranteed a painful death. Or torture, or the torture of your loved ones. Should the Patriot II and Victory acts I & II pass, we can say hello to military occupation by our own armed forces, and Guantaomo and Abu Gharib will be the norm here on our own soil.
It is so important to understand that governments, all throughout history, have used crises to seize power and enslave populations. Convincing the populace to say, "oh please, herd us into the camps, please take away all our rights so that you can protect us." It happened in Rome, it happened in Nazi Germany, and it's happening here. It's not going to be all at once. It's being brought on a little at a time, like a frog in a pot. It happened after the first attack on the WTC in 93, it happend in 95 with the attack on Oklahoma City, and it's happened again after the WTC attack in 2001. And as I've said, they are far from through.
I call on every citizen to wake up and call for their town hall or city council to tell Washington that we still have a Bill of Rights, and that America is still America. I call on every citizen to call for a derecognization of the USAPATRIOT act. I call on every citizen to call for a recodification of the posse comitatus act, which bars the military from enforcing law, which separates the police from the military.
The would-be Tyrants have declared a war on the very heart and soul of America, and we must not let them win. If the President refuses to defend our God-given rights, we must defend them ourselves! I call for impeachement!
I encourage all on the BB also to write a letter to editors of various publications and news media outlets:
http://capwiz.com/votetoimpeach/dbq/media/
