Tag Archive for 'impeachment'

Page 3 of 4

Resisting the urge

September 11, 2006 1 Comment Tags: , .

The urge to be glued to the TV is strong today. So was the urge to glance down at the clock from about 8am to 11am. “It was right now five years ago.” Yeah, it was. We are obsessed with marking the time and I cannot figure out why. There is no point, nothing is gained but maybe a creepy chill up one’s spine. Masochistic indeed. Did they do this after Pearl Harbor?

If one must be immersed in the events, at least do it right. Listen to Self-Evident by Ani DiFranco. Read “What Next” by Walter Mosley. Listen to “This Too Shall Pass” by India.Arie, “Agnus Dei” by Rufus Wainwright, or anything by Sigur Ros. Don’t try and mourn in between commercial breaks.

I am battling the desire to be a spoonfed numbed-by-grief American on this day. To not look back for so long that I end up tripping on today. Today. THIS day. We are sad, yes. So acknowledge that emotion, then move on. Do something courageous, compassionate, selfless, or all of the above. At the very least, keep living your life.

That being said, I’ve compiled a list of do’s and dont’s I hope I can abide by:

  • I will not get sucked in to the barrage of 24/7 “Five Years Later” coverage. I’ve seen it all before, the information has always been there to revisit on my own. Reliving each significant minute that something happened is tempting, yes, but a very masochistic thing to do and nothing will be gained from it.
  • I will not lose a day of my life trying to relive the past. Nothing can be done about what is gone, but something can be done about its implications on the present and future.
  • I will not return to a life lived in fear. No amount of CNN rebroadcasting, political speeches, or terror alerts will bring that back.
  • I will not let the wound of my lost innocence re-open. Once is enough, the bubble is popped, I know what’s going on now.
  • I will not watch any of the millions of movies/specials/made-for-TV pieces of crap that are on every channel these days. Nobody needs to be profiting off this. If they’re not trying to make money they wouldn’t have any commercials.
  • I will remember the lives lost that day, but I will also remember the almost 2,700 U.S. soldiers that have died in a war justified by what happened 5 years ago. There is no connection, the war is a lie, and our Commander in Chief has all of their blood on his hands.
  • I will remember that the events five years ago are being used as a blank check for endless war, illegal detentions, torture, and murder.
  • I will recognize that Islamic extremists don’t “hate our freedom”, they hate our colonialism, foreign policies, and world subjugation. It’s not as simple as the government would like us to believe. Terrorism goes deeper than religious differences, but our educational system, media, and government likes to leave this part out.
  • I will remember that because of ignorant Americans and their prejudices, Muslim Americans continue to be wrongly targeted and forever have to defend their religion and their right to live in this country.
  • I will not believe the official story given to us by the government.
  • I will remember the dozens and dozens of questions that remain to be answered.
  • I will recognize that it’s five years later and nothing has changed. Things are worse, nobody has been held accountable, and somehow people have forgotten than Presidents can be impeached.

That being said… I do love my country, and I do mark this as a sad day. My hope for the future is that September 11th moves from being a day of defeat and mourning to a day of action. There is no power in being sad, scared, and complacent. If people took their sadness and anger and directed it at the real cause of this country’s suffering, imagine the possibilities. It’s not “love it or leave it”, it’s “love it or fix it” and dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Katrina’s first birthday

August 28, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The 1-year anniversary of Katrina has crept up on us. The largest natural disaster in U.S. history blatantly illustrated the life-and-death difference between the middle and upper classes– who were able to hop in their cars and drive away safely– and the poor and working classes– who financially and mobility-wise had no choice but to stay where they were. Economic disparity and that little word called “poverty” were cast into direct light. And the level of priority the US Government gave to those living in poverty and the Gulf Coast was made very clear– no priority at all.

After the relentless replaying of news footage and the illusion that we’ve survived the storm, if nothing else is gained, I hope people will realize that one year later it’s not time for Mardi Gras and whitewashing. There are still countless families living in tiny trailers, unsafe from future storms, financially and bureaucratically unable to rebuild their homes. Insurance companies are playing word games with their policy holders, grabbing on to every technicality they can to avoid actually fulfilling the trust that was placed in their hands. The government is looking in every other direction in order to avoid taking responsibility for its own people. The most powerful country in the world cannot take care of its own people, not then and not now.

The good news is we live in a country where we can act on our own, fueled by our own aching hearts and compassion. Through corporate, non-profit, college, and faith-based organizations, and sometimes just small independent groups, hundreds of thousands of people have given their time, energy, love, and money towards rebuilding the Gulf Coast. This illustrates that a government does not make a country. People make a country. And for our work together after the Hurricane, we should be proud. And we should keep going.

A look back at my previous Katrina-related posts:

For a reminder of the reality that is the Gulf Coast today:

Take a look at pictures on flickr from my trip to the Lower 9th Ward this past May. Better yet, explore flickr even further, look at all the photos tagged “Lower Ninth Ward“, “Katrina“, “Biloxi“, “Waveland“, “Pass Christian“…

a home on Tupelo St. in the Lower 9th Ward, as it stood in May 2006

Here are some recent and not-so recent articles worth reading:

Tomorrow is not time to celebrate.

July 5, 2006 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

Sad Liberty What is the point of the 4th of July? I mean the real point, not the canned “to celebrate our independence and the birth of our country” answer. Because we all know that’s B.S., there’s not a whole lot to celebrate. In fact I think it’s rude to celebrate when we are in the middle of a war and occupation and losing young American soldiers every day.

But what about celebrating the land of democracy and freedom? Is that what the 4th of July is about?

This country ain’t exactly a shining example of democracy and freedom. 230 years after the fact and we still don’t have a democratic voting system working in Ohio. And our Constitutional freedoms are being erased bit by bit every day in the name of “National Security.” Thank you Patriot Act! Who needs privacy anyway? Here’s a list of my last 100 phone calls, last week’s bank transactions, and what I had for breakfast this morning.

We shouldn’t pretend we are actually uphelding the original principles this country was founded on. I do believe we fought for our independence so we wouldn’t be England’s colonial bitch anymore, and now we’re going around the world building our own colonies? But we don’t call it that anymore, we call it “regime change”, “fighting the war on terror”, “liberating those poor people who live in the desert and can’t vote.” Anything so long as you don’t call it “global domination!!!”

Many people will be looking at fireworks in the sky tonight or maybe tomorrow night. Of course they’ll play “God Bless the USA” somewhere in the middle of our beloved pyrotechnic-displays-of-patriotism. What do you think that means to the 2,535 American families who have lost somebody in this war? Do you think if you lost a son or daughter in Iraq and heard that song you’d say “aww, that’s sweet. Hey look, the fireworks are in the shape of a flag, neat.” Because I sure as hell wouldn’t. I used to get goosebumps when they’d play that song. Now I realize I was just being sold. People’s sons and daughters didn’t die for this, and they sure didn’t die so that patriotism could be exploited and sold off as another consumerist holiday. Perhaps I’m giving too much credit calling it patriotism. It’s way past that now, it’s well into nationalism and we know what happens next.

I know lots of brave people who have served this country in the past, both through the military and National Service, and I bet they don’t appreciate their country going to shit after all they’ve done. As an AmeriCorps Alumni who gave two years of service, I know I don’t.

I, personally, am boycotting the 4th of July altogether.

  • Until every last soldier is home.
  • Until we see an end to every war and every occupation this country is involved in, not just Iraq, not just Afghanistan.
  • Until our government spends billions of dollars on children, education, health insurance, and renewable energy. Not war.
  • Until Congress actually listens and represents us, not corporations.
  • Until there is something to really be proud of.

If you want to be patriotic, impeach the man who believes he’s President, and God talks directly to him (yet always forgets to remind him of that “thou shalt not kill” thing.)

If you want to be patriotic, tell our Congress to go fight in this war since they’re the ones who refuse to grow a spine and stop it. If they refuse, they don’t deserve to represent us.

If you want to be patriotic, stand up for the truth. Put down your sparklers and your beer, put your fist in the air, think for yourself, and resist.

Say no to this occupation. That is patriotic.

July 5th Update: Looks like Howard Zinn and I are in total agreement on this one.

A glimmer of hope, beginning of the end?

February 15, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A couple hours ago I was within a 5 mile radius of Bush and I hated every minute of it. He was in Dublin at the Wendy’s Int’l. HQ to talk about healthcare. For those unfamiliar with the Central Ohio area, let’s just say that Dublin is a very safe suburb for Bush to visit, as is always the case. Don’t even try to figure the logic in choosing Wendy’s as the venue to discuss their “Reforming Health Care for the 21st Century” plan. The logic is that Wendy’s donates 94% of their political contributions to GOP candidates. Just a few minutes ago I found some pictures on the local NBC site that showed his plane leaving Port Columbus Airport, so I feel a little better knowing he’s out of my city. Not far enough out of here though, he’s still on planet Earth. At least until his global-warming-inducing-Corporation buddies find a way to melt it into oblivion once and for all.

But I digress… Based on all the recent headlines I’m encountering, I’m going to throw out a gutsy prediction: either all of these embarrassing and illegal stories will magically fade from the headlines and memory as they always seem to do (which is not the gutsy part), or, they will aggregate and this country will finally say enough is enough and get the ball rolling to get the Bush Administration out of here. Although with our “democratic process” of endless committees, commissions, and proceedings, it could very well be 2008 before impeachment is reached anyway. But it’s almost the 3rd Anniversary of the War/Occupation of Iraq, what a motivating and honorable way to mark the occasion.

Baghdad Burning by RiverbendI am re-dedicated, re-fueled, and re-pissed off about the war thanks to a book I found at the Book Loft called Baghdad Burning. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s based on the popular blog of the same name. The book, printed by the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, captures a year’s worth of this young Iraqi woman’s blogging of life in Baghdad, before and during the occupation.

I have a few things in common with this woman, we’re the same age, same interest in technology with a job in the field, a lack of adherence to society’s “traditional” values (she wears pants and no hijab)… so it’s a constant dose of perspective to read it every night and think “wow, I could be sitting in a room in Baghdad with no electricity or clean drinking water, listening to bombs and guns going off in the distance, praying my house doesn’t get raided tonight, and hoping for the electricity to come on just long enough to post a new blog entry telling people what the hell is going on”… but no, I’m here in Ohio where I can come and go as I please without needing a group of male relatives to escort me in public. I can drive to work without fear of the streets exploding under me. I don’t have to cross through military checkpoints and worry that occupying troops, who think they’re playing a video game, will open fire on me for no reason. Neither my Dad nor my Brother-in-law have to police the city with insufficient training and no armor, they actually have employment that doesn’t endanger their lives.

So thank you to Riverbend for giving us another look at this war. If you’re interested in reading some other Iraqi blogs, check out Alive in Baghdad. Now back to my dark glimmer of hope of an end to the Bush Regime, a series of recent news stories that should wake people the hell up, if they are somehow still asleep:

…Of course you will probably not hear much about these stories because it’s much easier to talk about the Olympics right now. Lots happier and more colorful… go Team USA!

[tags]War in Iraq,Bush in Ohio,Baghdad Burning,Riverbend blog[/tags]

interesting headlines today… let’s play connect-the-dots

January 31, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , .

..and see if the picture we get even remotely matches the one Bushy will color for us tonight:

I also wanted to note an event tomorrow night (that I wish I could attend):

Wed. Feb. 1st Afeni Shakur is speaking at the Ohio Union Ballroom.

Starts at 7 p.m. Seating begins at 6:30, with students and their guests (one per student) getting preference. Non-students will be seated after the speech starts, space permitting.

It’s actually cold out today. Which now seems odd and foreign to me. The weather so far this winter makes me think of a line from one of my favorite Postal Service songs, Sleeping In:

“Again last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they’d like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in November“

It’s a busy week for George “it’s all within my power” Bush

January 23, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Dear George,
Listening to NPR this morning I hear that you have a busy week full of speeches and PR blitzes to defend not only your illegal wiretapping policy, but also the ever-popular torture/murder policy you follow in Iraq.

Huh. It seems to me, the average observant citizen, that you’re on the defensive ALL THE D@MN TIME, spending your entire “Presidency” defending your administration’s illegal actions and pro-corporate/upper-class legislation, instead of actually doing something productive for the country. You know, the rest of the country, what we like to call the “majority”. The ones that voted for Kerry. The ones who can’t go to the doctor when they’re sick. The ones who enlisted and are dying in the military cause it was the only job they could find. The ones not finishing college because you keep slashing higher-education funding. The ones too busy living in poverty to be concerned with getting you impeached.

Anyhow, you’ve got a pretty sweet deal set up, George. How did you manage to set aside that whole checks-and-balances thing? I didn’t realize that was optional, here I thought that was something that applied to everyone, righteous or not. Silly Constitution.

But wait, shouldn’t more people be infuriated by you? Why isn’t everyone steaming mad right now? Why was Clinton impeached when he took the largest deficit in US history and turned it into the largest surplus in US history. Yet you, on the other hand, lost every penny of that surplus [and LOTS more], and you’re still sitting there with a job, I’m stumped.

Oh. Right. This is an election year, we can’t possibly talk about impeachment! We wouldn’t want our Congress to do anything good for the country that would potentially hurt their chance of keeping their own little office. Of course, we understand. How selfish of me to even think about it.

Sorry George, I think I’m just cranky cause my tongue still hurts from burning it on a grilled cheese sandwish last night.

Before I go, I wanted to share this link to an interesting blog entry about Hurricane Katrina. You remember when that happened right? Yeah, that’s when you took your sweet little time responding to the largest natural disaster in US history, herding people back in to a city that was doomed so we’d have something new to watch on CNN. And even when you did acknowledge that it happened, you still sat on your ass and blamed everything on FEMA, which happens to be a government organization so in my opinion that still falls on you. But hey, at least you got to take lots of fun helicopter rides down south to look at all the devastation for a few hours. And then you went back to the Whitehouse and didn’t seem to worry about it anymore, out of sight out of mind eh? Well here’s the thing, George, I’m still worried about it. There’s still a ton of $hit that needs to be done and over 3,200 people still missing. Perhaps you could quit spending all our money killing Iraqi civilians and try to clean up a little of that mess?

Just a thought.

Impeachment Movement Responds to Bush’s Speech

September 16, 2005 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

George Bush went to New Orleans last night. In the devastated city, he brought generators to provide electricity solely for his elaborate photo-opportunity.

Those guilty of criminal negligence rarely have an opportunity to go on national TV for nearly a half an hour to camouflage and conceal their criminal conduct. This is precisely what George Bush did tonight on prime time national television. Two weeks after the fact, Bush and the spin doctors at Fox News and other corporate media are now attempting to do damage control – that is, political damage control, not human damage control.

Bush’s handling of the Katrina catastrophe, and the actions of the administration prior to the hurricane, constitute a clear pattern of criminal negligence and gross misconduct.

Here are just a few of the facts that highlight the criminal negligence and Presidential misconduct:

  • The Bush administration is spending $200 million each day or $1.4 billion each week for its criminal war of aggression in Iraq
  • Despite the fact that scientific experts had widely publicized predictions of the coming catastrophe in New Orleans, the Bush administration was hell bent on diverting resources to the Iraq war, while it slashed funds for flood control operations in New Orleans.
  • Bush’s war on Iraq left the Corps of Engineers only 20% of the needed funding to protect New Orleans from flooding from Lake Pontchartrain. Before the Iraq war, FEMA officials warned of a looming disaster in New Orleans. The Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) is authorized by Congress to protect the people of New Orleans and the port facilities as well as oil refineries. After the start of the shock and awe invasion of Iraq however, SELA’s monies were diverted. The Times-Picayune, the daily newspaper of New Orleans, published numerous articles during the last two years citing the danger caused by the loss of hurricane protection funds to the war in Iraq.

Bush has taken the money needed to protect and serve the needs of society and spent it on his war of aggression against the people of Iraq, on multi-billion dollar contracts for his corporate friends, and on tax cuts for the super-rich. Although he turned away as hundreds of people – including babies and the elderly – drowned and starved, now he is compelled to at least pretend to take action. This is not out of concern for the well-being of the suffering people, but concern for his popularity – the people of the United States have turned against his criminal administration.

The impeachment movement has responded powerfully to the criminal neglect and subsequent charade of the administration. Thousands of organizers around the country are preparing to make the trip to Washington DC on September 24. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark will be speaking at the White House on the Ellipse calling for Impeachment.

You can help mobilize a massive contingent for the September 24 National March on Washington DC. This is a demonstration initiated by the peace movement and is shaping up to be the largest demonstration since the beginning of the Iraq war. We will make the demand “Impeach Bush” highly visible throughout the day. The ImpeachBush movement will be assembling at the south side of the White House (an area called the Ellipse at 11:00 am). You can pick up ImpeachBush banners, placards, signs, literature, hats, and petitions. We need volunteers to help us dispatch people and materials starting in the early morning of September 24. If you can help out, please send an email letting us know your availability to be an ImpeachBush.org volunteer.

We have one week left – we need your help today to make impeachment resound at the White House and throughout the streets of Washington on September 24. In the last few weeks, 30,000 new people have voted to impeach in our grass-roots referendum. Every day people are taking petitions and literature and spreading the word.

-> www.votetoimpeach.org