Impeach Bush and Cheney for Torture

On 4/11/08, George Bush told ABC News he personally approved of the approval of torture - including waterboarding - during a meeting attended by Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet.”Yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.”

In the wake of this confession, every American - and every Member of Congress - must take a stand.  Either you’re for torture or you’re against it. And if you’re against it, you must support the only Constitutional remedy: impeachment.

We don’t need a Special Prosecutor when the President has publicly admitted to approving war crimes. 

It’s no excuse to say, “we can’t impeach Bush because President Cheney would be worse.” We know that Cheney directly approved torture, so both of these criminals  must be impeached together. If convicted by the Senate or if they were to resign to avoid impeachment, Speaker Pelosi would become President, as prescribed by the Constitution.

It’s no excuse to say, “we don’t have the votes to impeach Bush and Cheney.” Democrats didn’t have the votes to impeach Nixon when they started, but when the House Judiciary Committee reluctantly adopted Articles of Impeachment, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment.

Nor is it an excuse to say, “we don’t have time to impeach Bush and Cheney.” Bush admitted both his own and Cheney’s guilt, and Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet are witnesses. There’s no need for impeachment hearings - an impeachment resolution based on Bush’s confession could go straight to the floor for a vote, just as they did on 11/6/07 when Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 799, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney.

And finally, it is utterly immoral for Democrats to say, “we shouldn’t impeach Bush and Cheney because it would hurt the chances of electing a Democrat in November.” Simply stated, politics should never come before torture.

Dr. Martin Luther King famously said, “A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.”

Bush has admitted that he approved torture.  It is now time to impeach.
http://www.democrats.com/impeach-for-torture

 I was relatively surprised to hear Kulongoski (Governor of Oregon)
speaking out recently about the elephant in the room.  The $10 corporate tax
boondoggle.  There is nothing conservative about suppy-side, trickle-down,
blather like this.

If you give large corporations free rein to avoid and evade paying their fair

share of the taxes, then all the rest of us have to either pick up their slack, or suffer.  

The solution is forcing the corporations who want trained workers

to pay their fair share of our costs for education and training of workers.

Instead of the 4-6% free ride they get now, they should pay the 23-34%
they paid twenty years ago.  Our community colleges are absolutely capable

of providing the training programs which our corporate non-partners refuse

to pay for.  The lie in the article below tries to pit higher eduction against

apprentice programs.  This is a false choice.  If the fortune 500 stepped up

to the plate we could get the job done. So far, they are unwilling and our

legislators do not seem inclined to do anything about it.  Blaming our

schools for their intransigence is bizzare and wrong.
This is no “crisis.” It is the predictable result of refusing to invest in our people

and the abject ignorance inherent in subscribing to supply-side economic hooliganism.

We did it “their” way.  There is no such thing as “trickle-down.” The more you pander

to corporate CEO’s, the more they take out of our economy and invest in India,

China, or Swiss bank accounts.   
tim

McCain is not presidential material, but then neither was George.
We can only hope that the nightmare of the last seven McBush years
will alert the American people so that Cain is not able to do the same
thing.  To quote the current lame duck/elephant: ”There’s an old saying in Tennessee–  I know it’s in Texas, probably
in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you.
Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” –Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it. ~ Benjamin FranklinYou don’t have to fool all the people all of the time; you just have to fool enough to get elected. ~ Gerald Barzan

~~And here is the actual source of George’s misquote…  It is much older than
     Tennessee or Texas…
“If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me. ”
Chinese Proverb

best regards, Tim….   
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 There are many ways to parse the word faith.  “True” faith is not hearing disembodied voices, but consists of remembering who we are, and acting accordingly.  Personally, I do not believe in some anthropomorphic “king” of a god who resembles human beings.  But I am a man of faith.  I have faith that life is full of mysteries which are both beyond our ken and greater than us.  And while I may quibble with many bible verses…  (This magnificent text was written by notoriously fallible human beings) I take it on faith that hope and love are commensurable portions of those mysteries which we may acknowledge without full or immediate comprehension or any necessity of rational deconstruction.  Bush’s faith in a construct of God as a human, kinglike, judge, or warrior is rather primitive and dangerous.  I believe that every
human being is part of the human family.  That familial connection implies some duties and responsibilities to protect those
among us who might be young, weak, powerless, sick, poor, dispossessed, under seige, or at some other disadvantage.  This is not necessarily rational, but it is pragmatic and follows quite naturally, according to its own truth, from what we know of compassion. Such faith may move mountains, sustain families, and invest a nation or a people with hope, wisdom, and honor.  Unless I am mistaken, ”true belief” in the human capactity for “good” behavior, is meant to provide a counterpoint to the “false beliefs” of George Bush wherein disembodied voices (or delirium tremens) tell him to start wars, kill prisoners, or render people for toture, rape or murder.  ….It is not rational to ignore your senses or science, nor it this a tenant of any of the Abrahamic traditions (Judeo,
Christian, Muslim) This admonition is perhaps more typical a cult or nonsectarian brainwashing.  Those who have faith in
hope and compassion need not abandon rational thought nor scientific research.  And no “true” Muslim, Christian, or Jew 
would make such a ludicrous request.  There is no inherent contradiction between faith and reason, nor is there any necessary or fixed relationship between the the constructs.
   
Here are some interesting quotes…   
 
Thomas Jefferson:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

Albert Einstein:

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith
in the orderliness of the universe.

E. B. White:

Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.

James Luther Adams:

The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions — social, economic, and political — of the common life.

I will support any candidate from any party who offers an alternative to the Bush doctrine
of corporate hubris, executive arrogance, neo-colonialist aggression, and unending war.

While I am concerned that both Obama, Clinton, and Bush embrace versions of supply-side
economics, corporate healthcare at home, and preemptive aggression & occupation abroad…

I think that either Obama or Clinton might be preferable to the various criminals at the helm.
John Edwards is the most viable alternative for America.  His only downside, is that he marches
lockstep with Hillary, Bill, Barack, and George in supporting the execution of American citizens
and other prisoners.  No other industrialized democracy on the planet will condone such behavior.

But I would encourage widepread support  for John Edward’s campaign and exploration of his
formidable resources and useful ideas.  www.WritingResource.info/edwards.html
Edwards beat Hillary in Iowa.  He beat the most visible, well-known, and best financed candidate.
(Even though this was largely ignored by the corporate media.) If enough people find out about
his programs before February 5th, he could be elected president.  Obama could be a useful
team member due to his poltitical acumen, organizing abilities, charisma, and support.  

Hillary has too much baggage and is too willing to resort unseemly tactics and unacceptable
compromise, but she could serve a useful role in a cabinet level position on education.  And Dennis
Kucinich can provide useful guidance on a host of issues which matter to the American people. 
In spite of their variable flaws, (Kucinich is short, shrill, and not particularly presidential) we have
some good people in this horse race. 

Let us hope it does not remain a dog and pony show. 

Tim
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I have been listening carefully to all of the candidates who are running for office.

When it comes to human decency, basic civility, compassion, integrity, and
progressive reform… there are three “progressive” candidates who have a chance
at winning the presidency.  Hillary and Barack are both preferable to any alternatives

offered by the confused and divided Republican party, but their commitments have

been too “flexible,” and their policy statments have meandered all over the landscape. 
The best and most viable candidate is John Edwards. 
He talks the talk, walks the walk, addresses the issues, has a proven
track record, refuses to back down, and is eminently electable.

There are (at least) six pivotal issues in the race which begins January 3rd.
 Iraq, Health Care, Education,  Immigration,  Rule of Civil and Constitutional Law,
 
 and   Electability.     Hillary, like her Republican counterparts (those whose “values” she
claims to share) is willing to surrender to the ongoing occupation of Iraq. 
She calls for a nebulous “Phased Redeployment” but will not commit to ending the occupation.
Her health plan is to turn it over to the insurance firms and let them
dictate terms.  Her plan to “offer and renew coverage to anyone who applies and
pays their premium” does not address the concerns of working Americans and does
not address the issue of why the richest nation on earth cannot provide universal
coverage for our people.
Her plan for education is to do nothing and hope the system fixes itself.  Her
website does not even acknowledge the crisis in our schools. In discussing immigration,
she does not even address the issue of NAFTA.   As for the restoration of the rule
of law and constitutional integrity…  Hillary seems content to surrender habeas
corpus and allow our rights and constitutional protections to remain suspended.
Her website and policy statments completely ignore these fundamental issues.  

A further concern is that Hillary is not electable. Matched against ANY republican…
she loses.   And with her baggage, lack of charisma, and shifting stands on the issues, her nomination
might well cement a Republican victory. There is too much at stake for such a gamble.

Barack Obama wants to end the war, “Obama would immediately begin to pull out troops engaged in combat
operations at a pace of one or two brigades every month, to be completed by the end of next year. He would call for a new
constitutional convention in Iraq, convened with the United Nations, which would not adjourn until Iraq’s leaders reach a
new accord on reconciliation. He would use presidential leadership to surge our diplomacy with all of the nations of the
region on behalf of a new regional security compact. And he would take immediate steps to confront the humanitarian
disaster in Iraq, and to hold accountable any perpetrators of potential war crimes.
He wants the US to move towards universal health care: but his policy statments defer to the
insurance industry:  While he wants to be “Providing affordable, comprehensive and portable
health coverage for every American,” his plan still leaves the insurance companies in charge. His
Mandatory Coverage of Children is a good start, but he stops short of a plan for universal
coverage for all Americans.  On Education, Obama understands the crisis and provides
useful guidelines for reform.  He stops short of calling for universal higher education, but he
recognizes the problems in our schools and provides useful solutions.  His plan is less comprehensive
than dwards, but immensely more useful than Hillary’s avoidance of this issue. On Immigration,
Barack Obama straddles the issues:  He “believes that our broken immigration system can only
be fixed by putting politics aside and offering a complete solution that secures our border, enforces
our laws and reaffirms our heritage as a nation of immigrants.” But this political talk ignores NAFTA
and does not address the crux of the issue or offer substantive reform.  He neither mentions nor
addresses the problems created by NAFTA.  Barack does not even address ongoing concerns about 
restoration of the rule of law, nor does he even discuss constitutional concerns.  While
Barack is clearly a useful alternative to the current corrupt corporate regime… and once spoke about
real reform, his conservative policy statments and timid tiptoeing around the forces which must be
confronted do not bode well for this nation.  He has retreated, compromised, and become less palatable
as a candidate.  And while racism is now mostly undercover in America, it is live and well. 

Matched against the Republican opposition, Obama does better than Clinton,
but he loses in many polls. We cannot afford this gamble, nor should we be satisfied
with the compromises he has made.

John Edwards has an entirely different approach.  He would end the war and end the
occupation.Edwards supports the immediate withdrawal of 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq
and the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within nine to ten months.  He would
work for universal healthcare…   “We have to stop using words like ‘access to health care’
when we know with certainty those words mean something less than universal care. Who are you
willing to leave behind without the care he needs? Which family? Which child? We need a truly
universal solution, and we need it now.”  – John Edwards  and universal education. 

John Edwards has the most comprehensive educational reform program of any candidate.  
Strengthening Our Schools:  The Edwards Plan  Read the full Edwards plan for strengthening our schools
Expanding Opportunity Through College for Everyone  He understands the relationship between
immigration and NAFTA.  “Trade has become a bad word for working Americans for a simple reason:
our trade policy has been bad for working Americans. We need new trade policies that put workers, wages and
families first.” – John Edwards “NAFTA has actually cost us more than 1 million American jobs. NAFTA has
failed Mexico and Canada too. In all three countries, it has hurt workers and families while helping corporate
insiders.”… “Our trade policies must lift up workers around the world. Making sure that all workers share in
the gains from trade is the right thing to do economically, and it will make America safer and more secure.” 
And he would demand that we restore the rule of law and the supremacy of our constitutional
foundations.  “We are not the country of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. We are not the country of secret
surveillance and government behind closed doors. We are Americans, and we’re better than that.”
– John Edwards
Edward will “Say No to Torture,   Restore Habeas Corpus and Shut Down Guantanamo,  Protect Americans’
Privacy and Freedom, and Defend the Constitution.”  He stands up for working people, tells the truth, 
speaks from the heart, and his record shows that he walks the walk.  I predict he will win first or second
place in Iowa… and working Americans should support his campaign.  (he won second place)

Matched against ANY of the Republican candidates… John Edwards wins.. 

It is my hope that unions, non-profits, institutions, and grassroots organizations reconsider their
options in this upcoming election.  If we “settle” for corporate apologists who refuse to discuss the
most pressing issues of the day, such intransigence might prove fatal.  We cannot afford eight more
years of corruption, abuse, betrayal, and compromise.  If we ever hope to restore our reputation,
credibility, and honor… we must be careful in the choices we make.  Clearly Hillary Clinton stands
with corporate governance.  She does not address the economic divide which cripples our nation. 
Both Barack and John Edwards speak to concerns with poverty and a weakened middle class, but
Barack is too “politic” to advocate for the reforms are necessary to confront these issues.
John Edwards speaks for working people.  And he seems the best choice to speak truth to power.

regards, Tim

Lowdown on events happening in Portland ? (read more)
LABOR RADIO HOUR…
http://www.angelfire.com/blues/writing/pressreleaseKBOO.html
Portland Newsletter for Civic Engagment: Activism Calendar!
http://www.angelfire.com/blues/writing/activismnewsletter.html