Expiry Date

Offer expires…Offer good until…Product Sell-By…Born Date…

Timelines.

Markers denoting the beginning, ending (or ongoing) and significant dates pertaining to a series of events denoting a particular topic. Topics covered by timelines could be lives, political movements, catastrophes, the rise and fall of nations, evolutionary periods of biological or geological import, or — in the case of the George W. Bush Administration — any and all of the above.

Millions of lives, both human and animal, have been adversely affected since the Bush regime took office under the auspices of Republican control. Millions of species, both plant and animal, suffer from an increased rate of extinction. Through the direct interference with scientific studies and the hefty promulgation of propaganda to deny and alter factual relevance, pollution and the destruction of natural systems have increased. Human-induced global warming factors have been protected and efforts to recognize, accept responsibility for and attempt to mitigate the impact upon the process have been intentionally hampered.

Response to natural disasters is sadly inept.

Resources necessary to the continued health of this nation and her people have been squandered.

The rule of law has been subverted to serve a narrowly-defined, self-agrandizing political agenda while the underlying Constitutional foundations of the nation have been deconstructed by fiat through the intentional misuse of Presidential powers and authority.

Congressional oversight continues to be fought, ignored and mired in political gameplay by complicit Republicans — and some trepidatious Democrats.

The people, the nation and our future hang in the balance.

Time is running out, but which expiry date are people looking at, and which date is Congress? Moreover, what dates does Congress recognize, and what dates are deemed significant by the politicians who comprise that once-august body? And do those dates match the dates that the people of this nation and the world hold as truly significant?

The projected end of the Bush Regime is January of 2009. That’s a date that some Democrats in Congress appear to believe is significant, but — is it? There is over a year to go to get there, and the machinery is still in place to continue destroying our nation from within and without. Can we afford to wait?

What about the abuses that have made it into law already, at the federal and state levels? What assurance, if any, do we have that those will be rejected and repealed? The laws don’t expire with the term of this buffoon and his cretinous crew of cronies: will we have to engage in the tedious practice of challenging each and every misbegotten piece of legislation in court?

The unconscionable over-reach and narrowly-defined justifications to enable unimaginable extension and overreach of Presidential authority has gone virtually unchallenged for seven long years. What of that? How will that be properly restored? Must we wait until this parody of excellence and leadership acquieces to the law and steps down from virtually unlimited power, or can we expect to see our Congress finally step up and actively assume its investigative and oversight roles?

We have seen multiple instances where the Executive Branch lied and intentionally misrepresented its actions (a.k.a. lied even more). We’ve seen multiple instances that strongly suggest intent to deceive and clearly broadcast clearcut intent to break — and continue to break — the law; we’ve even seen blatant admission that the Executive Branch expects to have authority to act outside of the Constitution when it feels that such action is necessary, and we’ve seen how much abuse that gratuitous and self-indulgent justification has resulted in.

Congress has not been up to the task apportioned to it.

Not all failures can be laid at the feet of the complicit Republican members who are seeking solely to prevent their involvement in such criminal activity from destroying their party. Many can, but not all.

Not all failures can be laid at the feet of false Democrats like Joe Lieberman, who has thwarted any efforts to responsibly uphold his office and committee chairmanship responsiblities by grinning like an idiot and knowingly denying to investigate items that would result in the impeachment, conviction and removal of many Republican leaders — starting with the Chief Executive and his Veep. A few items can be laid at Lieberman’s feet, but not all.

No, the failures that remain — where failure to engage in steadfast adherance to rules and procedure, and blatant callouts of “bullshit!” to those who obfuscate and dissemble in order to derail accountability would matter most — those failures must be laid squarely upon the shoulders of the leaders in the House and Senate. They are the ones who should be marshalling their forces to stand against the breaking waves of shinola cast repeatedly upon our shores by this Administration and their supporting casts.

The timelines and dates of significance here are not, in this case, dates denoting the ending of one type of lawless corruption. No, the dates of import here are the dates denoting duration — the length of time that it takes for the current leadership to act decisively and hold accountable all those enabling the ongoing corruptions within our capitol.

Those dates not only provide us with a measure as to their effectiveness; those dates also come with a “best used by” date of their own, after which any efforts will be perceived as “too little” and “too late” to make any signficant difference. Indeed, as we rapidly approach such dates (and in some cases shoot far beyond them), the light of hope in the hearts and minds of millions slowly diminishes.

The time to put up or shut up has come; for many, it has long since passed. The time of action is now; it’s been NOW for several years. The sense of urgency is increasing with every passing moment, every life lost, every inexorable step where destruction of life, liberty, justice, the pursuit of happiness and the joy of living continues unabated and unchallenged. The sense of futility grows with every continued capitulation, with every idiotic acquiescence to the petulant, petty, parsimonious and pinheaded whining of the most diseased and criminally-minded individual ever to taint the role of President.

To give in without a fight, to allow the light of freedom and justice to be quelched beneath the heavy hood of terror and warmongering, to lose the Constitutionally defined liberty that so many have fought for, have died for or been wounded or maimed for over the past two hundred-plus years — that would be the greatest crime of this generation, a crowning achievement upon the mountain of crimes accumulated by this most corrupt and inept government.

Do not go gentle into the night, my fellow Americans — whether US citizen or not, whether Democratic or Republican or Green or Independent or Libertarian, whether Christian or Buddist or Agnostic or Pagan, the time is now, and never has it been so precious.

Pick up a phone. Call your Congressional representatives. Tell them to stop the madness.

Email them. Fax them. Picket their offices if you are able.

Do not stop.

Do not let up.

Never give in. Never surrender.

Fight them here, fight them there, fight them wherever they show their heads in any capacity. Do not let them have any peace of mind until they fight to bring peace and sanity back to this nation.

I will complete this fervent plea by referring to an event on another timeline, in another time of war, when a man leading a small nation gave voice to words that we ourselves must now adopt, adapt and employ.  Over sixty years ago, on June 4 in the year 1940, Sir Winston Churchill gave what is often referred to as his Fight Them on the Beaches speech:

“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.

The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Churchill spoke of fighting against a foreign enemy, an enemy who had risen up and threatened to overtake the world.

I speak of fighting against a domestic one, an enemy so insidiously deceptive that it has taken hold of our nation by the throat. An enemy of the people, an enemy of the state, and an enemy that has become the state. An enemy that threatens to cast the world into endless warfare.

We must act, now, to rouse our nation to act and push our remaining leadership to responsibly move to eradicate this threat, so that we may preserve what is left of this great country for our progeny, in the name of humanity.

We must act now, before the expiry date for freedom is reached, and before democracy breathes its last. Failure means that the dates cannot be extended, but must instead be hard-won once again by future generations — generations that will wonder just how long it took before sense and sensibility in their forefathers passed the point of freshness and was discarded.

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Crossposted at ePluribus Media, DailyKos and DocuDharma.