The disparity in treatment probably says a fair amount about where this country is and where it is heading. If you're interested in reading Glenn Greenwald's discussion of the "grotesque immorality of the "Look Forward, Not Backwards" consensus which our political class -- led by the President -- has embraced," click
here.
http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/dc_trial_for_activist_cindy_sheehan_to_begin/60540/DC trial for activist Cindy Sheehan to begin
The Associated Press
Published: July 12, 2010
Updated: July 12, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) — The trial for activist Cindy Sheehan over her arrest earlier this year is scheduled to begin in D.C. Superior Court.
Sheehan was among eight anti-war protesters arrested March 20 after laying coffins at a White House fence. She was charged with crossing a police line.
more...
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2010/06/shenanigans.htmlWednesday, June 9, 2010
Shenanigans
On the 7th anniversary of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, eight people were arrested in front of the White House protesting the continuing crimes—you know that place! It’s a big White House—as a matter of fact it’s a HUGE White House in the middle of a park-like estate where heavily armed thugs protecting war criminals roam. It’s okay to stop and gawk and take pictures if you are decked out in Hawaiian shirts or sundresses, but exercising fundamental rights to free speech or to peaceably assemble is not.
On March 20th, about 8000 people attended a permitted and almost lethargically tame protest in Lafayette Park, which is next to the HUGE White House. Then there was a march around in circles that landed the protest right back in front of the White House. Four people decided to lie down on the sidewalk in protest (four out of 8000), and four of us decided to cross the police line (a metal barrier on the sidewalk between the street and the high iron-barred, sniper guarded fence that surrounds the HUGE White House), to try and join the measly four that were lying there begging people to join them.
I was one of the ones arrested for crossing the police line. I did not push the barrier down, but when it fell, I crossed—I was immediately body slammed and arrested. That was at approximately 2:44pm. An amended police report misleadingly lied and said that I was given three warnings to leave—I was not and subsequent evidence shows that the warnings to disperse over the bullhorn didn’t even begin until after I had been arrested. Once anyone in authority is caught in a lie—from president to the police—everything that is claimed from thereafter is immediately open for suspicion.
<edit>
WE WERE ARRESTED FOR INFRACTIONS! Why isn’t the DC lockup constantly filled to bursting with out-of-towners who commit infractions: jaywalking, running a stop sign, speeding, littering, etc? Because as one officer "kindly" pointed out to me a few years back when I was protesting in front of the Lincoln Memorial one night: I am not "normal" because I am a "protester." It's a sad commentary that "protesters" are not considered "normal" in a society that was built on the foundation of a Bill of Rights.
<edit>
I had an early flight out of Sacramento this morning and on my way to the airport at 6am, I got a message from one of our lawyers that the trial was going to be continued because a judge couldn’t be found due to some “judge’s conference.” So, from Monday to Wednesday, a Judge Convention (golf games?) arose which necessitated the postponement of our trial? I would like to believe that’s true, but with all of the other harassment and outright lies put together, I logically doubt the integrity of the court system. Not to mention, the officer at the Park Police station who practically admitted that I was being singled out for harassment when he said, "If you would stop protesting this stuff would stop happening to you."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efforts_to_impeach_George_W._BushDuring the presidency of George W. Bush, several American politicians sought to either investigate Bush for allegedly impeachable offenses, or to bring actual impeachment charges on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. The most significant of these efforts occurred on June 10, 2008, when Congressman Dennis Kucinich, along with co-sponsor Robert Wexler, introduced 35 articles of impeachment <1> against Bush to the U.S. House of Representatives.<2> The House voted 251 to 166 to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee on July 25, where no further action was taken on it.<3> Bush's presidency ended on January 20, 2009 with the completion of his second term in office (two being the maximum amount of terms allowed by the constitution), rendering impeachment efforts moot.
Kucinich/Wexler impeachment articles
The Kucinich/Wexler impeachment resolution contained 35 articles covering the Iraq war, the Valerie Plame affair, creating a case for war with Iran, capture and treatment of prisoners of war, spying and or wiretapping inside the United States, use of signing statements, failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas, the 2004 elections, medicare, Hurricane Katrina, global warming, and 9/11.<1>
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the most substantial portion of the articles of impeachment introduced by Kucinich and Wexler. 15 of the 35 articles directly relate to alleged misconduct by Bush in seeking authority for the war, and in the conduct of military action itself. Five other articles address allegations partially or tertiarily relating to the war, including the "outing" of Valerie Plame, treatment of prisoners (both in Iraq and from operations in Afghanistan and other countries), and building a case for Iran being a threat based in part on alleging Iranian actions in Iraq.
more...
http://crooksandliars.com/node/24929Why G.W. Bush should be frogmarched before the Hague
By David Neiwert Wednesday Dec 31, 2008 10:00am
A political scientist named Michael Haas has just published a book titled George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administration's Liability for 269 War Crimes:
Based on information supplied in autobiographical and press sources, the book matches events in Afghanistan, Guantánamo, Iraq , and various secret places of detention with provisions in the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements on war crimes. His compilation is the first to cite a comprehensive list of specific war crimes in four categories-illegality of the decision to go to war, misconduct during war, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and misgovernment in the American occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Haas accuses President Bush of conduct bordering on treason because he reenacted several complaints stated in the Declaration of Independence against England, ignored the Constitution and federal laws, trampled on the American tradition of developing international law to bring order to world politics, and in effect made a Faustian pact with Osama Bin Laden that the intelligence community blames for an increase in world terrorism. Osama Bin Laden remains alive, he reports, because Bush preferred to go after oil-rich Iraq rather than tracking down Al Qaeda leaders, whose uncaptured presence was useful to him in justifying a "war on terror" pursued on a military rather than a criminal basis without restraint from constitutional checks and balances.
The worst war crime cited is the murder of at least 45 prisoners, some but not all by torture. Other heinous crimes include the brutal treatment of thousands of children, some 64 of whom have been detained at Guantánamo. Sources document the use of illegal weapons in the war from cluster bombs to daisy cutters, napalm, white phosphorus, and depleted uranium weapons, some of which have injured and killed American soldiers as well as thousands of innocent civilians. Children playing in areas of Iraq where depleted uranium weapons have been used, but not reported on request from the World Health Organization, have developed leukemia and other serious diseases.
"Bush's violations of the Constitution as well as domestic and international law have besmirched the reputation of the United States," Haas writes. "In so doing, they have accomplished a goal of which the Al Qaeda terrorists only dreamed-to transform the United States into a rogue nation feared by the rest of the world and loved by almost none."
I'll be reading this to assess how accurate it all is, but I frankly won't need a lot of convincing. After all, I was calling for an investigation of Bush on these grounds even before we invaded Iraq. The problem, obviously, has only mounted exponentially in the intervening months and years.
Haas also has a blog in support of the book that's worth checking out.
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