Bruce Fein's new book "Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy," is written by someone who admits he voted for Bush and Cheney twice, supported the appointments of John Roberts and Samuel Alito with no apparent regrets, proposes Robert Bork as a model justice, admires Rehnquist and Scalia, supported the impeachment of Bill Clinton and wanted him convicted, served as associate deputy attorney general to Ronald Reagan and general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission under Reagan (who -- you'll recall -- eliminated the Fairness Doctrine), worked as research director for Congressman Dick Cheney when they blocked investigation of Reagan's Iran-Contra crimes and prevented his impeachment, has been a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, opposes Roe v. Wade and affirmative action and any minimum wage, supports discrimination against homosexuals, and -- in an unfortunate bit of timing -- openly declares on page 20 that he "frowns on government regulation … to manipulate or distort free market choices."
Yet, if you set aside pages 19 through 21, I agree with pretty much all the main points in this book. That they come from someone on the right has had no impact on them that I can discern. That they come from Bruce Fein has given them a unique foundation in historical and legal facts, benefitting from Fein's understanding of history, both distant and Nixonian. Fein did not support Nixon's crimes any more than Bush's and Cheney's, but he does recognize the greater gravity of the latter.
Fein's political perspective may have had some impact -- I don't know for sure -- on his choice of which crimes to focus on. His book is particularly worth reading if you want the low down on illegal spying, illegal secrecy, and illegal rendition. Fein goes very light on the war and many other crimes and abuses. On page 2 he rather obscenely refers to the "hundreds [sic] of civilians who have been killed by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan." Two serious studies have been done of the Iraqi death count resulting from the invasion and occupation, both placing the count well over a million. One is Just Foreign Policy's updated figure based on an initial but now outdated report by Johns Hopkins / Lancet. The other is an August 2007 study by the British polling company Opinion Research Business, then estimating 1.2 million, now also out of date. See: http://justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html I think you'd be hard pressed to find any neocons in Washington who would claim the total was under 10,000, except apparently for Fein.
I also object to Fein's claim on page 41 that the American people have not "flooded Pelosi's office with protesting Emails or phone calls," over her refusal to impeach. Where did Fein get such an absurd idea? From Pelosi? And he believed her? Or did he just pull it out of thin air based on the Washington Post's and the Washington Times' failure to report on the fact that we've shut Pelosi's office down with floods of Emails, faxes, and phone calls over a period of well over a year, that we've sat in her office, delivered petitions to her office, camped out endlessly in her front yard in San Francisco (which has made lots of media and generated her complaint that she can't have us arrested the way she would if we were poor people unprotected by the First Amendment), disrupted her speaking events, marched from Boston to her DC office, saturated the internet and progressive radio with complaints against her, and run Cindy Sheehan against her as an impeachment candidate for Congress.
I also disagree somewhat with some of Fein's points on pages 44-45. Fein thinks that Americans are slow to grow outraged over abuses of civil rights because most of those abused are non-Americans with foreign-sounding names. I think there is a lot of truth in that, and yet there are numerous American victims, including political prisoners like the former governor of Alabama. Americans have been spied on. American whistleblowers, including in the Justice Department -- such as Jesslyn Radack -- have had their careers destroyed as retribution for speaking out, and for speaking out against abuses of other Americans. Americans have been deceived by illegal propaganda. Americans (like Cindy Sheehan's son) have been sent to their deaths for a pile of lies. Americans live on the globe the accelerated warming of which Fein does not touch on. In short, there are specific American victims, and we are all victims of outrageous criminal acts and criminal negligence. And when Fein proposes that candidates for president should promise not to "detain without trial any American citizen," I think he is playing to the same xenophobia he diagnoses. We should not tolerate the detention without trial of anyone.
But these are minor points I'm picking out of a 204-page book that is absolutely devastating in its demand for the immediate impeachment of Bush and Cheney. And this is obviously a book that can be given to your right-wing uncle with the most likely chance of him not dismissing it quickly. Fein's analysis of the peril in which we find ourselves is devastating -- and depressing. Sadly, he offers no advice for what we can do about it, other than demanding impeachment. He organizes nothing, and he openly predicts failure, which is just not an effective way to encourage action. And yet it seems pure and honest, and Fein offers these dead-on accurate and ethical words of advice:
"It might be asked, if the overwhelming majority of Americans are vastly more thrilled by sporting events and creature comforts than they are by the moral challenges and burdens of self-government, then why struggle against this inexorable tide? The answer is two-fold. Anything else would be dishonorable. And you might leave footprints in the sands of time to inspire someone yet to be born to champion freedom in more propitious circumstances."
Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people: IMPEACH
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
love to display their hypocrisy with the personal tribulations of Bill Clinton, while Henry Hyde, Bob Barr and a list of other womanizing, adulterous SOB's who prosecuted him. Even some who scorned Clinton still continued with their perverted sexual escapades like Foley, with congressional pages.
While the demigod wife swapping Ronald Reagan and his administration walked away from the High crimes and misdemeanors of Impeachment and Treason the Iran-Contra debacle truly was.
I always get a chuckle when I hear how the GOP "Greed & Oppression Party" talk about less government and spending, while they have bloated the federal debt to such enormous proportions their great-grandchildren will still be paying only a fraction on the interest it accrues.
Creating ever redundant departments like "DHS" and expanding the bureaucracy to phenomenal new heights.
All the deregulation of the 80's brought on the S&L debacle, EPA toxic nightmares, followed by Junk Bonds, the DOTcom bust, Sub-Prime to CDO swindle, and now the most recent $1 Trillion bailout on insurers, with more still to come.
What else should you expect from a senile Ronald Reagan, cocaine & alcohol abusing Dybua and his equally multiple drunk driving convictions blast a friend in the face with a shotgun Buckshot Dick leadership?
by
Stanimal (0 articles, 4 quicklinks, 23 diaries, 668 comments)
on Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 7:20:24 PM
This Is Not A Repub VS Dem issue; To Phrase It As Such Is To Hide The True Nature And Mislead The Masses.
FREE MONEY TO ALL MY FRIENDS !!!
The Root of the issue starts with Fractional Reserve Banking and Fiat Monetary Policy and is accelerated with Financial Engineering. This System Always Ends The Same. Economic Collapse And The Consolidation Of Wealth And Power.
When You Can Create Money Out Of Thin Air You Can Buy Governments.
There Will Be No Investigation Into How We Came To This Point Because Both Parties Of Power Have Colluded Against The Public. They Are One – The Money Party.
Case In Point:
From Bill Moyer’s Journal Sept 12 2008 Citing A New York Times Article By Jackie Calmes:
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Both Barack Obama and John McCain say the Fannie and Freddie mess is the result of the cozy ties between lobbyists and politicians, the very thing they will "change" if elected. But guess what? Neither one of them has ever had, quote, "A record of directly challenging the companies."
To the contrary, Obama is second among members of Congress in donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's employees and political action committees, even though he's only been in the Senate since 2005. The former chairman of Fannie Mae originally led Obama's vice presidential search committee but had to step down in a controversy over favorable loans he received, while at Fannie, from a company doing business with Fannie.
Among Obama's contributors are three directors and one senior vice president of the two companies. Furthermore, Obama's fellow Democrats in Congress have long been enablers of both corporations.
And what about John McCain? His entire campaign team stepped right out of a predator's ball. His confidante and top adviser lobbied several years for Freddie Mac. His deputy fundraiser lobbied Fannie Mae, and his campaign manager lobbied for both of them, leading a coalition of beltway insiders whose goal was to "stave off regulations" that might have short circuited this nightmare.
One wealthy member of Freddie Mac's board has contributed more than $70,000 to McCain and Republican Party members working for McCain's election.
Even the guy who vetted John McCain's vice presidential options is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae.
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Things Are More Dire Than Many Would Like To Face. Safety Is A Function Of Awareness.
Fixated as I am on inflation in prices because it scares The Living Hell (TLH) out of me, I was drawn to how Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital was amused that the government and its minions have reported that "the GDP deflator, used in the report to downwardly adjust GDP to account for inflation, was shown at just 1.2% annualized ... the lowest deflator in 10 years", while at the same time "the latest reading on consumer prices (CPI) in the second quarter shows year-on-year inflation running at a 5.6% rate, a seventeen-year high!"
He asks, without the slightest hint of the venomous sarcasm you would expect, "How can it be that inflation is simultaneously running at a 17-year high and a 10-year low? Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland world of government statistics."
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Doom Approaches.
When The Election Is Over And Power Seated The Financial Circus Will Reach New Heights. Do Not Be Lulled Into Believing The Scapegoat Scenarios. The Problem Is Endemic In The System. The Complexity Of Corruption Is Vast.
Wish More People Would Have Debated Ron Paul Rather Than Dismissed Him. Debate Is The Distillation Of Reality.
Anyone Advocating A Return Toward The Constitution Is An Ally. If The Constitution Was Followed The Scenario We Are In Would Be Less Likely.
The Circus Continues But The Bread Is Almost Gone.
by
Brad Evans (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 202 comments)
on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 6:23:08 PM
2 comments
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