CRAP.
Tried to edit my last post, and somehow it deleted. When is Mercury going direct?
The Invincible President: How the supposed “uniter” consolidated his power by fostering division.
I have spent my Independence Day writing. I have written letters to the Speaker of the House, begging her to reconsider her vow not to pursue impeachment charges against Bush and Cheney. I have written to Senator Schumer, who I respect enormously. I wrote to Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. God, I even wrote to our district Councilman.
I think its time to write to the Democratic candidates: what the fuck are you planning to do, if elected, to rebuild the damage done to this country by eight fucking years of unrepentant, shameless evil?
Ted spent his day writing. And calling. And writing some more.
We’re going to visit Ted’s family tonight, but I can honestly say I’m not in a celebratory mood. I’m a patriot, I love this country; because I am a patriot, deep inside, I’m grieving. But I’m not quite ready to cover the mirrors and sit shiva for the US quite yet. I hope that the revolutionary spirit that this country was built on, and the Constitution itself, hasn’t been smothered by phony, mindless, flag-licking jingoism. I hope that this country and its people won’t continue to drown in the quagmire of fear, apathy, and cynicism that got us to this point over the last six years.
Instead of a flag, I think we should raise the Bill of Rights onto a pole and fly that.
Links culled from this evening’s late night readin’ and re-readin’. Some old links, some new. All posted in celebration of today’s holiday. This week’s Evil is just the icing on the cake.
Memo to the Media: Libby Outrage is Not Confined to the Left
Are we better off: One Liberty at a Time
Battlespace America
The Patriot Act & You
The Molly Ivins Archive
White House Policy Illegally Silences Americans Critical of Bush
The Assault on Civil Liberties
(AP Article) Romney defends Bush decision on Libby
Rolling Stone’s National Affaris Daily
Before You Light that M-80
Evidently the Press Corps is Sick of This Shit, Too
Removable Dance Poles
Sorry, people, but you are going to keep getting bombarded with my progressive propaganda for the foreseeable future if you stick around in this blog.
For those of you that are uninterested in politics, I’ve included a link to a removable dance pole that I saw tonight. I was considering trying out one of those pole dance exercise classes with a friend of mine, and was wondering how the hell I’d ever practise. Now I know. I somehow distrust a pole that isn’t… screwed in. I have visions of me flying across the room, makeshift bo staff in hand, leaving smashed windows and broken furniture in my wake.
Aaaaaaand… here’s a pic of some polar bears that I found on the Huffington Post site:
My heart hurts. I’m going to bed.
Olbermann: Bush, Cheney should resign
‘I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.’
“I didn’t vote for him,” an American once said, “But he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.”
That—on this eve of the 4th of July—is the essence of this democracy, in 17 words. And that is what President Bush threw away yesterday in commuting the sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
The man who said those 17 words—improbably enough—was the actor John Wayne. And Wayne, an ultra-conservative, said them, when he learned of the hair’s-breadth election of John F. Kennedy instead of his personal favorite, Richard Nixon in 1960.
“I didn’t vote for him but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.”
The sentiment was doubtlessly expressed earlier, but there is something especially appropriate about hearing it, now, in Wayne’s voice: The crisp matter-of-fact acknowledgement that we have survived, even though for nearly two centuries now, our Commander-in-Chief has also served, simultaneously, as the head of one political party and often the scourge of all others.
We as citizens must, at some point, ignore a president’s partisanship. Not that we may prosper as a nation, not that we may achieve, not that we may lead the world—but merely that we may function.
But just as essential to the seventeen words of John Wayne, is an implicit trust—a sacred trust: That the president for whom so many did not vote, can in turn suspend his political self long enough, and for matters imperative enough, to conduct himself solely for the benefit of the entire Republic.
Our generation’s willingness to state “we didn’t vote for him, but he’s our president, and we hope he does a good job,” was tested in the crucible of history, and earlier than most.
And in circumstances more tragic and threatening. And we did that with which history tasked us.
We enveloped our President in 2001.And those who did not believe he should have been elected—indeed those who did not believe he had been elected—willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.
And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it.
Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.
Did so even before the appeals process was complete; did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice; did so despite what James Madison—at the Constitutional Convention—said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes “advised by” that president; did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder: To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish—the President will keep you out of prison?
In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental com-pact between yourself and the majority of this nation’s citizens—the ones who did not cast votes for you. In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States. In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party. And this is too important a time, Sir, to have a commander-in-chief who puts party over nation.
Or so I’d like to think. I mean, I still believe the US is something akin to a federal constitutional republic, despite this administration’s efforts to the contrary.
Tho the “constitutional” bit is a bit of a misnomer as of late.
Don’t just email your Congressman. Email your House Judiciary Committee and ask them to start hearings on H.Res. 333, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney.
http://www.democrats.com/topelosiandjudiciary
It is my opinion that the bulk of the Democratic party’s response to this has been weak and pitiful. OUR REPRESENTATIVES NEED TO GROW SOME BALLS AND REPRESENT THEIR PEOPLE, THE LAWS OF THIS LAND, AND THE FOUNDATION OF THIS GOVERNMENT. If our representatives won’t stand up on their own, there is even more pressing need for US to speak. Show that you care, because SILENCE means that you are TACITLY CONSENTING.
HOLD YOUR FUCKING GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS, GOD DAMN IT. THIS IS YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY. ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THIS LYING DOWN?
Edited my post to add some information.
GRANT OF EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Washington D.C.
July 2, 2007
– – – – – – –
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS Lewis Libby was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case United States v. Libby, Crim. No. 05-394 (RBW), for which a sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment, 2 years’ supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and a special assessment of $400 was imposed on June 22, 2007;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, pursuant to my powers under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, do hereby commute the prison terms imposed by the sentence upon the said Lewis Libby to expire immediately, leaving intact and in effect the two-year term of supervised release, with all its conditions, and all other components of the sentence.
IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.
GEORGE W. BUSH
– – –
WRITE TO YOUR CONGRESSMAN.
Don’t just sit on your hands and stomach this flagrant abuse of power.
To help ya out, here’s a handy link: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
