A Letter from My Boss to Senator Feinstein

Dear Senator Feinstein,

I have been a long time supporter but a quiet one; I have never taken the trouble to write you before. Considering where our country is, at this moment in history, and where it appears to be heading, I feel that I must speak out.

In my opinion the greatest threat to our country and our constitution is not from without, but it is from within. The attempts by the President to claim more and more power must be stopped. Unfortunately his nomination of Judge Alito is part of this power grab. If this man is confirmed the civil liberties at the very core of our Constitution and Bill of Rights will be in great peril. The balance of power between the Executive and the Legislative will in all likelihood also be forever altered. They say every generation is presented with great challenges and I can think of no
greater challenge then this one.

The time has come for all Democrats in the Senate to stand up for our country and do their sworn duty to protect and defend the very document that created their jobs, against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC.

Benjamin Franklin could just as well have been speaking to the Democratic Party when he said, “If we don't hang together we will surely all hang separately.”

I urge you to answer the call of your country in need, and stand with Senator Kerry to do everything in your power including filibuster to halt this nomination. The American people need to see that the Democrats are willing to stand up for their freedom.

Respectfully,
Jeffrey Bryan

Walter Cronkite on Secrecy and Lies

This is an old column by Walter Cronkite, but it's been making the e-mail rounds again lately, maybe because the White House is telling all its aids not to say anything in the Katrina hearings. Or maybe it's because Bush said he was getting warrants and now proudly says he's not. Or maybe people just like hearing the calming words of a man they trusted for so many years.

At work this past week, two Republicans whom I've known for years looked like I punched them in the stomach when I answered their "how are you's" with, "I'll be better when Bush is impeached." One of them, the more honest one, I suppose, admitted how disapointed he is with the Bush Junta. I find their grief amusing, to say the least. When greedy people who buy into bullshit suddenly find themselves swimming in it, I'll be damned if I'm going to throw them a life preserver. After all, these are the people who say I hate America, that I'm as bad as the terrorists, that I want to help the terrorists, that I'm weak on defense (I supported Wes Clark, for Christsake), and that John Kerry didn't deserve his medals. These are the same people who want to force creationism to be taught in schools, who want to have mandatory prayer in school, who have increased poverty (what would their Jesus say about that) and laughed about it because it's only fair that all those lazy poor people should get off the free ride.

So, no, I don't feel bad about their grief, shame, and disappointment. In fact, I think it's just the beginning of what they should feel. After all, these are the people who fought Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, who fought the right of cancer patients to smoke cheap, effective medicine. These two acts together mean they wanted cancer patients to suffer painful, horrible deaths without options their doctors might otherwise offer them. If I were like them, and belived in Leviticus and all those other quaint Old Testament rules, I'd say they should have to suffer the same pain and horror they wanted inflicted on those people. Now that would be justice.

But I'll settle for impeachment.

WHEN SECRECY PROTECTS A LIE
Walter Cronkite, April 5, 2004

The initial refusal of President Bush to let his national security adviser appear under oath before the 9/11 Commission might have been in keeping with a principle followed by other presidents -- the principle being, according to Bush, that calling his advisers to testify under oath is a congressional encroachment on the executive branch's turf.

(Never mind that this commission is not a congressional body, but one he created and whose members he handpicked.)

But standing on that principle has proved to be politically damaging, in part because this administration -- the most secretive since Richard Nixon's -- already suffers from a deepening credibility problem. It all brings to mind something I've wondered about for some time: Are secrecy and credibility natural enemies?

Read the rest here.

IMPEACHPAC - Google this term

Help get ImpeachPAC onto the Google Zeitgeist. Go to Google now and search for ImpeachPAC. Then go to the first result and read up. Maybe donate a little. Why?

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution." -- George W Bush

Well, we know he's a lying fuck. That's no suprise. But what's the impeachable offense? Well, he didn't get a warrant. And he's bragging about it now, as if he had never lied about it in the first place. I can't help thinking what Refuckingthuglicans would be saying if Bill Clinton or Al Gore had done this. But that's not the point. The point is this:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. -- The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution

Now, when you violate the constitution of the United States (which Bush referred to as a piece of paper), I think that qualifies as a high crime. I just have one suggestion. Impeach Cheney first.

Al Gore's Challenge to America

"We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." -- George Orwell

"Whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable it almost inevitably leads to mistakes and abuses. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes. Dishonesty is encouraged and rewarded." -- Al Gore

Bonehead Logic

I just love it when people serve me these slow pitch logic balls.

Ok Bonehead, lets get it right for a change, (1) I have never said who I voted for because it's none of your business. (2) Being a vet and having witnessed your boy Kerry during and since the Viet Nam War I couldn't bring myself to vote for him. (3) I did vote during the primary election (not for Kerry or The Bushwhacker or McCain I changed my registered party affiliation and voted for Alan Keys.

My reply:

Alan Keyes. The most whacky of the Rethuglicans. Thanks. I just want to get this straight. You voted for Alan Keyes, and I'm the bonehead? OK....

And one other thing I want to get straight with you. I just want to make sure I understand. You, a vet, wouldn't vote for a vet who was against a war based on lies, even if it meant the victory of a draft dodging daddy's boy who got in a Champaign guard unit to avoid Nam, and then couldn't even complete his duty to that? Just trying to make sure I got that straight. You support the draft dodger. The one who started another war based on lies. Just trying to follow your logic here....

But, hey, the point was that I don't hear anyone in here defending Bush's TWO TRILLION DOLLAR WAR. Not you or any other fucking Republican is explaining how it's fair that we cut taxes for the rich and make the working class people of this country pay off this debt for the next few centuries. My bumper sticker is right. Ken Lay got the surplus. Thanks to people like you.

What a much better place this would be if the Supreme Court had let the recount of Florida continue in 2000....