|
On Tuesday evening, June 28, 2005, George W.
Bush walked into a crowded room of military people standing robotically
at full attention for the duration and gave his speech on Iraq to a
national media audience. Bush began by saying that we are fighting
an enemy that "....hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises
all dissent." Excuse me,
George, just who is it that despises dissent in the United States?
Who is it in the United States that is stifling freedom? I was
there at your first inauguration. You remember, the initiation
event that sanctified your theft of the 2000 election. There in
the center of the "free world's" capital, Washington DC, were
tens-of-thousands of people squeezed into fenced anti-constitutional
corrals dubbed "free speech zones". Imagine. The
"land of the free" now has non-free speech zones outside the
small pens where limited free speech is allowed. These tiny
slivers of liberty are an affront to free people. What
would the founders of the nation and the authors of the Constitution say
about this? To get into the "free speech zones" people
were funneled through a single checkpoint where everything from magic
markers and pens to nail clippers were confiscated. Signs were
allowed but only of a certain maximum size, no poles to hold
them aloft, nor markers to make them. People were harassed and a feeder march was stopped from joining the main
demonstration at the corner of Constitution and K. Eventually the
marchers got through with the help of what has come to be referred to as
the Black Bloc.
George, I can tell how much you
hate freedom, reject tolerance, and despise dissent. I can
tell, by the actions of the neo-cons who worship you as the
symbol of the State, that your regime sees dissent as being treason. In February, 2003, before the current incarnation of the
Iraq war began, a million-strong antiwar demonstration took place in New
York City. Millions more protested around the world. The
right wing New York Sun on the eve of the demonstration
urged right wing mayor Michael Bloomberg to do whatever he could to
obstruct it. He tried. I was there. I saw it.
The people, who were not issued a permit to march did so
anyway. You see, George, we are born with the right to free speech
and the Constitution codifies it, but it is meaningless unless the
people express it. Your autocratic operatives failed to stop the
people from expressing
their outrage that no matter what you were hell-bent on going to
war.
How's this for
freedom? While people were protesting in the millions around the
world against preplanned invasion of Iraq, the New
York city mounted police squashed people against buildings
forcing them back with nowhere to go. Horses shoved youngsters and
grandmas alike into walls. Police told the demonstrators to walk
over those who had fallen to the ground. Yes, sir, by George, you sure
do love the people's right to dissent. The
truth is, it is you who believe that freedom-loving
people, dissenting in opposition to you, are corrupt and
decadent. You stated as much when you said: If you are not with us
you are against us. When you draw that line, you place yourself on
the side of rejecting the Constitution. How dare you? You,
by violating the oath you took in January 2005 to protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States, are corrupt and decadent. Lying
to get the country to go to war is a high crime and misdemeanor.
Let us look at
more examples of how your regime despises dissent. While
protesters were organizing demonstrations, gambler and former
Reagan administration official, moralist Bill Bennett
said, "Communists are certainly glad to...sponsor and organize [the
anti-war rallies]. I don't think everybody who participates is a
communist, but communists are certainly behind it..." Made
any trade deals with Communist China lately, George? In an email
sent to supporters, Gary Bauer, president of the Institute for American Values
and former GOP
presidential candidate, made the case that anti-war protesters are more
damaging to America than terrorists! Bauer said of the protesters,
"at the end of the day I believe we have more to fear from the
anti-American crowd right here at home." Being anti-war is
not being anti-American. Being anti-dissent is. But it goes
deeper than that, George. You hate anyone that says
anything or demonstrates against you and your manifest
destiny policies. You hate it when people express the truth
about your corruption, the lies and illegal war, and so, like the old
Soviet politburo, your party apparatchiks orchestrate who can and who
cannot come to your rallies and speeches. You filter people
out. What way is that for the president of the United States to
behave? Your operatives scour parking lots for bumper stickers
that suggest dissent and toss people associated with them out of meeting
halls. You have people signing loyalty oaths before they
can come and hear you speak. You eject people because of
the clothing or the buttons they wear. You refuse people access because they look like they may protest. That's
how much you love freedom and dissent. Perhaps, you would
like
to lock these people up in GTMO? How about using extraordinary
rendition? Extraordinary rendition is the CIA delivering terror
suspects into the hands of foreign intelligence services without any
extradition proceedings. It is exporting suspects for the purpose
of obtaining information by proxy torturers.
Tell us George, how do the
following show the world that you love freedom and honor the
people's right to dissent: spying on peace group meetings, infiltrating them, keeping secret files
on innocent people, keeping track of what people read and where they go
on the Internet, arresting anti-war protesters for no reason and
questioning their political affiliations, having police pose as antiwar
couples at events, police gathering names of people attending meetings,
operatives infiltrating church groups spying on people, taking down
license plate numbers, profiling people as activists, lying about the
potential of violence at demonstrations by demonstrators, police rioting
for the purposes of intimidation, closing down transportation facilities
during demonstrations, harassing protestors, beating demonstrators,
pepper spraying them for no apparent reason, tapping telephones, coming
into peoples' homes without a warrant, embedding agent provocateurs,
etc. None of these are characteristics of a free
society.
I'll tell you what I think,
George. I think you are still upset that the people pissed on your
inauguration parade in January, 2001, when you could not walk
the final leg of the parade up to the White House after stealing the
election. I think that you don't give a damn about the
Constitution and that freedom and dissent get in the way of achieving global neo-liberal hegemony. The Constitution be damned
when it comes to getting your neo-con way. But listen and you will hear an
ever-growing sound. It is more than the sucking sound of
jobs going to Mexico and China. It is the collective roar of
the masses of the United States' people waking up to your lies
and deceit. It is the sound of the imminent demonstrations and outcry against your corrupt regime. It is the
sound of the cheering masses as you, like your mentor, Richard Nixon,
are removed from office. It is the sound of the world's second
super-power: dissent in opposition to you. You
can toss around all the lies and diversion you want, but the people are
no longer listening. An MSNBC poll taken the morning after your
June 28th speech
clearly shows this. MSNBC asked, "Do you agree with President Bush that
the sacrifice in Iraq is worth it?" 78% said NO. 22% said
YES. The people are saying, "No more lies. No more
deception. No more Bushit!"
|
