And that title is more true I believe than many people are willing to admit. Why are people calling for impeachment of a madman? Why can't we simply move to invoke the 25th Amendment to the same Constitution he flushes down the toilet? He certainly acts as if he is mentally incompetent to be a leader, let alone an appointed one. The article I quote below while going into the subtstance of Mr. Gore's speech, does brings forth a question for me that not many have discussed. Why isn't the mental capacity of someone who thinks he is a dictator above the law and Constitution being discussed? Especially now in this nuclear age?
I am especially concerned about the implications of imprisonment and declaring Americans "enemy combatants" at will. NO President elected or otherwise should have that much power. The Founding Fathers were adamant about not relying on too much power being vested in the Federal, exactly because of what they had left in England.
This is why States' Rights played such an important role and still does. This is also why the USSC should never have taken the Bush vs. Gore case, because NO body selected by a President should ever be allowed to weigh in on who that President will be. It also proves that Bush and his Neocons are not Constitutionists, nor do they believe in Democracy in its purest form. It also signifies to me, that Bush is not mentally competent to carry out the duties he was appointed to fill by his subjects.
Al Gore is right and brave to sound this warning to the American people...At least, the people who have C-Span. The fact that the media has not covered this as it should as well also has proven it is in collusion with this regime in not educating the American people, but keeping them in the dark in order to allow the fear to wash over them and anesthesize them so they will believe they are powerless in stopping what is surely to come from their silence.
This is truly one of the most dangerous times for our country. We now teeter on the edge of total Fascism and Theocracy, the signs subtle, the steps slow, but nevertheless, the action being taken. However, the American people have become soft, weak, and selfish... So much so, that they cannot see the signs and are therefore falling victim to fear, which is taking away all they hold dear while they grapple with the lies being told to them by sociopaths. And as Al Gore stated, that is a great disservice to all including those who founded this nation, who had so much more to endure.
Al Gore's speech may well be the speech of the century, but I sadly believe it will be remembered years from now as the clarion call that was not answered, as our children live in a country where the only law is the law of those who have been allowed to take it all to save them from am illusionary threat in lieu of the real one. That is not Democracy, my friends, and what it really is is evil, and it is unthinkable. I then hope I am proven wrong on that score.
This may sound trite, but if you love your children you won't allow this to go on another day. The title to this entry is true, and personally, I think the 25th amendment needs to be invoked. Bush is stark raving mad... And here we sit, just watching as our country slow slips away. Where are you, America?
Oh, and one final note to Diane Feinstein. You too are complicit in all of this, so don't go all noble now. Many are onto the Democrats in this Congress who have aided them in selling America to the highest bidder, and you won't escape scrutiny and accountability either. And it will not be forgotten.
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Excerpt:
Al Gore has guts; George Bush is nuts
By David Paul Brown
Former Vice President Al Gore's speech at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., Monday was one of the most informative and well-reasoned speeches I've heard in some time. Look to see it on C-span, as it will repeat several times. You can also go to truthout.org and get the entire speech in print.
The knock on Gore has always been he's wooden and sounds too pedantic or pedagogic, like a professor speaking down to the class. He's all facts and no emotion.
All of that may have been true at one time, but he's now saying things many Democrats are unwilling to, but would if they had the nerve. To save space, I've distilled some of his words, while not changing its currency.
The crux of the speech was the executive power grab that President Bush seems to think he's entitled to.
Gore explained, "On this particular Martin Luther King Day, it is important to recall that for the last several years of his life, Dr. King was illegally wiretapped one of hundreds of thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S. government during this period."
Of the NSA eavesdropping, Gore said, "Attorney General Gonzales conceded that the administration knew that the NSA project was prohibited by law and that they consulted with some members of Congress about changing the statute.
"He says that they were told this probably would not be possible. So how can they now argue that the authorization for the use of military force was somehow implicitly authorized all along?"
On imprisonment, Gore said, "The president also says he has a heretofore unrecognized inherent power to seize and imprison any U.S. citizen that he determines to be a threat to our nation, and that notwithstanding his citizenship, the person has no right to talk with a lawyer even to argue that the president has made a mistake and imprisoned the wrong person."
On outsourcing torture: "Mr. Bush has claimed that he has the authority to kidnap individuals in foreign countries and deliver them for imprisonment and interrogation by autocratic regimes in nations that are infamous for the cruelty of their techniques for torture. If the president has the inherent authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens, kidnap and torture, what can't he do?"
Sen. Dianne Feinstein echoed the same sentiment on "The Larry King Show" Monday: "How long will this last, how many people will be spied on, how much data will be gathered and kept by this or future administrations?"
Bush and Co. have said this war may go on indefinitely. Are we to expect all this behavior to do the same? If so, let's just declare martial law right now and call it a day.
Also on the show was James Rison, the author of "State of War, the CIA, and the Bush Administration."
He contends that those who say former President Clinton ordered then-Attorney General Janet Reno to eavesdrop like Bush is are mistaken. While the spy Aldridge Ames did have his house bugged, the law has changed since then.
The point is, I can't believe that more Americans either aren't cognizant that this is going on in our nation, or worse, sanction it out of fear of terrorists.
Yes, we'll all be relieved if some evil people are caught through clandestine works. I've no doubt I'll get some nasty letters saying, "David, I told you so." Or if we get hit again like we did on Sept. 11, the Bush backers will be screaming that roughly half the population wouldn't let him do his job and that it's our fault for restricting him.
Well, I guess we'll have to take the heat, but meanwhile, our liberties are being challenged at every turn and I was glad that Gore had the guts, the eloquence and the passion to say so.
Al Gore has Guts, George Bush Is Nuts
End of excerpt
Thank you Mr. Brown for discussing this speech in the urgency it needs to be discussed. However, I fear it has already been forgotten, and people are back in their lull mode. Just talking, just ranting, and allowing all of this to continue. The fury lasted what, a day? How many hundreds of diaries were here just a couple days ago saying "Al Gore come on your white charger and save me?" Or, discussing what ticket they want in 2008. How that faces the stench of Fascism NOW or truly addresses the call to arms given is beyond me. But hell, if it gets you on the rec list, it doesn't matter here, right?
I also wondered why Mr. Gore just walked off the stage Monday when he was finished speaking. Usually, he goes into the crowd and shakes hands. He didn't do so this time. I think I know why. All one need do is once again look at the reaction even from people who watched the speech. All many of them have tried to do is turn it into a stump speech. Just more grandstanding, and politicians scrambling to show all of a sudden that they have ethics in the wake of FINALLY being told to fulfill the oaths they took.
Well, in my view, if Al Gore has to tell you what to do before you do it, you didn't have ethics to begin with. The bottomline is, Bush by his actions is acting mentally unbalanced, and we are headed for Armageddon, a police state, and the total reversal of all our Founding Fathers held dear and wanted for this country if we don't address it. But don't worry, just carry on. You can always "draft" Al Gore to come save you, if America lasts that long.