Expats Against Bush - Norway

When in the Course of Human Events: PETITION

Recently I came across a petition called "When in the Course of Human Events", created by Robert Kezelis. I urge any and every freedom-loving American to sign it.

What's more, I feel the list of grievances- indeed the entire text-  should be read aloud at public meetings, broadcast on internet radio, and find its way to all alternative media:

...As our forefathers warned 231 years ago, Prudence continues to dictate
that a government long established should not be changed for light or
transient reasons. However, the transgressions of the current
administration against his own people and that against people of other
countries are so serious and numerous in nature, that it becomes
imprudent not to act immediately. We approach a form of absolute
despotism of the kind suffered by our forefathers when they began their
own revolution for reasons not dissimilar to ours.

To prove our case, the facts below are without question:

* HE has refused his assent to law, the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good.
* HE has obstructed the administration of justice, by politicizing the
method and manner in which justice is sought across the states and in
the federal courts.
* HE has made US Attorneys dependent on his will alone for the tenure of
their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
* HE has spied on citizens domestically and abroad without warrants or
justification.
* HE has repeatedly lied and misled his people into unnecessary,
unjustified, and deadly wars, invasions and eventual occupations,
causing untold death and destruction for all concerned.
* HE has attacked the very protections of the Constitution, the one
document that he took an oath to uphold; and by passage of his Patriot
Act, and his countless signing statements, he has destroyed the very
protections to which each of us were and are entitled.
* HE has erected a new office, misnamed the Department of Homeland
Security, which does nothing to increase security, but instead impedes
commerce, trade, communication, travel, and privacy to a degree never
imagined by our forefathers.
* HE has deprived us the benefits of a trial by jury.
* HE has held, without charges, many individuals who have no benefit of
counsel, courts, or juries.
* HE has cut off communication and trade with countries who have offered
to aid us in a time of need, after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
* HE has arrested, harassed and threatened groups of civilians who
gather to protest the excesses of government.
* HE has precluded and interfered with free speech of individuals and
their right to meet safely.
* HE has created a mercenary army, uncontrolled by the democratic
process, to fight in actions both domestic and foreign.
* HE has ignored long-standing treaties and pacts among other nations,
particularly with respect to torture and basic human rights.
* HE has ignored the wisdom, experience and knowledge of scientists,
replacing them with self-serving political and religious persons, intent
on destroying the very knowledge base that serves mankind.
* HE has caused the kidnapping and extra-ordinary rendition, followed by
their transportation of individuals beyond seas to be held without
counsel, trial or juries.
* HE has permitted the plundering of our cities, the ravaging of our
coasts, and the damage of homes and businesses without properly
addressing the damage to individual lives, dignity and health.
* HE has imposed secrecy on most actions of goverment, in the name of
national security, while precluding citizens from learning of repeated
acts of wrongdoing, fraud, and crime.
* HE has permitted political donors and supporters to make vast sums of
profit from government funds, without requiring accountability,
performance or successful endeavors in return.
* HE has used religion and faith based initiatives as an attack on the
very structure of government, rewarding only certain beliefs, and
punishing all others.
* HE has destroyed foreign ties with allies and friends, creating
distrust and fear, instead of cooperation and friendship.
* HE has permitted the destruction of our ecology, causing suffering and
worse among us and guaranteeing that our children and our children's
children will be forced to pay a dear price.

Our pleas and requests are ignored, our attempts to gain redress are
attacked as unpatriotic, our cries are treated as an act of support of
terror. A president whose character is marked by these and many other
acts which define a tyrant, is unfit to be a ruler of a free people.

WE, therefore, citizens of these United States, and citizens of the
world, finding our appeals to our elected representatives to be ignored,
do in our name, and in the name of all other true patriots and citizens
of this country, solemnly declare that George Walker Bush is unfit to be
president; that his vice president is likewise unfit for office, and
that both of them are most likely guilty of a multitude of war crimes,
crimes against the Constitution, and crimes against humanity. We hereby
declare that their offices are now declared vacant and that they shall
be delivered to the proper international court for imprisonment while
the full nature and extent of their crimes are investigated and
determined, thereafter which they will be tried for said crimes. We
hereby commit to one another our best efforts to fulfill our
forefathers' original intent, while removing the horrors of slavery,
sex, race, religious and other forms of discrimination while we work
together to repair the horrendous damage inflicted on our Country, its  People and its Constitution.

We want our country back.

 

3 AM November 3rd, Norway

Diebold, Diebold, Diebold... nothing like watching an election when you don't know how many votes are being screwed with by the Republican-owned voting system. Will it ever get to the point when we can honestly trust election results again?
BlackBox Voting.org


One main hope is decisive action in event of another stolen election. Here are another couple of URL's:

This Time We're Watching
And:

Pledge of Action to Stop a Stolen Election


I just want this monster out of office. He's violated his Oath of Office, savaged civil liberties, raped the Constitution, involved us in a barbaric war without justification, and alienated most of our allies and the rest of the world.

"Rumsfailed" implicated in Abu Ghraib

As always when I set out to write about the Bush Madministration, I am overwhelmed, not from writer's block or lack of material, but because there is simply an OCEAN of information about wrong-doing on all fronts. As always, it's "where do I begin?".
This time around, I'll start with "Rumsfailed" (name taken from a freeway sign featured on The Freeway Blogger ). According to an Independent article by Rupert Cornwell, Rumsfeld was "implicated in Abu Ghraib abuse by (a) damning report":

"A high-level report has placed indirect blame for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal on the Pentagon's top civilian and military officials, saying their neglect allowed a culture and environment to develop in which such abuse could take place.

The report, released yesterday ­ one of 11 separate inquiries into abuses at the jail near Baghdad ­ is the first to criticise Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, and his closest advisers over the debacle.

James Schlesinger, a former defence secretary who led the investigation, said: "There was chaos at Abu Ghraib, but there was no policy of abuse." Rather, the photos of naked Iraqis were the"extracurricular activities" of the night shift, which he described as an "animal house".

The panel does blame the Pentagon for confused instructions about interrogation techniques and for not paying sufficient attention to how interrogations were carried out. "Institutional and personal responsibility" stretched "right up the chain of command in Washington," Mr Schlesinger said."

Meanwhile, New Yorkers are not exactly in the best of moods to welcome the RNC. A Village Voice article entitled "The 10 Ways Bush screwed New York" pretty much says it all. Here are the brief highlights; read the full article on the link.

1. "Will any convention speaker dare mention the name of Osama bin Laden? What ever happened to Bush's cowboy threat to "smoke 'em" out?
   
   
2. Why was Bush so afraid of a 9-11 investigation?
   
   
3. Was the Bush team awake in the nine months before the attack?
   
   
4. Iraq plus tax cuts adds up to a deficit that will force a second-term squeeze on social programs vital to NYC.
   
   
5. Bush did OK on the $20 billion, but he's still shortchanging us on the edges of the minimal pledge he made to a city whose economy took an $80 billion hit.
   
   
6. Senator Schumer says NY doesn't expect a share of Idaho's farm subsidies, so why does Idaho take a chunk of NY's security subsidies?
   
   
7. What could be worse than lying to GZ workers and residents about the air they were breathing?
   
   
8. Bush has left most New York children behind.
   
   
9. Ten thousand NY families are in jeopardy of losing their housing subsidies and homes.
   
   
10. With NYC the No. 1 target of bio and nuclear terrorists, the go-it-alone Bush administration has torpedoed international treaties that would make us more secure."
    

Now at last they remember us

Americans who live abroad have the chance to view what happens in their country from a unique perspective- yet how often do our views get solicited by the powers-that-be back in Washington? Now, all of a sudden, when there's an election coming up we get remembered. Interesting.



AOL News
The Ultimate Swing State May Be Overseas:
by Randall Richard,AP


"NEW YORK (Aug. 15) - When decision time comes this fall, the real swing votes in the 2004 presidential election may not come from Pennsylvania, Ohio or even the notorious Florida. The ultimate Bush-Kerry battleground may turn out to be somewhere more far-flung and unexpected - Israel, Britain, even Indonesia.


And both political camps say they are getting ready for the fight, courting American voters who are living overseas and taking no chances that the expatriate vote will undermine them at the finish line.


Although an official census has never been taken, between 4 million and 10 million American citizens are believed to be living abroad. Those over 18 are entitled to have their absentee votes counted in the state where they last lived - no matter how long ago that was. And many are planning to do just that.


''There's enormous interest abroad, because the whole of the world depends on the result,'' said Phyllis Earl, 72, who lives in Britain and has not voted in a U.S. election since 1956, two years after she moved overseas.


Overseas voters are considered particularly important this year. Polls suggest razor-thin margins in several battleground states, and votes coming in from abroad - a score here, a dozen there - could well tip the balance."
(Rest of article on link above)

To Washington

John Mellencamp: "To Washington" 3:20 AM
http://media.salon.com/mp3s/mellencamp031303.mp3


Lyrics to "To Washington"

http://www.twin-music.com/lyrics_file/mellencamp/bsides/to.html

TO WASHINGTON
John Mellencamp


Eight years of peace and prosperity
Scandal in the White House
An election is what we need
From coast-to-coast to Washington


So America voted on a president
No one kept count
On how the election went
From Florida to Washington


Goddamn, said one side
And the other said the same
Both looked pretty guilty
But no one took the blame
From coast-to-coast to Washington


So a new man in the White House
With a familiar name
Said he had some fresh ideas
But it's worse now since he came
From Texas to Washington


And he wants to fight with many
And he says it's not for oil
He sent out the National Guard
To police the world
From Baghdad to Washington


What is the thought process
To take a humans life
What would be the reason
To think that this is right
From heaven to Washington
From Jesus Christ to Washington


Lyrics from:

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/lyrics/towashington.html

"In an open letter he co-wrote with his wife Elaine, Mellencamp blasts the powers that be for demonizing as "anti-American and unpatriotic" anyone who questions the policies of the U.S. government and the war in Iraq."


Link to letter:

http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=2149

"An Open Letter From John & Elaine Mellencamp":

"As the echo of the war drums fades away and the angry masses calling for blood slowly disperse, we as a nation must now confront the truth. We face the unpleasant reality of an uncertain future, compromised safety, a failing economy, and the question of how a society of otherwise reasonable citizens was systematically lied to and manipulated into backing the political 'hijacking' of Iraq.

"Before a single bomb was ever dropped, some of us, formerly called the 'anti-American and unpatriotic,' have questioned or opposed this war. Now, each day, as the dust settles and the truth slowly surfaces, more and more people come to the inevitable conclusion of what a debacle this whole war was.

"Thirty-nine-thousand bombs later, no weapons of mass destruction uncovered, no dangerous dictators captured, no connection to September 11th. What have we gained but relentless media coverage of a fallen statue and some stolen oil fields--the spoils of this misadventure. Not to mention lucrative corporate payoffs and an enormous price tag of over $80 Billion...some tax cut.

"But what have we lost? We have lost the lives of over 300 Americans. Approximately two U.S. troop deaths each day, 193 deaths since the war was declared over. In total, an estimated 20,000 people have died, thus far, in this conflict.

"In addition to the lives given for this effort, our nation has suffered the loss of respect within the world community, particularly the United Nations. We have managed to squander any goodwill we once had to now succeed in solidifying our image as the globe's leading bully. Arrogant and thoughtless.

"The word Democracy means literally 'by the people.' This is the basis of our government and society. It is what this country was founded upon and what makes us American. It is not just our 'right' but also our duty to speak out and voice our thoughts and opinions. How, then, was it possible that, in the land of freedom, those who opposed the common opinion were called...'un-American?' Resentfully, we wonder.

The song 'To Washington' was met with criticism and was labeled an anti-war song. That was not at all the case or intention--it was merely a report of the political climate, in the age-old tradition of the troubadour spreading the news through song and story. Professionally, we, the Mellencamps, have the opportunity to travel extensively, and we take full advantage of that by talking to, listening to, and experiencing the diversity our vast country has to offer. The lyrics of 'To Washington' are not just a personal opinion, but also the view from a very wide horizon.

Who is to say what is or isn't 'patriotic?' Do the flags that wave from every minivan really offer any support? Where is the support for the thousands of servicemen and women who return to the states to see their benefits cut, their health problems ignored, their jobs gone, and their families living in poverty? How are they repaid for their efforts, for risking or losing their lives? So far, dismally.

"This nation was founded to enable freedom and diversity of opinion, and many lives have been lost to secure that liberty. Paradoxically, some still resist the open mindedness that is the very foundation of this country.

"The Governor of California was removed from office based on finance troubles. And yet George W. Bush has lied to us, failed to keep our own borders secure, entered a war under false pretense, endangered lives, and created financial chaos. How is it that he hasn't been recalled? Perhaps this time we could even have a real election...but that wouldn't fit the Bush administration's 'take what you want and fire people later' policy. Take an election; take an oil field; take advantage of your own people--a game of political Three-Card Monte.

"The fight for freedom in this country has been long, painful, and ongoing. It is time to take back our country. Take it back from political agendas, corporate greed, and overall manipulation. It is time to take action here in our land, in our own schools, neighborhoods, farms, and businesses. We have been lied to and terrorized by our own government, and it is time to take action. Now is the time to come together."

"Show Some Backbone"

The reason Dennis Kucinich has remained in the race in the face of Kerry's definite majority in the voting is due to his (Kucinich's) desire to see that the Democratic Party has included some vital points in its platform. Following is a press release from the Kucinich website:

"Kucinich Calls on Democratic Party to 'Show Some Backbone' on Patriot Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 17, 2004

Contact: Matt Harris, (216) 403-3980, press@kucinich.us, Terre Lundy, (515) 988-5534

As President Bush today called upon Congress to renew the controversial Patriot Act, Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said, "It's time for the Democratic Party to take a strong stand and call for the repeal of the Patriot Act."

Kucinich, campaigning in Oregon in advance of that state's May 18 primary election, said that he is making the repeal of the Patriot Act one of the principal issues he intends to press with the leadership of the Democratic Party for inclusion in the Party's platform.

"It's time for our Party to show some backbone. It's time to stand for the repeal of the Patriot Act. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I spoke against it, I voted against it, and I introduced legislation for its repeal," said the Ohio Congressman. "In campaigning across America, it's unmistakably clear that there is an almost universal rejection of the Patriot Act."

"Democrats can strengthen the Party's commitment to basic civil liberties by standing for the repeal of the Patriot Act and by blocking the government's attempt to continue pursuing a policy of unreasonable search and seizure, of snooping into the private lives of our citizens, and of violating our Constitutional rights and freedoms."

Kucinich concluded: "The Patriot Act was passed in a climate of fear. Fear and democracy are inconsistent. It is wrong for the United States government to ask our citizens to defend our country and then to ignore and violate the very rights we are called upon to defend."

Kucinich is in the Portland area tonight and tomorrow. He will be available for interviews. Contact Terre Lundy at (515) 988-5534 or Matt Harris at (216) 403-3980.

For information about the National campaign: http://www.kucinich.us

For Congressman Kucinich's Schedule: http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htm

To schedule an interview with Kucinich or a spokesperson: jonathans@kucinich.us

Back to Press Releases | Kucinich.us Home Page



Contact us:

Kucinich for President

11808 Lorain Avenue - Cleveland, OH 44111

216-889-2004 / 866-413-3664 (toll-free)







Paid for by Kucinich for President, Inc.

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Interesting Video

http://69.28.73.17/realmedia/banner1a.html

A Truthful Campaign Ad for Bush

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would reveal why he and his Madministration have hindered investigations into the events of 911. It would NOT feature any images whatsoever from 911.

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would feature him in the heart of the American gulag at Guantanamo Bay, where for two and one half years he and his Madministration have run roughshod over the human rights of its detainees.

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would show him seated at the desk in the Oval Office, setting fire to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights while his supporters look on approvingly and all the rest of us who would far rather have our Freedom and our country back organize in protest.

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would show him stranded on a rapidly melting iceberg which he himself has caused by refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol and shamelessly contributing to global warming.

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would feature him in the midst of homeless and hungry schoolchildren trying to justify why he has cut billions from their already underfunded programs in order to wage an illegal war in which thousands of innocent civilians and hundreds of American soldiers have died.

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would reveal his cutting Veterans' Benefits.

A truthful campaign ad for Bush would show him deep in the heart of impeachment.

A truthful campaign for Bush would show him and his cohorts on trial for war crimes.

And finally, (for now) a truthful campaign ad for Bush would feature his withdrawing from the race and apologizing for being the worst president in all of American history.

-Harmony Kieding

Why Kucinich is Still in the Race

"People are asking me why am I still in this race, it looks like it's over. You know, I said I'm in this race until the Democratic party takes a stand to get out of Iraq, to bring in U.N. Peacekeepers and to bring our troops home. I'm in this race until the party will pledge to provide universal single-payer not for profit health care, a national health care plan under which everyone is covered. I'm in this race until the party takes s stand on behalf of fair trade, where we can be sure that we have workers rights, human rights, and environmental quality principles in all of our trade agreements.

I'm in this race as someone who takes a stand on behalf of those who don't have a voice. The Democratic Party can be so much more, and will be so much more, by our continued and consistent involvement, and only if we can have this debate inside the party can we encourage people from across this country to vote Democrat in November. So you are an important part of our ongoing efforts."
-Dennis Kucinich

Kucinich for President
11808 Lorain Avenue -
Cleveland, OH 44111
216-889-2004 / 866-413-3664 (toll-free)
http://www.kucinich.us

Dennis Kucinich

According to a theworldvotes survey last week, Dennis Kucinich's views on foreign policy have the edge on other candidates:

(clip)"THE HAGUE, 02/17/04 –-Foreign policy statements made by presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich proved to be very popular among a majority of citizens worldwide, according to the latest theworldvotes survey conducted last week.
The latest poll shows potential Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is leading by a 45% margin among citizens registered at theworldvotes. Kucinich is receiving 6%.
On foreign policy, Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich appears to have a decided edge over the other candidates, including presidential hopeful John Kerry. His two statements received 35% of the vote. Kucinich’ message “The U.S. can repair its position in the world community through cooperation, not through confrontation” proved to be very popular with a world audience."

From the Wisconsin Debate 2004 Transcript:

(excerpts)"KUCINICH: I want the people of Wisconsin to know that my first act in office as president of the United States will be to cancel NAFTA and the WTO and return to bilateral trade conditioned on workers' rights, human rights and environmental quality principles. That what we have here is an argument not nation-to- nation, but a series of intra-corporate transfers that are occurring where corporations are seeking cheap wages. Everyone knows this, and I'm the only one up here so far who's been willing to say that I'll cancel NAFTA and the WTO.

That's specific action that will regain real power for the American workers and for workers everywhere and to give the American people the ability to buy American-made goods.
I mean, let's face it. It's either we buy America or it's bye bye America. And I'm insisting that we have to provide a manufacturing base in this country so that people can have American- made goods to buy. They'll buy it if we make it here."

"KUCINICH: As a member of Congress, I've introduced legislation, H.R. 676, to create a universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care system. Do you know that Americans are already paying for a universal standard of care? We're not getting it -- $1.6 trillion in this country goes for health spending.

Of that $1.6 trillion, $400 billion a year goes for the activities of the for-profit sector -- corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing, lobbying, the cost of paperwork -- 15 to 30 percent.
I want to put all that money in the for-profit sector into health care so that everyone in America is covered for all medically necessary procedures, plus dental care, vision care, mental health care, long-term care, a fully-paid prescription drug benefit.
The American people can have that if they have a president who is ready to show the leadership toward that, and I am, and I will be.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)"

"BORGER: This is to Congressman Kucinich.
President Bush last week said that yes, he had expected to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that he was using the same intelligence that had been provided to President Clinton, also the same intelligence that had been used by the heads of other nations.
Do you believe that the president knowingly lied to the American people? And if so, why would he do that?
KUCINICH: I think that this administration knew full well that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, with al Qaeda's role in 9/11, with the anthrax attack on this country, that Iraq had neither the capability nor the intention of attacking the United States, that Iraq was not trying to get uranium from Niger and that, in fact, Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
This is the singular issue upon which this election will turn. And I, as the only one up here who voted against the war and voted against the Patriot Act, as the ranking Democrat on a subcommittee that has jurisdiction over national security, an investigative subcommittee, I never saw any evidence that suggested that there was a reason for this country to go to war against Iraq.
It was wrong to go to in; it's wrong to stay in; it is time that we start talking about bringing our troops home, bringing those guardsmen, guardswomen, those reservists back home. Stop this war; get out of Iraq.
BORGER: So I take it the answer is yes that the president knowingly lied to the American people?
KUCINICH: The president lied to the American people.
BORGER: And why would he do that?
KUCINICH: Well, you know what, I can't speak for the president. But I can speak as the next president of the United States...
(LAUGHTER)
.. to say that I intend to bring those troops home by going to the U.N. and giving up control of the oil, letting the U.N. handle that on an interim basis on behalf of the Iraqi people, letting the U.N. handle the contracts.

KUCINICH: The United States must renounce privatization. We have to ask the U.N. for help in developing a constitution and new elections in Iraq. We must pay for what we destroyed, pay for a U.N. peacekeeping mission, and provide reparations for innocent civilian non-combatants who lost their lives.
This is the plan to get out of Iraq. We can get out of Iraq, and I'll lead the way."

"KUCINICH: As president, I will see myself as a peace president. And I think we have to change this metaphor of war in our society. We have to quit talking about addressing problems "a war on this, a war on that." We already see this last war was not necessary.
I think we're in a new era in the world where we can see the world as one, the world as interconnected and interdependent. The world's waiting for a United States president who's ready to create a sustainable structure for peace, and as president, I will do that.
I'll work to eliminate all nuclear weapons and confirm the Non- Proliferation Treaty. I'll sign the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the small-arms treaty, the land mine treaty.
America will join the International Criminal Court. I'll sign the Kyoto Climate Change Treaty.
And furthermore, in getting rid of the Patriot Act, I'll call upon Americans to bring forth the essential courage which we have in our hearts.
My presidency will be about the end of fear and the beginning of hope, about a new hope in America for a nation that can work with the nations of the world so that we can achieve security here at home.
(APPLAUSE)"