Traffic Jam on the Highway to Hell

[Sheila Samples]

By Sheila Samples

"When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil."~~- Thomas Jefferson

Each new year ushers in a myriad of "Top Ten" lists -- 10 best things, 10 worst things, things we need to do, things we did but shouldn't have -- and this year, even a hilarious list of WTF? things popped up. I'll admit I'm not as well organized as those who progress in 10-step increments. My problem is narrowing the atrocities down to 10 -- and then narrowing those 10 down to a single year. I'm confident I could compile a really neat list if I could decide which in the tangle of loathsome assaults should be Number One.

It can't be done. Everything that happened in 2007 is a direct result of events in 2006, a continuation of 2005 crimes, the bloody mess of 2004, the shock and awe of 2003 and the vicious, ruthless lies of 2001 that led us to where we are today. It's impossible to appraise the malignant nature of this administration in any intelligible way. From the outset, it came at us -- at the world -- on all fours with fangs bared. Whether ripping the humanity from our Constitution or drowning the innocent in a sea of blood, its appetite is insatiable. It rises from each feast hungrier than before.

I used to think Americans had been whipped by 9-11 terror confusion into some sort of national stupor. That's not so. We're trapped in a massive spiritual paralysis. Normal people are simply not equipped to deal with remorseless psychopaths. We were not prepared to come face to face with evil, nor to be manipulated by lies and controlled through stark fear. Our refusal to address the mounting list of Bush-Cheney war crimes could be because we cannot force ourselves to admit our "one nation under God" spies upon its citizens, imprisons them without due process, engages in grotesque acts of torture and delights in mass murder. And so we stand here on the precipice of our own destruction, waiting for evil to run its course.

No Mercy

Evil never runs its course. With each success, it grows stronger, more ghastly and, like Dick Cheney, emerges a bit more from the shadows. Never doubt for a minute that these unfeeling creatures are not evil. They are incapable of compassion, of empathy, of mercy. Their eyes are on the prize of One World rule, and they will have it in spite of -- or as a result of -- all the chaos and carnage it takes to achieve it. There are no "Imps of the Perverse" among them who will be so overcome with guilt they will break from the pack and run through the populace shrieking, "We're guilty! We did it! We are murderers!"

Cheney and his destructive little sidekick, George Bush, have brazenly committed treasonous acts -- left piles of corpses in their wake since the 2000 election coup. If there is a God, they are bound straight for Hell. But they are not alone. They're protected by a merciless axis of courts, congressional conspirators and corporate media who cover up their crimes by issuing a steady barrage of terror threats and a relentless fog of twisted disinformation.

Our government is nothing but a Good Ol' Boys and Girls club, with judges, journalists, legislators and administration jesters whooping it up while pillaging the Treasury, ignoring the cries of their victims, turning a blind eye to millions of slaughtered and displaced innocents, and sending thousands of their own citizens to their deaths. They have mauled, raped and obstructed Justice until that once noble Lady is no longer recognizable.

Author Kurt Vonnegut, who died last April after a fall in his home, warned that corruption in this government must be removed and the perpetrators must pay for their crimes or our Republic is dead. In an October 2005 PBS interview, as his last book, "A Man Without a Country," soared to the top of best-seller lists, Vonnegut said, "...we have only a one-party government. It's the winners. And then everybody else is the losers. And the winners are divided into two parties. The Republicans and the Democrats...that's what a charade the combat between the Republicans and the Democrats is. It's rich kids. Winners on both sides. So the winners can't lose. And, of course, the losers have no representation in Congress..." Vonnegut said members of Congress, regardless of party, represent only those who bankroll their political campaigns; those making tons of money from Bush and Cheney's illegal war.

Enough is Enough

The 2006 elections, which gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress, was a clear imperative to govern according to the will of the people. No Congress in history has ever been elected who knew better what that will was -- primarily to stop an immoral war, but also to hold accountable those responsible for the lies, torture, loss of freedoms, spying on their own citizens, and the relentless slaughter of US military as well as innocent Iraqi and Afghanistani citizens.

Nancy Pelosi, quivering at the thought of becoming the nation's first female Speaker of the House, said on Nov 9, 2006, "This new Democratic majority has heard the voices of the American people." She added, while apparently attempting to stifle a burst of wild, maniacal laughter, "Americans placed their trust in Democrats. We will honor that trust. We will not disappoint.”

Pelosi's counterpart in the Senate, Harry Reid, bowed his head and mumbled that “The days of the do-nothing Congress are over." He looked around furtively before whispering that Americans spoke “clearly and decisively in favor of Democrats leading this country in a new direction.” Reid then scurried off to crouch behind Bush, who smirked good naturedly while giving him a "good thumpin.."

They knew they were elected to stop the madness, to stem the onslaught of tyranny and to protect and defend the Constitution, but chose instead to fall on their knees before those who scorned them, threatened them, or perhaps offered them a "piece of the action." By choosing to suspend, rather than defend, the Constitution, they are guilty of high crimes. We can no longer stand on the sidelines waiting for the evil to subside. They must go -- all of them -- starting at the top with the impeachment of the mad Cheney and Bush and continuing through both houses of Congress where all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are up for election this year.

The majority of Americans are demanding that both Bush and Cheney be impeached and removed from office, and those like David Swanson, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and now Fla Rep. Robert Wexler, are working tirelessly to make that happen.

We've had enough. We not only agree with Vonnegut, but with Lee Iacocca, who pulls no punches in his April 2007 book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" Iacocca asks, "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.' Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!"

Yes. Throw the bums out and watch them scatter. And when they do, there will be a traffic jam on the highway to Hell.

Sheila Samples http://sheilastuff.blogspot.com/ is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites. Contact her at [email protected]

[babylonsister]

1. You can write, my friend! Trapped...by remorseless psychopaths.

Phew! There's also a major contingent who doesn't give a damn. Thanks, Sheila Samples!

[Sheila Samples]

4. Thank you so much...

unfortunately, I don't think it's that so many of the slobbering masses don't give a damn -- I think the media has finally sucked our brains, our minds and our souls from our bodies. We are little more than a vast "paper mache" backdrop for what passes as a Republic...

Okay, so I'm depressed -- when I research and write something so dreary, I get like that. Maybe the Giants will beat the Pats Sunday!

[rucognizant]

13. Like the poor podlings.......

in the movie Dark Crystal. Does anyone remember that. The evil one sent them through an assembly line machine which suctioned out the contents of their heads! It left them, mindless treadmill slaves.
Like, 1984, that moveie was prescient!
If you haven't seen it get a video or DVD & watch it.

[Sheila Samples]

20. Yeah, rucognizant...

In the state of depression I'm in, that's the move I should be watching. I think those around me will be much safer if I spend some time with Spongebob Squarepants...

Seriously, I'll get the movie. Thanks...

[juno jones]

35. Yeah we got a nice little potemkin village going here.

Paper mache! I was wondering what they had constructed it out of.

For some reason that reminds me of one of the vignettes in 'Wisconsin Death Trip': An ageing opera singer retires to a small Wisconsin town. Her son builds her a house, but the only thing he knows how to build is stage sets. So it appears that she has a huge italianate villa, in which she entertains and puts on airs, but in reality it is a mere shell. Winter comes to WI and the two of them are reduced to stealing things to burn and shore up their crumbling theater set, the boy gets arrested stealing, she gets thrown in the loony bin...they both survive and escape eventually. However, it's a damn fine lesson on the cost of fooling oneself with the illusion of grandeur. (true story)

Just what is this crumbling country made of?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Kucinich's "articles of impeachment" or whatever that was, was a joke.

Face it, bush covered his tracks. They can't impeach him. He did nothing illegal in the sense that the whole Iraq thing was backed up with official government paper. It's a waste of time to pursue this. The congress knows this, there's nothing that anyone can do about it. It's over.

[Sheila Samples]

5. You're probably right...

But HR333 is to impeach Cheney. It is being reported that Kucinich will submit Articles of Impeachment on Bush tomorrow -- on Groundhog Day, while Bush is yodeling past the skull orchard giving his State of the Union diatribe...

[ixion]

10. with an attitude like that, it is indeed over... covered his tracks? hardly

there is blood from one end of the country to the other. There are tracks everywhere. We simply need people who will point this out, rather than capitulate.

[The_Casual_Observer]

18. It's been pointed out for years but there is nothing that can be done.

It's an impossible goal. Forget it.

[ixion]

24. If that is impossible, than restoring our republic is just as impossible

so we may as well forget that, too.

[immoderate]

44. They could impeach him for picking his nose, if they wanted to.

Impeachment is at the will of the Congress.

--IMM

[Mojorabbit]

3. Applauding here! eom

[Sheila Samples]

6. THANK YOU! eom

[puebloknot]

7. This is the kind of passionate truth that we should be hearing at "The Debates" --

-- you should excuse me while I laugh my head off.

In order to throw the bums out we have to throw the bums' electronic voting machines out. I am turning blue holding my breath while I wait for a report of a storming of the elections centers which house those machines -- a la Bastille Day.

I feel like I'm living in a slow motion horror movie that I can't wake up from.

Your way with words is a valuable skill right here at the end of Nowhere Street. Don't stop!

Sincerely,

A soldier's daughter!

[Sheila Samples]

21. I agree...

Mike Malloy has a good idea -- take our baseball bats to the voting places and smash the hell out of all the machines -- and then ask for a paper ballot. I'm with The Mike.

Thanks so much for your kind words.

[ClayZ]

8. Standing Ovation! BRAVO! K and R

:applause:

Thank you!

[Sheila Samples]

22. No, ClayZ...

THANK YOU!

[Kaleko]

9. Awesome to hear you tell it like it is, sistah!

[Sheila Samples]

23. Thanks, Kaleko...

People like you keep people like me from giving up...

[tom_paine]

11. If the Old Republic is to be restored, then we must go back to the Declaration of Indepenence

But we all know the Imperial Subjects of Amerika are not capable of that.

I hope I am wrong, but I know there is a 95% chance I am right.

[Sheila Samples]

25. I agree...

I keep thinking there has to be a "tipping point" that will send people who remember what freedom was like racing to the gates of the White House, as Dave Lindorff wrote last week -- "armed with pitchforks, baseball bats, and cattle prods, ready to storm the place and wreak vengeance."

But no...

[corkhead]

12. That Vonnegut quote says it all. Excellent OP, I'll have to look for more of your writing.

[Sheila Samples]

26. Yo, corkhead...

As Stinky W. would say, "Ah 'pre-shate it.."

[JohnyCanuck]

14. K&R n/t

[Sheila Samples]

27. Thank you...n/t

[Karenina]

15. K&R!

:kick:

[Sheila Samples]

28. Thanks, Karenina..

[lildreamer316]

16. Glad I'm sitting down so I can KICK this with BOTH feet!!

I am SO SO SO tired of people here bitching about the average American having no say in current government in one breath, and condemming the very same people as lazy, vapid and stupid in the next. THIS is the truth of the matter:

"I used to think Americans had been whipped by 9-11 terror confusion into some sort of national stupor. That's not so. We're trapped in a massive spiritual paralysis. Normal people are simply not equipped to deal with remorseless psychopaths. We were not prepared to come face to face with evil, nor to be manipulated by lies and controlled through stark fear. Our refusal to address the mounting list of Bush-Cheney war crimes could be because we cannot force ourselves to admit our "one nation under God" spies upon its citizens, imprisons them without due process, engages in grotesque acts of torture and delights in mass murder. And so we stand here on the precipice of our own destruction, waiting for evil to run its course. "

[Sheila Samples]

30. To lildreamer

I have given this a lot of thought, and I agree that Americans are not lazy, vapid and stupid -- with the possible exception of Little Jimmy Inhofe, in whose district I die aborning -- or lie a moaning...

One thing few seem to grasp is that boots on the ground, packed email boxes and overloaded faxes and telephone lines DO work. The problem is that we have to battle our way through the media to make our voices heard. And that is a battle we are destined to lose. Remember the millions -- tens of millions -- of people who marched, protested and screamed against our attack on Iraq throughout the world? No? That's because our corporate media completely blacked it out -- threw us a Curveball.

The Internet is both a blessing and a curse. We voice our opinions -- fight the good fight -- on the Internet 24 hours every day. We exhaust ourselves on the Internet, and I shudder to think of where we would be now if we did not have that resource to share information, to connect to one another and, yes, to make a difference. But for the most part, we are blacked out -- thanks to the media, we are contained within an Internet detention camp.

We need to break free and get out boots back on the ground -- and head in the right direction with our outrage -- we need to march on the media.

but that's just me. I could be wrong...

[tavalon]

43. I've been to a number of those protests that didn't happen

and saw the huge numbers of people who didn't exist, who fell in the forest without a sound, thanks to the complicit media. And I know as well as you just how bad it is here. Hell, I was over in Vancouver, BC talking to some newly made friends, about what is happening here and they were so relieved to know that at least a few in the US know what is happening. They also helped me to clarify some things in my mind as well.

Red State, Blue State, protesting in the usual manner, raging on the Internets - they want us to do these things. Divide and conquer but keep us just agitated enough for.....? The US citizenry is going mad, as in, we have a skyrocketing surge of mental illness in this country, mostly depression, but other things as well. I think they want that as well. If we are too busy going quietly mad, we won't turn on them until it's too late. BTW, one of the biggest ways to push someone into clinical depression is through learned helplessness - sound familiar? Geez, writing this, rather than saying it, sounds so insane, and yet......

I'm starting to suspect that the US government is really just the front for something or somethings much larger, global corporate entities, for which governments continue to be useful for the implied stability but really not much more than that. And still, I don't know what to do, or I resist that which is right in front of my face, I'm not sure which. I've certainly learned that helplessness as well as they wanted me to and I take an antidepressent just like a huge majority of my fellow citizens.

I fear bloody revolution because the outcome is never what one expects. The mad beast, once unleashed, becomes an entity larger and more unpredictable than one can imagine.

[Kevin Cloyd]

17. America’s Main Stream Media; The Enablers of Evil

American’s are sitting on their hands because only a handful of Americans have ever heard of the Downing Street Memos.

Americans are sitting on their hands because the Bush administration told 935 lies in building their case for war and the main stream media challenged not even one of their lies.

Americans are sitting on their hands because the main stream media failed to call Dick Cheney to account when he got liquored up and shot Harry Whittington in the face then sobered up for eighteen hour before reporting it.

Americans are sitting on their hands because the thought that the Bush administration allowed the attacks of 9/11 to unfold unimpeded to advance their radical neoconservative agenda is so evil that few sane people can wrap their minds around it. Americans are also sitting on their hands because the idea that both Osama bin Laden and the anthrax attacker still walk freely somewhere while their attacks have been used to justify an illegal war that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths creates paralyzing cognitive dissonance. That the main stream media shuns any questions of this magnitude insures that the American public will ever confront the fears lodged deep in our subconscious that are paralyzing us.

[Sheila Samples]

31. I agree with every word. n/t

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

19. K & R. nt.

[Sheila Samples]

32. Thank you Mr. Jefferson.. n/t

[Kurovski]

29. K&R. (nt)

[Sheila Samples]

33. Thanks so much Kurovski..n/t

[Kurovski]

50. You're always welcome.

I've appreciated your efforts and your excellent writing for a number of years now.

[autorank]

52. My last valentine;)

Prince of a Guy, you are!

[Martin Eden]

34. I've been on outrage overload for more than 5 years now.

And for the last year I've been outraged at the Democrats in Congress. What right does Pelosi have to declare impeachment is off the table? She might as well have declared that the rule of law and responsible government were off the table.

What really gnaws at me more than anything is that so many people in this country (including, or especially our elected representatives and the mainstream media, save for a few) treat the horrible crimes of the last 7 years as if it were politics as usual.

The most horrifying thought is that it IS politics as usual. The banality of evil is more insidious and dangerous than the villains more readily identified.

[Sheila Samples]

39. It's unbelievable...

...that the Democrats could be so tone deaf that they did not hear the people who voted them into the majority. Pelosi has absolutely NO right to say there will be no impeachment. Article II of the Constitution gives us no choice -- it clearly says not only the president, but all employees of the government SHALL be impeached and removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors.

We are drowning in high crimes and misdemeanors...

[pat_k]

36. All the opponents to impeachment sound like morally-confused, mealy-mouthed, idiots.

As long as they oppose impeachment, they will continue to sound like blithering idiots at best, immoral and cowardly hypocrites at worst. And they will continue to prove their http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2768947&mesg_id=2772515">impotence (and thus confirm the pervasive "weak Dem" image).

Simply confronting them with their own words and challenging every single moronic assertion (and thus force them to "defend" with even more moronic assertions) could be the most effective way to get through to our http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/23">impeachophobic "leaders."

Sooner or later, perhaps they will actually "hear" themselves and feel as idiotic as they sound. And recognize that pursing impeachment is the only way they can escape the shame of making such asses of themsleves.

If they wont act to defend the Constitution; perhaps they will to defend their self-esteem.

There are so many examples of idiocy to confront them with, like the examples that follow.

Reid on Christiane Brown (KJFK, Reno), http://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?cat=42">October 8, 2007

Brown: . . .people ask you -- and I'm sure you've heard this argument -- "What about impeachment?" -- that we all say "this is an illegal war" we say we went in there for the wrong reasons. . .

Reid: I think that Ah that would be such a waste of time. We have a year to go -- approximately -- in his Presidency -- the election will be in approximately a year. Why talk about impeachment?

Brown. (crossing) . .to save the lives of. . .

Reid And the clincher of it all, Who would be wind up with as President? We would wind up with Cheney President? Does anybody wnat that?

Brown Well you know impeachment hearings reveal, Ah Senator Reid, a lot of things. And I think that one of the things the people want is the hearings so that this evidence comes forward and then possibly you do end up getting the votes. The impeachment of Nixon only took a few months. People feel like a year is a long. . .

Reid (crossing). . Why would you want to impeach Bush? Cause all you'd wind up with is Cheney.

Brown. . .you impeach Cheney as well. What people want to know is why do we want to wait for more deaths over the next year because we say our hands are tied?

Reid Well I respectfully suggest that to anyone that suggests impeachment that it is a very foolish idea.

Brown Well, respectfully, I disagree, and I know there are a lot of people that do, and it is frustrating to feel that are hands are tied.

Reid Foolish I'd. No one feels more strongly about George Bush than I do. I've been through impeachment. I've sat there when we've impeached Federal judges. And the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Brown Well, that was a ridiculous impeachment.

Reid: Ridiculous impeachments are in the eyes of the beholder. I think we have about a year left in his Presidency. And I think if you look at what went on in the attorney General's office, there is a case to be made for doing something drastic. But I think recognizing the time it takes for impeachment, it just would be a total waste of where we should be focused. . .

Senator Reid, you have nothing better than "we'll get Cheney"? Bush and Cheney are partners in crime, they must both be impeached. And yet you continue to offer the lame "we'll get Cheney" excuse?

Do you actually believe the excuse "we only have a year more" is legitimate? It's ok by your that the USA reamins a war criminal nation that spies on it's own citizens for another year? (or even another day?) What was your excuse in January of '07 when it was two years? What was your excuse for refusing to call on the Republican House to impeach in '06, or '05, or '03. . . W

What other things are we supposed to be "focused on." What "other issues" are you tangibly advancing under rule by signing statement?

And pray tell us Senator, how do we redeem ourselves after we have tolerated the intolerable for "only a year"? We give Bush and Cheney the pretense of an honorable exit?

Pelosi on Situation Room. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/25/sitroom.02.html}September 25, 2007>

. . .PELOSI: I completely concur, but I just said to you, we did that. We sent it to the president. He vetoed it. Any further attempts to do that have been met by the 60-vote barrier in the United States Senate.

Now I'll be the last person to give you a civics lesson about what that means. But what it does mean is that the republicans in the Senate have now taken ownership of the war in Iraq. It's President Bush's war. And now it is the republicans in Congress' war. And that marks a big turning point for us because we had hoped to have bipartisanship in redeploying the troops out of Iraq, to do so in a timely fashion. Now we have a loss of life that continues, a loss of readiness to our military, which harms our ability to protect America wherever our interests are threatened. We have the loss of money.

BLITZER: So are you telling your angry base out there the Democratic Party that wants to see this war over with, wants to see the U.S. troops home that you as speaker, there is nothing you can do? You have to just throw your hands up and say ...

PELOSI: I didn't say that at all.

BLITZER: Given the legislative problems in the Senate and the president's stubborn refusal to back down, that there is nothing you could do?

PELOSI: How could you ever have gotten that impression when I have said, for those who pay attention, is that we will hold this administration accountable, time and time again for the conduct of this war in Iraq.

I don't have to discuss how we went in on the false premise. That's well known to the American people.

What we do have to do is show them every step of the way how the president is taking us farther down a path from which is going to be harder to redeploy out of Iraq.

BLITZER: But when you hold the president accountable, I just want you to explain what does that mean, besides just complaining and holding hearings? Specifically, is there anything else you can do?

PELOSI: Holding hearings and the oversight that we have on the corruption and contracting in Iraq, the hearings that we're holding and the harm to the readiness of our troops that the president is causing with his abstinence in this war in Iraq.

The retired generals tell us that if we want to talk about the stability in region and that's what we're trying better. How do we have a vision of stability in the region? Democrats are saying our vision for stability in the region begins with the redeployment of troops out of Iraq and the generals say you cannot have stability in the region until you redeploy the troops out of Iraq.

So what we are saying is now with what happened in the past two weeks, with General Petraeus' presentation and with what happened on the Webb resolution in the Senate, that republicans are committed to a ten-year war in Iraq with the highest level of troops presence there with permanent bases.

The democrats are proposing a redeployment out of Iraq, a greatly diminished mission there out of the civil war, protect our diplomats and protect our troops who are there, fight the al Qaeda and if we have to train the troops, if we have to continue to train the Iraqi security forces, it doesn't have to be in country. And it doesn't have to be all American. That can be done out of country.

So we are talking about a greatly diminished force there and a redeployment when safe and responsible within the next year. The president is talking about ten years. And then after that, a Korea- like presence in perpetuity. That's the choice.

BLITZER: And I just want to be precise. Impeachment, that notion which some of the base clearly would like, that's off the table.

PELOSI: I've always said that impeachment is off the table. This is President Bush's war. It's Vice President Cheney's war and now it's become the war of the republicans in Congress. . .

Madam Speaker, you didn't answer the question. Do you believe that blaming = holding accountable? That complaint = substantive action? Do you have nothing better than "We're not impeaching because I said so?"

[Sheila Samples]

38. Pat...

This is brilliant. Please don't allow it to fade away in a comments section -- submit it as an article.

Thank you so much for your insight.

[Martin Eden]

42. "ownership of the war in Iraq"

That quote from Pelosi hits the nail on the head. Most people with half a brain or more realize this venture in Iraq is a disaster and will continue to be a disaster no matter how long we stay and there will be further bloodshed after we leave.

All we get from staying longer are more bloodied uniforms and more red ink. So, the question is: WHY haven't the Democrats in Congress used their majority and refuse to pass any funding not tied to withdrawal?

BECAUSE the Democrats would then HAVE OWNERSHIP OF THIS WAR as well as the BLAME for the inevitable disaster.

It doesn't matter that the inevitable disaster was engineered by an incompetent criminal Republican administration. If the Democratic Congress forced a withdrawal, the subsequent disaster would be blamed on the Democrats in perpetuity.

Forcing a withdrawal has enormous political risks with marginal potential political benefit. Antiwar voters aren't about to defect to the Republican party over this issue.

Politicians will almost always weigh the political costs/benefits above all else, even if it means an extra year or more of needless sacrifice of American blood and treasure.

The one potential saving grace is that the aftermath of our departure could be worse or better depending on the diplomacy that accompanies it. Such diplomacy and substantive change in foreign policy is impossible with Bush/Cheney in office. Knowing this, waiting for a Democratic president has some merit.

Of course, impeaching the bastards to get them out of office is what was REALLY needed.

[pat_k]

51. Only impeahment puts us on the path to sanity -- and enables us to extract ourselves. . .

from the occupation of Iraq.

Only impeachment can declare our utter rejection of the war crimes committed in our name. Only by impeaching do we have a shot at once again serving as a force for good in in the world. Past opposition to impeachment is not a barrier. Past complicity is not a barrier. Americans embrace the "sinner" who sees the light. (And the "reformed" often garner more attention and respect than those who take the right course from the start.)

. . .By refusing to stand up for We the People, the true owners of this nation, Members of Congress have created a national crisis graver than any natural disaster or social ill. It is bigger than any international crisis. By tolerating the intolerable, they are surrendering our capacity to recover from disaster with humanity, solve our common problems in ways that reflect our common values, and serve as a force for good in the world. When the good will of the American people is cut out of the loop, no peoples, not our fellow Americans, not other nations, can look to us for help.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/23More. . .>

Related posts:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2768947&mesg_id=2772515}Time To Stop Being "Anti-War" And Start Being "Pro-Impeachment">, Posted by Senator, Jan 27

[slipslidingaway]

37. K&R wonderful, thanks...

"...Evil never runs its course. With each success, it grows stronger, more ghastly and, like Dick Cheney, emerges a bit more from the shadows..."

[Sheila Samples]

40. Thank you so much..n/t

[Senator]

41. K&R and Impeach To ReUnite US Again

Yes, I said http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Senator/16">reunite the nation and the Democratic Party.

--

[lonestarnot]

45. K & R

[scarletwoman]

46. Beautifully written.

The main problem is, people prefer easy lies to hard truth. That's why the criminal bush* cabal has gotten away with everything. To call them to account would be to call our entire system to account. For those who prosper in the present power dynamic, this is an unthinkable prospect.

Therefore, as long as the commoners can be lulled and gulled and disuaded from asking hard questions, those who suck at the teat of personal power will be safe. And that's a very easy thing to accomplish, given human nature.

k&r
sw

[althecat]

47. Also on Scoop Independent News

Scoop Independent News Version
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0801/S00250.htm

KnR

[desertflamingo]

48. wow...

i'm speechless. great piece of writing. you got me all fired up!! may i share the love? i know a few people who could use a little fire and your piece here could do it. it's what i've been shouting almost since day one, but... your eloquence is superb. right on.

K&R :kick:

EDWARDS '08

[anitar1]

49. K&R

I think the Dems know exactly what they are doing, ignoring us. It is a total sham. We have been screwed by people who have nothing but contempt for us, members of the party we thought meant something. There is only one party , imho. I totally agree, Sheila. The highway will be very crowded.I hope I live long enough to see them get what they deserve.