Re: Cong. J. Sensenbrenner outright nerve shut down C-Span..

Reenacting the 1776 American Revolution (Won't Congress be surprised!)
By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com

After Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner had the outright nerve to shut down C-Span in the middle of a Judiciary Committee hearing this week, I'm EVEN MORE outraged than usual at the blatant trampling of our civil rights by the current corrupt "government" in Washington.

It's like being colonized by the British all over again.

When will the Bush Republicans' gluttony for sucking out America's life-blood finally stop?

How much is enough?

The Bush/DeLay/Halliburton political machine's well-documented corruption wasn't enough. The Downing Street plan to lie to the American people about Iraq wasn't enough. The death of America's fabulous economy wasn't enough. Leaving our elderly to live on cat food while they steal our Social Security reserves wasn't enough. Defaming the character of Jesus Christ wasn't enough. Now they gotta take away C-Span?

This is revolting. I'm revolted. Enough is enough. It's time to do what our founding fathers did. It's time for a Revolution. It's time for Paul Revere to go on another midnight ride.

This time, however, our Paul won't be warning America's villages and towns. We villagers and townfolk already know what is up. We've already seen our sky-rocketing property taxes, our diminished dollar power, our run-down schools, our out-sourced jobs, our slashed Constitution, our rigged elections and our sons being killed in an Iraq now controlled by an even worse torturer than Saddam Hussein.

This time Paul Revere needs to go ride his horse up and down Pennsylvania Avenue -- and warn those Inside-the-Beltway aristocracy wannabees in D.C. that we Americans are tired of being lied to, stolen from, controlled, cheated and conned.

And Paul Revere isn't the only one who needs to spread the word. It's time for all us patriots to grab our lanterns and head for Washington because the Bush Republicans need to be thoughtfully reminded of exactly where their so-called power comes from. Us. It's time for We the People to stage a realistic reenactment of the 1776 American Revolution.

Are you fed up with having our country suffer from Taxation without Representation as dubiously-elected Congressmen squander our tax money on their own lavish profits? And are you tired of having some know-nothing who dares to call himself a Representative of the People turning off OUR C-Span? Then come on down and join the 229th anniversary reenactment of America's 1776 Revolution!

Won't King Dubya be surprised to look out the window of OUR White House and see George Washington glowering back at him from behind large boxes of tea that he has brought down from Boston?

Let's dress up like Thomas Payne, go visit our Senators and remind those toffee-nosed hypocrites once again that our country was founded upon the principles of freedom and justice -- not on who can reach the deepest into America's wallets. Let's tell them that Americans do not suffer fools gladly. Nor stolen elections. Nor treasury giveaways. Nor media sell-outs (or was it FCC hand-outs?) and definitely not C-Span black-outs!

And let's cheer for Ben Franklin as he stumps off to picket the corporate offices of Enron and Halliburton and Fox. Or maybe, since they are no longer American companies, Ben could just picket their offshore tax-avoiding mailboxes. Or, better yet, let's be really revolutionary and open our own offshore tax-evading mailbox.

Then let's send John Hancock and Samuel Adams over to enlighten our House of Representatives. "You fat cats are supposed to be working for the interests of the American People -- not just for special interests, hyper-rich war profiteers and the Queens of corporate welfare," Hancock will tell them. And he will put it in writing too! And by the way, John, when you go there be sure to bring along a bunch of Minutemen and Patriots.

Tired of trying to flag down your Congressman to tell him that you need new schools and new hospitals instead of new wars? Then let's send Betsy Ross over to sew up some of those fiscal holes in the Pentagon. Bush's generals have a 400 billion dollar budget to design new and better ways to blow up women and children? That's criminal. The Department of Defense needs to stop waving their stripes and start wearing them.

And I want C-Span back.

Every patriot in America needs to dress in breeches and broadcloth and MARCH ON WASHINGTON to remind all the Redcoats and Tories there that, in the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." That's right, Tom!

And "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." That is the consent of the GOVERNED we're talking about -- not the consent of some hyper-rich Benedict Arnolds and their vote-eating voting machines!

And "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government." It's time to reenact the principles that America was founded upon -- and to let those corporate welfare Turncoats in D.C. know who is boss.

"US!"

PS: WHY was Paul Revere running around the New England countryside like a chicken with his head cut off? Think about it. He was a middle-class guy. He had food on his table. He had a job. What made him risk all that to stand up and fight? And what is making US do the same thing? WE have food on our table, a roof over our heads and a TV droning soothingly in the background telling us that all is well, all is well, the Bush Republicans are working for us and in our our best interests.

WHY can't I just accept what Fox News tells me and stop wasting untold hours of my life pounding out a constant stream of cries for freedom and justice and fruitlessly sending them off to "Letters to the Editor" and Congressional in-boxes who obviously don't want them and only send me back "System Administrator" notices that these in-boxes have rejected my e-mails as spam?

Why can't I just be content with letting Uncle George be large and in charge? Why can't I just shut up and "appreciate what I've got"?

According to William Glasser, MD, the human mind does not live by bread alone. The human mind, in the final analysis, cannot be brainwashed or programmed from the outside to accept "security" instead of the honor and glory of freedom and our intense internal drive for justice. Lie to us, jail us, deride us, censor us, nuke us (well, maybe not that) but you will never be able to silence that still, small voice inside of us that whispers to our inner souls, "What the Bush Republicans are doing to our country is WRONG."

PPS: My friend Michael said that it may already be too late for Americans to dissent -- let alone revolt. "As for revolution, if the American people really knew the whole truth, Washington would already be in ashes by now. But they don't and they probably won't until it's too late. It may already be too late."

When it comes to planning for suppressing future dissent, the Bush Republicans are right on the job. Do you think we can just vote them out of office? With no paper trails? Dream on. And for another thing, they have carefully built the largest military force in the world. Want to object to the loss of your rights and your money? Try going up against Star Wars. These people are ruthless.

"It looks like the Bush Republicans have already planned well for what lies ahead," said Michael. Getting our democracy back might be a little bit tricky. "Why do you think they have expanded their Patriot Act powers to allow the FBI to spy on us? And the Senate has secretly approved new unconstitutional powers that basically make Bush a dictator. They know there will be plenty of social unrest here in the not too distant future and they are prepared for it."

To hell with the Bush Republicans. Let's stage a Revolutionary reenactment anyway. I want C-Span back!

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Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere:

You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
http://www.online-literature.com/henry_longfellow/946/

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From Michael: The Downing Street memo was an intelligence communiquÃ© between us and MI-6. What is in there is a report that the Bush administration was twisting intelligence information to fit their plans for war a full year before Congress made a declaration. This is contrary to the so-called Bush statement that we were "doing all we could" to avoid war. In fact the memo proves the opposite is true.

We can also look back as far as the end of the first gulf war, "Operation Desert Storm," when the US under Bush Sr. continued to bomb Iraq without the approval of Congress or the UN. Albright and Clinton continued those illegal bombings in those ever-expanding and so-called "no fly zones". Later Bush Jr., while all of this memo stuff was going on, had been constantly bombing Iraq long before any new declaration of war. Our media just didn't spend much time reporting it. We were taking out Iraq's rocket and communications installations in the preparation for invasion long before Bush made any raves or ranting about Iraq not following UN sanctions.

The bottom line is that the Downing Street memo proves Bush misled the American people as well as Congress about Iraq presenting a threat to us. They knew long before that time that Iraq was incapable of defending itself from one of its neighbors -- let alone pose a threat to the world's greatest super power.

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From CLG News: Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal. The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of Dictator George W Bush three months earlier. http://legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

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From Tom: "Keep your powder dry."

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From the DSCC: It's official. Katherine Harris is running for Senate. Apparently, disenfranchising 50,000 voters in order to swing an entire presidential election is considered a "qualification" to the Republican Party. If you ask me, that sounds a lot more like an extraordinary abuse of power.

Remember, this is the same Katherine Harris who was Florida's Secretary of State during the 2000 election debacle and was simultaneously co-chair of George Bush's Florida campaign. It's the same Katherine Harris who ordered the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of voters -- mostly African Americans and Latinos -- simply because their names or birthdays were conveniently similar to that of a convicted felon.
http://www.dscc.org/news/News_Archives?&global.now=06-08-2005&main.id=321046&main.ctrl=newsmgr.detail&main.view=news.detail

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From Michael [sign on, all you Minutemen!] Last month, the Times of London printed "smoking gun" evidence that long before the invasion of Iraq the Bush administration was determined to go to war, intentionally distorting intelligence, and lying to the American people.

One Congressman, John Conyers of Michigan, has started a citizens petition”demanding that Bush directly respond to the evidence of deception contained in the Downing Street Memo. When half a million Americans sign, Rep. Conyers will personally deliver the signatures to the gates of the White House. http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/?id=5653-3883353-MTJgBe5ve1Fl745y0GPWCw&t=3

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"Smoking cannon" from Carol: British ministers were told to look for an excuse to start a war. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1650822,00.html

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From Robert: Longevity Crisis? Kill Grandma -- By Barbara Ehrenreich. A specter is stalking the Western world, and it looks a lot like Grandma. As President [sic] Bush has repeatedly put it, the problem with Social Security is that "baby boomers will be living longer." Not "too" long, he's careful to say.... So far, the policymakers' response has been to gut the welfare state before the greedy geezers can plunder it. For example, the Bush administration has achieved deep cuts in Medicaid, which supports many of the middle class in their post-golden nursing home years, and it continues to fight for the
evisceration of Social Security....

Face it, nothing is really going to change until the federal government
tackles the problem itself. It might start drafting 60-year-olds, for example, for a few months of service in the Iraqi desert. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-ehrenreich6jun06,1,68
26520.story

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From The Declaration of Independence: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm

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From the Public Campaign Action Fund: Yesterday, the House Administration Committee passed H.R. 1316, which we've dubbed the "Make Congress More Corrupt" bill, on a straight party line vote with six Republicans supporting and three Democrats opposing it. This bill is, in a word, undemocratic. It would allow wealthy donors to funnel a million dollars to federal candidates. It must be stopped. http://ga3.org/campaign/makecongressmorecorrupt/step1.tcl

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From Kevin [Bush could never have screwed up so badly if Congress hadn't helped!]: The Legislative Branch is the only branch that can create any governmental spending. As it states in Article one of the Constitution, only the US House of Representatives can originate any legislation that has to do with appropriations. Not even the Senate has that power, and the President cannot buy toilet paper for the White House without Congressional Approval. So while they try to act like things are separate but equal, the Congress is just as much to blame for what is happening in Iraq as the President [sic], and I am no Bush fan, but in reality, the Congress shares half the blame, because the president [sic]can give executive orders but without funding, they are meaningless. The branch that controls the money; controls the government, and ironically it is the only branch where the people have a direct vote on who is in and who is out.

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From Karena re C-Span: During Judiciary Commission Hearings on renewal of the Patriot Act, the Chairman, James Sensenbrenner abruptly cut off the mics during the C-Span live coverage. Pelosi is demanding an apology from the committee for not allowing the citizens of this country to hear testimony from those who have been abused under the patriot act. Video traffic is high, so you may have trouble getting connected for a while. Do not miss. And pass this along. Here is the video link. Following is the Brad Blog link.
http://www.dembloggers.com/story/2005/6/10/54149/5115
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001452.htm

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From Woodie Guthrie: Some people rob you with a shotgun; some with a fountain pen.

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From Tom: George Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War. There is a plaza in Barcelona named after him. There are now surveillance cameras on George Orwell Plaza. How ironic. http://lactose-incompetent.net/index.php?id=P42