As a long-time Kucinich supporter, I've been looking for a place to use that line! And I am so glad to see that finally the climate conditions are becoming more favorable towards The Honorable Mr. K.
I, too, am nerd enough to actually own more than one pocket Constitution at any given time, so that I will always have one to share. I also collect discarded books from libraries and at used book sales, because I was raised under the spectre of 1984, and I believe in hardcopy. I love the ability to look up text and link to it, but it's awfully hard to find out how things were from the tubes, compared to how they really are or were. And that is why I choose to be here now, to testify to why I support this man whom many people seem to find so strange. Perhaps the time is right, since Cheney asked me to.
Here let me begin again, by saying that although I had heard his name before in passing, I did not know who the man on my telly was, back in 2002, and so did not "recognize" him. And perhaps five years does not seem like such a long time after all, but to me it seems like circumstances have changed so much that we have become a different country. What I saw that day was one of our Congressional Representatives speaking and gesturing to a sparsely attended House. [Thanks, C-SPAN. Without you I might not have realized that the House Members aren't all forced to sit down together to hear each other speak every time. And Thank You, Wikipedia, for showing me that the
SOTU, is more than just a message, it's a time to "give to Congress information" and so (IMHO), Stephen Hadley, you bastard, your bus is coming soon.]
Oops, got a little off topic there, it would seem, but not that far off. God Bless Dennis for forging ahead to get the Truth on the record, in the face of incredible Congressional apathy, and ignorance combined with record-breaking criminality, perversion, and murderous greed. And you too, lukery, for providing me with Sibel's own testimony. And following your leads reconnected me with my hero, Daniel Ellsberg. (There's a great made-for-tv-movie out there, with the tagline:
His greatest act of patriotism was an act of treason). Back in 2002, I was going nuts because I never heard of Daily Kos but I needed to share what I was hearing from Ellsberg and Amy Goodman then.
So what I was saying was that I saw a tiny man (yeah, it bugs me that if he would just wear his cuffs a little smaller he would seem more proportionate and his relative size might not be such an issue, but since fashion sense isn't really high on my priorities, either, that would never stop me from listening to him with my eyes closed: justice is supposed to be blind, but then even justice had to look the other way, the day that the facade fell away from the figure of Authority and the globe came crashing down at the feet of the Supreme Court.)
So anyway, to make a short story long, as they say, I saw this unidentified man on tv who was walking around holding up a letter and saying that the CIA had told the Congress that Saddam Hussein was not a threat to us or to his neighbors unless backed into a corner. Now I had been listening to all kinds people from Scott Ritter to Henry Kissinger, to Bush himself, (and when you never read the NYT, life has an entirely different look about it, and it's easier to hear) and I had been following the issue for years, since even before that long ago dark December day when I saw America sell what was left of her soul with the Devils' Handshake. But I have always found myself to be a lone voice from the wilderness about things political in my local daily sphere. So the idea that someone in Congress had clued into what was going on with this- well I thought that was the answer that would stop a war! And the only reason I have been reluctant to diary this before is because I prefer to look at the film and be sure of what I saw before I write anything (can anyone believe their eyes or really remember?), but so far a link to the clip where he said this is beyond me. At any rate, I figured that everyone would simmer down and listen to the voice of reason, and as per usual I found myself overruled.
But in the meantime, having noticed this man on my tv, I started looking into things about him, like for instance what he has to say about space. Now you may say he has his head in the clouds and is concerned with all kinds of unnecessary weirdness. But I, on the other hand, have been concerned with stuff like this for over ten years now, and have been watching it morph into Joint Vision 2020.
I even used to have a printed copy with a great graphic of a Space Laser pointed right at the Middle East, but unfortunately hardcopy is fragile and impermanent too. At any rate, I trust that Dennis Kucinich is the one man in the picture most likely to have my rights and best interests in mind in the space arena, and I will absolutely vote for that. (Heh, heh. Let's go to the Inner Space Arena, man. Heh. She said Joint Vision. I'll drink to that.)
The problem is, that we, as a nation absolutely love to eatdrinkthink. Luckily we can also depend on the healthcare industry to have our best interests at heart when we do. Dennis, on the other hand, doesn't play well with others, but still I think he's a better man than I. And we both will stand up for the work of Michael Moore. I like a man with no strings attached.
There are things I thought I disagreed with, though. Considering how hard he fights for liberty, I was surprised by his stance on gun control. But on the other hand, I respect the fact that he sticks to his guns the way I want him to. There is so much money floating around the Pentagon unaccounted for that I know we could bring our boys home with what we've already got. I keep trying to tell the people around me that as long as our taxes keep pouring into that black hole, the blood is on our hands. And in that thought, I am in good company. Michael Moore had some interesting stuff to say about that too, and so I think I may just defer to them because although I am proud to live in the Live Free or Die State, I'm only over the river and through the woods and down the John Stark Highway from people like this.
It's probably time to round up this rambling, and so I'd really like to come back to the video of Sibel Edmonds. At the beginning and the end of her talk she profusely thanks the Connecticut Librarians. So do I. And Dennis tried to do us one better. If he had his way, not only would we have no NAFTA or WTO, we also would never have seen the day when Democrats would be fooled into swallowing a mouthful like the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-56).
"A risk to national security" is why the Justice Department has gagged Sibel so tight we can't even send her a Birthday Card. And "risky" in terms of "national" security was what they said about the documents the United States required from Iraq then censored when they actually produced them. In both cases I think it's clear that the only reason it's "risky" is that if America were really free to speak about the truth anymore, this would all be known and there would be riots and then people in high places would go to prison. As it is, people's daughters and sons are killing and being killed for our desires and our sins. Sibel is right in wondering who we can trust now.
I trust Dennis Kucinich. And I believe in (or at least hope for) Peace & Love for the Earth and Mankind. And so, Like the pine trees lining the winding road, I've got a name, a dream, and a song:
And I carry it with me and I sing it loud
If it gets me nowhere, I go there proud.
That's me,
peaceloveandkucinich