I want everyone to think about the implications of this one simple fact that nearly everyone knows

[Bjorn Against]

I am going to state one simple fact that virtually every American knows, but very few have truly considered the implications of. I want you all to read the following sentence and just consider what this means about the direction our country is headed:

Our government is currently running prisons at Guantanamo Bay and in other parts of the world in which the inmates have no legal rights and consist almost entirely of one particular race (Arab) and one particular religion (Islam).

Nearly everyone knows that people of Middle Eastern descent and of the Islamic Faith are being specifically targeted, and being imprisoned under a different set of laws than people from any other race. Yet despite the fact that we all know this, how often do you actually hear people discuss the implications of this?

This is not the first time in history that people of other races or religions faced a different set of laws than the rest of the population. This is not the first time in history that people of an unpopular religion were imprisoned without charges and tortured. I don't think I need to remind you of another time this has happened, I think most people already know.

What has our country sunk to? How did we allow this to happen in our name? This is not the America that I was taught about in school. The America I learned about was one in which we had a legal system which treated all people equally regardless of their race, religion, or nationality. I was told that all people were protected by our Constitution, it didn't matter what the color of their skin was or what their beliefs were. Everyone was supposed to be safe in the knowledge that no government officials would come beating their doors down at night and dragging them off to a secret prison where they would be held without charges and tortured. That was just not supposed to happen in America.

But it has happened. It is happening right now, and is our duty to speak out against it.

It is time to hold people accountable for the crimes they committed in our names. It is time for impeachment. It is time to send people off to the Hague. It is time to stop the shredding of our Constitution and the attack on basic human rights.

I don't want to hear any more excuses about how we don't have the votes to impeach. It is the job of our members of Congress to stand up for what is right, and if they don't have the votes it is their job to try and find the votes. Maybe they won't win every battle, but if they do not at least try to fight the battle then they are allowing these atrocities to happen.

The people who have committed these crimes against humanity should not be allowed finish their terms in office. They need to be removed from office and prosecuted for their crimes. If we allow people to commit acts like these without accountability then we have lost all moral standing. If the laws these people have broken should not be enforced, then what laws should be enforced? These people have committed some of the very worst crimes in American history, and if we allow these criminals not only to commit these crimes without prosecution but also to continue to run the country...well I guess I don't even know what to say. This is not my America.

[madeline_con]

1. One year of 2 terms left. It will NEVER happen.

I'm sorry, but there will be no impeachment. Those we fought so hard to put into office in the midterm elections did not deserve it. :(

spell edit

[Bjorn Against]

2. Well not if they don't even try.

If it doesn't happen we will know who to hold accountable. Not having the votes is not an excuse for not trying to get them.

[tavalon]

9. Impeachment can happen after they leave office

as can indictment for war crimes in the international court. Our work is not finished when these slugs slime their way out of Washington DC.

[balantz]

24. If it comes to that let's hope they actually leave,

and without a fuss. I worry a bit about the next several months with this administration and this Congress. They are so brazen and have set themselves up so well.

[Greyhound]

33. I will bet you $1000 right now that there will be no investigation, indictment, or prosecution

once they are out of office. Most of the criminals have already fled the scene of the crimes and laugh at us every day.

[tavalon]

36. If you want the bet to be over impeachment, no way

I'm more intrigued with what the international community might do. Unfortunately, they've been so used to taking our cue for behavior (even after the Bush/Cheney steamroller should have trained them out of it) that they may take their cue from our next president who may stupidly decide that "healing" is more important.

[blm]

39. Yep - that open government ship sailed when they stole 2004.

We have to HOPE that another Dem will show commitment to open government accountable to the people.

[Greyhound]

43. Sorry, but I have no hope left, whatsoever. This bunch has already proven themselves to be

so incompetent, inept, ostracized, or corrupt, that we are assured of a continuation of the lurch to our destruction.

[blm]

15. We thought Bush1 would go to jail after BCCI report came out in Dec 1992.

What happened> He ran the worst campaign by a president in history and hightailed it out of town and his Dem predecessor deep-sixed all the outstanding matters of his criminal operations throughout the 90s.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/100307.html

Expect Bush2 to get his legacy rewritten the same way if we don't elect more open government Democrats and stop supporting the closed government enablers.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

21. I felt really upset when he later hung out with B1, like, "buddy, buddy", and,...

,...ugly ole' Barb said he was like a 'son'.

:puke: I thought,...well, I cried. Incredible!

[Benhurst]

3. ...

Recommended :bounce: #3

[Blashyrkh]

4. Yet I get laughed at when I call them the Fourth Reich.

[Greyhound]

44. Yeah, well sheep never want to admit that they've become mutton. n/t

[BuyingThyme]

5. That's one beautiful post, MN Against Bush.

Thank you.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Wonderful post, MN-against-Bush!

One thing about it makes me sad--your use of the word "we." I'm afraid that "we" doesn't apply any more, when we are speaking of the U.S. of A. Our rulers are not "we." They have severed themselves from us. And they did so quite deliberately, when they consciously, deliberately and enthusiastically converted our vote counting system from one in which we could SEE the votes counted--and at least argue about them, if there was fraud--to a system run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushites corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls, in which the counting of a our votes is now a PRIVATE CORPORATE ACT that two courts (in Florida) have now ruled that we, the public, have no right to review.

And this was no fascist coup of merely Bushites. Our entire political establishment was involved. None are innocent. Some, like Christopher Dodd, are particularly guilty of the engineering of this coup. Most Democrats voted for it, even more so than voted for the Iraq War. And the others are very guilty of SILENCE, of not warning us, and of colluding with the war profiteering corporate news monopolies at black-holing this, the most important story in the history of our democracy. This WAS the act of Congress that overturned the Declaration of Independence. This WAS the act that ended our sovereignty as a people. We are now merely a client state of global corporate predators--the biggest of all "Banana Republics."

And those who did this are not "we." They are not of us, for us, and by us. And the acts they now commit in our name are not only atrocities, they are without any legitimacy.

There is hardly a member of Congress who can prove that he or she was actually elected. Bush and Cheney, of course, cannot. But it's far worse than a coup in the White House. Our system can deal with that. The coup is nationwide, and goes to the legitimacy of almost every elected official, but clearly--clearly--special attention has been paid to designing a U.S. Congress that refuses to listen to the American people, and will not act in our interest.

I think we need to look at this practically and strategically--and attend to the mechanism of our power, as a people--TRANSPARENT vote counting, vote counting that everyone can see and understand.

[Recursion]

7. My friend teaches Middle Eastern Studies at a high school

She's been questioned by the FBI and kept from boarding planes because she just *teaches* about Arab muslims (she's as Aryan as they come...)

[Bjorn Against]

8. It is truly frightening.

They are trying to demonize one particular race and religion to such an extreme level, and even those who try to teach understanding are targeted. I will say it again, this is not my America.

[tavalon]

10. Gosh, I don't see what the problem is.....

After all, everything worked out just peachy for the Native Americans and the African Americans and I'm told the Japanese considered their internment to be just like summer camp!

And the Jews did okay in Germany............

It's hard to imagine I would need this, but :sarcasm:

[Asgaya Dihi]

11. It isn't all that new

We've been prepared for all of this for years now, through the drug war in large part. The militarization of our police, the us against them mentality, the growth of our prison systems and the lack of concern with actual results. Death rates for cocaine and heroin are up several times since we started to keep records, not down. Prices on cocaine and heroin actually fell adjusted for inflation, and we've built ourselves a record breaking for profit prison industry which has made us the most imprisoned nation in the world.

Targeting a specific race is sort of new, but more in how open we are about it than in the effect. Seen the racial statistics for our justice system recently? Tough on crime played better when it was someone else's kids so that's what we did. http://www.prisonsucks.com

Contrary to popular opinion it isn't really because they commit "more crimes" but that the crimes are dealt with differently in their neighborhoods due to safe school zones being packed so tightly and other oddities of the law. As an example "Mandatory sentencing laws disproportionately affect people of color. African-Americans make up 15% of the country’s drug users, yet they make up 37% of those arrested for drug violations, 59% of those convicted, and 74% of those sentenced to prison for a drug offense." Quote source here http://www.idpi.us/resources/factsheets/mm_factsheet.htm

That's also connected to why the dems have lost so much power in recent decades. Disenfranchised voters number in the millions these days and just happen to be among the same groups who used to vote fairly solidly for the dems. As if that's not bad enough those who are still in custody are transfered as "residents" to the prison towns they are held in to actually ADD political power to their jailers. Some info on that stuff here. http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org

This system and this way of thinking didn't just sneak up on us and it didn't develop overnight. While we were happy with our middle classed lives and our "get tough on everything" mentality we failed to see the results of our policies. We were actually building a system much like it for ourselves. We just didn't realize it. We've now got a tough on everything society. There's no problem a few more kicks in the teeth won't solve. We need to change the way we think as a people and go back decades looking for the roots of our problems. Not just solve a few loopholes in the law which have been abused.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

27. The "zero tolerance" perspective had to eventually envelope us all.

It's just like consumerism,...eventually, consuming ourselves.

This is a really aweful cycle we've created for ourselves.

[DCKit]

12. Hah!! I had this conversation with my S.O. last night.

As a victim of our policies in Central America while growing up, his take is that this is nothing new or different: They've just gone domestic. Everything done overseas to this point was practice toward the final takeover.

However, I do believe we still have a chance, but only if we take it back. No more Repukes, no more DINOs and the corporations need to be kicked out of the political process AND lose the legal protection of "personhood." It won't be easy, but the alternative is a fascist empire few of us would survive, let alone thrive in.

They came for the Muslims, and I did nothing....

[Emit]

13. kick n/t

[balantz]

14. This kind of fact makes me wonder about that vote

yesterday that appeared to a simpleton like myself to be about recognizing Christianity as the state religion. Kinda scary. Anyone have thoughts about that? Or is that vote done, as some have said, every year?

[Virginia Dare]

16. We are also running "re-education camps" in Iraq.....n/t

[Occam Bandage]

17. Aren't they mostly Pashtun, and not Arab?

Minor point in an otherwise excellent post.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

18. I have thought about how the actions closely resemble genocide while acknowledging,...

,...all the actions by this imperialistic cabal has been all about economic power over the whole world. I remember that this cabal is effin' its own, too, in the process of using brutal force to acquire its 'vision'.

Should this cabal be subject to the sword of justice?

Yes.

Will it?

:shrug:

All I want is for the effin' charges to be filed and a full investigation PUBLICLY conducted. THAT would be enough, for me, because I figure THAT would be all it takes to seriously change direction in this country and,...the world.

[malaise]

19. And all of this is being done to steal their oil

It is a major crime against humanity.

[Kurovski]

20. K&R. (nt)

[slipslidingaway]

22. K&R n/t

[dpbrown]

23. Easy... you'll get uuuuuuuuuuused to it eventually. Just following the swinging swastika... sleepy

Then when they're rounding up people for real you'll already be inured... or imprisoned. Either way, it's a "final solution."

:sarcasm:

[LynzM]

25. Excellent post.

And makes a very scary point, which should be made much, much more often. I was listening to an interview with Dahr Jamail on the way home today and thinking about how it's no wonder that the rest of the world, especially the Iraqi citizens, hate us. We deserve it. Call me an America-hater, go ahead, but I don't support our military killing civilians, ever.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

26. What's sad is that most people seem to think it's okay because they're Arabs

THAT'S what scares me more than anything. I've brought this up to many people and rarely hear anyone think it's a bad thing. You would at least find some comfort if the majority of citizens thought it was an abomination.

[defendandprotect]

28. Raised this question myself before --- genocide against Iraqis is clear to me!!!

We've been bombing them for what . . . 12 years before this new attack --- and that's going on 5 years . . . !!!

A half million of their children died after the first Gulf War ---
could you puke when you recall the PARADES!!!

We've destroyed their infrastructure contrary to the rules of war --- United Nations, right?
We've spread depleted uranium all over the place and it's caused genetic damage ---
among other problems.

Now -- 2 million or more dead Iraqis!!!

Yeah --- I call genocide!!!

[defendandprotect]

29. And, at least one recent author -- James Carroll? -- noted the references to a CRUSADE ---

by Bush ---

Has all the earmarks of it ---

PLUS, we've obviously got Israel doing out bidding in the ME ---
remember peace-loving Israel?
Now its right-wing religous fanatics armed to the teeth -- -nukes included!!!
This began long ago with Nixon ---
the peace-lovers are as incapable now of trying to influence their govt as we are!!!





Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Crusade, by James Carroll, Hardcover, REV
Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War (The American Empire Project), Carroll, James Carroll, Hardcover, American ... you say this author had a 'prescient ...
search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?isbn=0805077030 - 46k - Cached

Believe he is also a fromer Catholic priest --

[balantz]

31. Peace lovers are easily lumped in with "the infidels".

The enemy is not just people of Islamic, or Mexican culture, but also anyone who doesn't go along with the fascists' agenda, or anyone who gets in the way of their plan of domination. We American "others" are tolerated because we are paying consumers buying their junk, and a taxable population, including Christians of left-wing philosophy who don't agree with their nationalistic propaganda. That's the way I am seeing it.

[defendandprotect]

32. What I was trying to point to was the question are we controlling Israel . .. ?

And have we been controlling and directing Israel for decades --- ???

[balantz]

37. Apologies for swerving off of your point.

Sometimes I get off track.

:crazy:

[defendandprotect]

38. Well . . . have we simply used right-wing religious fanatics in Israel

the same way we've used right-wing religious fanatics all around the world?

As Brez told us . . .

"WE/US went into Afghanistan 6 months before the Russians .....
in order to bait them in . . . in hopes of giving them a Vietnam-type experience."

In other words, if you failed in VN in your own mind,
then give your enemies a failure!!!

We used the Taliban which we created and later their off-shoot which we created --- Al Qaeda.

And if you're reading about the destroyed tapes --- evidently we used some of these same
9/11 people in Chechyna!!!

[peacetalksforall]

30. It has been so obvious that running propaganda to win supporters, this regime set up hate wars

against Moslems and Mexicans*

Moslems are imprisoned outside the U.S., Mexicans inside the U.S. that it the only difference.

*Mexicans - because of the lack of knowledge of geography and cultures, Central Americans and Haitians are lumped into the category of Mexicans. Panamanians, also, Ecuadoreans.

Both haters of Moslems and Mexicans don't realize that the hate benefits corporations or caused because of corporations and businesses.

[Solly Mack]

34. Thank you

[Fire Walk With Me]

35. Kick, but too late to recommend.

[onenote]

40. sadly, in this regard, today's america isn't that different from yesterday's

Remember, under FDR, the US set up relocation centers and issued orders that every person of Japanese descent (citizen or not) report to them and be housed in them during WWII. No trials, no evidence that they had done anything other than be born to Japanese parents.

Not justifying it. It was wrong then. And the way detentions of "terror suspects" are being handled now also is wrong.

But let's not pretend that somehow what is going on today is entirely different than anything that's gone on before. Its different in degree but not in kind.

[GOPBasher]

41. Wow. How well stated. Great post, and very sad. n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

42. The NeoCons got their playbook from the 12th Century Feudal Europe--"Muslims Enemy"

is what it said, so they decided to role with it. The only difference is they changed "silk and spices" to "oil".