had said that, one could chalk it up as leftist rhetoric. But Paul Lehto ! Thanks for mentioning the video, Paul. Scooped it AND your article right up and pasted it on my blog, as the above cuts right to the bone, says it like it is. And it hurts. Now if someone could give me a tip on how to break the bad news to the good people of Europe, it would be much appreciated. I mean, for the USA, it's basically game over. The only sensible thing to do now is to inform people in countries that are still free. But which ones could that be ? http://rossini.ro.funpic.de/OOS.html

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006 at 11:21:41 AM

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This act is an outrage! It's time the citizens of America made their voice heard. Between Diebold vote-rigging and a de facto two-party duopoly, it's hard to hear a voice moderating the demagogues of the Terror War. What poses as the opposition, the Democratic Party, is doing nothing to confront the most egregious violations to our Constitution. The stream of bloated spending and systemic rights disenfranchisement bubbling out of Washington has damaged our country. A new election should bring a change of seasons but little more if the Democratic suits take money like the Republican suits have. Both parties are the automatons of the Corporate world, implementing predatory and crony capitalism that masquerades as free market principles. The bloated military budget is now up to $530 billion, to the glee of war profiteers whose cups runneth over. The co-opting of our nation's laws is just one step in the South Americanization of the US under the unelected Bush Junta. Many of us have been fighting what we perceive as the budding fascism of this government long before the general public saw the threat. It's unfortunate that the American Bar Association and other lawyers groups have been so slow in reacting to this threat. The use of signing statements by Bush has undermined the validity of 750 laws. For far too long, opposition to the Bush Agenda of corporate giveaways and legal usurpation of our rights was ignored and treated as if a fringe movement, in no small part due to the domination of the Media by fewer and fewer conglomerates sympathetic to Bush and his Terror War. Those that weren't lulled to sleep by the endless celebrity worship were denied the truths about Iraq, Afghanistan, rendition, torture, Plame's outting and all matters of unrighteous conduct. Whereas dissent and resistance were once the exclusive domain of the outcast, it is now encumbent upon Americans to stand up for their rights. Voting is really only a small part of the commitment citizens must make to their democracy; also, our voting system has also been compromised electronically. It's vital people know their rights, demand them, and hold the powerful to account. Unfortunately, the means by which people can learn have been limited by the Media, so wholesale changes enacted long ago are only now becoming clear. Bush and his cabal are now acting with impunity, even as the blunders and incompetence of our government prove that the current Republican leadership is unsustainable. It's no surprise there's a rash of inappropriate legislation so close to the election, as scandals held back for years finally break, snapping the puppet-strings and patience of the Republicans' corporate sponsors. It's not too late to turn back on the road that has been paved for us by our unelected Great Decider, who acts on a self-righteous mandate on behalf of our security. All lawyers should now see the Bush Administration as a direct threat to the rule of law in this nation, and thereby the moral viability of their profession. They should take the most rigorous stand they can against electoral provocations and signing statements, and our abandonment of international law, if not the the benefit of society, for the sake of their profession.

by JohnPeebles (9 articles, 10 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 59 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006 at 2:56:09 PM

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== Chapter 41. Police State Amerika == By Larry W. Bryant [Author's Note: Some prospective signers of my online petition supporting my proposed citizen's arrest of Herr Bu$ch ( http://www.PetitionOnline.com/arrest/petition.html ) may consider this statement-of-intent too visionary for their taste. But, when it comes to long-overdue political accountability, no proposal should be left off the table. For comparison, I offer you the bold, imaginative, and utterly gutsy project referred to in my freedom-of-information request of Oct. 17, 2006, addressed to U. S. Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, quoted as follows: "On April 3, 2006, San Diego, Calif., resident Paul Andrew Mitchell, a 'private attorney general, criminal investigator, and federal witness,' filed a document titled 'Verified Criminal Complaint, on information presently lodged in USA v. Libby (Case No. 05-394 (RBW)).' Both your offices were served with a printout copy of the complaint, which is posted upon Mr. Mitchell's web site ( http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/gwbush/vcc.htm ). As a 'person acting for the interests of the general public' (in the language of a current California statute), Mitchell uses his complaint to itemize various violations of federal/state law allegedly committed by Pres. George W. Bush, Vice Pres. Richard B. Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. In his capacity as an 'intervenor ex relatione' in the above-cited U. S. government criminal case against Mr. Cheney's former chief of staff (I. Lewis Libby), Mr. Mitchell proceeds to charge Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld with such multiple counts as (1) use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire (re the events and casualties of 9/11/2001); (2) racketeering and conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activities (re the 9/11/2001 disaster); (3) treason (re the 9/11/2001 disaster and its aftermath); and (4) genocide against the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq (re the U. S.-led wars of aggression currently proceeding there). Accordingly, I hereby request, under terms of the U. S. Freedom of Information Act, that each of your respective offices send me a copy of all OSC- and OSD-housed records generated, to date, in response to the filing of Mr. Mitchell's above-cited complaint. Since I submit this request as an independent writer focusing on national-security affairs (and, in that capacity, currently serving as a 'representative of the news media' for the purpose of providing content to the web site of http://www.bushbusiness.com/impeachment%20news.htm ), I ask that you waive all records-search fees incident to your fulfilling this request. By snail-mail, I'm sending to you a signed printout of this e-formatted letter. In the interest of helping prevent further wrongdoing on the part of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, I ask that you assign the highest FOIA priority to your processing of this request. -- LARRY W. BRYANT. Copies furnished to: Jerry Pippin, Radio Talk-Show Host (Web-cast via http://www.jerrypippin.com ) and proprietor of http://www.bushbusiness.com ; Hon. John Conyers, Jr., U. S. House of Representatives." On the morning of Oct. 17th, I attended a "People's Signing Ceremony" conducted by a coalition of religious groups to protest the 'resident's signing of the (Draconian) Military Crimes (er, Commissions) Act of 2006 recently passed by Kongress. About 125 protesters -- some dressed in orange garments/arm-bands to signify vicarious identification with abused detainees -- braved rainy skies in LaFayette Park to voice their condemnation of the Act's provisions denying habeas-corpus access for alien detainees and giving carte blanche to Herr Bu$ch to define torture any way he pleases. How do our five intrepid power/control mongers view the conduct and judgment of these committed religious critics? Read on.] SCHMOE [leaning against a third-floor window of the White(wash) House, and motioning Karl Trove to join him as he trains his high-powered, German-made binoculars upon the small, but vocal, crowd gathered across the street in LaFayette Park]: Looky there, Karl. See that guy carrying the IMPEACH HIM sign offering those lapel buttons for a dollar apiece? That's ol' Larry Dubya . . . and there he goes over to that Satan-suited, GWB look-alike man near the W-H fence. Wonder what they're discussing. TROVE: Uh-huh. I've already spotted that other button hustler, Alan McConnell. That team of losers makes me gag. Heh-heh . . . check out that Asian-American's fancy sign down there near the unmarked police car. Can't quite make out all the sign's words from here -- but it says something about helping "Stop Truth Decay!" Thankfully, we've got the weather on our side, for a change. With this steady rain, I expect they'll all be headed home in short order. Who's the little guy in the motorized wheelchair? SCHMOE: Don't know, but he seems quite happy to be here. DUMSFELD: Hurry up, guys! We gotta get back down stairs in the next five minutes. Dubya's got all his give-away signature pens poised for action, and I wanna get one for my grandson. [As they proceed down to the Oral Orifice to take their stations at the 'resident's signing ceremony, Schmoe glances out another window, exclaiming: "Boy, look at that -- ol' Bryant almost turned into the path of our motorized street-sweeper. If that lady to whom he'd just sold a button hadn't alerted him, he'd be squashed geriatric sauce right now. Maybe next time."] TROVE [whispering to Cheezey upon entering the now-crowded office]: You know, Dick, once we get this thing all signed and sealed, I think we won't have to worry about facing any "war crimes" trials. CHEEZEY: Sheesh. Make sure there's no open microphone close to us. I notice they've got Dubya's suit-coat prompter device so miniaturized that he could wear it as a cufflink with no detection. TROVE: Right. He needs the device to help him stay on topic during his extemporaneous remarks. Quiet . . . let's listen. BU$CH: Now, folks, just off the record here, as I -- uh -- get ready to exercise all these pens. I, uh -- what's that? . . . oh, my necktie keeps flopping around and distracting the Faux TV cameraman -- well, all right, let's, uh, start over . . .. DUMSFELD [showing his characteristic impatience]: Here, Dubya: sit down, and I'll hand ya the pens in succession while you grab the copies of the bill and sign 'em. [In less than three minutes, all the copies get signed, the room echoes the obligatory applause from the assembled dignitaries, and the audience proceeds to the refreshments area. Schmoe's cell phone begins to vibrate in his pocket, so he steps into the hallway to attend to it. The caller identifies himself as Capt. Russelup of the National Park Police, reporting: "Mr. Schmoe, there's a group of hard-liners -- including one dressed as a hooded detainee crawling on all fours and being led around on a leash -- that seems to want to be obstructionist." Replies Schmoe: "Well, Cap'n, you know what to do. Show 'em how to put those orange jump suits to good use." Schmoe then hears Russelup barking orders to his response team. Click.] SCHMOE [approaching Cheezey at the beverage table]: Just heard from the Park Police. They're getting ready to evict that small crowd in front of the guard station. Capt. Russelup said they've already installed their yellow "POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS" tape around a 100-foot-square area along Penn. Avenue -- the outside of which the protesters have been directed to use as their free-speech zone. The hard-liners aren't budging. The paddy wagon has been backed into position. And . . .. [Schmoe's cell phone vibrates again. He opens it, listens for several seconds and concludes: "Okay, Cap'n; good work. When y'all finish, come on inside and help us finish these doughnuts."] SCHMOE: Looks as though it's all over but the booking, Dick. Russelup said he expects to arrest as many as 16 of those suckers. CHEEZEY: What will the charge be? SCHMOE: His team really has the goods on those fools -- including video film of 'em "impeding access to a White(wash) House entrance." Come on -- let's have some of that French champaign. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/gjprobe/petition.html larryB@jerrypippin.com

by LarryWBryant (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 58 comments) on Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006 at 7:52:43 PM

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