Of all of the egregious acts committed by the Bush Administration, there is one that stands out as a symbol of every wrong turn our nation took in his blessedly ending era. The use of the word Homeland to describe the Land of the Free. The unmistakable fascistic overtones simply ring of despotism and tyranny. The mind almost inevitably hears the echoes of Hitler’s Fatherland and Stalin’s Motherland. Though of course we only flirted with that level of jingoistic totalitarian reality, the fear based propaganda that took hold after 9/11 was shocking in its depth….and in the way it was embraced…here in the greatest democracy ever established. Here in the Land of the Free. We were asked…no, we were TOLD that we were required to give up our individual Constitutional Rights for the good of the State. There are many names and terms for that requirement, for that abrigement of our hard won rights. None of them contain the word Freedom.
Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act. All direct assaults on our freedom, on what America stands for, on what our veterans fought for. The fight for the rights of the individual in opposition to all forms of tyranny. That is the founding principle of America. America IS the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, it IS The Declaration of Independence…from tyranny.
With the election of Barack Obama, we can now see the light through the trees on the road back to the Land of the Free, but we are far from out of the woods yet.
When people talk of the crimes and excesses of the Bush Administration now, they talk in the past tense. But these crimes and excesses are still here. We still live under them, we still live with them, every day. The rights that were abridged under the Patriot Act are still abridged. The para-military powers that were given to the intelligence agencies and agencies like ICE and the DEA are still in effect. The government can still search your home without a warrant and without even notifying you. They can still search your medical and financial records without you knowing as well.
YOUR Government is still spying on YOU.
And for all we know….the CIA is STILL torturing people in our name.
When people speak now of impeachment, of investigations, even of the weak tea of a Truth Commission they speak as if the crimes that have been committed are in the past. These crimes and excesses are NOT in the past. They are ongoing, we live with them every day. The illegal invasion of Iraq is not in the past, domestic spying is not in the past, Bagram Air Base is not in the past, and the Patriot Act, rushed through a complicit Congress without even being read, is not in the past.
Someone recently commented that we don’t want to “rip the scab off” by pressing to impeach Bush. There is no scab. These crimes and excesses are an open bleeding wound. A wound that cannot heal by ignoring it. A wound that won’t go away by pretending it is not there. How do you treat an open wound? By applying direct pressure.
And that is what calling for the impeachment of George Bush and all who are complicit in his crimes is. Direct pressure on our new, once more democratic government to stop the ongoing crimes and excesses and to expose them for the nation and world to see. Only then can we repair the damage that has been done. Only once this wound has been cleaned and the bleeding of our freedoms stopped, only then can we turn away from the totalitarian Homeland we almost became and return to being the Land of the Free.
Damage has been done, damage is STILL being done. To us, and to others in our name. The only way to stop the damage and to begin to heal it is to have full, transparent investigations into ALL of the crimes and excesses of the past eight years. And right now, the best way to call to stop and repair that damage, the best way to apply direct pressure, is to call for the impeachment of George Bush and his criminal cronies.
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Cuffs on Bush. Cuffs on Cheney. Cuffs on Rove. Cuffs on Rice. All of them facing war crimes trials at the Hague.
And a complete dismantling of the abomination they have turned this country into.
With full and relentless exposure by the reformed press of what has been done until the day when scumbags such as Hannity and O’Reilly and Limbaugh have to hang their heads in shame and disappear forever from the public eye rather than be reminded of the lies they facilitated.
May I see it in my lifetime.
Just like OJTV. But with conviction…
…comes directly out of the Nazi playbook of 75 years ago. The agency assigned to protect the security of the homeland was the Reichssicherheitshauptant and its sub-group, the SchutzStaffel, the SS.
For any who missed it when it was first published (2003), or want to reread it now, Thom Hartmann published an amazing essay comparing what happened in Hitler’s Germany to what was/is happening in the US. The parallels from
“When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History” are frightening and profound.
then prosecution for the crimes they committed. I would gladly sign a petition to investigate and prosecute the whole lot of them. Rumey, Cheney, Bush and the whole crew. I don’t see this as happening as even the progressives and Obama are busy trying to move on. After all a blow job is a non Egregious Crime so therefore Bushies are off the hook.
April 08
[Sunstein] urged caution in prosecuting criminal conduct from the current administration, while also noting that egregious crimes should not be ignored. Prosecuting government officials risks a “cycle” of criminalizing public service, he argued, and Democrats should avoid replicating retributive efforts like the impeachment of President Clinton – or even the “slight appearance” of it.
Obama August 08
What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that’s already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can’t prejudge that because we don’t have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You’re also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we’ve got too many problems we’ve got to solve. [emphasis added]
And finally from July 08
to these things. And not only that, do whatever we can to put in place a system that will stop it from happening again.
I’m wondering though, why you call a Truth Commission “weak tea.”
The e-mail peace team (“The Pen”) has this to say:
The Action Page will ask for comments by you. This was mine:
“Criminals are criminals! Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, et al. are guilty of war crimes. Heinous war crimes! They are guilty of many high crimes and misdemeanors too numerous to list. But, certainly, war crimes are at the top of the list, nationally and Internationally. They have all but depleted our financial resources in order to conduct an illegal war, while, personally having profited and gained, as a result. During the past eight years, they have shred and trampled upon the Constitution of the United States of America, deeming it “a GD piece of paper,” while instituting unconstitutional laws in the same breath.
We, as a nation, cannot assume a “laissez faire” position and allow such a momentum to gather; this would be criminal in and of itself, alone. Impeachment would be the first step toward return to the rule of law; Impeachment would say to us, and the world, that we do live by rules and we abide by our Constitution; Impeachment must be had in order not to set a precedent for the future of our government, for those who might harbor like ideas — that we have a Constitution, as well as national and International laws. We cannot allow the highest forms of criminality to go unaddressed, for ourselves — for the world.
We need to regain our standing for ourselves and for the world. I believe Obama will lead us there to the best of his ability, but I think a first, most important step is Impeachment of those who have wrought a living misery of death, destruction and economic disaster to all. Maybe, we weren’t aware of all that they were doing, but they WERE aware and knew right down the line what they were doing!!!!!!
~~~~~~
The Constitution requires Impeachment . . . . . !
I don’t understand Pelosi at all. Publicans pushed Clinton’s sex lie in our faces for years. Yet, when Clinton left office, he was admired. Bush should have to face the same level of scrutiny. His crimes are actually deserving of prosecution, and the public will see that. We liberals would love to hear the full extent of the charges against this administration. We would love to hear what the heck Dick Cheney is up to all this time. So what is the problem? Why won’t Pelosi allow us this small pleasure?
I figure that either Pelosi is a big shot in the investment game and has something major to lose if we start digging into the causes of the economic crash, or Pelosi has no real regard for the Democratic agenda at all and is a Publican in feint disguise. Of course, Bush could have something on her. I wouldn’t put it past the little nutjob to try blackmail. And I wouldn’t really be surprised to find that Nancy has a skeleton or two to conceal. Perhaps she and Joe Lieberman—well, you know.
“I, Barack Obama…..blah blah blah….so help me God”
pause….Obama turns and points to Bush and Cheney and says “Arrest these men!”
“it’s not time yet.”
It’s not time to say we’re free yet.
There’s a lot of talk about closing Gitmo. Talk about fully investigating and taking action against Bush and his cronies who have committed war crimes. So much talk.
But, it’s not January 20th yet.
After January 20th, I think a whole shitload of new revelations will come forth. We’ll learn some of the stinking mess that has been hidden from the public’s view. We’ll learn some of the extent of what Bush, Cheney, and their minions have done. Perhaps we’ll even learn what members of Congress – in both parties – were aware of.
But, we are not the land of the free yet. Not while people are imprisoned without charge, while people are tortured in our names, while our constitution is ignored for political expedience.
It’s not time yet. I hope that in January, our country will move toward reconciliation. The only way to heal the damage is for the people to know the extent of what has happened, and for justice to be served.
I hope we can be the Land of The Free again soon.
or mass spankings. I leave it to your discretion, Buhdydharma.
As I mentioned above, I fear what these people might do in the “shadows” leaving them to go free. Others are anticipatory, too!
(emphasis mine)