Hyperbole has become fact: Before us all looms the possible destruction of America.

[WilliamPitt]

No, the nation isn't going to blow up on Monday if the Democrats in Congress fail to follow through. We won't fly into space or be swallowed up by the Earth's crust.

No, everything will look exactly the same after America dies. But everything will be different.

America is nothing more or less than an amalgamation of ideas, rights and freedoms. But Americans, in truth, have only those rights they can protect. A right is ink on a paper that has no force or power unless it is defended.

The early outlines of the American idea came from the tyrannical rule of the Stuart Monarchs and their claim of absolute power. These were the people who came up with star chambers, detention without trial, and they obeyed no laws they did not want to. Parliament was a joke to them. Sound familiar?

The other guy who started the idea was John Locke, who chronicled the tyranny of the Stuarts, and was part of the crew that finally threw them out. His books on the subject are basically the bedrock philosophy/blueprint Jefferson used to draft our founding documents. The founders get all the credit, but this republic owes its existence to the hubris of a king and the arguments of his foe.

Thwarting the possibility of an American tyrant was priority #1 for our founders. The rights were great, but would be useless before another Stuart-style monarch.

In short, and here's the ballgame: The rule of law must reign supreme and alone, and no person must ever be allowed to become greater than the law. This simple, radical rule is more vital to this country than the constitution, the bill of rights, or anything else besides. Without the supremacy of the rule of law, it's just a pile of old parchment waiting for the torch.

By declaring himself above and beyond the rule of law in this Executive Privilege thing, George W. Bush has committed the worst act of treason against this country in history. He is attempting to shatter the rule of law, and if he does, America is gone. It'll look the same, but your rights and mine, your constutition and mine, will be granted at the privilege of the monarch. Whatever other laws he has broken pale in comparison to this, because he is trying to murder the idea that is America, and since America is only an idea, he is a traitor beyond compare.

That's the deal for Monday. Oh, yeah, and they need to impeach this guy, Cheney, Gonzo, the ferns in the OEOB and the goddam water in the fountain on the White House lawn. A president who tries to destroy the rule of law in America is nothing more than a criminal of the worst kind, a thief who would steal from all of us that which is precious beyond compare.

Game up, Dems. You can save the rule of law by obeying it, you can save the process by following it, and if you wimp out, it will be your treason as well. Not that it will matter, because treason is against the law, and you will have allowed the rule of law to be rendered moot. An incredible principle of government will turn to dust, and history will damn you for all time.

This is Stalingrad.

Not. One. Step. Back.

[Totally Committed]

1. I am honored to give this recommendation #1!

Excellent piece, Will!

TC

[IChing]

3. #2 good one Will!!!! n/t

[HughMoran]

101. good one ?

It wasn't a putt...

[WilliamPitt]

122. It sorta was.

DU post v. Truthout essay...I did this on the fly, so it was a post. Sunday, I'll take this and turn it into a left-right fade onto the green two feet from the pin...or I'll put it into the goddam lake again.

Either way, it was a putt. :)

[Decruiter]

115. Thank you, Will You have said it and and said it so well.

I persuaded you to go to Crawford in August of 2005. You have been a very loud and strong voice, you have demonstrated to journalists what it is to truly be one. Thank you again.

We are in for trying times, I'm banking on all of you. I love and at the same time I hate how much we believe in the country we call the USofA.

[WilliamPitt]

125. You did indeed.

And I got attacked by fire ants next to the whole national press corps. In the mud. In Texas.

:)

Kidding, that was roundabout the best thing I've ever done in my life. Bringing Scott Galindez was better, because he stayed espite the fire ands, mud and Texas. ;)

But I did walk right past Viggo "LOTR" Mortensen (sp?) while I was there...and by "right past," I mean we chucked shouders passing a tent, like two strangers on a New York street, except it was Crawford, and I own like five of his other non-Hobbit-filled movies, and yeah, I own them too, but I didn't recognize him even after he bumped passed me.

Best: A History of Violence. "I should have killed you back in Philly."

Anyway, it wasn't my fault because...

A) His hair was dyed pumkin orange, which was unexpected ad a damned good disguise, but I remember seeing him later and thinking he looked familiar; and,

B) He was three feet tall and maybe 48 pounds soaking wet with a brick in each pocket. Seriously. He was bitty. All movie stars are bitty. I met Spike Lee, and could have put him in my shirt pocket. :)

How could I possibly know that I could kick Aragorn's ass if I wanted to, not that I ever would because he rules, but I could kick his whole ass because he's about as big as a golf tee. How he lifted a goddam battle sword is a movie mystery.

P.S. Fire ants = your fault. :P

[Decruiter]

183. It was great fun to see you and Scott in the ditch. Sorry about the fire ants,

I would have assumed you both had already been warned.

I accept the fire ant debacle, I just hope there is some degree of forgiveness from both you and Scott, I'm just thrilled that you both listened and came to the ditch in Crawford.

Best of luck to you in the coming fun filled weeks. We'll be here.

[babylonsister]

2. I second your emotions; either way, game over-for them or us. nt

[karlrschneider]

4. Good one as usual. One small bug:

"but you're rights and mine..." should be "your rights"
ks
:kick:

[WilliamPitt]

12. Gracias.

Fixed. Sharp eye you got there. :)

[shadowknows69]

25. I have the apostrophe curse myself

like to stick the damn things everywhere for s'ome reason.

[mzmolly]

38. Oh me to'o, especially with the your/you're thin'g.

I'm also comma, cursed, of, cour'se. ;)

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Dat's what I was trying to tell you!

[mmonk]

6. Great post.

"America is nothing more or less than an amalgamation of ideas, rights and freedoms. But Americans, in truth, have only those rights they can protect. A right is ink on a paper that has no force or power unless it is defended."

Excellent work.

[King Coal]

7. We know, Will. We know.

But thanks for saying it so well, Will.

[Fovea]

8. non passeron

If the Democratic Party fails now, it fails more spectacularly than Dubya, and that is pretty damned hard to do.

[dickbearton]

94. Realpolitik, you are mixed up...

You call yourself Realpolitik and you don't even understand
what real politics is. It is the Criminal Bush and the Corrupt
Republicans that commit High Treason. Without the votes, the
Democrats can only conduct a holding action. I guess it's
pretty damn hard to understand (to much posting not enough
reading) that it's the Corrupt Republicans and Dinos that will
fail spectacularly.

[WilliamPitt]

132. Remember when

a holding action was what we prayed for?

I do. I worked for it 18 hours a day.

It was 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and most of 2007.

Be careful what you wish for.

You might get it, love it, turn on it in two months because the process you fought to defend is too slow for your mood, attack the officials you helped to elect, undermine them, watch them lose in '08 and '12...

...and then work 18 hours a day to get back to that holding action, and maybe feel pretty fucking dumb about killing your own allies, especially if you're pro-choice and stuff, because Graal The Eater of Bloody Snotballs (D-Hell) becomes chairman of the GOP's SCOTUS nominee-search committee as the step-downs loom, and they nominate three Justices who think life begins at the boner but ends at the grunt, and wet spots make the Baby Jesus cry, and you'll see Pelosi watch all this fresh new gotta-make-Will-work-20-more-years-to-fix-it hell unfold, you'll watch her watch this with no gavel power or committee chairmanship or Senate allies ar any real power to stop it, and you'll think, hmm, maybe winning isn't all that bad...

Good ideas on a forum are good ideas on a forum, but good ideas in the chairman's seat are about to be committee proposals, which may become law, which may actually help real people instead of merely being something ranted about, and helping people is sometimes worth putting up with bullshit, because you sleep better knowing you helped people even when you smell like bullshit, believe me, I know.

Realpolitik is good people, btw. Welcome aboard, dickbearton. It's fun here, but only if we win, and only after we try to undo the win, because angst is fun, or something.

:)

[Fovea]

159. Hey Will!

Even when I don't agree with you, I respect the thought and passion you bring to the subject.
And I rarely disagree with you.

I have been a pessimist since 2000. We are now officially off the democracy game board with this latest whopping stark raving mad interp of the scope of executive powers, and if we are to be saved, I suspect that only the essential good nature of the American people is going to do it, because our institutional checks and balances are not responding to either the magnitude of the crisis or the will of the people.

For example, I am worried that after the intertubes community has been screaming at our party to fix the voting nightmare, the meme is being floated that it is not doable before 2008. Yes it is.

I think that this new tack of simply being told what is not possible will not wash with the voters, all of whom saw Katrina. If it is possible to spend a longer term of engagement than WW2 dancing around with our dick in the lightsocket that is Iraq while going in debt deeper to the folks whose potential oil supplier we are occupying, then anything, impeachment, single payer universal healthcare, or transcontinental human powered flight, is possible. 2006 was powered by a massive wave in anticipation of Congress doing its all to end Iraq and the whole hydra's head that is the Bush admin. While we have done some admirable things, we have been tepid at actually performing the mandate of 2006, stopping the friggin war.

Bush now states it un ambiguously, like Cagney leaning out the upper story window and yelling "Come and get me, coppers!" that his DoJ cannot be used against him, in effect, 'l'etat, c'est George Bush.'

The public is trying to return to social and political equilibrium, and to do that, the counervailing motion to the left should not be resisted by the party that styles itself the party of the working American. The hub of American politics is ecentric to its rim currently, and needs to get itself straight. It is not the people who should be conforming to the will of the politicians.

We have hauled the boogie men out into the light where even Faux News can see them. We are watching the paleocons recoil in horror. Karl has broken several of his own techniques from over use. Swift boating is dead. Voter fraud is dead. Barak Obama following George Allen has reduced the penumbra that crypto racism hid under-- now only the dark umbra of overt racism remains to the Repubs. The world is contracting the David Duke republican base via the actuarial curve. The actual political color temperature of America, if you measure non voters is deep blue. 2006 brought a great number of them back to the booth. We can do even better when we show them that we will fight like rabid weasels to get the bill of rights working, and the crap out of the election process. It is what, IMO will keep them coming back. That, and getting labor's back off the canvas.

We have been playing for a diminshing pool of voters out there for so long that we have forgotten why so many do not participate. It is not in their best interest. They work too hard, for too little compared to first world nations to be citizens and advocates. In a nation when election day is not a national holiday, you don't need to know any more than that to know that it is also a nation that disenfranchises the working class. In the face of this, why is it surprizing that so many conservatives think voter suppression an institution, not a crime? Democracy is a difficult and expensive system. But all the market driven political systems cut costs by surpressing choices and cutting wages. Then they lower taxes on the rich for being so rich. That is what you get from a 'CEO President'.

Is there any way to return to traditional American governance under the constitution without due process against the members of PNAC and the Rovians? When the American voter rates Congress with a lower approval rating than the WH, I think that it is not enough to hope for the GOP to die of their own poison first. There is a lot of unhappy facts awaiting America when the news media goes back to work. The Democratic party has an opportunity to lead America. To do that however, it must show itself to be an advocate for the American citizen, and an adversary of preditory capitalism and resource hegemony.

I believe there is no way forward without some bitter medicine for the American political and economic systems. First after the rifles start to cool off should be publically funded, paper ballot elections. K Street needs a massive slap down. We need to get the class war defused. Not punishing the poor and working class for not being rich would, IMO, be a great way to rebuild tolerance in America. Truthout does what the traditional media cannot much do these days, it tells the truth. So does Huffpo, and even in its way, DU. We are like the samizdat, and we are making a difference.

But wouldn't be nice if we could skip all that shooting in the streets? I think it is still possible, if the non investing class American had more demonstrable advocasy in the struggle against the hyper rich. Things are shaping up ugly for our economy, if by economy we mean that classic thing so clearly defined by Smith and Ricardo. Not the currency floating, oil powered ponzi scheme we currently bob upon.

[Fovea]

150. Realpolitik is often used to describe

pessimistic and brutal policies of rulers who define the rule of law as whatever it takes. It is also a joke, because my friends all say that I am not very politic.
But the truth is, the only realpolitik is sustainable policy. Anything else is a holding action against the villagers with torches. And given time, the villagers always win.

The Villagers always win. Sometimes it takes centuries, but heads always end up on fence-posts. The hyper rich faction on the right has painted itself into a corner that the hyper rich faction on the left cannot get them out of. The class war is going hot, and when it does, the puggies will regret not having voted their chimp out of the china shop and off the island a while back. When it does, they will probably arrest him themselves. But that would be like the Nazis offering up Hitler's corpse in 44. Way too little, way too late. America is tapdancing on the precipice. When it goes over, a lot of folks are going to remember back when they could have done something and didn't.

You see, it does not say impeach, only if you are sure you will win. The framers wanted impeachment cheap, legal, and easy to get. And you defeat monkeys stand in the way of the rest of us who have read what the framers said about impeachment at the constitution convention, and are willing to start the ugly thing rolling, because it is the last check on imperial power before the ammo box. Madison and Franklin are the most candid about it. When the second civil war starts right after the secon Great Depression hits, pat yourelves on the back with a machete. Because when we could have used impeachment to demonstrate to the remaining theocons what the neocons were really doing for their God, we didnt. Bush would have been out of office.

And thank you for your ad hominum attack. You might stop to consider in the midst of your patronizing
response that I just might know a rather large amount about government and stuff. But thanks for your critique anyway. I just wish you'd ask youself where we'd be if your logic about impeachment had been the dominant one at Valley Forge.

[John Q. Citizen]

9. Does this mean you are on the impeachment train? Welcome we've been waiting

for your arrival.

Good to have you aboard. If you weren't already.

And you are correct. This isn't about bush/cheney, this is about our constitutional democratic republic. It's bigger by far than bushco and it's bigger than Nancy Pelosi.

Not one step back, indeed!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. Though I Appreciate Your Sentiment, What Indication's There Been That They Wouldn't Follow Through?

Why go into it with a negative type fear that they are about to commit such 'treason'? Haven't their statements and positions in fact given reason to believe that they have no intention of backing down on this issue?

I dunno. Maybe I'm being idealistic, but from what I've seen during this process so far I have nothing but full expectation that they will continue to fight this and stand their ground.

[WilliamPitt]

14. None

I think the deadline is a good sign.

But because the stakes are so very high, I'm not going to feel bad about shouting it out.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

48. Ok. I Can Buy That.

:)

(And yes, what I've read today about it is a bit terrifying in premise)

[LSK]

16. past performance?

:shrug:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

I Think In The Context Of This Situation Their Past Performance Has Shown Commitment.

[BuyingThyme]

57. You're a comedian, right? Impeachment is "off the table" and you

still can't find any reason to believe that they might back down?

What is it that you do to make yourself buy in to this garbage? Really. How does this happen to a person? We need to figure this out. Please think about it and start a thread.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

67. Blah Blah Blah Blah. We Know, We Know. Democrats Suck. Blah Blah Blah. Thanks For Your Concern.

[WilliamPitt]

139. You should start a thread about it.

*ducking, fleeing, laughing ass comprehensively off*

:)

[grasswire]

155. I'm getting awfully tired of this...

....kind of attack on the people, too.

Yes, I mean you.

[niceypoo]

78. Their verbalization has been one thing...

...but in action they have, time and again, been too timid to cross the line that Bush keeps drawing in the sand. I expect a, "strongly worded statement," along with talk of, "compromise," and not much else. The democratic party has shown itself to be the consummate wimp, the right knows this, and by the time the democrats realize things gone too far, it will be too late. On the brighter side, the American people won't stand for it and neither will the military. The American people and the military both Hate bush and all that he stands for. If they do try and seize power it will, in the end, fail and spell the end of the republican party which will have proven itself too dangerous to exist on this planet. Fascism is a relic of 19th and 20th century thinking and, as such, is doomed to fail.

[AJ9000]

116. Don't pin your hopes only on Dems. My hopes are on the massive, growing resistance among the people

Dems may let us down again, but the undeniable grassroots resistance to tyranny will not be easily squelched. Average citizens have started to awaken.

[WilliamPitt]

130. Ten bucks says 20 GOP Senators cross the pond

before the people make effective pushes.

No insult to the people; I'm one, an organizer, and an occasional protester.

But one hundred million billion trillion people in the streets will not make as much change as 20 terrified-of-'08-elections GOP Senators abandoning Bush, and becoming a 67+ veto-proof coalition that can really swing some weight. One hundred million billion trillion people in the streets is exactly one hundred million billion trillion people having a choir-preach throwdown.

When the one hundred million billion trillion person protest comes, or even a one hundred million billion trillion people, and she said, yeah, I'll be outside on the steps with you listening to some Joan Baez cover band...but I'm damned sure gonna check the voting.

One hundred million billion trillion v. 20... = 20 is the winner, cuz one hundred million billion trillion bucks is powerless by comparison.

Why? Be honest.

If having GOPers on board grosses you out, welcome to the club. But there is glittering irony here that, by the way, will save lives...

GOP Senators support war in '03/get ugly in '04/get GOP smug/"political capital"/pro-Iraq polls dwindle/fuck/shit/midterms '06/Conrad Burns lost???/In fucking Montana????/No more majority???/Where's my vagina?/Where did you leave it?/Hey, anyone see a vagina on someone's face around here should find Camille in 3...2...1...

Etc. :)

22 of the 34 Senators running in '08 are GOP...Reid keeps calling withdrawal votes, forcing these soon-to-runners to vote against the hugely popular withdrawal...

...they vote with Bush, we win 15+ seats, end the war, nominate SCOTUS judnes who will repair American/human rights...

...or you can go to bed, wake up knowing we've only gotten back to zero per Saturday time, get back to work, die 60+ years later with the rest of us and work unfinished, and why were you reborn as billy goat, you munch grass, pee, poop, munch grass again, stand on ground, die, return as some other dude seeking goatish wisdom...His name is Bzltrfgfghqwdr, but the spelling is "rfgfgh"...straight on out?

...Lather, rinse, repeat.

We're all dead, sooner or later, and nobody should be in this fight for the gratification of grandstanding (as I was, for a bit, giving speeches and rallies and campaign appearances like mad, until I'd traveled 100,000 miles with 300,000 left to go), and no, you don't ever want to be famous, and P.S. D-List fuckwads like me only get the groupies for the groupies who mow the lawns of the groupie's groupies, so basically I'd rather gnaw my own balls off than have anyone outside my immediate sphere know my name.

Oh, wait, it's WilliamPitt, my actual name!

Hee.

:)

[lyonn]

164. It is the "Wlliam Pitts" of Bloggerville that will change peoples'

thinking. And must include many on this site that are helping get the word out.

[AntiFascist]

168. I agree...

having well-respected Reaganites on the impeachment bandwagon is an incredible help, and will eventually sink in with the paleo-moderate Republican voters, and eventually many of the Republican senators...but TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

[AJ9000]

177. I'm not sure we disagree. If some Repubs "cross the pond" it will be because

of a massive grassroots resistance against this administration and its policies that has evolved in some part b/c of you, me and people like us.

But anyone who puts all their hopes with the Dems is in for disappointment and should know better. Hell, if they win in 08, and I hope they do, many may want to keep these massive governmental powers accumulated under the Bush administration.

Dems need to be pushed along in the right direction too.

[melody]

11. No hyperbole involved -- and this was always their intention

They came to destroy us and they did.

[LSK]

13. why is this so hard for Congress to understand?

:banghead:

[lyonn]

165. Why for sure, I keep thinking that I must be missing something??

That was my thinking during the vote to attack Iraq - What am I missing here? Do they know something that many of us didn't? Protest all over the world and yet they voted to give george the power to attack.

We all now know that impeachment is necessary. Plame being accused of not being a covert agent? People sat for nearly a week in New Orleans with no food or water and now they are truly been abandoned so, it seems, Corps. can come in and steal the land? And the biggie, Iraq.

[AntiFascist]

15. This is SERIOUS...

people with guns don't appreciate treasonous leaders. 2nd Amendment.

[WilliamPitt]

17. Treasonous leaders don't appreciate people with guns.

Royalist privilege. :)

[Bluerthanblue]

31. excellent post-

and note the founding fathers weren't big on having a "standing army".

Which would kind of emasculate a treasonous leader.

They were trying to think of everything~ we haven't always listened well.

Thanks for this reminder and thought provoker Mr.Pitt.

peace,
blu

[Vilis Veritas]

112. And those leaders are impotent to do anything about them guns.

That is why America will never "go quietly into that good night", regardless of what happens on Monday...

[Swamp Rat]

18. E Pluribus Unum

[Disturbed]

28. I still have hope that Rep. Conyers will do what needs to be

done. Inherent Contempt is the remedy now.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. Are things really this crazy, Will?

Or is it just the resonance here in the DU echo chamber?

It's hard to tell from this perspective.

[LSK]

22. well, Harriet Myers was subpoenaed to testify by Congress..

A person who has been nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice...

A person who did not show up...

Now I am writing the Whereas clauses for Congress...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. Yeah. It's outrageous.

I know that. You know that. Everybody knows that. But what's really happening?

[LSK]

26. Bush is pushing pushing pushing to see how much more he can do

[WilliamPitt]

30. I have developed a good resistance to the chamber

and I haven't been on DU all day. I'm lining up constitutional law experts and congressional staffers to talk this through, but I can do the math. The fact that they're fucking around with the Big Screw that holds it all together is astonishing and terrifying. The Framers wrote DO NOT TOUCH EVER on it in bright red ink, and for a reason.

A republic, said Ben Franklin, if you can keep it. Since he helped create it, his uncertainty on it's survival carries weight. It has always been fragile. If power is gathered by those with no respect for the rule of law, the threat is elemental and vast.

[Labors of Hercules]

156. The threat is no longer a threat...

I was astounded that Bush would go this far to consolidate judicial power to his "executive priviledge". I don't know if you agree, but the irony seems to be that Bush is using the same criminal tactics that Congress is investigating, to try and block Congress from investigating... I would call that the straw that breaks the camel's back.

My gut reaction was to look to the Capital and ask for a powerful response. I don't know what that should be, but it must be decisive and immediate.

[havocmom]

20. Mr. Pitt, when will it be up at Truthout?

Can we send links to our reps?

Thank you. Most eloquent and blunt. Somewhere, the shade of Mr. Paine is nodding.

[WilliamPitt]

33. Monday morning, maybe

This is just me venting, but an essay on this will be up.

Thanks, that was really nice.

[AntiFascist]

50. One thing regarding Pelosi...

it would be most poignant if a large body of her own constituents were to contact her pointing at this essay, or any other powerful arguments supporting action to defend democracy.

[conscious evolution]

21. Thank you.

[hootinholler]

23. Enough JustUs!

Impeach and restore Justice.

-Hoot

[jus_the_facts]

27. Thank You....

[RobertDevereaux]

29. One more typo...

Change "it's existence" to "its existence," please.

Then ship it!

[shadowknows69]

34. apostrophe curse

for a writer is there anything worse? Oh yeah, what I have all the time. Writer's block.

[RobertDevereaux]

36. Are you sure...

...you don't mean writers block? :^)

[shadowknows69]

37. I don't even know anymore

I wish I could afford a full time editor. It's the grammar and seplling that gos furst whin your oldar.

[thereismore]

44. no. writers' block. Ha. nt

[antigop]

32. Thank you, Will.

My father was a WWII vet. He went through his adult life with only one leg. Every step he took was painful. He died an early death because of his war injuries.

It's a damn outrage that the country that he (and all the other vets) fought for is going down the toilet if the Dems don't do their frickin' job.

[Richard Steele]

35. Not one step back. recommended.

[hootinholler]

39. Um, what did I miss about Monday?

Why is Monday so important?

-Hoot

[WilliamPitt]

40. Deadline

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=609

[hootinholler]

43. Thanks.

I wasn't sure if something else happened, I didn't connect that letter with your post.

I think it's good that J.C. used the phrase inherent contempt in the letter.

Let me know when you're in town again.

-Hoot

[mnhtnbb]

105. The question is: what is "appropriate recourse"?

[WilliamPitt]

128. If I answered that question,

I'd be in trouble.

:)

It took two years to get Nixon, because America is that process we're trying to restore. Strap inb, wear a helmet, pack a lunch, and don't worry, you'll have company.

:toast:

[DinahMoeHum]

41. Thanks, Will. Think it's time to open that dreaded "4th box" of democracy?

You know, the 1) soapbox, 2) ballot box, 3) jury box, 4) (you know what)

Should we get the torches, pitchforks, tar, and feathers ready?

Because I'm getting the feeling something drastic is gonna explode. I feel the pent-up anger everywhere.

:nuke::nuke::nuke:

[The Traveler]

42. That surreal feeling

that comes when the features of a nightmare solidify from the mists and take concrete form as you wake ... Yes. That is the best way I can describe how I have been feeling recently.

You have stripped all these issues down to their barest essentials. The rule of tyrants is the inevitable consequence of the usurpation of rule of law. An America so ordered is indeed no longer America. Those in our government who conspire and act to usurp the rule of law are indeed criminals and traitors, for they directly attack the foundation of culture and our way of life.

"Not. One. Step. Back"

Good words for these times, Will.

Trav

[radfringe]

45. IMPEACH THE F*CKERS

OH, YEAH, AND A K&R

[Oilwellian]

46. And there you have it in a nutshell...

well said Will Pitt. :thumbsup:

[Uncle Joe]

47. Well said, WilliamPitt

:thumbsup:

Kicked and recommended

[PA Democrat]

49. Nicely done, Will.

Congress has reached the point of no return. If they fail to act, this country is forever changed. I don't even want to think about the possibilities.

[barbtries]

51. beautiful,

concise, precise, exactly fucking right.

[whistle]

52. That does include of course all democrats and any one else who

...wishes to join the fight. Interesting that you should use Stalingrad as the historical reference. I commend you for that insight. Thank you William :kick:

[The_Commonist]

53. I feel I must sign this.

Nothing in my lifetime is as important as getting these people out of power, permanently, and by any means necessary. Do they even understand what they are doing? Do they have a clue? Why would someone like Dick Cheney, who had every opportunity that a human being can have on this planet, want to ruin the foundation of freedom that gave him everything he has? Is it simply madness? I can't think of any other answer.

I watched V for Vendetta last night. We must call the war on Iraq "America's War." Once we fail in our occupation there, we must be prepared for the civil war here. We had everything and it wasn't enough. I am ready to don the mask. I no longer fear. I am ready to pull the lever.

[WritersBlock]

54. Agree wholeheartedly.

By declaring himself above and beyond the rule of law in this Executive Privilege thing, George W. Bush has committed the worst act of treason against this country in history. He is attempting to shatter the rule of law, and if he does, America is gone. It'll look the same, but your rights and mine, your constutition and mine, will be granted at the privilege of the monarch. Whatever other laws he has broken pale in comparison to this, because he is trying to murder the idea that is America, and since America is only an idea, he is a traitor beyond compare.

Well said. Thank you.

[defendandprotect]

55. We need open e-mail addresses for all representatives ---

keep asking for them . .. they've only made some slight changes --

They don't want to be open to the flood of mail they know will come pouring in --

Telephone them when you can -- but obviously there are times when you have to use the ridiculous web pages --

[Harry Monroe]

56. We'll soon see who the true patriots are...

...and who is not.

[BuyingThyme]

58. kcik

[proud patriot]

59. "The rule of law shall reign supreme"

:patriot:

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. It is not hyperbole anymore

the republic is dead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1390941

[Vilis Veritas]

117. No frickin' way.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-- Dylan Thomas

[jhrobbins]

61. Jeez, I don't know why all you folks are getting so 'excitable' here -

we're only talking about the demise of the 'noble experiment' of American democracy.

[petgoat]

107. And we weren't using it anyway. nt

[LanternWaste]

62. You're one of the best out there, Will. Keep it up!

You're one of the best out there, Will. Keep it up!

(have you ever thought about, y'know... well, running for office? Congressional rep or something along those lines. It's rhetorical question, by the way-- designed to awaken your subconscious in the wee hours of the morning and then realize how good an idea it could be...)

[Beam Me Up]

63. They've been breaking the law since before getting into office . . .

so what else is new? We let them get away with everything, including murder in broad day light.

There's a reason why societies have laws against things like murder and there is a reason why you don't dare let criminals get away with breaking such a law with impunity. Once they know they can, there is no stopping them without the spilling of blood.

We didn't just arrive at this historical juncture -- we've been here since 9/11 and before. That is a LONG time to let them get away with it. Why would they think they can't continue to? All they need is one more provocation and you can kiss even the semblance of a republic goodbye.

[Prophet 451]

64. Might as well start fitting Chimpy for a crown then

I agree with everything you say but I'm afraid I've lost hope that anything will be able to reign in the maniacs. The rule of law has failed, the Constitution has failed, the SCOTUS would fail (if they ruled against Chimpy, which they won't) and the Congressional Dems have neither the cojones nor numbers to stop them. That 25% or so would support Jack The Ripper if he had an (R) after his name, impeachment is off the table for all time apparently, the media is in bed with the people they're supposed to be watching. Laws only work when people respect them. There is no law for the incorrigibly lawless.

Sorry to be such a downer but I've pretty much given up now.

[BuyingThyme]

65. The Constitution has not failed. It is under attack by Nancy Pelosi.

Get rid of Pelosi, save the nation. Do it now.

[Prophet 451]

66. It's failed

Pelosi is just the icing on teh cake, most of teh BoR has been thrown out and BushCo was shredding it before Pelosi ever turned up.

Apologies for typos, I'm drinking heavily.

[grasswire]

157. stop it, now

You are a party to it.

[treestar]

68. This is great, really succinct

George W. Stuart must go! Along with the ferns and the fountain and Cheney and the rest of these thugs.

[Wednesdays]

69. Exactly...either the Revolution will not be televised

or the Coup will not be televised. Either way, the M$M won't cover it, but the next few months will tell whether it's a Revolution or a Coup.

[puebloknot]

70. Your most eloquent yet! It's down to sticks and stones for justice! nt

[Ghost Dog]

71. Please allow me to quote, at length (non-copyright)

(and I'm a Brit) Fidel Castro on this subject (Source) - for the sake of good food for thought (and, if thus necessary, action):

...The right of rebellion against tyranny, Honorable Judges, has been recognized from the most ancient times to the present day by men of all creeds, ideas and doctrines.

It was so in the theocratic monarchies of remote antiquity. In China it was almost a constitutional principle that when a king governed rudely and despotically he should be deposed and replaced by a virtuous prince.

The philosophers of ancient India upheld the principle of active resistance to arbitrary authority. They justified revolution and very often put their theories into practice. One of their spiritual leaders used to say that 'an opinion held by the majority is stronger than the king himself. A rope woven of many strands is strong enough to hold a lion.'

The city states of Greece and republican Rome not only admitted, but defended the meting-out of violent death to tyrants.

In the Middle Ages, John Salisbury in his Book of the Statesman says that when a prince does not govern according to law and degenerates into a tyrant, violent overthrow is legitimate and justifiable. He recommends for tyrants the dagger rather than
poison.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica, rejects the doctrine of tyrannicide, and yet upholds the thesis that tyrants
should be overthrown by the people.

Martin Luther proclaimed that when a government degenerates into a tyranny that violates the laws, its subjects are released from their obligations to obey. His disciple, Philippe Melanchton, upholds the right of resistance when governments become despotic. Calvin, the outstanding thinker of the Reformation with regard to political ideas, postulates that people are entitled to take up arms to oppose any usurpation.

No less a man that Juan Mariana, a Spanish Jesuit during the reign of Philip II, asserts in his book, De Rege et Regis Institutione, that when a governor usurps power, or even if he were elected, when he governs in a tyrannical manner it is licit for a private citizen to exercise tyrannicide, either directly or through subterfuge with the least possible disturbance.

The French writer, François Hotman, maintained that between the government and its subjects there is a bond or contract, and that the people may rise in rebellion against the tyranny of government when the latter violates that pact.

About the same time, a booklet - which came to be widely read - appeared under the title Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, and it was signed with the pseudonym Stephanus Junius Brutus. It openly declared that resistance to governments is legitimate when rulers oppress the people and that it is the duty of Honorable Judges to lead the struggle.

The Scottish reformers John Knox and John Poynet upheld the same points of view. And, in the most important book of that movement, George Buchanan stated that if a government achieved power without taking into account the consent of the people, or if a government rules their destiny in an unjust or arbitrary fashion, then that government becomes a tyranny and can be divested of power or, in a final recourse, its leaders can be put to death.

John Althus, a German jurist of the early 17th century, stated in his Treatise on Politics that sovereignty as the supreme authority of the State is born from the voluntary concourse of all its members; that governmental authority stems from the people and that its unjust, illegal or tyrannical function exempts them from the duty of obedience and justifies resistance or rebellion.

Thus far, Honorable Judges, I have mentioned examples from antiquity, from the Middle Ages, and from the beginnings of our times. I selected these examples from writers of all creeds. What is more, you can see that the right to rebellion is at the very root of Cuba's existence as a nation. By virtue of it you are today able to appear in the robes of Cuban Judges. Would it be that those garments really served the cause of justice!

It is well known that in England during the 17th century two kings, Charles I and James II, were dethroned for despotism. These actions coincided with the birth of liberal political philosophy and provided the ideological base for a new social class, which was then struggling to break the bonds of feudalism. Against divine right autocracies, this new philosophy upheld the principle of the social contract and of the consent of the governed, and constituted the foundation of the English Revolution of 1688, the American Revolution of 1775 and the French Revolution of 1789. These great revolutionary events ushered in the liberation of the Spanish colonies in the New World - the final link in that chain being broken by Cuba. The new philosophy nurtured our own political ideas and helped us to evolve our Constitutions, from the Constitution of Guáimaro up to the Constitution of 1940. The latter was influenced by the socialist currents of our time; the principle of the social function of property and of man's inalienable right to a decent living were built into it, although large vested interests have prevented fully enforcing those rights.

The right of insurrection against tyranny then underwent its final consecration and became a fundamental tenet of political liberty.

As far back as 1649, John Milton wrote that political power lies with the people, who can enthrone and dethrone kings and have the duty of overthrowing tyrants.

John Locke, in his essay on government, maintained that when the natural rights of man are violated, the people have the right and the duty to alter or abolish the government. 'The only remedy against unauthorized force is opposition to it by force.'

Jean-Jaques Rousseau said with great eloquence in his Social Contract: 'While a people sees itself forced to obey and obeys, it does well; but as soon as it can shake off the yoke and shakes it off, it does better, recovering its liberty through the use of the very right that has been taken away from it.' 'The strongest man is never strong enough to be master forever, unless he converts force into right and obedience into duty. Force is a physical power; I do not see what morality one may derive from its use. To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will; at the very least, it is an act of prudence. In what sense should this be called a duty?' 'To renounce freedom is to renounce one's status as a man, to renounce one's human rights, including one's duties. There is no possible compensation for renouncing everything. Total renunciation is incompatible with the nature of man and to take away all free will is to take away all morality of conduct. In short, it is vain and contradictory to stipulate on the one hand an absolute authority and on the other an unlimited obedience ...'

Thomas Paine said that 'one just man deserves more respect than a rogue with a crown.'

The people's right to rebel has been opposed only by reactionaries like that clergyman of Virginia, Jonathan Boucher, who said: 'The right to rebel is a censurable doctrine derived from Lucifer, the father of rebellions.'

The Declaration of Independence of the Congress of Philadelphia, on July 4th, 1776, consecrated this right in a beautiful paragraph which reads: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it and to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.'

The famous French Declaration of the Rights of Man willed this principle to the coming generations: 'When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for them the most sacred of rights and the most imperative of duties.' 'When a person seizes sovereignty, he should be condemned to death by free men.'

...

[bagrman]

72. Here's what you do. Copy this and send it to everyone in your address book. Then,

now this will take a little more work, get them to print it out and send it to their Representatives. I know it will be hard because you also need to do it, I know it's a lot of work, but what are your other choices.

Latr

[bagrman]

75. Heres where you get their address.

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

[AikidoSoul]

73. Just finished reading Al Gore's book, "Assault on Reason" last night

He laid out numerous Bush / Cheney behaviors that are rapidly disintegrating the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Rule of Law.

Did you know that fewer than 7% of the U.S. population even knows the barest rudimentary details about the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Supreme Court?

If the public is not educated to value these -- how can we ever expect to keep and maintain our Democracy?

I'm more than just a little worried.

Even though Will Pitt has written a great article, I have the feeling that his readership is a tiny fraction of the choir making up that 7%.

[AikidoSoul]

74. And another K & R for Mr. Pitt -- N/T

[tom_paine]

76. And those of us who saw this coming from Day One were mocked and scorned

by those who couldn't or wouldn't see it.

Now it is here. Not yet Crunch Time, but that thing that makes Crunch Time all the more a future reality.

I will say again what I have been saying basically since April 2001, when I fiorst posted on DU.

This is not just another iteration in the normal life of American politics. It is Hitler vs. Reichstag or Caesar vs. The Roman Senate.

[nadinbrzezinski]

82. We are still mocked and sconed

There is no doubt about it

[WilliamPitt]

86. By who?

[tom_paine]

89. Could that possibly be a serious question, Will?

I am trying not to get :grr: :mad: :argh: but are you SERIOUS?!?

Let's see, within the realm of DU, in which one would have expected support for such "radical" ideas of where CheneyBush were taking us to be highest (and I suppose that is true, even still), many MANY people pooh-poohed any talk of the "hyperbole" that is now reality, and many did much more than that.

I would say, Will (and no offense, you have done so much to fight the tyranny that is coming that this is a mild criticism at best) that you were one of them, as recently as late 2006, I think.

nadinbresinski is correct, it is still happening even at this late date, when the implications, visible as only small flickers in 2001, when I first said this was not just another normal iteration of American politics and things like "the pendulum cannot swing back if the clock is broken" (that now read as prophesy, almost), are now big as Las Vegas neon signs.

And that's at DU, let alone any normal mixed public gathering, where the mention of such concepts makes one appear as if they are speaking jibberish or fit for a mental institution, for the most part.

Never underestimate human denial. It is one of the most powerful forces in the world. These last six years have been such an education to me on so many levels. I now fully understand the dynamic which brought Hitler to power, from living inside of it, and that is something I have said since 2001 that I have been mocked and disparage for being a tinfoiller for saying.

Again, I ask, can your question possibly be a serious one? You don't know what I am talking about?

Yes, you do.

[nadinbrzezinski]

91. I know I do

I encounter them all the time.

Here on DU...

Folks who poo-poo palast's work, hold it they don't know who palast is

People who poopoo the idea that we have been let down by the jelly fishes we "elected"

People who poppoo the road to power that this administration has taken.

Oh and like you I now fully understand how Hitler came into power

And as many Germans who thought they were free, there are still many Americans, even here on DU... whistling past the grave... and thinking they're free.

The events of the last 24 hours (and the responses) have convinced me that this country will only go back to normal after the long night... and nothing of the darkness of the last six years has prepared most for the absolute night that is comming....

There will be American blood flowing on American streets before this is over

And... I don't expect the simulacrum of the country to survive this either.

As is, the last 24 hours were the last nail on whatever remained of the Republic, especially after the responses I have gotten from our jelly fishes in the last 24 hours.

Elections? They will only happen if they can continue to maintain the illusion... otherwise... the boy who told us he wanted to be dictator since it would be oh far easier, is about to take the final steps into infamy.

As to names, I could mention them... but why bother? They know who they are.

Oh and I have not felt this hopeless ever, not even after the 2004 "elections"

[WilliamPitt]

93. Yeah, I do now.

Sorry, bro. It's been a long day and a long week.

:cheers:

[nadinbrzezinski]

95. Here you go

:hug:

We all need it

[Beetwasher]

142. You And I Both, Brother

I remember some conversations we had from the beginning. "People don't steal elections to do good things." We've been on it from day one. Damn, I hate being right.

[KoKo]

192. Will's just all over the place today... you just got in on it.

Anyway...I agree with what you say...about the seriousness when one cuts through the fluff about what what we are going through.

[mmonk]

140. We still are tom_paine, still are.

Some have not fully understood the bush administration's full intent of challenging and changing the system. Those of us who have screamed for impeachment once we got the majority have continually been pushed as extreme. Some of us see the danger in a wait out the term strategy for in such a strategy, one may wake up to the day the game has changed beyond repair. Sometimes one is called on to act and it doesn't fall to someone else later.

[givemebackmycountry]

77. Will, I love you dude...

But, you scare the shit out of me more than anyone else in this humble community.
I'm an old Irish asshole from New York City who has seen it all and lived through it all.
You make me want to punch people out.

We ain't done yet, but we're close.

Great post Will, as I say to Bart.

Keep Hammerin'

Maybe one day people will wake up.
I fear it may be too late.

Kicked and all that shit...

[Cosby]

79. Superb. just one tiny correction...

you might want to change 'constutition'.

This stands at the pinnacle of a mountain of stellar work.

God! I pray the Legislative Branch doesn't fail us.

[Pachamama]

80. I haven't logged online or listened to the news since last night - What's coming Monday??

:shrug:

I agree with everything Will said above and frankly I've had chills lately about what is going on and am getting very worried.

But what's Monday? Is there some specific hearing or event?

[WilliamPitt]

84. See post 40 above

Deadline from Conyers.

[blues90]

81. I look around and

Everything still looks the same yet it sure feels different .

If we do fall into this madness any deeper then I would imagine there will be some visable changes , perhaps we will all have uniforms or tracking implant scars .

There will be a hell of alot more people living on the streets in tents or under the subway . Unless those of us who fall victim to the wave of horror are eliminated .

[ClayZ]

83. Bravo! Well said! K and R

:kick:

[hfojvt]

85. Sorry Will, it's the Clenis' fault

Rule of Law was already destroyed when Democrats refused to hold Clinton accountable for his perjury. That's how Republicans see it. On the next day, Paul Harvey quoted a letter writer from Nebraska who said "So long America, you were great while you lasted."

It was hyperbole then and it's hyperbole now. For Bush to defy Congress is not seen as a rule of Law. Law needs to be non-partisan, decided by a huge majority, not just the party faithful. Republican voters have to see it as a breach of law. Otherwise one party is just harrassing the other branch, because they don't like his policies.

Convince the Republicans Will, not the choir.

[WilliamPitt]

87. Ah, OK

"Convince the Republicans Will, not the choir."

And you're here...why? Posting...why? Offering opinions...why?

Yeesh.

P.S., you have to preach to the choir, because that's how you get them to sing. See above. :)

[Jim Sagle]

103. RNC hogwash!

[Warren DeMontague]

88. No shit. I looked in my paper today, and it got one paragraph on page 4.

"Oh, by the way, the President just asserted that the Executive Branch answers to no one".

I agree, Will. This is Big, and it's upsetting as hell.

[Virginia Dare]

90. So, is that all there is?

Is that all there is?

Well, if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing, let's break out the booze, and have a ball!!

[me b zola]

92. k&r

[lonestarnot]

96. But you sure didn't mess up anything here!

:toast: :patriot:

[Generator]

97. I hope you mean it

I hope you (finally) understand some things are actually more important than election 2008. As I posted if the Dems don't win or even do win-eventually somewhere the precedent of (assuming a Dem didn't use it for any nefarious means) absolute executive power WILL be used and it has the potential to make the last six years look like a couple of just bad days compared to the future horrors they could unleash.

I fear for the future. I almost wish I didn't know. Northing's changed, everything LOOKS the same, but damn it all, I KNOW it's not. Ignorance will not save me.

[WilliamPitt]

100. Combine two thoughts in your post.

And, to be clear, I'm not fucking with you at all. This is how I have to think about this shit. My job doesn't allow me to have less than five horrid crises on my plate at a time.

1. "I hope you (finally) understand some things are actually more important than election 2008."

2. "I fear for the future."

We have to win in 2008 because a lot of the future in this country, a lot of freedoms and economic repairs and salvage jobs, are going to happen only if we fix the Supreme Court.

It isn't a football game for me. I don't (finally) get it, I always have, but I also know that if we don't win, we're another grandstanding progressive in the coffee shop whose great ideas won't ever get out the door. We have to win, and that sucks, but the future depends on it. 22 GOP Senators are running next year with Bush and Iraq stapled to their foreheads, and if we grab them, we will have a massive majority that will be there if a GOPer wins next year, and will still be there even if a dem gets beat for a second term in '12. Veto-proof majority. The future.

:toast:

[Warren DeMontague]

98. Kicked and Rec'd, by the way. nt

[Martin Eden]

99. if only ... IF ONLY ...

IF ONLY the rest of our once great nation understood what was at stake here.




recommended.

[truedelphi]

102. Wow! Let me pause while I applaud

Masterful wording.

Also concise

Only thing is, I wish it were not so, that all of us could kindly point out you are delusional and that maybe you are having a nightmare.

But the nightmare is the reality.

[ooglymoogly]

104. Nom for a great piece nt

[emmadoggy]

106. A hearty K & R, Will. Not. One. Step. Back.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[BigBearJohn]

108. Worthy of Keith Olbermann -- Hope you dont mind my sending him the link

[texpatriot2004]

109. Congress, stand your ground unto the gates of hell nm

[northofdenali]

110. Bookmarked, emailed, K&R -

I'm saving this one, Will - in Word, so I can print out mucho copies and hand them out to friends and, especially, foes.

[Laurab]

111. K and R

this is a frightening time - your posts usually make me feel better about things, or see them in a more positive way. Not this one, nonetheless it's fact, and I fear for this country even more than I have over the past few years. They have been pushing and pushing for a constitutional crisis, and we HAVE to do something now or we'll be watching our "king" be crowned and ruling for life.

[Vilis Veritas]

113. More like the Battles of Lexington and Concord...

As for Stalingrad...I can see the reason for the reference...

Lexington happens if the paper tiger approach fails...;-)

Not. One. Step. Back.

Peace.

edited for clarity...I get foggy at three in the morning...

[Seabiscuit]

114. So, do you think the Dems will continue to "wimp out" or do you see fundamental changes

at work in Congress?

In your answer, could you at least please elaborate a bit, instead of simply making a few declarative utterances?

BTW, the Constitution does not pale compared to the "rule of law". The "rule of law" derives from the Constitution. And the influences on Jefferson's outlook were far greater and far more expansive than the narrow influence you've described.

[DeSwiss]

118. BRAVO FUCKING BRAVO!!!!!

I'm saving this.



K & RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

[EndlessMaze]

119. We need to take over by being volunteers

Hey Will,

This year, my Daughter Hannah, used your book "House of Ill Repute" for her 10th grade AP English Controversial Subject report. She got an A.

Anyway, if we are ever to pull our selves out from this mess...

I believe that we each need to pick something that we care about and go do something about it, and include the perpetrators in the process.

I am a volunteer.

I have volunteered myself to go out and do charity. Not to overthrow, but to "under through". That means to go and confront the ignorant right, right where they are, and engage them in their own fallacies, and help them to think it through for themselves, all the while, working hard to help people, regardless of your, or their political, or religious beliefs.

It actually works, and I have personally helped take back over our "environmental organization" up here in the mountains in So. Cal. from a crew of Evangelical Right Wing GWB loving folks, that did not even know what happened to them when we did it. And they supported it!!!!

I firmly believe that acting locally is the way to go. GWB has no standing, the war in Iraq is what it is, for all Americans to see in all of it's horrible dimensions, and the repuklikkinz, when you talk to then as a neighbor about that, are fed up, and ready to learn.

Let's go get 'em!!!!

[WilliamPitt]

133. I swear

I have never been more honored in my life.

"This year, my Daughter Hannah, used your book "House of Ill Repute" for her 10th grade AP English Controversial Subject report. She got an A."

Her work, not mine, buit holy wow.

I was a 10th grade dean and teacher of English.

I'm floored.

Thank you. Now, I have written something that was used in a classroom. That's exactly the best I can possibly do.

:hug: and :hug: for Hannah.

[Phredicles]

176. "House of Ill Repute" - I just read that book. Thank you for writing it!

And thanks for the OP here, too.:applause:

[krispos42]

120. What happens Monday?

It'a a very impassioned speech. Very powerful, very pointed, love the Stalingrad reference at the end. But what is scheduled for Monday?

I work too far north now to get Air America Minnesota, so except for the DU, KO, TDS, and TCR I'm out of the loop. Ten hours a day of AAR... missing. :-(

[WilliamPitt]

121. See post 40

[krispos42]

123. Ahhhhh.....

Federal grand jury for the offenders...

Oh, this should be good. Let's get the trials rolling! This would be, what, the 3rd 'box' we're opening up now?

Damn, I hope this resolves itself before the 4th box opens.

And for God's sake, get to bed! It's late! You'll need your energy to get some more excellent writing done! :P

[EndlessMaze]

126. I agree impeach is the way, but volunteer also

Gosh,

I hope that Congress will do the right thing and impeach the inchimperator in chief-if-ness. I have sent numerous email to my idiotic, and most likely criminal, Congressman Jerry Lewis, about his duties, and responsibilities. Only sporadic canned impertinent responses.

I can only do what I can do, and that is to use my brain around here with the local folks.

And it is turning...
yes it's turning 'round here.
Volunteer and you will see, how easy it can be,
to take this Krap over from the bottom..
and turn it over to democracy. :-)

[bridgit]

127. welcome to du, EndlessMaze...

:)

[EndlessMaze]

131. Thanks Bridgit

I've been reading these posts for quite a while. Now I gotta, Izz gotta let it out...

:-)

[WilliamPitt]

138. You rule.

Great poem, Best. Sig Line. EVER.

Welcome aboard. :toast:

[bridgit]

124. Were 'Hyperbole' to have it's druthers it would that it would become fact by default if no other...

so that these mentions, "simple, radical rule (of law I think it is being suggested itself tinged with a percentile of hyperbole) more vital to this country than the constitution, the bill of rights, or anything else besides" with this one in particular at least for me, "or anything else besides" begging the tip point beside random's plaintiff tones, there being a good many laws previous to this wannabe-tyrant-boy king-caesar's entrance extreme stage right already stupid & beyond some pale somewhere to be sure nea...

they are there writ, it seems to me, within 'the world of the four corners' as well it should be: the common laws tagged, laced, embraced & embroidered with the filigree strands of powdered wigs beside still loftier French poetries (cause maybe a people so near to right thinking as regards love & human intercourse should be engaged thus) as to freedoms & liberties in a world, and american world where it is best when the one supports the other; is 'freedom' more important than 'liberty', 'liberty' more important than 'freedom', does 'equal justice for all' trump all comers, or where any such is thought to be the case aren't those the thoughts of usurpers to all oh yeah,

it is a grand pursuit to toss some old coot's tea in the bay when better to knock both he & his stoic, poker faced diplomat off their collective, state sanctioned chrome horse but this too will pass can you not feel it, my concern is this:

when dems are become returned...will even they be seen performing likewise i hope not,

will they be seen dog earing one of those four corners? two?

will they be seen folding & stapling, redacting?

will they be seen in line @ Kinko's, re-inventing new rubber stamps for newer still infringements?

the future is here today, the revolution was televised, but pulled for lack of viewership

[dEMOK]

129. The most important thing you said...

In short, and here's the ballgame: The rule of law must reign supreme and alone, and no person must ever be allowed to become greater than the law. This simple, radical rule is more vital to this country than the constitution, the bill of rights, or anything else besides. Without the supremacy of the rule of law, it's just a pile of old parchment waiting for the torch...

Nixon resigned because he violated the rule of law. Cheney loyally served under Nixon & hated Nixon's demise. Cheney has worked tirelessly to this day to restore (Nixon style) absolute power to the executive branch.

It's imperative that Cheney must now be held as equally accountable to the rule of law as Nixon was.

[mmonk]

134. Though I already read this and commented about it, I had to

read it again. So good and on point. One of the best posts on our situation I've seen in GD.

[MrPrax]

135. All over the place...

So you go from the "tyrannical rule of the Stuart Monarchs" to the modern American imperial empire of the 21th century without even a hint of irony when you say it's all Stalingrad.

Could perhaps some reference to American direct involvement in recent western history could be in order?

The British 'democrat' at the moment have the same crisis in their political system; but you won't really find them locating the problem back with the Stuarts? What the hell does John Locke have to do with anything? More American historicism to avoid 'made in America' problems?

While your calling for fountain water to be impeached and doing your best Judge Dredd impression, why not question whether your Constitution is even adequate or lament the fact it hasn't been changed to reflect the modern era instead of worrying about the King of England...in 2007?

(So who you endorsing this time Will? You make your opinion known about whether or not Steve Irwin is being treated properly by DUers...hell you were so outraged to threaten to never post here again...like a thousand other times when you use that let loose all that impotent righteous rage)

We still all fascists? ;-)

[WilliamPitt]

137. When people like you post in these threads

it makes me wince.

Because I somehow managed to post something so bad that you will post attacks - over and over and over - even months and years later.

Because I don't recall whatever it was I posted to get you going.

But mostly, because you actually take the time and energy to remember to post shit like this. You remember the details, the wee ones, and reference them.

Mostly, because it's sad that you spend your energy this way. If someone insulted me on a forum, I'd sooner jump into traffic than find myself snarking back at them God knows how long after, with precise memories of the searing damage inflicted by words on a screen.

In other words, Prax, you make me wince. Not in pain, either.

I'll see you next month, for your next detailed snark about shit you shouldn't bother with this much and shit I don't even recall.

Your memory skills are admirable. The Irwin reference in particular gets you a gold star, though I don't begin to remember what I might have written, nor can I imagine what could possibly motivate you to remember it for me. Did I insult the stingray?

Your coping skills are flawed. Demonstrably.

Your ability to hold a meaningless internet grudge for so long is actually pretty damned disturbing. I'm glad you're only brave enough to stalk people online using a fake name. If you change your pattern, do let me know, so I can prepare myself for your fusillade of detailed whimpers through my mail slot before the white-coats arrive.

See you next year. You'll remember for me. Peace, love, find another hobby.

[shaniqua6392]

141. You are a class act Will.

Words are mightier than the sword. I loved your post.....and your response to MrPrax. As usual you make us think and comtemplate which are signs of a great writer.:yourock:

[MrPrax]

148. BUT!!!

You posted so many damn stupid things -- just last week in fact; A passion plea AGAINST war with Iran that becomes a Pajama Media digression into thirsty Chinese and Syrian troop numbers and other cold war debris? Jeez, maybe Russia still wants a warm water port...you forgot that one. :eyes:

I have asked you legitimate questions over the past three years just like I did now --

Stuarts? Connection to reality on the ground? Influence on Constitution? How? Where? You wrote it? You can't defend it because it's just plain stupid. With that type of specious logic, you might as well blame the Romans as well. Jeff read Epictetus and Gaius as well.

You, as me, claim to be a long time DU poster -- but ONLY a couple of weeks ago you decide, "Hey...you know I thought about what you guys wrote and stuff and I think...yeah...maybe Bush should be impeached...yeah you know...maybe Pelosi might have made a mistake...yeah...um"

Wow...you finally had your Damascus moment on all that, huh? Too bad it wasn't BEFORE you spent time speaking out against it over the last year. But you finally made it...welcome aboard.

You are always behind the curve...

And NO....brother. This is what free speech looks like and if I decide to read your shit and then ask you straight up for at least some rational insight into most of your 'cut and paste' junk, then I think the spirit of a forum, you should be prepared to answer.

But why so upset --- you defend the free speech of everyone from racists like Don Imus and Danish cartoonists...but when someone thinks your reasoning might be a little shaky (Rove convictions?) you play victim.

I swear you are the only one that pompously writes shit and then when someone challenges you, you really don't feel you have to give anyone an explanation, as to such 'ideas' as to how the hell did you manage to trick out fascist funnycar America with House of Stuart ground effects...??

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

153. P rax

:boring:

[MrPrax]

160. Oh...

More boring than someone who writes an OP stating he thinks politicians should follow the law...Pitt's WAY out there on that one.

Did you understand the Stuart ref? I sure don't ... but you probably think that it's boring subject matter on a forum anyway....as opposed to the BOT like 'K & R' which make up the BULK of responses in this thread.

:eyes:

[mmonk]

175. You honestly think it was bad?

Or should I say that bad?. Then write your own thoughts on the subject. See where it lies or how it floats.

[bridgit]

181. it reminded me of that line from: Throw Momma From The Train - "A writer writes...

...always!" there was no mention in that line, or nod, as to whether what is to be written is then pertinent per se, just writing...

i know for a fact that some people love to hear the sound of their own voices; having lived with a writer or two, i am convinced that some are very capable of being enamored of their own written words...

this tag-line, "Before us all looms the possible destruction of America" is incendiary, and Will Pitt, being apprised of such things, is very much aware of it...

write my own words on the subject? DU may only be prepared to absorb a certain, tribe-sanctioned configuration of words in either event...

though more writers writing more varied opinions on a host of vital issues would be appreciated by no-less than me :)

[kineneb]

184. dude, go study history, then come back

Unlike the rest of the world, where history is taught in schools, we don't know **** about it.

The Founding Fathers did know more about history, and they were a lot closer in time to the Stuarts than we are (Charles I, executed 1649; Declaration, 1776). They remembered the damage done by having an absolute monarch. They remembered what the Thirty Years War had done to central Europe, with religion as it pretext. They understood that George III could have them hauled off to England and "disappeared" forever into a dank English prison, or executed for treason. They stuck their necks out when they signed onto the Declaration of Independence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England

[PuraVidaDreamin]

136. Your best piece of writing yet!

I hope the dems in power are reading.

[Beetwasher]

143. Yeah, It's All Coming To A Head

We're all in it together. Thanks Will, whatever happens, you have done your part and have earned your family name and I'm proud to consider you a friend.

[buddhamama]

144. well written

thanks. i agree.

[Raven]

145. I think you will be disappointed, Will. The Dems will give Bush

a pass. They will figure that by the time the issue gets litigated, Bush will be out of office. Precipitating a Constitutional crisis in a time of war will be blamed on the Dems by the administration and the MSM and it will hurt the Dem's chances of getting one of their candidates into the WH. I think this is the way they see it. I think that the pressure not to follow through with the threat is probably coming from the Democratic candidates themselves. They'll huff and they'll puff but they won't blow the house down. I can't tell you how sorrowful it makes me to say this.

[Joanne98]

146. Bravo!

[CrispyQ]

147. "A right is ink on a paper that has no force or power unless it is defended."

An excellent piece.

[Zandor]

149. So Dems are Treasonous if they don't impeach Bush?

What kind of legal action would you like to see against Dems that don't support impeachment?

[WillyT]

151. Exactly Right Will !!! - K & R !!!

:kick:

[pokercat999]

152. Nice post Mr Pitt, BUT

you seem to have forgotten or maybe never understood that the Dems you place so much hope in are owned completely by the International Corporations. The lipstick might change but behind it will still be a pig. The dems will "win" in 08 and maybe again in 12 but not much will change. We will still be in decline in the US with the rich corporatists getting much richer and the middle class disappearing faster than permanent snow fields in the Rockies. The media will still feed us opium in the form of the latest, meaningless BIG STORY and we will be in a never ending war with_______ fill in the blank.

There is only one reality left and that involves putting a bullet in a gun and pulling the trigger. It involves the death and destruction of millions of us, you, me and our fellow citizens. It may be an "unpleasant" reality, but freedom has a price, it's only currency........blood.

We are still too "free", still too comfortable in our current condition for this future reality to take place. But have no fear it is a natural and unavoidable process, written in stone really. The one "good" thing for you and me is that we will not be part of that future. It will be our good fortune to become worm food before we (Americans) are forced to act. So take heart, enjoy the luxuries we have all come to expect as our due knowing that we you and I will make it through this process.

[bearfan454]

154. You hit the nail on the head. nt

[grasswire]

158. This is your moment, Will Pitt

The one we all knew was your destiny. The time when your talent would be the tea in the harbor.

Not. One. Step. Back.

[lyonn]

161. Simply So Well Put Will

Just when I clicked on your post I also flicked c-span and there was Walter Mosley and Howard Zinn, what a delima. can read your post later.

Finished watching the program and it made your comments even more important.

Laws have been broken by our President, Constitutional laws. Those are not misdemeanors. If the criminal(s) are not brought to justice then our laws are meaningless. So we get a new administration in the next election, how do we regain the rights we have lost in the last 6-7 years? Do the criminals not get punished? Not punishing the criminal would perpetuate the crime.

[Kurovski]

162. Simple, true, and damning.

It is what it is.

An angry K&R.

[BrainGlutton]

163. I beg your pardon. America is NOT "an amalgamation of ideas, rights and freedoms."

America is a nation-state. An ordinary nation-state like France, not an idea-state like the Soviet Union. After 1789 France when through five monarchies, five republics, and a period of fascist rule, yet through it all France remained France. The Soviet Union ceased to exist in any meaningful sense when everybody lost faith in Communism and the system collapsed. America is more like France than like the Soviet Union. America is the kind of entity that could survive as a NATION even if it ceased to exist as a STATE, as Poland survived as a nation after its partition in the late 18th Century and was able to re-emerge as a state after WWI.

[merh]

174. But would it's survival as that Nation without the State

be the Nation we value, be the Nation our founding fathers invisioned?

.

[BrainGlutton]

180. What they envisioned is not determinative. That's the point.

A nation, as distinct from a state, cannot be designed. It is an organic entity that just grows into being and lives on. A nation is not immortal, but it is typically longer-lived than any constitution or political system.

[porphyrian]

166. If they won't push forward, they better hold the fucking line. - n/t

[kestrel91316]

167. I'm biding my time, waiting for the day when his SS protection goes away.

I'll have my bottle of bubbly ready.

Karma.

[Cookie wookie]

169. The day the Democratic leadership says in one voice,

"This is a line that we must hold; over this line we cannot let you cross." That day is long overdue. Look at what happened to those who stood by and let Hitler, and the greedy monster he represented eat away more and more of their souls. There is no way to compromise with evil. I agree that the rule of law with this imperial presidency is the line that must now be upheld at any and all costs. Ironic isn't it that the Republicans made such a deal of upholding the rule of law during their persecution of Clinton, yet the recent Democratic leadership has such a history of fear for standing up for anything lest the press call them names and cast them in a bad light with their voting constituencies. Not all Democrats, though. We have some great men (all Democrats) in Congress right now. Pelosi has done a great job of seeing that we get to this moment -- brilliant. The question is, will those other Democrats in the leadership who have power have the guts to say, further down this road of compromise with evil we shall not go?

[roxnev]

170. Bush is a a$$hole

But it is the Republican Congress that is the problem, they never once did their job by having over sight hearings. :evilgrin:

[Blackhatjack]

171. Two Thumbs Way UP!!

[Lisa]

172. No, not the ferns!!! Impeach everything else, though.

The ferns were just minding their own business, trying to photosynthesize (and get rid of some of that CO2 being spewed out by that bunch of maniacal tyrants). And we need more carbon fixation now, not less. Believe me, they're as upset about all this as the rest of us are.

The water in the fountain? Sure, go ahead. It was "in the loop" -- well, in A loop, anyway. And the lampposts along the corridor? They're fair game too. After all, Cheney or Rove or somebody would keep saying "between you and me and the lamppost", and they could have gone to the Washington Post at any time, but they didn't.

[KAT119]

173. Tears!!! Just clicked off DVD" V For Vendetta", and a mirror image

of our Evil in Chief who's ultimate goal (present attainment?!) is Total Power, and the ends justify the means.

Thank you William Pitt for imo your loudest, most profound clarion call todate...

ARREST THE BASTARD-IMPOSTERS!!!

[Ellipsis]

178. In short, and here's the ballgame: Great paragraph!

kick


:toast:

[and-justice-for-all]

179. Britian should reclaim whats theirs...

..Dismantle this poor excuse of a government and let the UK run the show. At least we would get proper health care.

[Ghost Dog]

182. You refer to the orange portion of this map

(late eighteenth century, culled from a Spanish encyclopaedia):



You may be right. But on the other hand, for first-class socialized healthcare, you'd almost certainly be better off going with the French, these days.

[bobthedrummer]

185. ?!?

[JVS]

186. Not one step back, but it's not time to impeach?

[bobthedrummer]

189. The dictatorship that VIPS, Cindy and myself, for another, sees without impeachment

and other action by political leadership can now be implemented-we've been fascist for years and are truly one call of the Decider away from totalitarianism.

That seems acknowledged in the OP, even in the subject line. So to those of US that do understand the gravity of the moment the impeachment of Richard Cheney is absolutely required as is the prosecution of the other traitors in this criminal administration.

Even if it means civil war between those of US that rally around our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and support and expect the same from our military versus those that follow their Decider and his decrees.

Time pressure doesn't allow for the internal power struggles of the Democratic Party to impede this, right Will? Our Constitution, which has been assaulted and papered over by fascists seeking absolute power is our only rallying point.

VIPS, Cindy and millions of US feel there isn't going to be an election in 2008 if immediate steps aren't taken. Casey and thousands of others of our military have died because of the calculated lies and treason within this fascist criminal administration that took us into a war of choice by a group of extremists that are capable of anything they have access to utilizing to maintain and expand their empire.

We sent a message last November 7th, it has been ignored, and the promises of the first one hundred hours of new leadership has mostly turned into Campaign 2008 by the DLC.
:mad:

[mrfrapp]

187. Brilliant, as always...

I've said this before on DU and I'll say it again. The most precious thing the USA has is it's independence from monarchy. That is to say, it's freedom.

[Spazito]

188. Interesting read! n/t

[KoKo]

190. What is this obsession with the Stuarts of England/Scotland ?

This is your second post about them.

Hey...it's bad...but did you ever think about reincarnation and that your bugaboo Cindy might be a throw back coming to haunt our consciences? WILL PITT...great ancestors...you were around with the Bush family and Blairs way back.

LOL's ....others here were way back there, too. Maybe we are just all meeting for another great battle...this time not on a field like FLODDEN...but here on DU.

[Phredicles]

191. Not. One. Step. Back. - Unless someone disses Mr. Conyers?

Gosh, my memory is short, but it seems to be a common phenomenon. I'm glad someone kicked this thread, because it contrasts rather strikingly with some of the ones we've seen today. But it goes back to what I said elsewhere about DU weirdness, encapsulated in a handful of threads started by the same (entirely admirable) author.

So which is it? Is this our Stalingrad, or are we supposed to be pragmatic and patient?