1/30/2006 07:18:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P|Because America is our country.
Camp Liberty Blog | 2.1.06Those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent revolution inevitable.
- John F. Kennedy, 1962
America is in grave danger.
Most Americans believe their country is under siege, and it is, but not from what they read about in the newspapers and see on their TV’s. The single biggest threat to their country and their futures comes not from foreign “terrorists” or Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden or other adversaries, but from the Administration of George W. Bush.
A Runaway Train of Abuses
The damages caused by this Administration are far-reaching and difficult to summarize in a brief manner, but include a severe tarnishing of America’s reputation in the world through the illegal occupation of Iraq, support for torture and “extraordinary rendition”, maintaining a gulag of secret prisons similar to the well-known Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The bellicose and arrogant actions of the Administration have enraged a multitude of people’s around the world, and especially in the Middle East. The warmongering actions of this Administration have placed Americans in harm’s way deliberately. This is why “terrorists” want to damage us.
Here at home there is a severely damaged economy, relentless spying on Americans, and a wholesale muzzling of our press. There is sufficient evidence that the election process has been compromised, to engage in polite understatement. The Bush Administration has laid siege to our rights and freedoms as enumerated in the Bill of Rights. They use the American media and press to spew lies and deceit and to distort reality in the most Orwellian fashion. They have succeeded in placing rightwing extremist judges on various important Supreme Courts, creating a generation’s worth of slanted decision-maiking in a coordinated effort to eliminate the progress made in the 20th Century. They seek to outlaw dissent and any other opposition to their agenda.
These actions collectively spell out a crystal clear and very present danger to American Citizen’s immediate futures as well as our attempts to intervene in a Federal Administration that is now completely out of control and above the law.
There are very important mid-term elections coming this November and there are many unanswered questions and currently no way of getting these resolved by the legal means available to Americans.
Necessary Intervention
What I think is needed and what I am proposing is a Camp Casey-styled “sit-in” protest against the Bush Administration as well as the GOP-controlled government and it’s horrendous and destructive agenda.
Call it what you want, the bottom line is the need for a sustained presence of over a million Americans in Washington DC long enough to get the attention of the news media and the People of the USA.
The protest would necessarily have to take place in Washington DC as this is the epicenter of most of the problems. We have to protest INSIDE the “Beltway”.
There’s little need for discussion about what to protest – protest whatever you want. As progressives are not defined by a fascist-style “lockstep", such as that which defines the GOP, there are constant disagreements about how to do this or that. Really, folks, we don’t have the luxury of time to ferret out such trivia. We need a mass of warm bodies occupying a very prominent area of Washington DC for an extended, indefinite period of time. Team Bush is a bigger threat than anything else.
Keeping it simple
I am suggesting 2 very simple actions - Camp Liberty in Washington DC, as near to the Steps of Congress as we can get, and ongoing collaborative/solidarity protests in every city near media outlets. (Such as CNN in Atlanta)
Camp Liberty should run indefinitely – this is why I make a comparison with Cindy Sheehan’s Camp Casey sit-in. A one-day march won’t do anything for us. Team Bush enjoys de facto control of the media (despite the incessant blather of the right that somehow liberals control the media) and that media marginalizes, downplays, minimizes and explains away what the people on TV see happening.. The necessary protest absolutely has to be indefinite. A month or 2 or 3, I don’t know and that’s also unimportant. Getting a huge number of Americans to gather in Washington DC for more than a weekend would be the most general and simplest way to describe what its intended.
Protesting in Shifts
This has a lot of advantages. It will allow for many, many people to come and join in and will facilitate “protesting in shifts”. I believe many people were excited about Camp Casey because they could actually go on and work within the schedules of their busy lives. People can come and go as they wish and as they need to.
There would be needs for all sorts of supports such as food and water, sleeping arrangements, trash and waste disposal, and more that I cannot think of. I suppose, since we are so “free” there would have to be some sort of “permit”, a process that would clearly get used to deny such an action, but it has to happen, permission or not. There are a lot of very experienced organizers who know more about this than I probably ever will; my point in this writing is not to recreate that wheel, but to throw out the suggestion that we do this and get started.
After Camp Casey there was a period of time where Ms. Sheehan and the Iraq War Veterans for Peace toured the country on their way to the “big” Anti-War demonstration in DC on September 24th. People were arriving in DC well before the actual protest march. That’s the model for this idea: people just showing up in DC and gathering together near Congress. I am unfamiliar with DC but I imagine protesting anywhere near the White House is impossible and Bush doesn't care anyway. Congress is where the law makers are. They will HAVE to see us.
Protesting the Media
The media is the other component of this huge problem. Scared, apathetic, embedded, or fully in agreement with the Administration’s systematic takeover of our country, the media has failed so miserably in reporting what is happening. It is abject failure and should be the focus of study in the future to ensure it never happens again.
The media is the apparatus that has marginalized and downplayed the actions of We the People when we have attempted to protest this administration’s drive to the invasion of Iraq.
Basically, there should be regular protests in every American city with a significant media outlet. It should be at least weekly or more - as well as definitely every weekend - and they should endure as long as Camp Liberty. Think of it as a temporary lifestyle adjustment - a new hobby - not an isolated one-time event. Team Bush doesn’t give up.
If we build it the People will come
It should not take too long before the effort garners attention in a roughly similar manner to that of Camp Casey. It will likely take off on the internet first where the flow of information has yet to be significantly compromised. American media will ignore it or denigrate it at first – that’s the media’s “job” now.
But if we hold out for even a few days, and get a few celebrities and “important people” (such as good Democrats running for office – hell, I’d welcome “good Republicans” because there are even some of them who are quietly as disgusted as we are, but are not allowed to express themselves) we will get media attention. Global media attention will be good but is not as important as getting the attentions of Congress and our fellow Americans.
It's too soon to suggest a concrete date or a place. I only want to ‘catapult’ the idea of what might make an impact on the problem at hand. This is a general call to action but it is essential that people understand that in order for the “rubber to meet the road” with this the Activist Community in Washington DC probably needs to make the suggestion for the best-fitting date.I am asking for them to begin talking about this.
A site will emerge to begin coordinating the best date and location and other logistical information.
So please, spread this around. I am posting it on Smirking Chimp as well as Daily Kos. Info will get posted at those locations when it becomes available.
Time is running out.
Set it off.
Doc
xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com
Postscript
Before I posted this publicly, I did request the feedback of a few people I trust to understand the dynamics of activism and making something like this work. I very much would like for this to get off the ground and believe that it can but I believe the activist communities would be much better at picking a date and a place far better than I can.
Whenever I have seen large protests scheduled and advertised I have noticed a lot of peripheral carping and hair-splitting about that is organizing what and what this is and that means and this group doesn’t want to protest with that group. We don’t really have time for that anymore.
What seems missing and what I intend to come from this is a growing consensus that a People’s Occupation of Washington DC is a viable and desirable - and (hear me!) non-violent - avenue to address the threats being presented to our country at this time.
The Bush Neocon Cabal – whatever you want to call it/them – is the single biggest threat to our lives and freedom: both our immediate and long-term futures. If we do not stop the juggernaught, if we cannot interrupt their plans to dismantle our country, there won’t be protesting ANYTHING. You can just kiss those freedoms good-bye.
|W|P|113866676155722015|W|P|Camp Liberty|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com1/18/2006 11:44:00 AM|W|P|Doc|W|P|Snub for Bush as suicide law is upheld by judges
By Andrew Gumbel | The Independent UK | Published: 18 January 2006
An Oregon law that allows doctor-assisted suicide, the only one of its kind in the United States, was upheld by the Supreme Court in an embarrassing defeat for the Bush administration, which has spent five years trying to overturn it.
The High Court justices voted 6-3 in Oregon's favour, saying the state had every right to pass such a law without federal interference. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the majority opinion, said the former attorney general John Ashcroft's attempt to claim a higher authority and revoke the prescription-writing licences of participating doctors was "both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design".
Oregon voters have twice approved the assisted suicide law, which requires two doctors to confirm terminally ill patients wanting to take advantage of it are capable of making the decision on their own. Since 1997, when the Death With Dignity Act was first passed, more than 200 people have used it to end their lives.
The Clinton administration raised an objection but the ardently religious Mr Ashcroft turned it into a personal cause - even after the 11 September attacks when his office was supposedly focused on tracking down possible al-Qa'ida cells in the United States.
The case was marked by a political irony, since conservatives usually uphold the cause of self-determination by individual states - and liberals more commonly granter greater leeway to federal authority. In this case, it was the conservatives on the Supreme Court, including new Chief Justice John Roberts, who sided with the Bush administration.
[zombienote: Nothing about the Herb, but plenty about "the will of the people" and "state's rights".
I posted this to keep the focus on the fact that cannabis reform is hardly a "one-trick pony" or a "single voter issue".
Cannabis law reform is part of the process dedicated to attempts to protect the Constitution and it's important amendments.
While the NRA and a number of nutty alliances breathlessly herald their efforts to protect ONLY the 2nd Amendment, cannabis reformers (and others) work to protect the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, and 10th. Those Amendments have been savaged by the GOP (and, inevitably by the Clinton Admin's adherence to the GOP war on Drugs policy) in the pursuit of their reefer madness.
Long before the "War on Terror" the war on marijuana (often called a war on drugs) was there eating away at constitutional limits on government, a fascist endeavor that used fear-mongering in the ongoing attempt to get people to agree to repealing or dismantaling all those amendments that irritate Law Enforcement and the massive corporations they serve.]|W|P|113760273635807485|W|P|Team Bush loses one.|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com1/14/2006 07:40:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P|
|W|P|113728575085484115|W|P|The ring of truth|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com1/12/2006 09:00:00 AM|W|P|Doc|W|P|Instead he gets 55 years for touching marijuana.
Rob Kampia Executive Director Marijuana Policy writes at Miqel.com notes the following outrageous bullshit: Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in prison for selling marijuana to undercover police officers. As U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell pointed out at sentencing, that's more time than he would have received if he had hijacked an airplane (25 years), beaten someone to death in a fight (13 years), or raped a 10-year-old child (11 years).
In fact, the maximum sentence for all those crimes combined is less than the federal mandatory minimum sentence for a drug felony involving a gun. (Angelos was carrying a gun at the time of his arrest, although he never brandished it or threatened anyone.)
The assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case justified putting Angelos -- a first-time offender and father of two -- behind bars for 55 years by saying that he was a "purveyor of poison" who got what he deserved. (The "poison" was marijuana, which has never killed anyone.)
Angelos isn't alone in having his life destroyed by the government's war on marijuana users:
Jonathan Magbie died three months ago while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession in a jail in Washington, D.C. Magbie, a 27-year-old quadriplegic, used marijuana to treat his chronic pain. He was unable to breathe on his own, and the jail -- unequipped to meet his medical needs -- allowed him to die while in custody.
And last year, a 19-year-old Florida college student was brutally raped by his cellmate while serving the first of four weekends in jail for a small-scale marijuana offense.
And the year before that, 20-year-old Jose Colon -- just months away from being the first in his family to obtain a college degree -- was shot and killed by police in a raid in which eight ounces of marijuana were seized. Colon wasn't even a suspect. He just happened to be visiting the house being raided, and he had no drugs or weapons on him.
The Democratic Party is actively complicit because they do nothing to stop this.
750000 Americans are ruined each year because of this. If you are not outraged, you must be a republican.
FAMM'S Page on this travesty.|W|P|113707462637822464|W|P|He should have just hijacked a plane|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com1/10/2006 08:07:00 AM|W|P|Doc|W|P|[zombienote: What a wonderful country.
Team Bush wreaks havoc on America, nobody does anything; touch marijuana and it's life in prison.
Bush wants to squeeze children's testicles but this guy gets 55 years for selling a weed that should be legal.
We can clearly see republican priorities in play here.
Smart Dems should be outraged - indeed, this was taken from Talk Left, so I know there are at least a handful of Dems who don't have their heads stuck up their collective ass on this issue.
Numerous links at original TalkLeft posting.]
Appeals Court Upholds 55 Year Mandatory Sentence
Monday :: January 09, 2006 | TalkLeft
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the gun-nutty 55 year mandatory sentence of 27 year old Weldon Angelos, who had no prior felony convictions.
Angelos was in possession of a gun, that he neither brandished, used nor displayed, when he conducted three marijuana sales. The total amount of pot involved was 24 ounces.
"Four former U.S. attorneys general and nearly 160 other ex-Justice Department officials and federal judges" filed an amicus brief on his behalf, arguing the sentence was so excessive as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
[SNIP]
Rest of article posted on "my" Smirking Chimp Omnibus Cannabis Relegalization Thread. Posted seperately to catapult the outrageous story.|W|P|113689859155774780|W|P|55 years for marijuana touching|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com1/07/2006 11:24:00 AM|W|P|Doc|W|P|Investigating the Bush-GOP scandals will do far more good than trying to impeach.
From Stirling Newberry | Daily Kos[T]he key point which the party must support is investigation. DeLay, Downing Street, Spygate, Treasongate and Abramoff demand no less than an exposure of the corrupt means by which the Republican holds power - these means are the K Street tentacle of a goptopus that has reached into the ballot box, into the tax code, into the bedrooms of Americans, into the phone conversations and emails - to attempt to strangle in the cradle any effective dissent.
The Democratic Party, as much as I might like it to, cannot yet come to the microphone, as a party, and say: "It is time to impeach" for the simple reason that there is not enough soot blackening the Republicans. People need to know, not just the facts, but the details, they need to feel those details come in battalions. With criminal charges flying they will hear them, they will come to understand that the Republican apparatus depends on bribery to hold its power in place. We know there is smoke, but impeachment is the hose to put out the fire. And Americans will believe in that fire when they see it on the evening news.
Investigation IS what's needed now and, unbelieveably, there isn't nearly enough of it happening.
Newberry touches on what I have been saying for a long time: until it's on the "evening news" - THE TV! - then it won't be real to "the People". The "goptopus' has reached out to control the TV to an amzing extent. it has been another main avenue of crippling dissent and controling what actual information "the people" get.
(This impetus to squash the flow of real information has been raging on the internet because the net represents the free flow of information. The GOP will work to smear the term "liberal blogger" just becasue of writings like Newberry's and sites like Kos and SC and others that now excel in transmitting reliable information about Reality.)
Dems must demand, demand, demand investigations.
They will - now - be joined by those "from across the aisle" as there is a large rift in the GOP. The scandals are the massive albatross around the necks of the few GOP who are not knuckle-dragging fascist Taliban. It should be a no-brainer that the Dems - Dean, Reid, Conyers, McKinney - all of them, can - SAFELY - begin a howling for investigations and this will be almost impossible to keep from the "media" too long.
Investigation, the tar and feathering of our time, is the route to gain impeachment, though I doubt impeachment will be useful. The investigations will reveal massive criminal conspiracy, probably of an unprecedented level, and we can bypass impeachment nonsense and look straight at sending a lot of corrupt scumbags to jail.
That said I belive the the "average american" is at least a year away from the level of awareness shared by those reading this article here today. In the interim the GOPtopus" will continue it's sytematic dismantaling of America unimpeded. Bush's outragous use of "recess appointments" is profoundly discouraging as it represents the Stalinification of the US Government further than it's ever been. Everywhere we minght need to turn for assistance in investigations is chaired by some fucking Bush croney.
It's a coup and it's still going on.
Investigation IS the weapon to use at this time.
Let's roll.|W|P|113665139039662729|W|P|Got Impeachment?|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com1/04/2006 02:46:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P|
The GOP is planning to turn the term "Liberal Bloger" into a "dirty word" says Kos on his blog.But of course Republicans want to turn "liberal bloggers" into a dirty word since that's what they're best at. God forbid they run the country effectively, depriving us of material to use against them. But, rather than trying to figure out how to effectively govern, they do what they do best -- they try and tear down the opposition.
This is the same operation who threatened the Agonist's Sean Paul for discussing the Abramoff/Cornyn connection. Problem for them is that we aren't the traditional media. We're not afraid of them. And we're supporting a new breed of Democrat -- those who aren't afraid of their own shadows or mean whisper campaigns to beltway journalists (which is where this piece came from).
More links and info at the original posting. I have swiped it becasue it is a fine example of what I have said for a longtime - that the GOP set out specifically to denigrate the term "liberal" making it a dirty word.
So many on the "right" are so used to participatin in this effort they seem incredulous when one tells them the GOP did that on purpose.
They are going to do it again. Scumbags.|W|P|113640430760273168|W|P|GOP to smear term "Liberal Blogger"|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com