This election won't give expression to the loathing seventy-plus percent feel for the President. This election won't set the stage for impeachment of a liar who has sanctioned torture, spied on potentially millions, and left Black people to die on rooftops. This election won't usher in an end to a gruesome war that the whole world is against nor will it prevent the next one. It won't stem the corporate polluters fueling global warming or curb the locking up, deporting, and literal hunting of immigrants. And it certainly won't slow the momentum to force women and gays to submit to the standards and punishments of the Old Testament Bible.
But don't take my word for it""listen to the top Democrats themselves.
While sucking up to Pat Robertson's vicious religious lunacy on the 700 Club, Howard Dean insisted, "I don't think that the first thing on our agenda is gonna be to get in a big partisan fight about whether the President should be impeached or not." Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi's spokesperson put it more bluntly, "Impeachment is off the table; she is not interested in pursuing it." Even John Conyers has conceded in advance, "Rather than seeking impeachment, I have chosen to propose a comprehensive oversight of these alleged abuses."
And then there is Bob Casey, the new Democratic star, running for senator from Pennsylvania. Will the fundamental rights of women really be any better protected if Dark Ages Santorum is replaced with the anti-abortion, pro-Alito Casey?
With choices like this it should be obvious to anyone possessing the courage to be honest that the will of the people will not be expressed in the 2006 elections. And if people allow their opposition, finances, time and energies to be funneled into this, one way or another on November 3 we'll all be gritting our teeth listening to one candidate or another declare a popular "mandate" on all of this.
Bush MUST Be Driven Out!
George W. Bush is still extremely dangerous. Bush still believes he is on a "mission from 'God.'" Ask yourself: in the face of growing opposition has he backed off this program?
Look down in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans where thousands of homes have still not been searched for bodies, the levees have still not been adequately repaired, and miles stretch out in an uninhabitable war-zone. Recall the "shoot to kill" orders against "looters," how troops forced Black people back into the flooded zones, and confront the fact that many thousands will never again have a home.
Take a look at the front page of the papers just last Thursday: the crumpled, faceless bodies of civilian men, women, and children methodically massacred in their homes in Haditha, Iraq. Note how this was covered up, repeatedly, at many levels of the military. Recall Abu-Ghraib. Recall Bagram. And ask yourself the cost to humanity every single day this war continues.
Look at the NSA spying. Remember how Bush lied more than a dozen times, claiming he wouldn't spy on civilians without warrants. Remember the talk of impeachment that dwindled to censure, that stalled anyhow""even as greater depths of this spying continues to be revealed. And in the end Bush has ended up illegally institutionalizing even more sweeping surveillance powers, promoting to head the CIA a man who orchestrated this lawless police-state measure.
Look at the young girls around you and ask yourself if the world they grow up in will teach them that dreaming is too painful, that their bodies are shameful, and that pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are appropriate punishment for sex. Think of the darkness encroaching not just for women, but for all of humanity, as abortion is already banned in South Dakota, and even birth control is assailed, and as analysts project that Roe v. Wade could be overturned as early as March of next year.
Finally, take a sober look at the strength and momentum of the American Christian Ayatollahs who preach biblical literalism and an unthinking, self-righteous obedience to even the most violent and archaic passages of the New and Old Testaments. Think what it means that they have infiltrated the highest levels of the military, are preaching Holy War to stadiums filled with young people, and are now howling that even Bush hasn't moved forcefully and quickly enough against gay people, women, and science. And take a look as a top Democrat makes a pilgrimage to the 700 Club to kiss the ring of Pat Robertson.
No, Bush has not backed off and the key parts of his agenda have continued to steam forward. All this must be stopped. It has to be ended. It cannot be tolerated, compromised with, or ignored. And unless it is stopped""unless this whole direction is REPUDIATED""everything that Bush has done and will do will become part of the new norms. And again, it would be extremely foolish to think that this man is still not extremely dangerous and willing to take desperate action to push his agenda forward.
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