Iraq Moratorium: Speaking Truth To Power Across America
Rusty
We are progressives. Unlike politicians, we keep our promises. On September 21, 2007, we can show the world that Americans across this country are going to stand up to that lying criminal in the White House. Those babbling doorknob polishers currently inhabiting the House and Senate will not stand up to him. Bush is a despised lame duck president who destroys everything he touches, but they still won’t stand up to him.
So we’re going to. But that’s not all we’re going to do.
Congressmen and senators who will not vote to end the Commander Guy's occupation of Iraq are going to have their occupation of Congress ended. By us. That’s a promise. It's a promise from us to the soldiers they sent to Iraq four years ago and have been betraying ever since. It’s a promise we will sanctify in the streets of this country on Moratorium Day. It’s a promise we have the strength, determination and honor to keep, and we are going to keep that promise.
I've heard the condescending criticism against demonstrations. I've heard the cynics claim that demonstrations are obsolete in this age of the Internet and YouTube and e-mails to Congress. I've also heard the sobbing of too many grieving parents. And the weeping of too many soldier's widows. And the tolling of too many funeral bells. And the din of hackery that Congress calls meaningful debate. And far too many lectures about patriotism from a lying warmonger near beer guzzler who doesn't have a fucking clue what patriotism is and never will.
If Impeachment is off the table, and withdrawal dates are off the table, and 50 years in Iraq is ON the table, then perhaps it's time for the oh so wise Masters of Information Age Politics among us to set their sophistication aside for just one day. Just one day, that's all we're asking. Join us in the streets. Redeploy your progressive butts from your computer chairs into the streets where the American people are. Your computers will still be there when you get home.
Iraq Moratorium Day.
Bring your conscience.
Bring your voice.
Bring our soldiers home.
When I was young, Americans walked proudly on the Sea of Tranquility, while the world watched in admiration and awe. Today, Americans are trudging with guns through streets of carnage in Baghdad, while the world recoils in horror. Internet blogging has not ended this nightmare in Iraq. It's not going to. Ever. But combining blogging with raising our voices in our streets against our government to save our soldiers and redeem our country can end it.
The people of the Philippines filled their streets and ended the Marcos dictatorship. The people of Russia filled their streets and ended Soviet Communism. The people of Ukraine filled their streets and ended the hijacking of their presidential election.
Do any of you sophisticated but bleary-eyed, computer-monitor-gazing political strategerists who scorn demonstrations see a pattern there? If not, rub your eyes and take another look.
It’s time we filled our streets.
Iraq Moratorium Day.
Bring your sophisticated friends.
Make some history.
Bring our soldiers home.
Our flag was once a symbol to the world of freedom and faith in the inherent power of democracy to build a better world. Today, our flag is a symbol to the world of the destructive power of corporate greed, rightwing ignorance, and Christianist militarism. It has become a banner of shame and degradation and deceit. It’s time to pick it up out of the mud.
Not so long ago, in the days of JFK and the Peace Corps, American moral leadership inspired the world. Other nations respected us, even our enemies. We were looked up to, even when we made mistakes. We were a compassionate and generous nation, a nation that cared for its poor and honored its laws and welcomed immigrants.
Now we put human beings in cages. And torture prisoners. And demonize immigrants. And guzzle the world's oil. And plunder its resources and pollute its air and shove our crazed consumer culture down its throat.
We are in the gutter. But we don't have to stay there. Across this country, Americans can redeem themselves, one conscience at a time, one voice at a time. They can join together, in our streets and parks and neighborhoods, in Washington D.C., in New York City, in San Francisco, in Chicago and Denver and Philadelphia and Boston. Together, we can end Bush’s gruesome occupation of Iraq. We can redeem ourselves and our country on September 21st. We are going to, but that’s not all we’re going to do.
Iraq Moratorium Day.
Bring your courage.
Bring your determination.
Bring our soldiers home.
The corporate media will try to ignore us. It won’t matter. We are going to BE the media on Moratorium Day. Wolf Blitzer can take the day off. Katy Couric can get her nails done. Bryan Williams can cruise for chicks with Rush Limbaugh. Bill O'Reilly can head for the shower. Alone. And stay there until his hand gets tired.
The days of K-Street congressmen and senators are numbered. If they won’t withdraw our troops from Iraq, we’ll withdraw them from Congress. If they won’t remove Bush and Cheney from power, we’ll remove them from power. September 21st is their final wake up call.
Ann Richards will be with us on Moratorium Day. Molly Ivins will be with us. Steve Gilliard will be with us. Everyone who has ever listened to their conscience and spoken out against injustice will be with us. Their voices have not been silenced, their voices will never be silenced as long as we speak out as they did, with the same passion and the same courage and the same commitment.
Iraq Moratorium Day.
BE the media.
America will hear us.
America will join us.
Let’s bring our soldiers home.
Like Robert Frost, we have promises to keep.
And miles to go before we sleep.
We are progressives, we keep our promises.
We are going to keep this one.
No matter how many more miles we must travel.
Comment # 1 ~ unspun ~ 05/04/2007 14:39 GMT The military-industrial complex is alive and well and being run by Darth Cheney & Co--with the help of Crusader Bush and his fanatical followers. All the while, Congress stands back & wags its fingers at them.
Comment # 2 ~ Patriot ~ 05/04/2007 19:07 GMT As usual, you are on top of things, Rusty. I feel like I've entered the Twilight Zone... 6 years and counting...
Comment # 3 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 05/05/2007 15:19 GMT Thanks, Rusty, I've been harping about all of this for days on CB. Mission Almost Accomplished, although the Kurds and Sunnis are balking at the Iraqi hydrocarbon law -- having second thoughts. I imagine Bush and Cheney are having major "hissy" fits right now.
Comment # 4 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 05/05/2007 16:32 GMT Here's an article by Richard Behan on the Iraq Oil Law, which I posted back on April 8, 2007.
George Bush's Land Mine
Comment # 5 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 05/05/2007 16:35 GMT Whoops, link didn't work -- try this:
George Bush's Land Mine or, this:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/30/201/
Comment # 6 ~ Rusty ~ 05/06/2007 01:46 GMT Thank you for the link, Tahoe, that's a good article.
Comment # 7 ~ Reed31463 ~ 05/06/2007 03:08 GMT Let me lend a hand Tahoe. This should work: George Bush's Land Mine
But why oil and why now? Moreover, the issue of energy and oil addiction goes much deeper then just global warming. The phenomenon of peak oil was known in government and corporate circles since 1956, yet the facts were largely kept a secret from the public. The basic gist of peak oil is that around the year 2000, give or take a few years, world oil production will reach it's apex. After the point when half of the available oil reserves are produced, production rates will forever decline. This quickly becomes a supply and demand problem.
Therefore, is it any coincidence that oil man GWB was selected to the presidency by the Supreme Court in a stolen election in the year 2000, the very same year of Hubbert's original predicted world peak production year? Is it any coincidence that we detoured from Al Qaeda and into Iraq and the Middle East? Is it any coincidence that we are controlling the supply and distribution of oil? Is it any coincidence that Exxon profits are unprecedented? And is it any coincidence that Iran appears to be our next target?
The US and oilmen are using this phenomenon by controlling the supply and distribution of energy to tyrannical and selfish ends. A monopoly on the most precious and needed commodity, oil, translates to power: Oil translates to Money which in turn translates to Profits which then in turn translates to Power. One of the pillars in this fight against fascism in America needs to be the breaking our addiction to oil and dismantling the big oil monopoly. By converting to alternative energy sources, not only will we begin solving the looming specter of global warming, we will start to undermine Bush and Cheney's base of power: Oil. It only makes sense that the quicker we stop debating about how we should do it, and start acting upon what we already know; the quicker we will start to erode their base of power. We need to move with a sense of urgency in this because the clock is running and time is running out.
Update Feb 20, 2007
Leaked Iraq bill proposes restructuring the Iraqi National Oil Co. Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! interviews Raed Jarrar.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain what it says, now that you’ve finished translating it.
RAED JARRAR: It said so many things. I don’t think we can summarize it this short, because it’s a very long document, around thirty pages. But majorly, there are three major points that I think we should talk about. Financially, it legalizes very unfair types of contracts that will put Iraq in very long-term contracts that can go up to thirty-five years and cause the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars from Iraqis for no cause.
And the second point is concerning Iraq's sovereignty. Iraq will not be capable of controlling the levels -- the limits of production, which means that Iraq cannot be a part of OPEC anymore. And Iraq will have this very complicated institution called the Federal Oil and Gas Council, that will have representatives from the foreign oil companies on the board of it, so representatives from, let’s say, ExxonMobil and Shell and British Petroleum will be on the federal board of Iraq approving their own contracts.
And the third point is the point about keeping Iraq’s unity. The law is seen by many Iraqi analysts as a separation for Iraq fund. The law will authorize all of the regional and small provinces’ authorities. It will give them the final say to deal with the oil, instead of giving this final say to central federal government, so it will open the doors for splitting Iraq into three regions or even maybe three states in the very near future.
Yeah, it's about the oil. And a criminal looting of a country's most valuable natural resource.
Comment # 8 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 05/06/2007 17:00 GMT Thank you, Rusty, and thank you, Reed.
Reed, the above interview makes complete sense.
Here is another excellent article I found:
"Escalating Military Spending - Income Redistribution in Disguise
How escalation of war and military spending are used as disguised or roundabout ways to reverse the new deal and redistribute national resources in favor of the wealthy
By Ismael Hossein-zadeh
Critics of the recent U.S. wars of choice have long argued that they are all about oil. “No Blood for Oil” has been a rallying cry for most of the opponents of the war. . . . "
Escalating Military Spending...
Comment # 9 ~ feline ~ 06/28/2007 03:45 GMT What is the date today?
Comment # 10 ~ feline ~ 06/28/2007 03:45 GMT I'm confused...
Comment # 11 ~ keenekarl ~ 06/30/2007 02:30 GMT You're preaching to the choir here Rusty. How many "average" people actually read the stuff we write on these progressive blogs? How many Americans really care? I'll tell you - not very many. Heck, this idiot nation will probably elect another Republican to the White House. Am I sounding cynical? I am - VERY. A bunch of progressives in the streets whining about the war won't do anything to change anything soon enough to really matter. The damage has been done. Most US citizens are too comfortable and out-of touch to really care about anything except themselves. Nothing will change unless our security becomes increasingly threatened by angry radical Muslims fed up with our criminal antics. Even then, our corrupt leaders will blame it all on another middle eastern country and make another excuse to attack that nation and steal more oil. The way Americans are nowadays, most people will just sit back and root the military on.
While I'm venting... I cant't for the life of me understand how/why Hellary Clinton is leading in the polls. It just shows what complete idiots most Democrats have become. Hellary is one of the most divisive figures in American politics. She loses to all the leading Republican candidates when matched up against them in the most recent polling. Barack Obama is the only one winning against all the leading Republican candidates in the same poll. The only election Hellary has a chance to win is among dumb Democrats. No one outside the Democratic party wants anything to do with her. If the Dems are dumb enough to nominate her they will be taking a sure step towards defeat. And why on earth would any dem want to vote for her? She voted for the stupid Iraq war and refused to admit she'd been wrong! She's also in the pocket of the health/insurance industry (receiving the second highest amount of donations from those Sickos). She'll be owned by all the special interests and nothing would get done if she somehow got elected. Might as well have a Republican in office.
I'm gonna just sit on my duff and let this country go to heck. Maybe once things are bad enough people will care.
In the mean-time, I'll be checking out the options to move out of this country. (Kathleen speaks Spanish).
Peace and blessings to you all!
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