The US Congress

[metu]

Personally, I think that invading Iraq was a good idea, but it was executed poorly without adequate debate. It was pretty clear to me that President Bush was hell-bent on regime change; he was not giving adequate consideration to the complexities involved. He was not paying enough attention to diplomacy and border security; perhaps he was being manipulated by his administration; I don't know. Regardless, his obvious lack of tact should have been checked.

Despite what modern politicians and pundits almost constantly claim, we do not have a democracy. We have something much better: a republic with a system of checks and balances.

Regardless of what you believe will emerge from Iraq, our Congress failed us. The US Congress has not declared war since WWII. They are an institution of spineless aristocrat-wannabes who pander for votes with hollow rhetoric while evading the difficult, complicated issues which are paramount to our sustainability. All these swines care about is maintaining and expanding their own power. (no offense to swines)

Look at this recent "compromise" in the Senate over judicial nominees. "Extraordinary circumstances"? what the hell is that?! This is how they work. They get up on tv claiming to be the champions of moderation and compromise; they're champions of worthlessness.

The extremists are no better. I couldn't give less of a fuck about that chick with the feeding tube. Why does the government have to pay for stem-cell research? Their rhetoric is read directly from the party pamphlet. They're not debating in a public forum, they're promulgating the propaganda of their party. They are nothing but whores for the party pimps. Fuck these parties and fuck you Congress.

Whatever happened to campaign finance reform? "Oops, we'll fix this nightmare in about 15-20 years or so along with border security, health care, and employment. The most important thing right now is how Appellate Court judges feel about abortion. Meanwhile, we'll just sign this federal, anual budget proposal sent to us by the President without reading it even though allocating funds is 90% of our job." ?!?!

My representative in the House officially received $952,739 in campaign contributions. The closest competitor received $16,684. My representative is the chair of one of the House's government reform subcommittees. Why would she want to reform the campaign finance laws? Why would she want anything other than the status quo? Why would any of those fat cats make waves when they're doing so well? All they need to do is keep pandering to their base while pleasing the party pimps and they will have more money than they they can spend. Of the $952,739 officially received, my representative only spent $442,297. What would be the point? everyone knows that no Democrat has a snowball's chance in hell in the Michigan 10th.

The problem is not the contested disctricts which get the media attention, the problem is the districts which are written off as being too well entrenched to be challenged. I've never seen my rep. on the street, have you ever seen yours? Why would they go out and meet the people; walk the neighborhoods? they know for which party you vote. Their focus is on the party and the money rather than the people.

The recent upsurge in activism related to the war in Iraq and the presidential election was great. In general, the debates passionate and not well grounded. Let's learn from our mistakes of the past and reclaim our voice through Congress. This two-party nightmare has gone on long enough. The voice of the American people has been clear and consistant: "none of the above." It's time we started voting that way. Vote against this entrenched two-party tyrany.

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Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq
Office of the Press Secretary
October 2, 2002

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) AUTHORIZATION. The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to

(1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and

(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021002-2.html

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"as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" - thanks for nothing congress. Apparently, our institution of checks and balances is not as important to our Congress as is yielding to surges of propaganda with the hopes of maintaining their own power. "The polls show that the people are tired of waiting, let's just sign this thing and let Bush deal with it."?!

Fuck you Congress.

If they must be whores, let's make them our whores. Research and vote in '06, '08, '10.... Don't let this recent surge in interest go the way of the hippies. We can reclaim our representation from this two-party tyrany. It will be difficult. We will have to break free from our comfort-addicted; blame the other guy mentality, but we can succeed.

 

[Kenneth R.]

*furious applause.*

 

[sumairetsu]

The invasion of Iraq: bad idea. The whole goddamn thing was an impeachable offense set up for America to go over there, cause chaos, torture the citizenry of a sovereign nation and take their oil.

Think about it. In Iraq's 6,000 years of history, they never once threatened the U.S. Of the times that they attacked their neighbors, they were using American weapons and had US approval (Iran). The only weapons systems that they had were American and those weapons effective range was limited to their direct neighbors. During Gulf War 1 when they launched SCUD missles at Isreal, they had to remove the explosives in order for the missles to make it that far.

W. should have listened to his father and left Hussein in power and taken a note from the British who tried early in the 20th century to democratize the nation and eventually retreated because it was a bad idea.

War on Terror? Bush ignored this problem prior to 9/11/01 and continues to ignore it.

Regarding Congress, I'd love to see each and every one of the representatives be made to take the oath to tell the truth when they take their oath of office.

Also, unless there is something that actually affects THEM, they will continue to work against the people.

Stem cell research - many of these people have their own reasons for wanting this research, including family members who can benefit from this research.

Terry Chiavo - this was merely a distraction to deflect the problems of the war in Iraq and the problems of a few criminal politicians, i.e. Delay and Frist.

The extraordinary circumstances were that a few far-right Republicans were trying to remove centuries proven checks and balances in the Senate just so a spoiled brat could get his way and push anybody and anything through and get an approval based on party lines.

Everything is being done on party lines. If these cunts were to actually vote using their concience, they would start up the House Judiciary Committee and bring an impeachment against Bush immediately. However, unless people actually stop reading the non-headlines that the 5 major corporations are pushing as being "news," the citizenry will continue to wander along with their heads in the sand.

 

[metu]

Silent Song: Thank you very much. Your support, as wordy as it ain't, means alot.

sumairetsu: So I guess you'll be voting Democrat.

"Everything is being done on party lines. If these cunts were to actually vote using their concience, they would start up the House Judiciary Committee and bring an impeachment against Bush immediately. However, unless people actually stop reading the non-headlines that the 5 major corporations are pushing as being "news," the citizenry will continue to wander along with their heads in the sand."

President has not made an impeachable offense. If you don't think that he has the lawyers on his team to avoid that, then you have no comprehention of how good his team is.

People are reading beyond the headlines! We are learning more and more about the world every day. We are reading our asses off, but we are being bombarded with propaganda.

Who's your rep and how does he/she vote? along party lines, I bet.

 

[sumairetsu]

President has not made an impeachable offense. If you don't think that he has the lawyers on his team to avoid that, then you have no comprehention of how good his team is.

If the information of the Downing Street memo is correct, and nobody in Great Britain has ever denied the veracity of the information in it, then the president lied to Congress to take us to war. This is a serious enough offense to bring him before the House Judiciary Committee for impeachment.

There are 89 members of Congress and others who would like some answers about this memo, too. You can read and sign the petition here that Rep. John Conyers is submitting to W.

http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffi...MS&SEC={0F1B03E0-080B-4100-B143-36A5985EF1E3}

 

[metu]

Perhaps there is a case to be made. I don't know. Regardless of whether or not he lied, our Congress showed how spineless they are by giving the President the power to essentially do whatever he wants with Iraq. Even if Iraq turns out to be a success, their actions are inexcusable, and what's worse, typical. If Congress wants to try to impeach President Bush, I'm OK with that. I don't think they'll be able to make anything stick, especially while preserving their own power, but at least they would be challenging his authority. In the end, though, I think that all it would serve to do is further fuel the partisan fires.

No one person should ever be as powerful as President Bush again. We need to elect a Congress which will reclaim the pivotal check on the power of the executive branch.

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Let's take a step back here for a moment. There are many ways to view history. One way is by considering the developments to be the result of a system of inter-related pendulums which change speed and distance. Using this metaphor, history can be seen as a series of reactionary movements. Consider the election of President Carter as a reaction to President Nixon and the election of President Reagan as a reaction to President Carter. It's more complicated than this as it is a system of pendulums, not just one big one, but it illustrates a problem related to the current polarization of our electorate.

This anti-Bush movement is dangerous. The Democrats and their supporters are using this movement as politicians do: to solidify their own power. If you've studied other republics around the World which have failed, you understand that this is a very typical and destructive problem with electoral governments. The words may shift with the circumstances, but the general line of argument remains eerily consistent. "They want to destroy everything that you hold dear. The only people who can protect you from them is us." It's a very short step from entrenching that message to "what's good for the party is good for the state."

As for the Republicans, most poor, white, rural, hardworking "Nascar Dads" know better than most of us that religious fanatics are irrational and dangerous. Most of them do not think, however, that these fanatics are nearly as irrational and dangerous as Democrats. Let's remember that one group of pendulum still swinging with a lot of influence below the radar are those manipulated by the anti-war movement in Vietnam. "They sent us over there, they pulled the plug (Case-Church), then they spat on us." Once again, it's a short step to "they are doing it again, as enemies of the state and it's up to our party to stop them."

As Republicans and Democrats solidify and radicalize their bases of support, faith in the party becomes synonymous with patriotism. This is dangerous. We're all on the same team. We have to recognize that neither of these parties is patriotic; they are both power mongers. These parties are monstrosities which have taken our republic from us by manipulating the emotions of those of us who are the most passionate while side-lining the majority.

I suggest to those who refuse to wear the party yoke; start your own pendulum. Make your voices heard. Argue your own point of view; start your own party; we need as much diversity as we can get. Reclaim your piece of our republic. Stand up and be counted. Make your mark. Help us save us from ourselves. We need you now more than ever.