Archives from the Campaign
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November 8th, 2006
Dems take House - Now What?
by: Anthony St.Martin
Once again the American voters have collectively "thrown the bums out."
This angry repudiation of our elected representatives seems to occur
every dozen years or so, and implies that every dozen years or so we also
"put the bums in." If history continues to repeat itself we now have a
new crew of potential future bums who will be thrown out in a dozen or so
years when they again disappoint and betray us. Given this unhappy
trend, what should we expect from this new Congress once the spilled
champagne dries up on the 535 plush carpets of 535 victory celebrations
other than more disappointment and betrayal.
For a clue, we could turn to the days and weeks leading up to the election
when the Democratic leadership repeated the assurance that should they
win the House, there would be no "cut and run" from the war in Iraq and
no impeachment of President Bush. Apparently, all sins and crimes
against the Constitution would be forgiven and they "will work in a
bi-partisan manner" to move ahead and create positive change. Sounds
perfectly reasonable. But did the American people give them control of
the House and Senate, subpoena power, committee chairs, and everything
else they said they needed to put an end to the private agenda behind
George W. Bush just so they could "work together in a bi-partisan
manner?"
When life gives us a victory we certainly should enjoy it, as they can come
all too infrequently. But we should also consider what it is we have won.
So far the only winners are the candidates who now get to take a trip to
"the big show" and take over their predecessors expense accounts.
Whether we-the-people win anything at all depends on what this new
leadership actually does. If we take Nancy Pelosi at her word, it sounds
certain that we have won human embryos for stem cell research, a hike in
the minimum wage, (which is the Democratic equivalent of Republican tax
cuts) and a free trip back to sleep while the war wages on and the Bush
agenda movesforward with George Bush Senior's CIA buddy heading the
defense department. Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense can hardly be
seen as a setback for the Bush agenda and can only mean one thing - for
the good of the troops and in the interest of victory...can you say
"escalation". Possibly even "draft."
My cynicism does not burn from my timber alone, but was stoked by
election night interviews with Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt, who
both sounded almost apologetic for barging in on the Bush/Cheney party.
In low tones, they essentially parroted Pelosi in tabling any aggressive
reform or actions against an administration whom millions of Americans
and even more foreigners consider to be war criminals. Work together in
a bipartisan manner? Tell that to 600,000 dead Iraqi civilians, 2,854(and
counting) fallen U.S. troops, 24,000 mamed and disabled, and 3200
drowned residents of New Orleans.
We demanded real change with our votes and we must not allow ourselves
to be put back to sleep by an illusion of change. Despite the mandate of
the recent elections George Bush now has a Congress that is pledged to
working with him without looking like they are working for him, as has
been the case. Is that what we voted for?
For these and other reasons, I strongly advise against putting our faith in
this Democratic controlled congress and instead urge that we put our faith
in ourselves; the rank and file of America. It was not the Candidates who
restored a separation of power in Congress but we the voters, and what we
started does not end with their personal victories. They have work to do.
And they work for us. The best way to make this clear is to organize
ourselves outside of the political process as a backup for any failure by
those elected to act.
Finally, let me say that though this president's offences against the
Constitution are as profound as the illegal war is profane, there is an even
more grave situation facing us if we do not impeach and redirect our
leadership on a new coarse.
In 1963, President Kennedy disappointed Israel's founding father, Ben
Gurion, when he refused to give Israel U.S. Missile Technology just weeks
before he was assassinated. Once again, one of our finest Presidents
showed spectacularly good judgement when he refused to introduce
missile technology to the region for fear it would set off an arms race in
the Middle East. Gurion left Washington empty handed.
Today, Israel has hundreds of nuclear warheads and has just received
several submarines from Germany to be fit with nuclear missiles, thus
giving Israel the capability of delivering a nuclear attack anywhere in the
world. As a result, Arab nations are clamoring for nuclear weapons,
uranium mines are being reopened in New Mexico, Australia, and
elsewhere around the world; the price of uranium has risen 500% in the
last two years from $12 lb, to $60 lb (doubling since January '06) in
anticipation of a new arms race. At the same time, newly re-elected
Democratic Rep. Howard Berman has supported a bill calling for funding a
new generation of "low-grade nuclear weapons." All of this in addition to
the unconscionable use of depleted uranium in our current arsenal.
This regression into a nuclear arms race is consistent with the
un-American Bush policies of illegal and preemptive war and not
something we can allow our new Congress to work with in a "bi-partisan
manner." We must stop this escalation before it takes root and deny this
Congress any alternative other than the removal of the present
leadership and initiating a new, sane policy that truly understands that
PEOPLE DO NOT WANT WAR. Nor do we crave cool new weapons; our
children do not want to kill each other in school, nor do they want armed
teachers and metal detectors in their classrooms; our families do not want
to be separated by wars of conquest, or 24/7 careers. We do want to live
free, secure in our homes, and without fear that our greatest threat
comes from our own government.
The new Congressional leadership has already exhibited more willingness
to appease the Bush agenda than obey the voters mandate, making it
essential that we take our fate in our own hands rather than entrust it to
unreliable strangers. One way to do that is what we call the Pledge to
Impeach campaign. It is non-violent, innovative, Constitutional, and
focused on successfully impeaching and removing George Bush and Dick
Cheney from office, then working our way down the list from there.
by: Anthony St.Martin
Once again the American voters have collectively "thrown the bums out."
This angry repudiation of our elected representatives seems to occur
every dozen years or so, and implies that every dozen years or so we also
"put the bums in." If history continues to repeat itself we now have a
new crew of potential future bums who will be thrown out in a dozen or so
years when they again disappoint and betray us. Given this unhappy
trend, what should we expect from this new Congress once the spilled
champagne dries up on the 535 plush carpets of 535 victory celebrations
other than more disappointment and betrayal.
For a clue, we could turn to the days and weeks leading up to the election
when the Democratic leadership repeated the assurance that should they
win the House, there would be no "cut and run" from the war in Iraq and
no impeachment of President Bush. Apparently, all sins and crimes
against the Constitution would be forgiven and they "will work in a
bi-partisan manner" to move ahead and create positive change. Sounds
perfectly reasonable. But did the American people give them control of
the House and Senate, subpoena power, committee chairs, and everything
else they said they needed to put an end to the private agenda behind
George W. Bush just so they could "work together in a bi-partisan
manner?"
When life gives us a victory we certainly should enjoy it, as they can come
all too infrequently. But we should also consider what it is we have won.
So far the only winners are the candidates who now get to take a trip to
"the big show" and take over their predecessors expense accounts.
Whether we-the-people win anything at all depends on what this new
leadership actually does. If we take Nancy Pelosi at her word, it sounds
certain that we have won human embryos for stem cell research, a hike in
the minimum wage, (which is the Democratic equivalent of Republican tax
cuts) and a free trip back to sleep while the war wages on and the Bush
agenda movesforward with George Bush Senior's CIA buddy heading the
defense department. Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense can hardly be
seen as a setback for the Bush agenda and can only mean one thing - for
the good of the troops and in the interest of victory...can you say
"escalation". Possibly even "draft."
My cynicism does not burn from my timber alone, but was stoked by
election night interviews with Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt, who
both sounded almost apologetic for barging in on the Bush/Cheney party.
In low tones, they essentially parroted Pelosi in tabling any aggressive
reform or actions against an administration whom millions of Americans
and even more foreigners consider to be war criminals. Work together in
a bipartisan manner? Tell that to 600,000 dead Iraqi civilians, 2,854(and
counting) fallen U.S. troops, 24,000 mamed and disabled, and 3200
drowned residents of New Orleans.
We demanded real change with our votes and we must not allow ourselves
to be put back to sleep by an illusion of change. Despite the mandate of
the recent elections George Bush now has a Congress that is pledged to
working with him without looking like they are working for him, as has
been the case. Is that what we voted for?
For these and other reasons, I strongly advise against putting our faith in
this Democratic controlled congress and instead urge that we put our faith
in ourselves; the rank and file of America. It was not the Candidates who
restored a separation of power in Congress but we the voters, and what we
started does not end with their personal victories. They have work to do.
And they work for us. The best way to make this clear is to organize
ourselves outside of the political process as a backup for any failure by
those elected to act.
Finally, let me say that though this president's offences against the
Constitution are as profound as the illegal war is profane, there is an even
more grave situation facing us if we do not impeach and redirect our
leadership on a new coarse.
In 1963, President Kennedy disappointed Israel's founding father, Ben
Gurion, when he refused to give Israel U.S. Missile Technology just weeks
before he was assassinated. Once again, one of our finest Presidents
showed spectacularly good judgement when he refused to introduce
missile technology to the region for fear it would set off an arms race in
the Middle East. Gurion left Washington empty handed.
Today, Israel has hundreds of nuclear warheads and has just received
several submarines from Germany to be fit with nuclear missiles, thus
giving Israel the capability of delivering a nuclear attack anywhere in the
world. As a result, Arab nations are clamoring for nuclear weapons,
uranium mines are being reopened in New Mexico, Australia, and
elsewhere around the world; the price of uranium has risen 500% in the
last two years from $12 lb, to $60 lb (doubling since January '06) in
anticipation of a new arms race. At the same time, newly re-elected
Democratic Rep. Howard Berman has supported a bill calling for funding a
new generation of "low-grade nuclear weapons." All of this in addition to
the unconscionable use of depleted uranium in our current arsenal.
This regression into a nuclear arms race is consistent with the
un-American Bush policies of illegal and preemptive war and not
something we can allow our new Congress to work with in a "bi-partisan
manner." We must stop this escalation before it takes root and deny this
Congress any alternative other than the removal of the present
leadership and initiating a new, sane policy that truly understands that
PEOPLE DO NOT WANT WAR. Nor do we crave cool new weapons; our
children do not want to kill each other in school, nor do they want armed
teachers and metal detectors in their classrooms; our families do not want
to be separated by wars of conquest, or 24/7 careers. We do want to live
free, secure in our homes, and without fear that our greatest threat
comes from our own government.
The new Congressional leadership has already exhibited more willingness
to appease the Bush agenda than obey the voters mandate, making it
essential that we take our fate in our own hands rather than entrust it to
unreliable strangers. One way to do that is what we call the Pledge to
Impeach campaign. It is non-violent, innovative, Constitutional, and
focused on successfully impeaching and removing George Bush and Dick
Cheney from office, then working our way down the list from there.
THE WAY AHEAD.
By Anthony St. Martin
If you were surprised by the "new" Democratic leadership's capitulation on the war in
Iraq, their continued rubber stamp on George Bush's appointments, i.e. Robert Gates,
and their refusal to indict and impeach George Bush himself. If you were outraged by
the manner in which Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid neatly reshaped the mandate of the
November election to mean simply change and bi-partisanship rather than
impeachment and an end to the war. If you were surprised that instead of seeing an
end to the war you got escalation and even a Democrat pushing for reinstatement of
the draft, then I urge you to Google and read the 2004 Democratic Platform and see
why for the last 2 1/2 years I have been begging Americans to realize that simply
putting Democrats in Congress will not provide any viable opposition to the Bush
Agenda, that this opposition will only come from ourselves, the organized American
people.
In a nutshell, our democracy has been usurped, and every one of our representatives
is either culpable, cooperative, or intimidated into doing nothing to endanger their own
careers, families, or even lives to stop the network of power behind the Bush
Doctrine. Reading the opening section of the 2004 Platform on the War on Terror
will soon reveal that those who have taken control of the Democratic Party are
actually more hawkish on the war than the Republicans. In the reference to the "War
on Terror" they claimed that "Bush is not doing enough." So why should we
realistically expect Democratic candidates to truly oppose the war in Iraq when the
Democratic leadership not only accepts the absurd concept of a 'War on Terror" but
thinks Bush is being too timid in prosecuting it?
Think of the professional fight game, where the only way a crooked promoter can
"guarantee" the outcome of the fight is to control both fighters, the referee, and all the
judges. In a similar way, those who control the White House also hold controlling
influence over both party leaderships, Congress, and the press. The fix is in, and if
we are going to win this fight for our Constitution we will need to score a knockout.
We will never win a decision.
While our Constitution is being dismantled and our liberties revoked, our national
sovereignty is being eroded, our resources, even our roads, are being sold to foreign
concerns, our consumption-addicted people are being seduced into a financial box
canyon through cheap credit and the deflating prices due to exploitation of third
world labor, and our children are being sent to war without end and drafted into
working for soulless corporations without the health care, pensions, or job security
gained by the labor movements of the past. This reality has affected millions of
voiceless Americans and if it hasn't directly effected you yet, it surely will.
Still, despite all the progress made by this network of criminals, they know that
unless they can control and suppress the American people, their days in power are
numbered. This is why any necessary strike must be well organized and absent of
any opportunity for violence against our people. To this end, our Plan does not ask
that people take to the streets and risk injury or arrest. Instead, we ask that
Americans take to their homes and remain there with their families until Congress
impeaches and removes President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and any other
implicated parties from office.
One Nation. One People. One Purpose.
By Anthony St. Martin
If you were surprised by the "new" Democratic leadership's capitulation on the war in
Iraq, their continued rubber stamp on George Bush's appointments, i.e. Robert Gates,
and their refusal to indict and impeach George Bush himself. If you were outraged by
the manner in which Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid neatly reshaped the mandate of the
November election to mean simply change and bi-partisanship rather than
impeachment and an end to the war. If you were surprised that instead of seeing an
end to the war you got escalation and even a Democrat pushing for reinstatement of
the draft, then I urge you to Google and read the 2004 Democratic Platform and see
why for the last 2 1/2 years I have been begging Americans to realize that simply
putting Democrats in Congress will not provide any viable opposition to the Bush
Agenda, that this opposition will only come from ourselves, the organized American
people.
In a nutshell, our democracy has been usurped, and every one of our representatives
is either culpable, cooperative, or intimidated into doing nothing to endanger their own
careers, families, or even lives to stop the network of power behind the Bush
Doctrine. Reading the opening section of the 2004 Platform on the War on Terror
will soon reveal that those who have taken control of the Democratic Party are
actually more hawkish on the war than the Republicans. In the reference to the "War
on Terror" they claimed that "Bush is not doing enough." So why should we
realistically expect Democratic candidates to truly oppose the war in Iraq when the
Democratic leadership not only accepts the absurd concept of a 'War on Terror" but
thinks Bush is being too timid in prosecuting it?
Think of the professional fight game, where the only way a crooked promoter can
"guarantee" the outcome of the fight is to control both fighters, the referee, and all the
judges. In a similar way, those who control the White House also hold controlling
influence over both party leaderships, Congress, and the press. The fix is in, and if
we are going to win this fight for our Constitution we will need to score a knockout.
We will never win a decision.
While our Constitution is being dismantled and our liberties revoked, our national
sovereignty is being eroded, our resources, even our roads, are being sold to foreign
concerns, our consumption-addicted people are being seduced into a financial box
canyon through cheap credit and the deflating prices due to exploitation of third
world labor, and our children are being sent to war without end and drafted into
working for soulless corporations without the health care, pensions, or job security
gained by the labor movements of the past. This reality has affected millions of
voiceless Americans and if it hasn't directly effected you yet, it surely will.
Still, despite all the progress made by this network of criminals, they know that
unless they can control and suppress the American people, their days in power are
numbered. This is why any necessary strike must be well organized and absent of
any opportunity for violence against our people. To this end, our Plan does not ask
that people take to the streets and risk injury or arrest. Instead, we ask that
Americans take to their homes and remain there with their families until Congress
impeaches and removes President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and any other
implicated parties from office.
One Nation. One People. One Purpose.
| The first shall lead, the rest shall follow, until peace is restored. We have received pledges from outraged Americans across the country, including Seattle, WA, New York City, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Santa Fe, MX, Edina, Minnesota, Boise ID, San Pedro, CA, Cottage Hills, IL, Prescott AZ, Kenner LA, Milpitas, CA, Bronston KY, Corvallis, OR, Canton, NY, Branchland, WV, Bridgeport, CT, Bishopville, MD, Atlanta, GA, Eagle Lake, NY, Morgantown, GA, New Britain, CT, Ferndale, MI, Tallahassee, FL, Wilmington, DE, Reno, NV, Stockton, CA, Bartlesville, OK, Danville, IL, Jennings, MO, St. Joseph, MO, Paulsboro, NJ, Toledo, OH, Oakland, CA, Santa Rosa, CA, Wilmington, NC, Denver, CO, Jupiter, FL, West Point, PA, the list goes on and on. When these people signed their pledge, they did not simply sign a petition, but a solemn pledge to participate in a national strike when and if it must be called. They are putting the bite back in our democracy. These forthright Americans serve as proof that we can come together in force, we can contact and organize our people, and we are capable of delivering a CREDIBLE THREAT of a national strike and boycott to Congress. Once this vision takes root the process becomes rather simple. The challenge is in reaching our people. Everyone who signs a Pledge becomes a part of the foundation of the campaign. It is by their action that others may take confidence in knowing they are not alone, that they are not even a minority. Our country must realize that the American people are not “asleep at the wheel” nor are they "dumbed down". They are outraged. But they are also being manhandled by a network of deceit. We do not need hearings when so many know the truth. We need indictment and trial. What is being passed of as Congressional hearings is really a platform for persons suspected of usurping the U.S.Constitution to present to the public a reasonable and legally favorable interpretation of their own actions. This process of public manipulation is designed to defuse the people’s belief that treason has indeed occurred and blunt the passion for action. Nobody likes an I-told-you-so, but just as I warned that simply electing Democrats to Congress would not stop the people behind the Bush Doctrine, let me now say that these hearings will not stop Bush. John Conyers will not stop Bush. Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich, Obama, Hillary, none of these people are going to create even a bump-in-the-road. While it can be very difficult to admit to ourselves that our democracy is not working, we must face the reality we are dealt and realize that the only thing that can halt the destruction of our way of life is the collective force of the American people. We can win, but we must do it together. Republican as well as Democrat, Green, and Independent. We are a large nation and include people from many different lifestyles with varying guiding principles in life. But, I know that as Americans we all share the highest value of our personal freedom and will come together to preserve it. Read the Plan, Sign a Pledge, and Volunteer to Spread the word. ... |