Letters to the Editor
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Cripes. How did Mario Savio and the Free Speech Movement
in their suits and ties shut the University of California at Berkeley down -- in 1964! -- and force the administration to change their stupid rules?
How did they do it?
Yes, they took risks. And they paid a price. Some got arrested. Others were harrassed and suspended or expelled. They got a hell of a lot of media coverage, and essentially NONE of it was favorable. They were endlessly denounced as traitors and communists.
Their actions against the immovable Institution of the University had many unintended consequences -- that's what happens, you see, with movements and such that actually do something to change things.
One of the unintended consequences was the launching of the hideously successful political career of Ronald Reagan on a "I Hate Students" platform.
Nevertheless, the Free Speech Movement actually got done a good deal of what it set out to do, the University has never reverted (well, not entirely), and we're all freer people because of it.
Nowadays, though, what they did, in their suits and ties, actually take over the administration building, get arrested in mass numbers, protest relentlessly, and shut the fucker down, simply would not be done.
We complain about Our Dems and the media not doing their jobs. But when was the last time The People took direct and relentless action to shut the fucker down?
If The People aren't willing to take any risks for change, why should our institutions? Why are we constantly surprised that our institutions have failed us -- again?
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@ Mona
I think you have a funny way of ignoring and also of "not addressing".
Maybe next you'll choose to pay attention and address?
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It's Time to IMPEACH the Bastards!!!!!
The last two plus weeks have finally brought the Impeachment issue out from under Pelosi's table. Yet, so far, Congress acts as if nothing has happened. Here is my congressperson's (Anna Eshoo's) reply to my letter to her asking her to support Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment of Dick Cheney:
Thank you for contacting me about the Scooter Libby trial and your thoughts about impeaching Vice President Cheney.
The Bush Administration has been able to operate in an unfettered and unchecked way under Republican majorities in both the House and Senate over the last six years. As a result of this, no questions were asked, no oversight was exercised and essentially, blank checks were issued. We're now, with a fragile new majority, actually reversing the above.
Recently, the President commuted the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby who was the Vice President's Chief of Staff. Mr. Libby's trial and conviction of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame leak case raised many questions about the integrity of the Executive Branch. The President's action raises additional questions about his commitment to hold accountable anyone in his Administration involved with leaking Ms. Plame's identity. Congress is already holding hearings to investigate the abuses of the Administration and will continue to. What disgusts
me and many others is the fact that Paris Hilton has served more time than Scooter Libby ever will for what he was convicted of.
On the subject of impeachment, I've lived through the
impeachment process and witnessed firsthand how it tears the
country apart. I think it's time to bring the country together. We have to move forward and impeachment, in my view, will heavily distract from the critical work of reversing the disastrous policies of this Administration and will bring to a halt progress being made on important issues including ending the war, healthcare, global warming, and our nation's economic competitiveness.
Since the start of this new Congress, the House has held hundreds of oversight hearings covering the war in Iraq, the response to Hurricane Katrina, the firing of United States Attorneys, and the treatment of our veterans at Walter Reed. And there's so much more to do. We either grind to a halt, or move forward.
If you have any other questions or comments, let me hear from
you. I always appreciate hearing from my constituents and ask that you continue to inform me on issues you care about. I need your thoughts and benefit from your ideas.
s/ ANNA ESHOO
Since writing the letter to Eshoo, I have read Gore's "The Assault On Reason," and have witnessed the continued Administration stonewalling of Congressional Subpoenas. I agree with Glenn Greenwald, Al Gore, Bruce Fein, and many other constitutional scholars: its time to impeach BOTH Dick Cheney and George Bush. It's doubtful that any Congressional investigation will be able to uncover the evidence unless they bring impeachment proceedings FIRST. If the Bush Administration stonewalls an Impeachment proceeding, they would do so at their legal and political peril.
As for Eshoo's comment that there is "more important" work to do, WHAT work is there for Congress, anyway? Bush simply vetoes bills that don't comport with his extreme right-wing view of things, and scares Congress into giving him what he wants with respect to Iraq.
IT's TIME TO IMPEACH!!!!!
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@ Anon
Maybe next you'll choose to pay attention and address?
Nope, I meant what I said: I will pay attention, but address substance, no. Not except to say LWM is a deranged lunatic where I am concerned, and that you can't believe a word he says about me, and that were I to lie about my past views there are many people here, including the blogger, who would know it.
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Yes
It's time to make our will known.
I have a dream:
I dream of of a massive gathering of determined citizens, silently and strongly taking their rightful ground and demonstrating to Congress, to the President, and to the Judiciary that we are paying attention. That we want the constitutional abuses to cease. That we want accountability from our governing entities.
I dream of hundreds of thousands of us converging outside the Supreme Court of the United States of America to demand that our constitution be respected by the Executive Branch, that the Legislative Branch assert the will of We the People, and that the Constituion's laws be upheld by the Judiciary.
I dream of sober concerned Americans solidly standing watch, in dignity, eschewing the trite clichéd chanting from protests of a bygone era. I see the crowd poised shoulder-to-shoulder, challenging the anti-American unpatriotic limits of "Free Speech Zones." I see a vanguard of courageous prepared dissenters stoically receiving the sacrament of State-sanctioned abuse (the police officer's baton) and being taken without resistance to jail.
I dream of a mass movement powered by the people, evoking not the WTO protesters in Seattle or those against the G-8 in Davos, but instead emulating Ghandi and King and their followers.
I believe that this is the only way for We the People to breach the insulating wall of noise and obfuscation erected by an out-of-control authoritarian government.
It is time.