I am fed up and more than ticked off by most of the Congress and by the Democratic Presidential candidates. Remember the expansion of the Bush's illegal wiretapping? Remember the temporary expansion of the FISA extension than Representative Harman was passed based on hyped security threats? WHY are the Democrats passing these attacks on civil liberties and Constitutional protections?
This just makes my jaws ache. For our elected representatives, and in particular the Democrats, to vote for these things is not an issue of "fear." If they are willing to destroy our rights because they are "afraid," then one must assume that they actually believe that Constitutional abridgements are "necessary" for our security. Bull. A total surveillance society (in other words not the one we thought we were living in) is not safer, and it certainly does not have the wall of privacy that is needed for a free citizenry.
While I appreciate Harman stepping up and speaking about this, it is just pure cowardice that our elected representatives would throw away our Constitution because they were scared. Apparently, that was a fairly self-serving fear, because the "hyped" threats were to Congress. COWARDS and fools.
How many times can the administration lie, deceive, obscure, cherry pick, and "hype" before the Dems wake up? What ever happened to "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me?"
Or how about the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007 that passed the House on September 25, 2007? That is the bill to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard (their military) a terrorist organization. Excuse me? We want to declare a government's military as a terrorist organization? Seems to me that the U.S. is on very shaky ground there. What about the School of the Americas now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation? You remember SOA is the one that trains Latin American military and police in torture, supression of "insurgency" and other means of controlling an "unruly" population? Since this is part of our military, should it be considered a terrorist organization? Or what about the CIA? The U.S. has an fairly long list of "helping" certain factions to power, arming "insurgents" to overthrow their government, etc. In fact, the U.S. has been aiding "dissidents" inside Iran to take over that government. Sounds like any of those might make the U.S. ripe for claims that we are state sponsors of terrorism. In fact, we are even arming and training "insurgents" (or those formerly labeled "insurgents") in Iraq.
The list could go on and on, but I'll just add one more that sticks in my craw - the hyped indignation about MoveOn.org's add prior to the Petreaus report. What pray tell happened to free speech? Why are our elected representatives taking time to "condemn" free speech? Why did they not do the same for Max Cleland, John Kerry, or John McCain. Shall we really get into personal attacks and defamation of character? Yet a number of Democrats in both the House and the Senate somehow felt they need to spend time and breath on some sort of display of false patriotism.
I am tired of the cowardice of Congress. I am tired of Democrats supposedly taking a stand while too many seem to be voting right in lock step with the Republicans. I am tired of excuses that are totally off the point. They can all - Dems and Republicans - start representing us, or they can get the hell out of Washington. That same message needs to be sent loud and clear to the Presidential candidates. We (and by that I mean the almost 75% of citizens of the United States) do not want more of what we have seen and experienced for the last seven years.
Yes, I am fed up with this attack on the ideals and principles that were the foundation of our republic, but there is a greater issue here, IMO, than being all fed up. It is time for us to step up as a society and lift this rose colored veil.
The rule under which we live is no more a democracy or a democratic republic than that of Germany under Hitler. I do not claim that we are that bad off (yet) but we certainly are close. As with Iran, our government has a disturbing history of crying "terrorist"...well, I think that they are awfully quick to point the finger at other countries because of their own terroristic deeds.
Freedom of speech has been in danger for quite some time now. The idea that there really is a distinction between the two parties, and that one party is fighting any more to retain our freedoms than the other is but an illusion. Time to wake up and smell the coffee, folks. We can choose to keep a stranglehold on the tattered belief that our government works for us, or we can choose to recognize that it is 100% out of our control and act on that awareness.
by
Karma Rox (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 11:10:29 AM
IMO, presidential candidates and other elected officials who in essence say they will continue the path Bush has blazed should recieve NO support from us - regardless of their stance on other issues.
by
Rowan Wolf (71 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 94 comments)
on Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 11:31:08 AM
Most members of congress are guilty of racketeering. The best way to handle the problem is to get all the bribes out and then expose these filth for what they are in detail.
by
John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1196 comments)
on Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 6:00:38 PM
I couldn't agree with you more. If we all get vocal about our anger , we can make a mighty roar. My daughter tells me to be calm or it will make me sick. Well, it's too late for that. I'm already sick, sick and furious with this government. I write to my representatives every day and rant and rave about the state of the country.
So I spend hours every day working to make a change. I do volunteer work for Dennis Kucinich and I know that he could make the difference if we can get him past the stalemate of big business and the msm who are running the country now.
The moderators in the debates are trying to ignore him and the fact that he's coming up in the polls every day. People are listening to him and they can see that he is sincere and will do what he says he will do. We have to have a president that we can trust for a change.
by
Caronome (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 221 comments)
on Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 1:33:21 AM
Your treatise would be more believable if it didn't contain the total falsehoods relating to the School of the Americas and its Congressionally-created successor, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. You may recall that it was President Bill Clinton who signed WHINSEC into public law. You may not have noticed that the legislation set up a federal oversight committee that reports annually on the activities of the institute; that Board of Visitors has four Members of Congress on it along with six non-governmental civilians. The best part is, you don't have to rely on ideologically-based assumptions--you can see the institute for yourself any work day. A University of Oregon student spent a week down here earlier this year, doing research for a paper. As to the SOA, there has not been a single example of anyone using what he learned there to commit a crime--not one! To say so without evidence, as you do, is a moral libel of the people who worked there. It is not enough to say someone who attended some course at some time and later committed a crime did the crime because of the attendance. That is a phony construct and unworthy of an academic person.
Sincerely, Lee A. Rials Public Affairs Officer Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
by
Lee Rials (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Friday, October 5, 2007 at 12:54:35 PM
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